[But Not Forgotten:
Music by African-American Composers for Clarinet & Piano;
Marcus Eley, clarinet; Lucerne DeSa, piano; Sono Luminus DSL-92156
(U.S. release date July 31, 2012)]
William
J. Zick interviewed Marcus Eley by phone on June 21, 2012:
Good
morning!
Hello,
this is Bill Zick calling for Marcus Eley.
This
is he speaking. Good morning and thank you so much for your
time!
Oh,
it's my pleasure! This is the first opportunity I've had to write
about a clarinet and piano CD. It's not an instrument combination that has come up very often.
Well,
based on the repertoire and on the reviews for this recording, we
hope that that will change!
I
do too. A contact in the U.K. sent an email
that it was coming out there a little bit earlier than it
is in the U.S.?
Yes,
I found that interesting myself, because, surfing the web I saw that
the recording will be released July 2 in the U.K. It won't be
released here until July 31. Whenever it hits this world, that's
good!
Right,
I certainly agree with that! I understand you grew up in Indianapolis?
That's
correct, yes. I was born in Indianapolis and attended Indianapolis
Public Schools and Indiana University. From there I studied at the
Hochschule fuer Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, Austria. I
did some postgraduate work with Robert Marcellus at Northwestern
University.
I read that you and your sister took part in a radio contest for
school children to identify music?
That's
correct. There was a competition in the Indianapolis school system.
It gave students a chance to become oriented in classical music. We
would hear excerpts from records. After a perfect score of
identifying ten excerpts, we would progress to the radio stage.
After you got a “10” on that you would hear a live orchestra
performing. In this case the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra would
perform snatches from the Brahms Third, or it could have been the
Grieg Piano Concerto.
You
got
to
hear them in person, right?
Yes,
you would go there as the winner of this competition, hear the
concert live and have a chance to guess which movement it was and the
composer. I missed one, and my sister got a perfect score and she
won the prize, a recording of Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra performing the Tragic Overture, and on the same side the
Brahms Third or Fourth. I was very upset with that at the age of 8 or
9!
Did
it help stimulate your interest?
Yes,
it did!
Doesn't
the program on this recording reflect the concept of the performance
that you and Lucerne DeSa gave a few years ago?
That's
correct! One of the things that I wanted to do when I received the
invitation to perform at the National Arts Center Festival in
Grahamstown, South Africa was to present a program that would be
unique, reflecting the reason that I was invited. For the first time
at the festival they wanted to focus on the diaspora. Because of the
uniqueness of my program, it was something that allowed me to feature
women composers, African-American women and African-American
composers that had never been highlighted before at the previous
festivals. I thought well, since I am going to be here, and we had
rehearsed the program, and we had performed it, let's record it.
Before leaving I was able to find a very fine concert hall in
Stellenbosch that had the time available and allowed us to give our
concert there and at the same time we were performing we would be
able to record the music on the concert hall stage.
Did you bring something back?
Yes, I did! In fact it was recorded there, I then brought it back to the
United States, and I had it mastered. The biggest challenge was to
start trying to find a record home for this. It took quite some
time. And then I was very, very conscious about trying to find the
right vehicle for this. I went, and I had written and spoken with
all of the major classical record companies in this country. Can I
mention the names?
Yes,
certainly.
From
BMG to Sony Classical to Decca, Universal, Harmonia Mundi, etc.
Unfortunately, after several weeks passed, I would get a phone call
or a message or email saying thank you very much, but we can't find a
home for it; we don't know how to place this. Nothing critical of
the performances, but in fact in all cases, very fine performances,
well presented and so on but the next step was going on because, even
in my previous recording, I believe that because of the nature of the
recording at this point it is almost incumbent to the artist to make
sure that everything has been placed...
You
say the previous recording; would that be the Arabesque CD called
Welcome
Home?
That's
correct!
Would
you like to comment briefly on that one?
Again,
I wanted the recording to be a potpourri of music by American
composers for clarinet and piano. It included Sonata for clarinet and piano by Alec Wilder.
David
Baker?
David
Baker, of course!
H.T.
Burleigh?
Yes!
And another good friend of mine, Thom
Ritter George, I met at the Sun Valley Arts Festival years ago. These
were the composers I wanted, to say that this is a panorama of
American composers.
Oliver
Nelson and John Price?
Yes,
exactly! John Price I had met some years previous and I had the
pleasure of performing a recital at Auburn University and at the
time, we met and talked. I had already performed his Blues
and Dance I and
I said if I ever get a possibility I will record your work. The
mission became possible, and then I recorded it. It's angular in its
compositional technique.
I
haven't heard your current recording, but someone wrote a glowing
review for the American Composers Alliance...
Yes!
Dorothy
Rudd Moore said the performance of Night
Fantasy was
stunning!
Well,
thank you very much!
I'm
just passing on what she said!
Oh,
it was very kind of Dorothy Rudd Moore! I had performed her work at
the conference in South Africa. All the works in this compilation
were of African-American composers. I wanted to give an overview of
what it is like, because there is nothing, to my knowledge, that has
a recording of this type for this instrument and these composers. I
wanted to have Undine Smith Moore's work and I wanted to make sure
that women composers were represented.
The
program goes on to Alvin Batiste, Episodes?
Alvin
Batiste was a very good friend. We had the pleasure of working with
Alvin on different occasions. This music Episodes
is
a part of a larger piece for clarinet, string quartet and jazz trio,
which Alvin and I will perform on the next recording, which will be
the music by Black composers or African American composers for
chamber music setting. First you have the clarinet and piano, then
you have the larger chamber music.
Then
you have Clarence Cameron White, The
Basque Folk Song?
Yes,
that has not been recorded. That is something I think is from the
middle part of his compositional life. All these pieces on the
recording reflect the composer's passion for the instrument and the
setting, particularly The
Basque Folk Song.
The same thing is true with the Romance
composed by William Grant Still which I had found out was originally
a dynamic piece for alto saxophone. As I listened to it as I was
reading the score, I thought this would work really well with the
clarinet. As I mentioned in the program notes, it is a song without
words, and it has a very nice melody which is typical of William
Grant Still.
I
see the program goes on with another woman, Undine Smith
Moore?
Undine
Smith Moore has been, throughout her compositional life, someone who
wanted to show her love for the spiritual, and also her work for
choral writing. I remember when I first got the work from her she
said this is one of my earliest pieces for clarinet, and it was
Introduction,
Allegro and Fugue,
so one other piece if I'm not mistaken. I remember the discussion
very briefly. This piece, again, is one of the pieces which work
well for the instrument. It allows one to see what Undine Smith
Moore has done outside of her area. Her instrumental writing is very
interesting, and challenging!
A
fascinating choice I haven't seen before, Samuel Akpabot?
This
is from a larger piece.
Scenes
from Nigeria?
Exactly!
This particular excerpt from the piece features the clarinet. He
rewrote this for clarinet and piano. I think I found this piece at
Indiana University School of Music. It's a piece that's very
melodic. Its titled Pastorale;
it's a lullaby type of song which puts it in a very tranquil and
relaxed mood. This is one of his pieces that I wanted to include.
For an African composer, you don't see that many pieces for
traditional wind instruments in Western compositional technique.
I
see you go on then to Quincy Hilliard?
Yes.
You
chose his work Coty?
Yes,
I did. A friend of mine knew Coty.
He said Quincy is a very fine composer; this is a piece for clarinet
you should look at. This is a friend of mine from the Indianapolis
Public Schools who knew Quincy Hilliard. When I got the piece from
him, I thought it was quite interesting. It is something that could
definitely work well in any recital setting for clarinet. The second
movement is something that I think is very interesting and yet
passionate. The last movement, which is something that I remember
from playing it in South Africa, reminds one of the Mission
Impossible theme.
Is
that right!
In
the ostinato; when you listen to it you'll hear it. What makes it
very interesting is what Mr. Hilliard does in the clarinet part.
It's the movement that is the most virtuosic for the instrument.
There are things that require a lot of technique and use of different
types of control of the instrument. It's a fun piece; I think you'll
enjoy it! It reminds me of that period, and it works well!
You
have Scott Joplin represented here?
Yes!
With
Weeping
Wilow, A Ragtime Two-Step?
Exactly!
This piece is something that I have done many times as an encore.
Not many people know this piece! It's one of the pieces that are
arranged to give the clarinet a prominent voice but then still goes
back to what Mr, Joplin said, that a rag should be played not very
fast, and that it's much more dignified than what people frequently
think of when they think of the rag. This one I wanted to have a
very stately approach to a genre that many people feel should be
played very quickly. The Weeping
Willow
was something that I felt works well on the instrument.
The
piece that follows is Todd Cochran's Soul
Bird?
Exactly!
This was commissioned from Mr. Cochran. Todd, a good friend, lives
here in the Los Angeles area, and has done much work as a jazz
pianist and also as a film composer. When I approached him I said
I'm going to South Africa, I really want to feature a world premiere.
Would you have anything, or would you have the time to compose a
piece? He graciously accepted and Soul
Bird
is one piece that, as I wrote in the program notes, gives one an
impression of how a bird will land, a soul bird metaphorically
speaking, will land and become a part of life and then flourishes and
then the bird encounters the rest of his life. There are things that
happen, and then he flies away before he dies.
You
close the program with Amazing
Grace?
Yes!
This piece I have given several years ago, and and it's a great
arrangement!
The
arrangement by H. Stevenson?
Yes!
Mr. Stevenson lives here in the Southern California area. I was
able to get the piece. My friend said “Marcus, I know you can play
this quite well!” I've used it as an encore. It's a composition
everyone knows, but to have it performed on the clarinet gives it a
different type of feeling. My hat goes off to the arrangement by Mr.
Stevenson! With all these other composers, and all the works that
have been played and not played, the amazing grace is that we are
able to realize that there by the grace of God with all these works
that the composer's art has contributed, we are able to say, that we
have come, and we will survive and we will not be forgotten!
You
end with a very thoughtful and pleasant perspective!
Yes,
in fact that's what I want! This is a celebration of works by
composers whose voices need to be heard! They have to be heard! And
they will be heard! I want in this recording to do what I can do as
a performing artist to show what there is in this repertoire.
Hopefully this will stir other composers, other musicians, other
clarinetists to aggressively challenge the view of work. When you
look at the programming of orchestral, chamber and solo recitals or
concerts, you don't see this type of thing.
You
have chosen a fine record label, Sono Luminus!
Oh, thank you very
much! It was a challenge trying to find a home, and I am so happy
that Sono Luminus has given me this opportunity and I am sure that
this will add significantly to the discography of works by
African-American composers!
This
is the second Sono Luminus recording that I've dealt with. The first
one was the Russian
Viola Sonatas of
Eliesha Nelson and Glen Inanga.
Yes!
Is
there any concluding remark you'd like to make?
Just
listen, enjoy and listen again!
Thank
you very much, Marcus!
Thank
you so much for allowing me to have the forum!
