Jeff Scott calls his genre of composition "Urban Classical."
Johann Sebastian Bach and John Coltrane are seldom invoked in the same sentence, much less the same piece of music.
Nevertheless, an ambitious new musical work – scheduled to receive only its second public performance later this month as part of the New Haven International Festival of Arts and Ideas – makes a point of doing exactly that.
The piece is Jeff Scott’s “Passion for Bach and Coltrane,” and it will be heard Tuesday, June 23 at the Long Wharf Theatre.
Scott, as many of you around here know, is the horn player for the celebrated wind quintet Imani Winds, recently in residence at The Hartt School.
But Jeff is also a versatile and prolific composer whose work has been featured on previous Imani releases as well as many other recordings by various artists.
He calls his genre of composition “Urban Classical.” Coincidentally, Scott’s newest CD of his own music, “The Gift of Life,”was just released a few days ago.
“Passion for Bach and Coltrane,” is a major, seven-section piece; depending on the realization of its several improvised jazz sections, it can be anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour or so in duration. The musical material is drawn, in part, from Bach’s 1741 solo keyboard work, “The Goldberg Variations,” as well as Coltrane’s seminal album “A Love Supreme,” released exactly 50 years ago.
The work is set to the poetry of A. B. Spellman, the noted poet, critic, music historian and longtime arts administrator, who enjoyed a long and important career at the National Endowment for the Arts.
For his piece, Scott set several sections of Spellman’s most recent poetry collection, “Things I Must Have Known.” In the book, Spellman reflects on the nature of music -- both jazz and classical – and of the connection between music and the human search for spirituality and meaning. In one of the poems, Spellman imagines Bach and Coltrane meeting and collaborating across the centuries.
Scott’s piece is scored for wind quintet, string quartet, jazz trio (bass/drums/piano) and orator.
For the New Haven performance, the players will include the Imani Winds, the Harlem String Quartet, and a trio of frontline New York based freelancers. Spellman himself will be the orator.
For complete information on the June 23 performance, and order tickets, gohere.
Farewell to the Voice of the Met Broadcasts
I was saddened to read that Margaret Juntwait, the voice of the Saturday afternoon Met opera radio broadcasts for the past eleven years, died last week of ovarian cancer. Juntwaitwas 58.
I liked Juntwait’s companionable, non-pretentious approach to the broadcasts, and her calm explications of the operas’ often overheated story lines.
Almost unbelievably, Juntwait was only the third announcer the Met radio broadcasts have had since they began in 1931. The first, the patrician-voiced Milton Cross, held the job for 43 years until his death in 1975. The second, the FM-smooth Peter Allen, lasted a mere 29 years before stepping down in 2004, after which Juntwait took over. No decision on Juntwait’s successor has been announced.
Season Seven of the Garmany Chamber Music Series
I'm honored to be able to announce the artist roster for Season No. Seven of the Richard P. Garmany Chamber Music Series at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School.
It has been my privilege -- truly -- to serve as the curator of this series since its inception. Over the first six seasons, the series has brought to town some of the most acclaimed and forward-looking artists and ensembles in the world, including the Emerson, Miro, and JACK Quartets, Imani Winds, jazz and roots violinist Regina Carter, steel drum virtuoso Andy Narell, the Bang on a Can All-Stars, eighth blackbird and the Grammy-winning vocal group Roomful of Teeth, to name but a few.
With the crucial ongoing support and encouragement of David Polk at the Garmany Fund, the series will bring to our community an especially distinguished lineup this coming season:
October 15: The great Dawn Upshaw, one of the most acclaimed and beloved artists of our time, will open the series with a wide-ranging recital program. She will be joined by her longtime partner, pianist Gilbert Kalish.
November 19: Since rocketing to instant stardom by winning everything in sight at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, the Dover Quartet has been called, simply, the world’s best young quartet.
February 4: The boundary-blurring quartet Brooklyn Rider has been hailed as the most enterprising and original foursome since the Kronos Quartet. For this appearance they will be joined by the brilliant singer/songwriter/theater composer Gabriel Kahane.
March 10: For a series finale, cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Stephen Hough – two of England’s most honored living musicians– will make their first-ever appearance in our city as a duo.
All concerts are in Hartt’s 400-seat Millard Auditorium, and begin at 7:30. There is an informal wine-and-hors d'oeuvres reception before each concert, from 6:00 to 7:00 pm in the lobby; no reservations are required. And each concert is followed by a free coffee and dessert reception with the artists.
For complete information on how to subscribe and/or buy single tickets, call the box office (860-768-4228), or visit the series' webpage.
We’ve Heard This Tiresome, Short-Sighted, Abusive Song Before
There’s bad news and good news from Atlanta. The bad news is that, a couple of weeks ago, the city school system announced that as a cost-cutting “strategy,” dozens of music teachers would be losing their jobs. As a result, band and orchestra programs, mostly in the city’s elementary schools, would be disappearing.
The good news, or at least potentially good news, is that parents in the region and around the country are registering furious protests to the cuts, including an online petition that has attracted national attention.
We’ll check back to see if the city, one of the country’s most affluent, and which bills itself as one of our most “cosmopolitan,” comes to its senses on behalf of its children.
Hartford Symphony Musicians assist Nepal
It’s nice to be able to report that the June 7 Nepal earthquake benefit concert, organized and presented by the musicians of the Hartford Symphony, drew a crowd of several hundred people to the sanctuary of the Asylum Hill Congregational Church.
More to the point, the concert, which also featured the AHCC choir, raised almost $4,000 for the cause. Bravo to everyone.
Steve Metcalf was The Hartford Courant’s fulltime classical music critic and reporter for over 20 years, beginning in 1982. He is currently the curator of the Richard P. Garmany Chamber Music Series at The Hartt School. He can be reached at spmetcalf55@gmail.com.
