100 / 116
7:30 PM MONDAY, AUGUST 27, 2018
MARTIN THEATRE
DAWN UPSHAW,
soprano
GILBERT KALISH,
piano
SŌ PERCUSSION
†
ERIC CHA-BEACH
JOSH QUILLEN
ADAM SLIWINSKI
JASON TREUTING
BRYCE DESSNER
Music for Wood and Strings
*
Sō Percussion
CAROLINE SHAW
Narrow Sea
**
Wayfaring Stranger
Interlude
In nite Day
I Stand
Going Home
Dawn Upshaw
;
Gilbert Kalish
;
Sō Percussion
–
–
GEORGE CRUMB
e Winds of Destiny
*
Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory
When Johnny Comes Marching Home
Lonesome Road
Twelve Gates to the City
De Profundis: A Psalm for the Night-Wanderer
All My Trials (Death’s Lullaby)
Go Tell It on the Mountain!
e Enchanted Valley
Shenandoah
Dawn Upshaw
;
Gilbert Kalish
;
Sō Percussion
†
Ravinia debut
*
First performance at Ravinia
**
Midwest premiere
BRYCE DESSNER (b. 1976)
Music for Wood and Strings
For several years, I have been experimenting
with simple chorales in my music that utilize
triadic chord inversions that are aligned in com-
plex rhythm patterns to create a kaleidoscopic
e ect of harmony.
ese feature heavily in my
work for orchestra and two guitars,
Saint Caro-
lyn by the Sea
( ), and the writing for my song
cycle,
e Long Count
(
).
While I have used this technique on guitars and
strings, I have not had the opportunity to apply it
to percussion instruments. For this new Sō Per-
cussion piece, I have been working with instru-
ment builder Aron Sanchez (Blue Man Group,
Buke, and Gase) to design four dulcimer-like in-
struments to be played by the quartet. ese are
simply designed double-course string instru-
ments that are played like a dulcimer, but which
are speci cally built and tuned to implement a
more evolved hybrid of the chorale hocket. Each
instrument is ampli ed using piezo pickups and
will have eight double-course strings tuned to
two harmonies. With the use of dulcimer mal-
lets, the quartet players can easily sound either
harmony, or play individual strings, melodies,
and drone tremolos. ere are alto, two tenors,
and a bass instrument that can play fretted chro-
matic bass lines. With these elements, as well as
a few pieces of auxiliary percussion—bass drum,
wood block—the work is about minutes long.
–Bryce Dessner
CAROLINE SHAW (b. 1982)
Narrow Sea
Narrow Sea
places the seeds of old American
folk hymns within the unlikely combination
of Sō Percussion, Dawn Upshaw, and Gil Ka-
lish. Together they create unique sound worlds
with ceramic bowls, owerpots, humming, and
a piano played like a dulcimer. All of the lyrics
are from songs found in
e Sacred Harp
, a
Bryce Dessner
(photo: Shervin Lainez)
RAVINIA MAGAZINE | AUGUST 27 – SEPTEMBER 2, 2018
98