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Current list of program notes:

>Concerto (in the Form of Variations) program notes
>Elastic Band program notes
>Pas de Deux program notes
>Quicksilver program notes

Concerto (in the Form of Variations) for Viola and Orchestra
Program Note by the Composer*

(NB: these notes are free for use but cannot be altered/edited
without the permission of the authors)

As its title suggests, the Concerto (in the Form of Variations) combines two "old and venerable forms," as the composer calls them. The work's three-part structure (slow-fast-slow) suggests a multi-movement concerto, while its theme and four variations bind the work into a single whole. "The fun came in combining the two forms," Friedman explains.

"Theme and variations have always held a fascination for me. There is a real beauty and elegance to the form. They also present a challenge: imagine creating a complete musical world out of a tiny fragment (the theme). For me, the form represents a beautiful paradigm for trying to understand the world. While one can try to learn a little bit about everything -- survey the surroundings -- it's also possible to focus on only a tiny corner and exhaustively explore every inch of it's terrain. For me composing variations is an example of the later." Like many sets of variations, the concerto is extremely organic for all of its diversity. It is woven from only a few musical ideas: a thematic shape fashioned from a descending semitone followed by a rising minor seventh; a characteristic harmonic interval of a minor sixth; and a distinctive rhythm (long, long, short-short) -- that permeates the work.

The tension between soloist and orchestra places the work in the tradition of classical concertos. According to the composer, "My mind works best when confronted with a dramatic situation, where there are ‘characters' involved... The concerto has always been thought of as a highly dramatic form with inherent theatrical possibilities. Mozart's concertos are often like instrumental operas."

The dramatic nature of Friedman's concerto is hardly surprising, since he is a theatrical and opera, as well as a symphonic composer. He is co-author of the musical Personals, which was voted one of the ten best shows of 1985. One of the longest running shows on or off Broadway, Personals was nominated for four Outer Critics Circle Awards (winning one) and four Drama Desk Awards, including Best Score and Best Musical.

The Concerto begins with a cadenza that features the solo instrument over a rhythmic foil of piano, harp, and percussion. The theme is foreshadowed by this atmospheric passage. The accompaniment is fashioned from canons based upon the previously mentioned long-long-short-short rhythm, while the viola, which moves from its lowest register up to "viola stratosphere," introduces thematic and harmonic cells. Knowing virtuoso violist Paul Neubauer would premiere the work gave Friedman the confidence to explore the extreme upper range of the instrument in dramatic fashion.

In a subtle formal twist, the theme for this set of variations is not introduced by "the star," the viola soloist, but by the violins and clarinet. The viola is busy with an obbligato melody that "serenely floats above the fray." This obbligato line eventually descends, dovetailing into and then taking over the theme at its midpoint. After the exposition of the theme comes the first variation, "A Theme and its Shadow." As the viola plays an embellished version of the new main melody an assortment of lower registered instruments simultaneously present a slower, emotionally detached version of this same theme. "Both seem to go on their own way without realizing that the other is there," says Friedman A quizzically disquieting muted descending figure in the strings periodically interrupts the flow of the variation only to come to fruition as it coalesces into a loud orchestral outburst near the end of the variation.

The second variation is in two parts: "a muted section of suppressed yearning, and a broader lyrical pastorale." An extension of the pastorale materials serves as a transition to the climax of the work, the third variation. The aggressive, syncopated third variation ("Ritmico") is a transformation of the previous variation. The driving rhythms are briefly interrupted by a whimsical, yet sardonic contrasting section that features the viola and the piccolo in a duet before the faster, motoric material returns. After a surging climax, a second cadenza that recalls both the concerto's opening and the original theme leads to the serene final variation ("Chorale"). It is as if all superfluous elements have been burned off the theme by the work's previous struggles leaving a slow, luminous chorale that the composer describes as "simplicity itself."


Jonathan D. Kramer and Joel Phillip Friedman
(Adapted from Jonathan Kramer's original Carnegie Hall program note)

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Elastic Band

(NB: these notes are free for use but cannot be altered/edited
without the permission of the composer)

Elastic Band is scored for clarinet, string quartet and one percussionist (marimba, vibes, three toms, pedal bass drum, three suspended cymbals, crotales, and woodblock).

Elastic Band was conceived as a fun, divertimento-like work. The title refers to the elastic nature of the work which happily straddles the Classical, 20th Century, and Pop music worlds. It is also a pun as much of the ensemble writing is more reminiscent of a jazz "little big band" than of a traditional chamber ensemble. The scoring for clarinet and string quartet has classical resonances. But, add percussion to the mix and the work takes on a decidedly jazzy-rock tinge: the Mozart Quintet. . . with a twist, if you will.

The idea was for all three music worlds to co-exist and co-mingle within the piece. Some elements are clearly "Classical," or, rather Neoclassical: the overall three-movement design (a modified fast-slow-fast form); the more serious toned sonata form of the first movement; the quirky, second movement which acts like the dance movement - an "Ellingtonian" scherzo; the rondo-like form of the lighthearted third movement; and the clear articulation of sections and phrases. The free chromatic writing, metric modulations and irregular meters and rhythms are from the world of 20th Century concert music. That said, much of the work's detail - the rhythmic, harmonic, and gestural language - comes from jazz or funk-fusion music.

Oddly enough the harmonic and rhythmic materials found in some 20th Century music, e.g. Stravinsky and Bartok, bear resemblance to the worlds of jazz and funk. This is explored in Elastic Band. Much of the first and third movements of Elastic Band are derived from that favorite scale of Stravinsky and Bartok: the eight-note Octatonic collection. In this piece the material is at times more tightly "filtered" and distributed to create jazz harmonies - dominant seventh chords with their upper extensions (e.g. 9's, 9's, 11's, 13's, etc.) - that float in a not-quite-functional tonal way. At other times the filter is "opened" and language becomes more densely chromatic and linear-motivic. Syncopation against a clear, strong pulse is also important to all these musics, including this music: Elastic Band.

The first movement is cast in a tight sonata form, including the opposition between the tenser, more fully chromatic opening theme and the more expansive tonal-sounding second theme. The movement is tightly constructed, based almost entirely on variants of the clarinet's opening theme: a falling perfect 4th followed by a rising major 2nd. Even the brief, seemingly improvisatory rock-style drum breaks that periodically explode during the movement reappear in the pitched instruments in various guises throughout. By the way, the rhythm of these drum breaks echo a figure used by Ringo Starr in his one commercially recorded Beatle drum solo (here's a hint: it's on Abbey Road). At the center of the movement is a brief moment of repose -- the eye of the storm -- that marks the beginning of a terse development section that gradually regathers momentum and drives towards the return of the opening themes. The movement ends with a perpetual motion coda.

There is no true slow movement in Elastic Band. Instead, the middle movement, "Pure Happenchance," functions like a scherzo and is a quirky, jazzy movement with Ellington overtones in the primal drum Ostinato and the clarinet's timbre (think of Ellington's "jungle music"). Unlike the Classical development of motives found in the outer movements, this movement relies more on juxtaposition and pop-like repetition. The scoring is reminiscent of jazz big band writing and the percussion, unlike the outer movements, is totally unpitched throughout.

The third movement, while often the most overtly "jazzy," also harkens to the Classical model of the finale: a fun romp. The materials might be a cross between Earth, Wind, & Fire and the Brecker Brothers, but the sudden temporal shifts thrown in here and there via metric modulations are 20th Century concert music. Ideas from the first movement are freely recapitulated. The rondo and the subsequent theme are characterized by funky syncopated rhythms. In contrast, the central section, signaled by the first sudden tempo change, is lyrical and broad. Later on a swaggering blues treatment of the second theme briefly appears only to be cut short by a compact, breathless coda.

Joel Phillip Friedman
May 11, 2004

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Pas de Deux

(NB: these notes are free for use but cannot be altered/edited
without the permission of the composer)

Pas de Deux is scored for cello and piano.

Pas de Deux is one of the few works of mine that is overtly programmatic. It was a surprise commissioned by a dear friend Pamela Dillon for her husband Stephen's fortieth birthday. Over the course of numerous enthusiastic conversations with Pam it became clear to me that she had very concrete ideas for their piece. Pam wanted to somehow describe the course of an intimate relationship in ways that would be both specific to the two of them and universal for all. Knowing the special closeness that exists between Pam and Steve, and their strong personalities, the title Pas de Deux immediately came to mind. Rarely does one meet two people who are so joyfully intertwined in their daily existence while simultaneously keeping their individuality. Pam went so far as to supply me with a series of aphoristic writings that eventually provided a distinctive framework, a program, which made the process of composing this piece akin to text setting or theater composing. The work is one movement divided into four sections: I. Prologue; II. Youth; III. The Limits of Life, a. Dialogue and b. How Time Ends; and IV. Pas de Deux.

I had decided to revisit Pas de Deux during the summer of 2001, a year that would end up so full of unusually intense and raw emotional experiences. I felt that the original version of the work implied much more than it actually delivered. What I didn’t expect was that the piece would to take on a life of its own, expanding by almost half its original length, from thirteen to twenty-two minutes, or that events would transform the work. The middle section (III.) in particular, written throughout the late summer and well into the fall of 2001, took on a much darker hue as events gave the subject new more urgent meanings. As the work broadened and deepened it became much more virtuosic.

One of music’s greatest strengths is its ability to seem to be both concrete and ephemeral in its meaning at the same time. In addition, we all bring our own experiences to a work and how we interpret it. Therefore, I will not dictate how the program must be realized in the music and who, or what, the various instruments, gestures, or sections should represent. I will allow the listeners to find any connections and symbolism for themselves.

Joel Phillip Friedman
September 20, 2002

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Quicksilver for Flute and Pre-recorded Sound


(NB: these notes are free for use but cannot be altered/edited
without the permission of the composer)

Quicksilver, for flute and pre-recorded sound, is an amalgamation of acoustic, analog, and digital sounds. The majority of the original pre-recorded material was created at the venerable Columbia Princeton Electronic Music Studio at Columbia University using "ancient" analog synthesizers (Buchla's and so on). The raw sound was then manipulated through banks of even older analog filters and other "black boxes." The equipment didn't always work as advertised: I couldn't predict exactly what I would come up with and rarely could repeat what I had done. The process was "ephemeral," to say the least: less dependent upon skill, and more dependent upon the temperature of the room and equipment, and chance. But, I did end up with some great, fat, grungy "accidents" - sounds that probably couldn't have been attained otherwise.

Initially the process was 1. Capture big chunks of these sounds on reel-to-reel tape. 2. Splice and edit them. 3.Filter and mix the sounds 4. Repeat steps 1-3. In the process I gained renewed respect for the early practitioners of musique concrete. . . and nearly went crazy. The problem was I wanted much of my raw material to be musically exact: heard at specific pitches and with specific rhythms. One day I talked to a friend of mine who had a digital recording studio -- in the days when that was still a rarity. His offer of help lead to the best of both worlds as I digitally sampled my reels of "messy" analog sounds and was finally able to edit, control, and manipulate them with a level of precision, speed, and whimsy that was nearly impossible in the analog studio (If not for Jeff Layton I'd probably still be working in the old analog studio even now).

All of the gestures and harmonic materials in Quicksilver came from the original analog sounds. They became "found objects" to me. My ear would perk up at something, I would transcribe it, and then experiment with it, have it seep into my musical hearing, and decide if it was suitable for the piece. It became a question of harnessing what I had culled. The work is in a simple slow-fast-slow form. The title refers to the quixotic nature and brevity of the piece, as well as the color of the flute.

Quicksilver was composed for flutist Margaret Lancaster, who premiered the piece on a program of electronic music performed in honor of Mario Davidovsky at the Kathryn Bache Miller Theatre in New York City. I would like to especially thank Jeff Layton of JLSA Studios for his invaluable help in successfully realizing the work.

Joel Phillip Friedman
March 23, 2004

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©2005 Joel Phillip Friedman