YellowBarnBlog

2020 Yellow Barn videos

Saturday, August 1, 2020

Watch performances from Yellow Barn's 2020 Summer Artist Residencies in Putney, Vermont.

Watch on Vimeo

View programs from the 2020 Summer Season

More videos

Audio recordings

 

July 10, 2020 | View program details

Charles Ives Piano Sonata No. 2 “Concord, Mass., 1840–60”
Stephen Coxe Entstehung Heiliger Dankgesang (Emergence of the Holy Song of Thanksgiving)
Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet in A Minor, Op.132 Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart (Holy song of thanksgiving of a convalescent to the Deity, in the Lydian mode)

July 11, 2020 | View program details

Lei Liang Trans for solo percussion and audience
Anton Webern Five Movements for String Quartet, Op.5
Benjamin Britten Elegy for Solo Viola
Antonín Dvořák Bagatelles, Op.47
Frederic Rzewski To The Earth
 

July 16, 2020 | View program details

Johann Sebastian Bach
Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007
Suite No. 4 in E-flat Major, BWV 1010
Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011
Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten from Cantata, BWV 93

July 18, 2020  | View program details

Glory, Glory
Johann Sebastian Bach
Suite No.2 in D Minor, BWV 1009
Suite No.3 in C Major, BWV 1009
Suite No.6 in D Major, BWV 1012

July 23, 2020 | View program details

Mario Davidovsky (1934-2019)
Synchronisms No. 3 for Cello and Electronic Sounds
Synchronisms No. 6 for Piano and Electronic Sounds
Synchronisms No. 9 for Violin and Electronic Sounds
Synchronisms No. 11 for Contrabass and Electronic Sounds
Synchronisms No.12 for Clarinet and Electronic Sounds

July 25, 2020 | View program details

John Cage Solo for Voice 39 from Song Books
Franz Schubert Ganymed, D.544
Amy Beth Kirsten yes I said yes I will Yes.
Travis Laplante The Obvious Place
Toshio Hosokawa Windscapes
Beethoven Walks at Greenwood Trail and Hannum Trail
Ludwig van Beethoven Andante from Bagetelles, Op.126 No.3 in E-Flat Major

July 30, 2020 | View program details

Stephen Coxe The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Mark Applebaum Gone, Dog. Gone!
Fredrik Andersson The Lonelyness of Santa Claus
Alan Ridout Ferdinand for Speaker and Violin
John Cage Solo for Voice 57 from Song Books

 
August 1, 2020 | View program details

John Cage Solo for Voice 22 from Song Books
Georges Aperghis Récitation No. 9 for Female Voice
Liza Lim Inguz
John Cage Solo for Voice 23 from Song Books
Matthew Aucoin Dual
Philippe Manoury Le Livre des Claviers II
Johann Sebastian Bach Partita No. 1 in B Minor, BWV 1002

 
August 7, 2020 | View program details
 
György Kurtág Kafka Fragments
 
 
August 8, 2020 | View program details
 
John Cage Solo for Voice 43 from Song Books
Philippe Hersant In The Dark
Dimitri Shostakovich Seven Romances on Poems of Alexander Blok, Op.127
Osvaldo Golijov Tenebrae
James MacMillan Angel
 

2021 Yellow Barn videos

Saturday, August 1, 2020

Watch performances from Yellow Barn's 2021 Summer Festival in Putney, Vermont.
Check back throughout the fall for more videos. Performances are being added weekly!

View programs from the 2021 Summer Season

More videos

Audio recordings

Week one

Samuel Barber (1910-1981) String Quartet Op.11, Adagio (1936)
James Wood (b.1953) Rogosanti (Healing) (1986)
Alice Ivy-Pemberton, Carolin Widmann, violins; Leonid Plashinov-Johnson, viola; Natasha Brofsky, cello
Matthew Overbay, percussion
Daniel McCusker, dancer
Performed on July 9, 2021 in the Big Barn

Toshio Hosokawa (b.1955) Im Nebel (In the Fog) (2013)
North American Premiere
Ansel Norris, trumpet; Anna Han, piano
Kaija Saariaho (b.1952) Oi Kuu (1990)
Barret Ham, bass clarinet; Aaron Wolff, cello
Performed on July 10, 2021 in the Big Barn

Week Two

Dai Fujikura (b.1977) The Voice (2007)
Yen-Chen Wu, bassoon; Natasha Brofsky, cello
Performed on July 15, 2021 in the Big Barn

Steven Mackey (b.1956) Cairn (1994)
Steven Mackey, electric guitar
Performed on July 15, 2021 in the Big Barn

Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996) And then I knew ’twas Wind (1992)
Patrick Tsuji, flute; Katherine Murdock, viola; Charles Overton, harp
Performed on July 15, 2021 in the Big Barn

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) Cello Sonata No. 2 in G Minor, Op.117 (1921)
Jean-Michel Fonteneau, cello; Anna Han, piano
Performed on July 15, 2021 in the Big Barn

Hans Abrahamsen (b.1952) Six Pieces (1984/2012) 
Kevin Newton, French horn; Alice Ivy-Pemberton, violin; Lana Suran, piano
Performed on July 16, 2021 in the Big Barn

Leos Janácek (1854-1928) From Hukvaldy and Moravian Folk Poetry in Song (1898/1908)
Kristina Bachrach, soprano; William Sharp, baritone; Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, piano
Hans Eisler (1898-1962) Zeitungsausschnitte (Newspaper clippings), Op.11 (1925-6)
Kristina Bachrach, soprano; Anna Han, piano
Performed on July 16, 2021 in the Big Barn

J.S. Bach (1685-1750) Amore traditore (Treacherous love), Cantata BWV 203 (1718-9)
William Sharp, baritone; Alice Chenyang Xu, piano
Performed on July 17, 2021 in the Big Barn

Week Three

György Ligeti (1923-2006) Síppal, dobbal, nádihegedüvel (With Pipes, Drums, Fiddles) (2000)
Elaine Daiber, soprano; Eduardo Leandro, Matthew Overbay, Sam Um, Peter White, percussion
Performed on July 22, 2021 in the Big Barn

Thomas Adès (b.1971) The Four Quarters (2010)
Luke Hsu, Evan Hjort, violins; Natalie Loughran, viola; Rainer Crosett, cello
Performed on July 22, 2021 in the Big Barn

J.S. Bach (1685-1750) "Schafe können sicher weiden" ("Sheep May Safely Graze") from Cantata BWV 208 (1713)
Kristina Bachrach, soprano; Patrick Tsuji, Antonina Styczen, flutes; Seth Knopp, Michael Kannen, continuo
Performed on July 23, 2021 in the Big Barn

Tigran Mansurian (b.1939) Agnus Dei (2006)
Barret Ham, clarinet; Yiliang Jiang, violin; Jeffrey Ho, cello; Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, piano
Performed on July 24, 2021 in the Big Barn

Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate (b.1968) Standing Bear: A Ponca Indian Cantata in Eight Tableaux (2015)
William Sharp, baritone; Curtis Macomber, Nathan Amaral, violins; Lauren Spaulding, Luther Warren, violas; Alma Hernán Benedí, Aaron Wolff, cellos; Sophiko Simsive, piano
Performed on July 24, 2021 in the Big Barn

Earl Kim (1920-1998) Scenes from a Movie, Part 1, The Seventh Dream (1986)
Elaine Daiber, soprano; William Sharp, baritone; Yukiko Uno, violin; Mon-Puo Lee, cello; Seth Knopp, piano
Performed on July 24, 2021 in the Big Barn

Week Four

Eric Nathan (b.1983) Toying (2012)
Ansel Norris, trumpet
Performed on July 27, 2021 in the Big Barn

Brett Dean (b.1961) Seven Signals (2019)
Yasmina Spiegelberg, clarinet; Isabelle Ai Durrenberger, violin; Aaron Wolff, cello; Alice Chenyang Xu, piano
Performed on July 27, 2021 in the Big Barn

Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004) Movement for String Trio (2004)
Gideon Klein (1919-1945) String Trio (1944)
Randall Goosby, violin; Leonid Plashinov-Johnson, viola; Leland Ko, cello
Performed on July 27, 2021 in the Big Barn

Donald Martino (1931-2005) Cinque Frammenti (1964)
Mark Hill, oboe; Pete Walsh, double bass
Performed on July 27, 2021 in the Big Barn

György Kurtág (b.1926) Einige Sätze aus den Sudelbüchern Georg Christoph Lichtenbergs, Op. 37a (1996/1999)
Elaine Daiber, soprano; Marcus Elliott Gaved, double bass
Performed on July 27, 2021 in the Big Barn

Friedrich Cerha (b.1927) Musik für Posaune und Streichquartett (2004-5)
Oliver Barrett, trombone; Hee-Soo Yoon, Yiliang Jiang, violins; Emily Brandenburg, viola; Alma Hernán Benedí, cello
Performed on July 29, 2021 in the Big Barn

Claude Vivier (1948-1983) Hymnen an die Nacht (1975)
Elaine Daiber, soprano; Anna Han, piano
Performed on July 29, 2021 in the Big Barn

Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), Op.4 (1899) (arr. Eduard Steuermann, 1932)
Julia Mirzoev, violin; Mon-Puo Lee, cello; Sophiko Simsive, piano
Performed on July 29, 2021 in the Big Barn

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Violin Sonata in G Major, Op.96 (1812)
Yiliang Jiang, violin; Yun Janice Lu, piano
Performed on July 30, 2021 in the Big Barn

Sebastian Currier (b.1959) Night Time (1998)
Curtis Macomber, violin; Charles Overton, harp
Performed on July 30, 2021 in the Big Barn

Jörg Widmann (b.1973) String Quartet No. 7 (Beethoven – Study II) (2020)
North American Premiere
Leonard Fu, Sophia Anna Szokolay, violins; Rosemary Nelis, viola; Jean-Michel Fonteneau, cello
Performed on July 31, 2021 in the Big Barn

Week Five

 
James MacMillan (b. 1959) "T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)" from ...as others see us... (1990)
Patrick Tsuji, flute; Yasmina Spiegelberg, bass clarinet; Yen-Chen Wu, contrabassoon; Ansel Norris, trumpet; Sam Um, percussion; Nathan Amaral, violin; Lauren Spaulding, viola; Alma Hernán Bendí, cello; Pete Walsh, double bass
Performed on August 2, 2021 in the Big Barn
 
 
Sofia Gubaidulina (b. 1931) Hommage à T.S. Eliot (1987)
Rachel Schutz, soprano; Yasmina Spiegelberg, clarinet; Yen-Chen Wu, bassoon; Nicolee Kuester, French horn; Sophia Anna Szokolay, Hee-Soo Yoon, violin; Emily Brandenburg, viola; Rainer Crosett, cello; Pete Walsh, double bass
Performed on August 2, 2021 in the Big Barn
 
 
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op.130 (1825-6)
Yukiko Uno, Randall Goosby, violin; Luther Warren, viola; Aaron Wolff, cello
Performed on August 2, 2021 in the Big Barn
 
 
James MacMillan (b. 1959) Motet II (2012)
Leland Ko, cello
Performed on August 3, 2021 in the Big Barn
 
 
James MacMillan (b. 1959) Motets III, IV, V (2012)
Alan Kay, clarinet
Charles Overton, harp
Stephen Stirling, French horn
Performed on August 3, 2021 in the Big Barn
 
 
James MacMillan (b. 1959) in angustiis... I (2001)
Sophiko Simsive, piano
Performed on August 3, 2021 in the Big Barn
 
 
James MacMillan (b. 1959) Tuireadh (Lament) (1991)
Yasmina Spiegelberg, clarinet; Luke Hsu, Yukiko Uno, violin; Rosemary Nelis, viola, Mon-Puo Lee, cello
Performed on August 4, 2021 in the Big Barn
 
 
Mario Davidovsky (1934-2019) Salvos (Saved) (1986)
Patrick Tsuji, flute; Alan Kay, clarinet/bass clarinet; Charles Overton, harp; Eduardo Leandro, percussion; Curtis Macomber, violin; Madelyn Kowalski, cello
Performed on August 4, 2021 in the Big Barn

Gone, Dog. Gone!

Tuesday, July 28, 2020
In advance of Yellow Barn's next concert stream on July 30th and 31st, percussionists Eduardo Leandro and Ayano Kataoka discuss Mark Applebaum's, Gone, Dog. Gone!.
 
 

Applebaum's piece consists of two kinds of music: The sound created by eight instruments—conventional, invented, or found—and silent hand gestures. Over 80 gestures are indicated, ranging from "Thumbs Up" to "Etch A Sketch" to "Bubble Wrap". Each gesture has a symbol and detailed instructions, all of which have to be memorized and performed rapidly, with precision:

The score also referencecs source materials—28 grooves found in pop or rock pieces—which provide both rhythm and tempo. For example, the first page alone includes references to The Beatles, The Kinks, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Wild Cherry, and Aerosmith:

Gone, Dog. Gone! is a companion piece to Applebaum's Aphasia, a work explored by many Yellow Barn perussionists, including the four percussionists in this year's Young Artists Program. Just a few weeks ago Nupur Thakkar recorded the following performance:

On Yellow Barn's tribute to Mario Davidovsky

Monday, July 27, 2020

Kurt Gottschalk writes about Yellow Barn's tribute to Mario Davidovsky in Bachtrack, originally published on July 27, 2020. 

Seth Knopp performing Synchronisms No. 6 for piano and electronic sounds

While electronic music wasn’t Mario Davidovsky’s primary focus, it is arguably his legacy. The Argentinian-born composer studied with Milton Babbit and served as associate director of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center from 1980 to 1994. His most popular compositions remain the twelve Synchronisms for electronic tape and soloist or ensemble, five of which were presented in a streamed concert from Vermont’s YellowBarn.

Davidovsky – who died on 23th August 2019 at the age of 85 – set out to treat electronics as an equal partner to acoustic instruments in the Synchronisms, and did so in varying ways, from integrating the sounds to amplifying them to employing a sort of disembodied counterpoint. The solo-plus-tape pieces would also seem to owe much to Luciano Berio’s roughly contemporaneous Sequenzas as efforts to chronicle instrumental capacities. But unlike the cold calculations of, say, Helmut Lachenmann, the end goal for both Berio and Davidovsky was still to give the instruments something to sing. The YellowBarn portrait stuck to Davidovsky’s social distancing-friendly pieces for solo instrumentalists, although the 1992 Synchronisms no. 10 for guitar and electronic sounds was sadly left out. 

Rather than a chronological presentation, the program was ordered giving the electronics a slow build from beginning to end. The sensation, especially in the first half, was often more of exploded solo than duet or accompaniment. The electronic sounds seemed to live within the instruments, sneaking out nonchalantly while other sounds were played or making a break for it and storming the gates. This, of course, had something to do with it being a stream – the acoustics of a physical space could make for a very different experience – but it was in the composition as well. During Seth Knopp’s wonderful performance of the 1970 Synchronisms no. 6 for piano and electronic sounds (for which Davidovsky won a Pulitzer Prize), the electronics worked like a reverse decay, echoing, building and stopping abruptly, mirroring and anticipating the soft percussive sounds of the clacking keys, making it almost violent, then recessing into something almost as gentle as a lamb’s dream, always in harmony. Knopp moved easily between extreme dynamics, soft and sensitive passages abutting abrupt, heavy sections. 

Lizzie Burns played the 2005 Synchronisms no. 11 for contrabass and electronic sounds in a strong embrace of her instrument, poised and exacting when it seemed she should be surprised by the sounds occasionally erupting around her. Yasmina Spiegelberg was animated, playing to the room (and only the room, one would guess, the nearly empty room) in her reading of the 2016 Synchronisms no.12 for clarinet and electronic sounds. Here the acoustic sound was invaded by less natural sounds: beeps and hums and digital crickets, as well as the mimicking of her own overtones. Her body language became part of the piece; she looked anticipatory, concerned, suggesting crescendo as she played the opposite, and stopping in mid-phrase. She seemed to be the first to outsmart the extraneous sounds. 

Synchronisms no. 3 for cello and electronic sounds (from 1964) toyed with the baroque (or maybe Bach has so engrained himself on the instrument that it only felt that way). It also seemed particularly demanding. Like Knopp’s execution of the piano piece, cellist Coleman Itzkoff rose to the dynamic demands well, the electronics here taking a percussive role. In the final Synchronisms no. 9 for violin and electronic sounds (1988), the electronics ran free, almost like a string quartet with Alice Ivy-Pemberton as the only string player, displaying focus and beautiful attention to detail.

The concert was presented on a simple stage in simple frames (two stationary cameras), not trying to create anything beyond the traditional concert experience, with the exception of prerecorded introductions and memorials. Soprano Susan Narucki’s touching reminiscences, for example, made for the rare occasion of a singer talking over her own performance. Davidovsky had a longstanding relationship with the Vermont venue, and had repeat residencies with the rural new music community. While the summer season was considerably, necessarily, stripped down, the organization decided to retain the planned composer portrait. Streamed performances continue through 8th August.

PMA extends Beethoven Walks through Labor Day

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Beethoven Walks

A young naturalist enjoys Beethoven Walks

Beethoven Walks at Hannum Trail on Putney Mountain has been extended through Labor Day!

This is one of a series of Beethoven Walks, which incorporate reproductions of Beethoven’s sketches, or leaves from his autograph manuscripts, connecting those walking the path with Beethoven’s music, his creative process, and the inspiration he drew from nature. Now both the Hannum Trail and the Greenwood Trail on the Greenwood School campus will remain open throughout the season. Both are free and open to the public.

In March 2020, when the coronavius pandemic escalated, Artistic Director Seth Knopp contacted the Putney Mountain Association to discuss potential sites for Beethoven Walks. The Hannum Trail was jointly selected not only for its beauty and remoteness, but also for its "chapters", which lend themselves naturally to different works by Beethoven.

Due to an outpouring of enthusiasm and many requests from those who have heard about but not yet been able to visit the Hannum Trail, the Putney Mountain Association is generously allowing more time for people to enjoy it, for which Yellow Barn is deeply grateful.  People who have walked the trail have expressed feeling transported, and shared that it is the first time since the pandemic escalated that they have been able to put it out of their minds. Some of the comments we have received include:

     We felt the beauty and wonder of the time, place, and artistry of this creation. The walk is a masterpiece.

     Amazing, inspiring.

     What an awesome experience!  I don't know where to begin - I'll never hear that music the same way again, and I've never experienced the forest and its noises, silence, and    
     movement in that way before.  

     While in the forest I think I forgot about the pandemic for the first time since it started…which is really saying something.

More information about the Beethoven Walks, and how to download apps with specifically-programmed music associated with each trail, are here.

On the Bach Cello Suites

Thursday, July 16, 2020

In advance of Yellow Barn's performances of the complete Bach Cello Suites, alumna cellist Annie Jacobs-Perkins reflects upon Bach's role in our lives today.

Part I: Suite No.1, Suite No.4, and Suite No.5 (July 16)

Part II: Suite No.2, Suite No.3, and Suite No.6 (July 18)

Only two portraits exist of J.S. Bach. In both canvases he stares at his audience, controlled and austere. Rather little is known about the man in these portraits. On one hand, historians know the cities where he lived, the years he lived there, and the people for whom he worked and with whom he lived. On the other hand, very little exists in the way of private correspondence and anecdotal knowledge. Small glimpses and clues into the lives of famous artists are treasured by performers and audiences as a way of making these men and women relatable. Unlike composers such as Beethoven, Brahms, and the Schumanns, Bach’s self-represented voice exists only in his music.

When listening to Bach’s music, one immediately thinks of the intersection of logic, function, and spirituality. Although these traits often conflict, as the Bach scholar Christoph Wolff writes, one can “[understand] his art as a paradigm for reconciling what would ordinarily be conflicting stances.” 

Today, Bach swamps social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. Musicians post daily Bach videos, pictures of solo driveway performances for their neighborhood, meaningful recordings by favorite artists, livestreamed entire suites, partitas, and sonatas from their apartments. This is for a variety of reasons—the first being that Bach is responsible for a large and unprecedented body of solo instrumental music. The second, and rather more important reason, is that the architecture and craftsmanship in Bach’s music is reassuring to a world with an unclear future and irreparably shaken trust.

The Bach Cello Suites were written around 1720, during which time Bach lived in Cöthen under the employment of Prince Leopold. It was during his employment in the Cöthen court from 1717 to 1723 that Bach wrote secular, solo instrumental music. Prince Leopold valued the arts greatly, and Bach enjoyed a prosperous and harmonious relationship with his employer until Leopold’s marriage led Bach to seek new employment in Leipzig.

Also in 1720, Bach lost his first wife. At the time of her death he was away from home on business and did not return until after her burial. He married again in 1721, to the then twenty-year-old Anna Magdalena Wilcke.

Anna Magdalena plays an important role in the history of the cello suites. A highly skilled soprano and copyist in her own right, she brought her musical skills to her marriage. No original manuscript survives in Bach’s own hand of the cello suites. The two most reliable primary sources are Anna Magdalena’s copy made between 1727 and 1730 and Johann Peter Kellner’s, another noted copyist of the time. Because of her proximity to the original source, and because Kellner’s manuscript is incomplete, historians agree that Magdalena’s is the most reliable copy. 

Possibly because so little personal information exists on this man so beloved for his music, and because husband and wife, as well as their ten surviving musical children (between his two wives, J.S. Bach fathered twenty children, ten of whom survived to adulthood) joyfully benefited and took inspiration from each other, the Bach family’s lives have been fabricated and imagined in myriad sources. In 1890, the author Elise Polko conjured a domestic scene in the Bach household: Anna Magdalena sitting with a three-year-old son on her knee at the table, C.P.E. showing his father compositions and asking for his opinion, J.S. Bach next to his wife, with “his black, fiery eyes [that] had an indescribable power, which was almost impossible to resist. You were compelled to look at them again and again; you felt as if you were about to learn from them something of unearthly beauty.” Other sources say that, despite his reserved portraits and piercing black eyes,  J.S. Bach had a lively, even very occasionally raunchy, sense of humor; perhaps he was not always as pious as those austere portraits suggest. 

In the end, it does not matter. The most trying and beautiful part of Bach’s music is that, even with all its logic, it cannot be explained. It is so easy to assign personalized human emotions to the man and his family, try to make his heavenly music somehow more explicable. The best one can do is listen with wonder to his music as it is, and rather than trying to hear the man behind the music, listen in awe to the gift he gave the world.

—Annie Jacobs-Perkins

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