Electrified Air
Contemporary Classical Meets Electric guitar
A Digital Event in collaboration with Grammy award-winning electric guitarist D. J. Sparr. This innovative evening fused the sounds of diverse contemporary music spheres – phasing, loops, and funk met rock, flavors of jazz, and contemporary classical harmonies to bring electrifying energy to the ear.
SOLI’s digital event included the world premieres of three works: Hammer and Nail by Anthony Joseph Lanman, A Singing Planet by Olivia Kieffer, and the SOLI commissioned work A Bell Outside a Bell Inside a Bell by D. J. Sparr. Click the video or this link to watch Electrified Air on YouTube.
SOLI Chamber Ensemble continued its season with its Digital Event, Electrified Air, on Wednesday, March 17 with Grammy award-winning electric guitarist D. J. Sparr. This innovative evening fused the sounds of diverse contemporary music spheres – phasing, loops, and funk met rock, flavors of jazz, and contemporary classical harmonies to bring electrifying energy to the ear.
SOLI’s digital event includes the world premieres of three works: Hammer and Nail by Anthony Joseph Lanman, A Singing Planet by Olivia Kieffer, and the SOLI commissioned work A Bell Outside a Bell Inside a Bell by D. J. Sparr.
Please use the tabs – arranged in concert order – to navigate to the program and composer information.
A special “thank you” to St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Machine Says Yes, and Zinc Media Pro for their incredible support and creative energy on this project!
Vim-Hocket, Calm (1997) | D. J. Sparr (b. 1975)
for electric violin, and electric guitar
Vim-Hocket, Calm is influenced by the work of Louis Andriessen and Charles Ives’ Five Songs. The first section of the first movement, “Vim”, uses a series of harmonies that are articulated in chordal fashion, are subsequently arpeggiated in quick bursts, then offset to create an echo effect. A hocket begins using motives from the antecedent music. The quick back and forth antagonists are interrupted with slow, soothing music which hints at what is to come in “Calm”. The instruments then burst with the arpeggio figure in extreme ranges leading to aggressive alternating chords in the last measures of the section. In “Calm”, a folk-like melody creates a melancholy, musical pas de deux, ending with a slow, unresolved cadence.
Hammer and Nail (2016) | Anthony Joseph Lanman (b. 1979)
World Premiere
for piano and electric guitar
Hammer & Nail is a fast and furious duo inspired by heavy metal and progressive rock. It features hard-hitting, razor-sharp contrapuntal lines between the two instruments, creating a brazen and percussive sound with the sophistication of Bach and the rebelliousness of Sid Vicious. Click here to watch an animated graphical score of Hammer & Nail.
movements from Little Black Book (2012) | Armando Bayolo (b. 1973)
for electric guitar
Little Black Book, commissioned by the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University for guitarist D.J. Sparr, is a “baker’s dozen” of short solo pieces meant as a kind of “gig bag” for a touring concert guitarist. While the entire set of 13 pieces can be performed in its totality, the pieces are also meant to be excerpted, as they are this evening. The titles are placed at the end of each piece, with ellipses, as they are in the two books of piano preludes by Claude Debussy, a favorite composer or mine (and favorite pieces of mine to play). So, they’re meant as suggestions more than fixed titles.
Pepto-Bismol Pink (2016) | Jay Mobley (b. 1988)
for clarinet and electric guitar
As I looked around my cluttered desk trying to think of a name for this piece, the color of the Pepto-Bismol to the right of my laptop caught my eye. It’s not a very attractive color, but since that medicine regularly did its work for me at the time — for indigestion or just the daily anxiety of existence — it carried connotations of comfort and fast results. It seemed like a suitable title. Written for D. J. Sparr and Carlos Cordeiro in 2016, Pepto-Bismol Pink is equal parts martial persistence and roiling nausea, as the guitar presses steadily ahead and the clarinet swings wildly, doubling over itself.
A Bell Outside a Bell Inside a Bell (2019-2020) | D. J. Sparr
World Premiere
for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
D. J. Sparr says about his new piece A Bell Outside a Bell Inside a Bell, “There is a blunt concept of this piece in that the listener can imagine three ringing bells. The large bell is the first piano chord. The smaller bell is the violin and cello. And the smallest bell is the clarinet. But, on a spiritual level, the piece includes a haunting melody which I think of as a cantus firmus…but a melody that hasn’t yet existed until today. I love the idea that on this concert called ‘Electrified Air’ – one can think of large ringing bells as things that electrify the air but before amplification or electronic instruments. As the piece progresses, the two worlds of bells and melody combine. The large chords in the piano morph into a peal of bells while the ensemble plays a version of the cantus which is an echo of itself. Thick cello chords closely followed by the violin are finally accentuated by a searing high clarinet.”
movements from A Singing Planet (2013) | Olivia Kieffer (b. 1980)
World Premiere
for electric guitar
A Singing Planet was commissioned by Atlanta composer and guitarist Darren Nelsen, in 2013. The four movements are titled I. There is Light for One Year, II. The Smallest Become the Tallest, III. Flying, IV. Knowledge of Eternity and each uses a different effect, ranging from a freeze pedal, looping, tapping, and chorus and distortion. Darren and I have a mutual favorite poet, Rainer Maria Rilke, and the music was inspired by his poem “Falling Stars”.
Guitarist D. J. Sparr will perform movements II and IV from this work.
Troica (1998) | Marc Mellits (b. 1966)
for violin, electric guitar, and piano
Troică, scored for three instruments, is also the Romanian word for a sleigh pulled by three horses. The piece begins with all three instruments playing the same notes, slightly displaced, akin to the three horses of a troică. As the music progresses, the three instruments move together, and then apart from each other, and often back again. Each instrument represents only one part of the larger musical picture; they complete each other’s phrases, melodies, and rhythms. The music is a type of musical sleigh, often with a rhythm of two and three happening simultaneously. Troică was originally composed to accompany the Ithaca, NY, based dance company, “Troika,” and elements of dance-like structures are used throughout.
Our Friend Adam (2007/2020) | Ryan Brown (b. 1979)
for bass clarinet, violin, electric guitar, cello, and piano
Our Friend Adam’s title comes from Disney’s classic 1956 indoctrination tool “Our Friend the Atom,” which sought to “present the cheerful, non-destructive side of the atom in entertaining and, in hindsight, absurdly naive ways” (conelrad.com). I remember seeing the cartoon on trips to Disneyland as a kid, and, although I had no idea what it was about, I was mildly entertained by the funny little cartoon atom bouncing about proclaiming the joys of nuclear energy in a high-pitched, Mickey Mouse-like voice. Confused, I thought that little atom was actually a character named “Adam,” and that the film’s title was, in fact, “Our Friend, Adam.” (photo credit: Anneliese Varaldiev)
Press and Media Coverage
San Antonio Report | Electric guitarist D. J. Sparr to join SOLI Chamber Ensemble for Electrified Air. Click here for the article.
Guitarist D. J. Sparr recorded Kenneth Fuchs’ Concerto for Electric Guitar “Glacier” with the London Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Joann Falletta. Click here for a preview of this Grammy-award winning recording.