Michelle Ekizian (b 1956) and Louis Karchin (b 1951) represent a generation of American composers that has seen postwar American serialism enriched by other compositional approaches, both new and old. The process of stylistic synthesis and individualization, evidenced in the works presented here and in others, continues unabated today.
Written in between the first and second installments of her ongoing orchestral cycle, The Exiled Heart Series, which now includes “The Exiled Heart” (1986), “Morning of Light” (1988), and “Beyond the Reach of Wind and Fire” (1989), Ekizian's Octoéchos (1986-87) shares with the latter two works a two-part structure: an opening movement for instruments alone, followed by an epilogue, which features vocal settings of poems by Theodore Roethke found in his 1964 collection The Far Field. As Ekizian has indicated: “In these compositions, I have tried to expand the notion of musical structure as journey into that of musical journey as a course of exile: Displacements and disorientations establish a path marked by the tension between restlessness and resolution.”
Karchin’s Songs of John Keats (1984) is scored for soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion, and piano. He writes: “The plan of the work is relatively simple. Two Keats poems, the spirited 'Song' and the more reflective sonnet 'To Sleep', are linked by a short musical interlude. The lighter opening poem, set to quickly moving music, provides a foil for the longer weightier second song. The contemplative character of 'To Sleep' is broken occasionally by brief outbursts and a final climactic moment; otherwise, a sense of calm is pervasive. “
Capriccio for Violin and Seven Instruments was composed in 1976-77. The accompanying ensemble includes flute/piccolo, oboe, bass clarinet, percussion, piano, viola, and double bass. As the composer has indicated, the solo violin part is at times quite difficult, but it serves primarily to lead a very active supporting ensemble, more in the character of a Baroque concerto grosso than a Romantic virtuoso concerto.
