Eric Stokes
Track Listings
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1. Susquehannas
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2. Susquehannas
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3. Susquehannas
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4. The Pickpocket is Lyrical Two
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5. The Pickpocket is Lyrical Two
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6. The Pickpocket is Lyrical Two
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7. The Pickpocket is Lyrical Two
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8. The Pickpocket is Lyrical Two
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9. Tintinnabulary (Phonic paradigm IV)
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10. Whittlings
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Editorial Reviews
Album Description
"Music is for the people. For all of us: the dumb, the deaf, the dogs and jays, handclappers, dancing moon watchers, brainy puzzlers, abstracted whistlers, finger-snapping time keepers, crazy, weak, hurt, weed keepers, the strays. The land of music is everyone’s nation—her tune, his beat, your drum—one song, one vote. " Eric Stokes (1930–1999) was a unique voice in American music. He was a genuine original, justly compared with Ives, Cage, and Henry Brant. A sense of grandeur, a love of nature, and a need for personal freedom were central to both the man and his work. Nicolas Slonimsky, in Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (8th edition), records that he was "variously described as a crusty, eccentric, wonderfully humorous, very healthy and resourceful American composer of gentle, witty, lyrically accessible music, with a taste for folkloric Americana and a ‘Whitmanesque’ ear." The four compositions on this, the first recording devoted entirely to his music, evince, in varying degrees and combinations, all these attributes. Susquehannas (1985) is a nature-inspired ode to the Indians who lived in the Eastern mountains. The Pickpocket is Lyrical Two (1994) incorporates several folk melodies (and a few of the composer’s own) in a fairly straightforward setting rich in lyricism and humor. Tintinnabulary (Phonic Paradigm IV) (1983), for two percussionists, is a beautiful exploration of sound qua sound, an attempt "to ring some few of the sounding world’s most multitudinous tintinnabularies." Whittlings (1992) was composed as a sonic metaphor on the art of whittling. Metaphor aside, it’s a witty, jazz-inflected rhythmic workout that brings the program to a spirited conclusion.
Eric Stokes, Music, Eric Stokes, Eric Stokes, Heather Barringer, Jay Johnson, Carl Witt, Chamber, Chamber Music, Chamber Music & Recitals, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music
Average customer rating:
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Brazen Cartographies
Manufacturer: Albany Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
 Quintets
| Chamber Music
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
General
| Chamber Music
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
General
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
General
| Brass
| Instruments
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
ASIN: B0000049QP
Release Date: 1997-03-18 |
Tracks:
- Musica Ptolemeica: Epicycle I
- Musica Ptolemeica: Epicycle II
- Musica Ptolemeica: Epicycle III
- Brass Quintet: 132 With A Solid Beat
- Brass Quintet: 60 Lyrical
- Brass Quintet: 144 Fast
- Brass Quintet: 80 Flowing
- Brass Quintet: 144 Brilliant
- Scenes From The Brothers Grimm (Book 1): Giocoso Ca. 138 (...A Dwarfian prospect)
- Scenes From The Brothers Grimm (Book 1): Linto, Molto Sostenuto, Ca. 66 (...enchantment of the Beast)
- Scenes From The Brothers Grimm (Book 1): Vivace, Ca. 80 (...Rumpelstiltskin's firedanse)
- Deploration
- Brazen Cartographies: Pike's Peak Ramble
- Brazen Cartographies: That Sea - Blue, Blue
- Brazen Cartographies: To The Fortunate Isles
- Brazen Cartographies: Poquito Conquistador
Average customer rating:
- an original and interesting compositional voice - but short timing
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Remembering Eric Stokes
Stokes , Johnson , Barringer , Witt , and Lowenstern
Manufacturer: New World Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
Chamber Music
| Forms & Genres
| Classical (c.1770-1830)
| Historical Periods
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
General
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
General
| Chamber Music
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
Classical
| Indie Music
| Stores
| Music
ASIN: B000069KEG
Release Date: 2002-07-30 |
Tracks:
- Susquehannas
- Susquehannas
- Susquehannas
- The Pickpocket is Lyrical Two
- The Pickpocket is Lyrical Two
- The Pickpocket is Lyrical Two
- The Pickpocket is Lyrical Two
- The Pickpocket is Lyrical Two
- Tintinnabulary (Phonic paradigm IV)
- Whittlings
Album Description
"Music is for the people. For all of us: the dumb, the deaf, the dogs and jays, handclappers, dancing moon watchers, brainy puzzlers, abstracted whistlers, finger-snapping time keepers, crazy, weak, hurt, weed keepers, the strays. The land of music is everyone's nation—her tune, his beat, your drum—one song, one vote. " Eric Stokes (1930-1999) was a unique voice in American music. He was a genuine original, justly compared with Ives, Cage, and Henry Brant. A sense of grandeur, a love of nature, and a need for personal freedom were central to both the man and his work. Nicolas Slonimsky, in Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (8th edition), records that he was "variously described as a crusty, eccentric, wonderfully humorous, very healthy and resourceful American composer of gentle, witty, lyrically accessible music, with a taste for folkloric Americana and a `Whitmanesque' ear." The four compositions on this, the first recording devoted entirely to his music, evince, in varying degrees and combinations, all these attributes. Susquehannas (1985) is a nature-inspired ode to the Indians who lived in the Eastern mountains. The Pickpocket is Lyrical Two (1994) incorporates several folk melodies (and a few of the composer's own) in a fairly straightforward setting rich in lyricism and humor. Tintinnabulary (Phonic Paradigm IV) (1983), for two percussionists, is a beautiful exploration of sound qua sound, an attempt "to ring some few of the sounding world's most multitudinous tintinnabularies." Whittlings (1992) was composed as a sonic metaphor on the art of whittling. Metaphor aside, it's a witty, jazz-inflected rhythmic workout that brings the program to a spirited conclusion.
Customer Reviews:
an original and interesting compositional voice - but short timing.......2007-05-07
Some fine and original composers seem not to get their breakthrough. And then, they die. Eric Stokes was born in 1930 and passed away in 1999. His career was mostly academic (University of Minnesota) and he was active as a promoter of contemporary music in and around Minneapolis. His output is sizeable (more than eighty works), including six operas, commissions and performances from some major orchestras and music organizations, but very little of it has been recorded.
I first encountered the music of Eric Stokes through his "Song Circle", on a CD of the Jubal trio (soprano, flute, harp) which I had acquired for the pieces of George Crumb and Donald Freund it contained (see my review of Jubal Songs - Donald Freund: Backyard Songs / George Crumb: Federico's Little Songs for Children / Harvey Sollberger: Life Study / Tania Leon: Journey / Eric Stokes: Song Circle - The Jubal Trio). I liked the piece enough to want to explore more of this composer.
On the basis of the pieces contained on the present New World CD, Stokes' compositional voice is original and interesting. He is interested in subtle, mysterious sounds blending clarinet and bells, chimes and wooden instruments, as in "Nostrum" and "Whangdoodles", the first and third pieces from "Susquehannas", a cycle inspired by the early inhabitants of the Eastern mountains, or again in "Breath Can Blow Both Ways" and "Go `Way From My Window", the even-numbered pieces from "The Pickpocket is Lyrical Two", a cycle that "goes back to some favorite folk songs still flourishing at the grass roots level". He likes to draw eerie sounds from the reeds, thanks to unusual playing techniques and electronic transformations (I think this is what is at play in "Buffalo Bones", the second Susquehannas piece, but it's hard to tell, so unusual are the sounds that are produced), to which he adds whistling, fiddling with the piano tone production ("Whangdoodles"), synthesizer ("Breath Can Blow Both Ways" and "Go `Way From My Window"). All this has the haunting eeriness of Crumb, without the outbursts of violence. He likes the jaunty rhythm of Jazz or Pop ("Whangdoodles", the odd-numbered pieces from "The Pickpocket is Lyrical Two" and "Whittlings") and fiddling with the piano tone production (Whangdoodles, the third Susquehannas).
In "Tintinnabulary (Phonic Paradigm IV)" he uses recorded and electronically reprocessed sounds of bells, ringing clocks and various "struck, reverberant objects". It sounds like some dream of a mysterious Tibetan ritual seen through the prism of Pierre Henry's "musique concrete".
At 47:30 the timing is short for a CD. 20 more minutes of Eric Stokes would have been greatly appreciated.
Tracks:
- Backyard Songs: A Song In The Front Yard - We Real Cool - Of De Witt Williams On His Way To Lincoln Cemetery
- Federico's Little Songs For Children: La Senorita Of The Fan
- Federico's Little Songs For Children: Afternoon
- Federico's Little Songs For Children: A Song Sung
- Federico's Little Songs For Children: Snail
- Federico's Little Songs For Children: The Lizard Is Crying!
- Federico's Little Songs For Children: A Little Song From Seville
- Federico's Little Songs For Children: Silly Song
- Life Study
- Journey
- Song Circle: Night By Lake Calhoun
- Song Circle: Chameleon Wedding
- Song Circle: Onion
- Song Circle: Car
- Song Circle: The God And Goddess Of Carrots
Customer Reviews:
Mesmerizing Crumb (not Bassett!) and some interesting discoveries.......2007-04-21
The five compositions on this disc were written for the Jubal Trio, an ensemble with the uncommon line-up of soprano, flute and harp. It takes its name from Handel's aria in his oratorio Joshua "O Had I Jubal's Lyre and Miriam's Tuneful Voice", and hence from the ancestor of all those who play the harp and the pipe, according to Genesis 4, 21.
I came to this disc as I wanted to hear more music of Donald Freund, whom I had discovered through a short, dazzling orchestral overture, "Radical Light", on a collection of contemporary pieces by the student orchestra of the Bowling Green University in Ohio (see my review of New Music From Bowling Green). His Backyard Songs draw their inspiration from and seek to emulate the Jazz singing of Ella Fitzgerald and of Memphis Blues singer Ruby Wilson. Each songs is introduced by precisely notated scat singing - a bit of an oxymoron, that - and the vocal line in each song is Jazz/Blues-inspired, with a (certainly sought for) impression of clashing with the more contemporary language of the flute and harp accompaniment. But Christine Schadeberg is a classically trained soprano (and an excellent one too), making the music sound more like Bernstein's Broadway music than genuine Jazz. And the music's limitation anyway seems to me to lie in its derivative character. I feel that Freund hasn't always completely mastered and transformed his Jazz/Blues material so to make it an entirely personal re-creation. The second piece is the most interesting, both for its choice of poem and musical elaboration (in which the two instrumentalists are asked to deliver the text as well, chorus-like), evocative of Michael Tippett's similar "Bluesy" inspirations.
Crumb (and not any "Brass Quintett" by Leslie Bassett! One wonder's how that wandered in the product information) is the grand pop' of this assemblage and, once again, he is the more original and fascinating voice. His Federico's Little Songs for Children were written for the Jubal trio, and they feature all his characteristic compositional trademarks: the eerie and mesmerizing sounds he elicits from the two instruments (along with some whistling) and the haunting, witty, whimsical melismatas he attributes to the vocalist. There is another version of the piece by Susan Narucki on the Bridge Crumb edition, but this one, by the dedicatees, remains indispensable.
Though more traditional-oriented, Eric Stokes' Song Circle is also quite winning. Stokes writes wonderfully skilfully and imaginatively for the two instruments, and is no slouch either at turning out a haunting melody. It is sometimes evocative of the later Britten (Death in Venice) or, as in the moving "Onion", Tippett's Bluesy inspiration. Eric Stokes, born in 1930, died two years after this disc was recorded, in 1999. I'll explore more of Stokes' compositions.
Harvey Sollberger's 19-minute "Life-Study" is the most experimental composition of this set, the one that sounds the most like a cliché of "contemporary music" from the 1970s: the poem is by himself, the music setting starts with various onomatopoeia (by all three performers) and sounds (fist striking harp), flute and harp are often used percussively rather than melodically. The piece is also "post-modern" in its use of various quotations, from Renaissance music, Dante's Inferno, Shakespeare's Sonnets, pointillist atonality, salsa, cabaret, giving the piece the aspect of music-theatre in miniature. The poem starts with the words "it is difficult to say what must be said, at times, To sing it, too, is no great help..." See the bearing? Still, it is interesting in its radicalism and experimental nature, if not exactly seductive and "easy listening".
Tania Leon's short (3:30) Journey is also very "contemporary" in its use of wide intervallic leaps for the voice and the angular motives given to the flute, as well as its utilization of the text not for its meaning - except for the first phrase it is uttered "in reverse" ("Universe" becomes "Es ri vi nu") but for its purely sonic value.
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- Handel: Famous Organ Concertos
- Haydn: Nelson Mass
- Hymns to the Goddess
- Igor Stravinsky: Symphony In E-Flat/Violin Concerto
- J.S. Bach: Keyboard Favourites
- Japan Project: Music for Solo Trombone
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