Event Title
Gravitation
Performer / Ensemble
Nolan Stolz (Keyboards, Guitars, Basses, Drum set, Percussion, & Found Objects)
Date of Publication
3-26-2021
Document Type
Composition
Abstract / Program Notes
This is an open-instrumentation work written in graphic notation. Each music gesture is specific in regards to timing, dynamics, and registers of the instruments. Although the timings are exact, there is no beat or standard rhythmic notation. Although the various registers are precise from low to high, the pitches are not, as they are only relative to each instrument. Thus, each performance will differ based on which instruments are used. The musical backgrounds of the individual performers naturally influence the interpretation. Although the gestures heard in each performance of the work are consistent, each performance sounds vastly different. The five- to eight-member ensemble is divided into two groups. Originally written for one gathered at the center of the stage and the other beginning in the corners of the performance space, this COVID-19-era revision has each performer socially distanced (recorded separately, but carefully placed in the stereo image to retain the original intention). For the second movement, “Attraction,” the outside group is attracted to the center group, and has moved closer. The sounds of wood hitting wood, metal hitting metal, and wood hitting metal can be found objects or an extension of the instrument. In the third movement, “Gravitation,” the musicians have “gravitated” to one another and have formed one group. References to earlier movements represent how the groups were once separate, but now one. Listen for the three-voice fugue at 2:00 to 2:20 in this final movement: fugue subject, answer, then another answer, but in inversion and diminution.
Biography
Nolan Stolz is a composer, scholar and drummer living in Spartanburg, South Carolina. His compositions are clearly influenced by his performance background in jazz fusion and progressive rock, yet firmly rooted in the contemporary classical tradition. The Brno Philharmonic recording of his Lincoln Highway Suite was awarded second place in the 2020 American Prize’s Ernst Bacon Award. Fanfare magazine called it a “brilliant piece of Americana. . .a piece of inspiration and skill," the "orchestration is brilliantly managed.” and “Stolz clearly has a fine repository of [melodies] in his back pocket.” His flute piece Princess Ka'iulani was published in SCI Journal of Scores (51) and SCI’s CD series (30). Stolz's other works may be heard on releases from Ablaze, ESM, Six Strings Sounds, and Tributary Music. He has been commissioned by the Alturas Duo, CCSU Chamber Players, Las Vegas Academy Jazz Ensemble, Las Vegas Music Festival Orchestra, SUNY-Stony Brook, Synchronix and several solo performers. Dr. Stolz holds degrees in composition from The Hartt School, University of Oregon, and University of Nevada-Las Vegas. Stolz is Associate Professor and Coordinator of Music at University of South Carolina Upstate. Previously, he taught at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Southeast Missouri State University, University of South Dakota, and at two community colleges in Connecticut. In addition to his work as a composer, Stolz has published a book about Black Sabbath’s music, a jazz theory article, essays on Black Sabbath, Genesis, Rush, and Frank Zappa, and appears on several albums from jazz and rock artists.
Keywords
Open-instrumentation, graphic notation
Description
Duration: 9:30. Instrumentation: any ensemble of 5 to 8 performers. Date of Composition: 2004/07, revised 2020.
Gravitation
This is an open-instrumentation work written in graphic notation. Each music gesture is specific in regards to timing, dynamics, and registers of the instruments. Although the timings are exact, there is no beat or standard rhythmic notation. Although the various registers are precise from low to high, the pitches are not, as they are only relative to each instrument. Thus, each performance will differ based on which instruments are used. The musical backgrounds of the individual performers naturally influence the interpretation. Although the gestures heard in each performance of the work are consistent, each performance sounds vastly different. The five- to eight-member ensemble is divided into two groups. Originally written for one gathered at the center of the stage and the other beginning in the corners of the performance space, this COVID-19-era revision has each performer socially distanced (recorded separately, but carefully placed in the stereo image to retain the original intention). For the second movement, “Attraction,” the outside group is attracted to the center group, and has moved closer. The sounds of wood hitting wood, metal hitting metal, and wood hitting metal can be found objects or an extension of the instrument. In the third movement, “Gravitation,” the musicians have “gravitated” to one another and have formed one group. References to earlier movements represent how the groups were once separate, but now one. Listen for the three-voice fugue at 2:00 to 2:20 in this final movement: fugue subject, answer, then another answer, but in inversion and diminution.