Bowerbird is honored to present a two evening retrospective of pioneering composer Johanna Beyer. The first evening features her percussion music and the second evening features her chamber music.
Although Beyer’s music was overlooked during her lifetime and for decades after her death, it was some of the most experimental and prophetic work created during the 1930s. Music of the Spheres (1938) is the first known work scored for electronic instruments by a female composer. The fourth movements of her two clarinet suites (1932) are some of the earliest examples of a pitch-based approach to rhythmic processes, which would not be fully explored again until the late 1940s by composers such as Elliott Carter and Conlon Nancarrow. Several of her works anticipate the minimalist music of the 1960s, most notably the fourth movement of her first String Quartet. She included tone clusters in Clusters, a suite for solo piano, and the duet, Movement for Two Pianos. The large clusters in these works often require the pianist to play the keys with their forearms. Perhaps Beyer’s most important and overlooked contribution to the development of new music is her repertoire for percussion ensemble. The Percussion Suite of 1933 is one of the earliest examples in this genre and differs from those of her contemporaries in that it “explores the understated and quiet expressive possibilities of percussion.
CONCERT PROGRAM
Dissonant Counterpoint
Michael Tan
Clusters
Michael Tan
Bees
Michael Tan
Three Songs for Percussion, Voice, and Piano
Eva Kastner-Puschl, voice
Andy Thierauf, percussion
David Hughes, piano
Movement for Double Bass and Piano
Joshua Machiz, double bass
David Hughes, piano
Suite for Violin and Piano
Molly Germer, violin
David Hughes, piano
Sky Pieces
Alize Rozsnyai, voice
David Hughes, piano
Robin in the Rain
Alize Rozsnyai, soprano
Eva Kastner-Puschl, alto
David Hughes, piano
Have Faith!
Alize Rozsnyai, soprano
Nicholas Handahl, flute
Four Pieces for Oboe and Bassoon
Meghan Woodard, oboe
Dominic Panunto, bassoon
Solo Clarinet Suite I
Sean Bailey, clarinet
String Quartet II
Bismuth Quartet
String Quartet IV
Bismuth Quartet