Marty Ehrlich
The Metropolis Ensemble, a new chamber organization started by Andrew Cyr has its inaugural concert and will present a concert including works by Britten and Copland. They will also offer the New York premiere of David Schiff's work for Jazz Saxophone and Ensemble: Singing in the Dark. The Saxophone soloist will be Marty Ehrlich, whom the The New York Times has called “one of the premier melodicists of his generation.” Mr. Ehrlich as well as having an international career as a multi–instrumentalist is also a composer and in 2004 was awarded a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in Composition.
David Schiff writes about Singing in the Dark:
I composed Singing in the Dark in 2000 in response to the events of 9/11. It is about 30 minutes long.
There are four movements, played without a break. The movements are titled: Meditation ona Shadow,
Spinning Out of Time, Almost Like Praying and WWDD (What Would Duke Do?). The piece was originally
written for saxophone and string quartet. For the performance by the Metropolis Ensemble I
have expanded the scoring for string orchestra and a rhythm section of bass and drums.
The string parts are completely written out, the parts for sax, bass and drums mix written
out sections with improvised ones. At different points in the piece improvisation is based
on either chord changes, as in traditional jazz, scales, as in modal jazz, or melodic ideas,
as in free jazz. Between the last two movements there is a solo for the saxophone which,
like a cadenza in a classical concerto is completely ad lib--though I give the player some
suggestions (which can be ignored.) I see the arc of the piece as a gradual spiritual
journey from shock to healing--a journey we follow not only in response to events like 9/11
but at many points in our life.
Marty Ehrlich:
Singing in the Dark touches on a
few key performance challenges. It has rich cantabile sections. And surely one of the “soul” practices of the
Euro–American classical tradition is the connected legato sound, striving for an intensity of the melodic line
through time. Other phrases in the piece call for an approach that touches on the African-American tradition,
where certain notes should be foregrounded and others backgrounded, leaning more to a musical approximation of speech patterns.
The internal rhythm of the melodic line.
From a conversation between Marty Ehrlich, David Schiff and Andrew Cyr
Singing in the Dark
Metropolis Ensemble
Thursday, February 16, 8:00 pm
Angel Orensanz Foundation Center for the Arts
172 Norfolk Street, Manhattan
Angel Orensanz Foundation
Directions
Copland: Quiet City with Elizabeth Kieronski, English Horn and Travis Heath, Trumpet
Britten: Serenade, with Daniel Neer, Tenor and Alexander Gusev, Horn soloist
Schiff: Singing in the Dark with Marty Ehrlich, solo Alto Saxophone, Mark Helias, Bass and Michael Sarin Drums.
