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Benedict Weisser Offers World Premiere of "Songs without Words"
Benedict
Weisser
Concert by the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble and the Oberlin Wind Ensemble
Wednesday, December 9, 8 P.M.
Finney Chapel
Works by Mozart, Judith Weir, Ellen Taaffee Zwilich, Poul Ruders, Benedict Weisser, Oberlin student composers, and Harrison Birtwistle
Timothy Weiss (conductor)
Ryan Anthony Anthony (trumpet)
George Sakakeeny (guest conductor)
Amitabh Rao (student conductor)
DECEMBER 9, 1998--An elemental, rhythmic heartbeat is the centerpiece of Benedict Weisser's "Song without Words," a piece for orchestra and tape slated for world premiere tonight at 8 P.M. in Finney Chapel.
"This is an extremely personal piece," says Weisser, visiting assistant professor of composition. "It's dedicated to my mother, Betty Weisser, who passed away in June, five-and-a-half months ago. She died from heart problems, and the heartbeat you hear in this piece was inspired by my mother's time in the hospital. A primary element of "Songs without Words" uses percussion--two very large tambourines--to provide the metronomic beat that remains independent from all other musical elements. The piece is written in sections: wild arrhythmia, stabilization, and the degeneration into the final wild arrhythmia. I wanted to explore this experience of death, of dying. I tried to experience what she was going through, thinking, feeling, during her time of recovery, and ultimately her death.
"But in addition to the sound of her heart, there are other references to her life throughout the seven-and-a-half-minute piece. My mother was brought up in England during the Blitz of World War II. The taped text includes radio propaganda from that time, including excerpts of a 1942 pro-Fascist, pro-Mussolini speech by Ezra Pound. I was brought up with such pervasive, dark, sardonic images of the Holocaust, and this material has such a resonance for me," Weisser says.
In preparation, Weisser logged many hours listening to tapes of World War II-era Italian radio that he obtained from the National Archives, available to the public through the Freedom of Information Act. "These tapes are fascinating. They move from war reports to extemporaneous reportage, a Scarlatti piano sonata, to the vicious rants of Pound. Other influences for this piece include Chinese ideograms as musical notations (which come directly from Pound's Cantos), the poet Paul Celan, and Noel Coward's "Sail Away" and "I Travel Alone."
"This piece obviously has much emotional significance for me," Weisser says, "and I have such confidence that the upcoming performance will do it justice. Tim Weiss is a superb technician, especially for some of these strange and surreal combinations."
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