On String Quartet No. 2

Last month I had the pleasure of premiering my second string quartet with Listen Closely Inwood. I wrote a little bit more on the work which you can read below, and was originally posted on Listen Closely’s blog.

On String Quartet No. 2

When Listen Closely NYC asked me to write a new string quartet based on Inwood’s history, I eventually settled in on writing about three of the parks that surround the neighborhood of Inwood. Beyond any specific reference to aspects of the Isham, Inwood Hill and Fort Tryon parks, I also wanted to delve into the multiple levels of what a park does for an urban area like New York City. I wanted to also explore the admittedly common aspects of inspiration which nature and landscape frequently serve—on a personal level—to a composer.

When reviewing a history of the parks and comparing them to the perspective of present day city government manifestos on the function of ‘the park’, it is easy to see that parks are set up in opposition, or relief, to the contemporary urban landscape. In 2014, New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio and the New York City Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver laid out the language clearly in NYC Parks: Framework for an Equitable Future, where parks are described as “green oases” in contrast to the urban surroundings, and that park spaces have, “a sustained, positive effect on an individual’s health.” (http://www.nycgovparks.org/downloads/nyc-parks-framework.pdf) This language was also espoused approximately 150 years earlier by Frederick Law Olmsted—the architect of Central Park. (http://www.fredericklawolmsted.com/philos.html)

What is missing largely from the rhetoric of political and philosophical arguments for parks is a recognition of the interplay between the green-spaces and the city that surrounds them. While these nature refuges are much needed by citizens to escape the rush of urban zones, they are also simultaneously encroached upon by the surrounding densities of concrete and steel. Parks are carved by boulevards and pathways for access (access is not a bad thing—to be clear), or are limited in space and internally pockmarked with landmarks or constructions, all of which keep a total urban escape or “refuge” from being realized.

This complexity—that of being within a city, while also having refuge from it simultaneously—is a psychological musical idea that I wanted to explore. In developing the harmonic language for this work, I wanted to utilize an intervallic language that simultaneously afforded a duality of emotional tension and relief. This was realized through a pitch class set whose prime form is [0157]. The inversion of this set is [0267], which has a much softer characteristic to my ear. Due to the aesthetic and physical qualitative differences within the two forms of the set, I found the set’s duality suitable to demonstrate the aforementioned simultaneity of being ‘within’ and ‘without’ that occurs when in a park’s ground. The first movement of this work traverses through different motivic and emotional ideas as the formal key areas cycle towards the resolution of a complete chromatic field.

The second movement’s formal structure unfolds in a similar way (cycling through a chromatic field), this time using a different set which is based on a combination of the first movement’s organizing pitch classes. The music in this movement acts a bit differently than the first in that it does not seek to explore deeper psychological entwinements. Instead the work is referential to aspects of Inwood Hill Park’s creation (glacial scraping and grinding) and its current day inhabitants (a species of bird which call the park its home)—here the story is the past and the present.

The final movement involves a personal narrative around a place in Fort Tryon Park. I will leave what is heard up to the audience.

-Eric Lemmon, July 2017

https://www.listenclose.ly/connect-with-us/2017/7/17/eric-lemmon-on-his-string-quartet-no-2

Flying out to Doctoral Program

Looks like the best time to fly out to Stony Brook is around 5:00AM O_o

I think I’ll just go at 6:00AM and take the Throgs Neck…

Screen Shot 2016-08-15 at 3.15.02 PM Screen Shot 2016-08-15 at 3.15.11 PM Screen Shot 2016-08-15 at 3.16.08 PM Screen Shot 2016-08-15 at 3.16.22 PM

Source: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/bridge-traffic-report-2013.pdf

Burning City Orchestra — Debut Album

In November of 2015, Burning City Orchestra (BCO) released its debut album after five years of hard work. The primary driving force behind this indie-rock release is Noam Faingold, who is a great friend of mine. With that being said, as a reader, you can rightfully expect this review to be a good one, so let me explain to you why BCO’s debut is worth the listen:

I first met Noam at NYU when he was a graduate student in the composition program there. At the time, I knew Noam primarily as a classical composer and was only marginally aware of his past in indie-rock and his work on the Noam Faingold Orchestra—the name of BCO many years ago. Listeners should not think that this makes the BCO some unwieldy foray by a composer out of his element (not directly comparable, but see John Adams’ I Was Looking at the Ceiling for example). The parts written for the BCO are genuine and idiomatic to the form, except with a prominent twist where, instead of vocals being primarily supported by the classic rock quartet formation of an electric guitar and bass, the body of the orchestration¹ is primarily fulfilled by a contingent of strings. Hence, Burning City Orchestra. The string parts are performed competently by Amanda LoJoshua HendersonPatti KilroyRick QuantzSusanna Mendlow, Mike Midlarsky, and Pat Swoboda.

To provide readers with an idea of some of the string parts’ compositional creativity, I would like to use a few songs as examples of what string writing in pop and rock should aim to be. In the introduction of The Place You Go Before You Die, during one of the final choruses and the outro, Noam uses glissandos, harmonics, and pizzicato played at various distances from the instrument’s bridge to create a kaleidoscope of effects outlining melodic content from the song, flung across the ranges of the instruments. There is a fair bit of processing on the parts, and these played string effects were sampled and then locked into their intended temporal position to create a clear rhythmic picture.

In Allinmymind over this lyrical content:

There’s a sin that’s been waiting for a special occasion
There’s a masterpiece waiting to be given shape
There’s a train built for one destination to take

And a rat looks me square in the eye as I’m falling awake.
And the train comes to take me away, as my pen starts to ache.

Here, Noam breaks the repeating triplet figures that have persisted since the beginning of the song with a beautiful ascending progression which ultimately lands on an A minor chord with the cello suspended on the 4th which subsequently resolves to a D minor 7 chord with a major 9th, through which the viola shines through on the tonic of the key. The moment of harmonic richness lands as Noam sings ‘awake’.

Musically, the best moments of this album are when the entire texture drops into a quiet intensity before bursting into adulation. This musical gesture happens a few times through the course of the release, in MadameInspiration Hits Like an Atomic Bomb, What Sweaters are for in the Summer specifically. In Inspiration Hits Like an Atomic Bomb, this kind of moment, which is presented in the 1st chorus,

Inspiration hits like an atomic bomb
And I’m waiting for the calm
So I can tell you that you’re perfect
Inspiration hits like an atomic bomb
And I’m waiting for the calm
So I can tell you that you’re perfect
Tell you that you’re perfect

is extended through a somber bridge that leads to a full stop in the music. Here Noam sings alone before all other instruments explode back in with a restatement of the chorus. Another interesting aspect of this album to note is that the usual song structure of intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-etc. is eschewed. For example, the first chorus in The Place You Go Before You Die occurs at 2:03 in the track, and only has a single second (albeit extended) chorus segment. In What Sweaters are for in the Summer, the reflective track is divided into two parts, with the first part essentially a soundscape of electronic noises with some light violin harmonic arpeggiations thrown in for effects. I won’t spoil the entire album for you, you can buy the album and see more here.

1. Orchestration in the sense of how the instrumentation and composition intertwine.

Creep With Highline Chamber Ensemble and Hirona Amamiya

Arranged & transcribed this in a day of work based on the well known Carrie Manoulakis rendition, but with lush strings and a written out—virtuoso piano part for Xiayin Wang.
Creep @ Sleep No More Supercinema

Due to popular demand, we sewed together this crowd footage of our arrangement of Radiohead's Creep sung by the gorgeous Hirona. Arrangement by Eric Lemmon. Thanks to Shu for the main footage.

Posted by Highline Chamber Ensemble on Thursday, February 18, 2016