Composition:Today was created with the intension of bringing together the widest possible range of resources for Composers and anyone interested in New Music.
Dr. Scott Brickman is a full professor at the University of Maine at Fort Kent. His acoustic and electronic music has been performed throughout the USA as well as Canada, South America, Europe and the Middle East. Recordings of his works appear on the New Ariel, Capstone, Seamus and ERM labels. Dr. Brickman composed ‘Danzon Moderno’ especially for the Basso Moderno Duo.“Danzon Moderno is based on a 12 tone row whose first six pitches are a subset of the octatonic scale. While the melodic and motivic pitch material is modern, other elements are traditional. The form is akin to early bebop music, where a doubled line is played at the beginning and the end of the piece. Solo sections for piano and bass are derived from motivic fragmentation of the row, and are framed by duet sections which elicit a call and response effect”. Scott Brickman, Feb. 2008
"AM UAT is a music with a slow development, an a d a g i o. It must be played piano-pianissimo so to offer the pianist and the soprano the possibility to ascenddescends the STAIRCASE, falling down in forte towards an accelerated time, gradually condenced, the further a s c e n s i o n s become more and more difficult, being defiled by foreign musics which tend to change direction. But the target from the top of the STAICASE is finally reached by bright sounds of c r o t a l s peacefully to a STAIRCASE. Every ASCENSION is unique, non-recuring. When the bass and the increasing SILENCE.
'Piece for Basso Moderno' is based on a modal cantilena in the bass, which is superposed with energetic writing in the piano part. The piece is composed of 3 sections which alternated a lyric and passionate language with a concrete rhythmic structure, which is developed in a climax, along with the dream-like language found in the harmonic system of the bass” - Iulia Cibisescu-DuranRomanian composer Iulia Cibisescu-Duran composed ‘Piece for Basso Moderno’ in February 2008.
Dr. Cibisescu-Duran is a Romanian composer of mostly orchestral, chamber, choral and vocal works that have been performed throughout the world. Previous to teaching at the Gheorgehe Dima Academy of Music in Cluj-Napoca, she studied with Emil Simon, Petre Sbarcea and received her DMus in Musicology in 2001. Among her many honors are first prizes from the Gheorghe Dima National Competition, Lasi National Competition, Romanian TV Prize and others. In 2007, she received the Union Composers Prize. As a writer, she has published many articles and the book Plymorphic Structures in Postmodern Romanian Music (2002). She founded the contemporary music ensemble Art Contrast in Cluj-Napoca and is a member of the Composers Union of Romania and the Professional Women’s Advisory Board of the American Biographical Institute.
The Basso Moderno Duo requested the work in anticipation of their March recital in Cluj and for their growing program of new works by Romanian women composers. ‘Piece for Basso Moderno’ will be premiered at the Women Composers Festival in Hartford, Connecticut on March 7 at the exclusive Charter Oak Cultural Center.
