Welcome Concert: Some program notes

composer John Cheetham

Gil Cline, Cornet in Bb (unaccompanied, and unrestrained) on Concoctions by John Cheetham:

   Each movement is very short ! -- 30 to 65 seconds each. Total running time --with silence between-- is about 6 minutes.

A few salient points: 1- I'll be performing this piece on my 1914 Cornet --- so, a sort of "Centennial" Cornet --- which I obtained locally about 30 years ago. I like to think that it may have been used here on campus in the teens, 20s, or '30s.

 2- On a personal perspective, this work was composed during the year of my first year teaching at HSU; returning to HSU five years later, I performed it as an audition work for the full-time job I now hold. So, = old vs new vs old!



Nicholas Lambson on Dusan Bogdanovic:

All works are by Dusan Bogdanovic. I studied with Dusan in a few different capacities while at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music working on my Masters, but he was mainly my guitar professor. I was very familiar with his work before meeting him, and he was one of the reasons I chose the Conservatory. I have played a number of his works, and will be doing a world-premiere recording of one of his suites.

composer Dusan Bogdanovic

 Dusan is a very unique artist who incorporates jazz, classical, and World Music influences in his works. In addition to being an incredible composer, he is a virtuoso guitarist who has toured worldwide as a soloist and ensemble member. He also published a book on modal counterpoint. I will be playing selections from three different collections of very short pieces which, in addition to being amazing pieces, do a good job of conveying his diversity. There will be jazz, classical, and World Music elements as well as an unusual extended technique and some humor!

 Here is his bio from Doberman's website: A richly gifted composer, improviser and guitarist, Dusan Bogdanovic has explored musical languages which are reflected in his style today a unique synthesis of classical, jazz and ethnic music. As a soloist and in collaboration with other artists, Bogdanovic has toured extensively throughout Europe, Asia, Japan and the United States. His performing and recording activities include work with chamber ensembles of diverse stylistic orientations: the De Falla Trio; harpsichord-guitar duo with Elaine Comparone; and jazz collaborations with James Newton, Milcho Leviev, Charlie Haden, Miroslav Tadic, Mark Nauseef, Anthony Cox, and others.

 Dusan Bogdanovic's recording credits include several albums, on Intuition, Sony/Global Pacific, M.A Recordings, ESS.A.Y, Concord Records, GSP and other labels, ranging from Bach Trio Sonatas to contemporary works. His compositions are published by Doberman-Yppan, Canada, Berben Editions, Italy and Guitar Solo Publications in the US. Among his most recent commissions are a ballet-poeme Crow, premiered by the Pacific Dance Company and performed at the Los Angeles Theater Center; a sextet Sevdalinka, written for the Newman-Oltman guitar duo with the Turtle Island Quartet; Over the Edge, composed for the Lafayette Trio, as well as solo guitar works written for Alvaro Pierri, David Starobin, Eduardo Isaac, Scott Tennant and William Kanengiser.

 Bogdanovic was born in Yugoslavia in 1955. He completed his studies of composition and orchestration at the Geneva Conservatory with P. Wissmer and A. Ginastera and in guitar performance with Maria Livia São Marcos. Early in his career, he received the only First Prize at the Geneva Competition and gave a highly acclaimed debut recital in Carnegie Hall in 1977. He has taught at the Geneva Conservatory and the University of Southern California and is presently engaged by the San Francisco Conservatory.

  As one would expect, this maverick presents himself here as a musical world-builder. He is at home in the most diverse ethnic milieus, which are perfectly matched by his musical knowledge. Dusan Bogdanovic is a composer with an exuberant creativity and great power of originality. (Gitarre & Laute, Germany, 1999) Profoundly original, the personality of Bogdanovic dares to re- read the classics of the repertoire. It is simply that the palette of Bogdanovic is immense: with colors, timbres, energies, nuances. Between the rustle of silk paper and the burst of machine gun, he knows how to do justice to the orchestral vocation of the guitar without taking away its intimate dimension of shared soliloquy. (Tribune de Genève, Switzerland, 1984)