By JACKIE MAJERUS
Innovative compositions by Connecticut composer Thomas Duffy – including one that is a humorous takeoff on "An American in Paris" – are part of the Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra's concert lineup Saturday in Bristol.
The symphony will perform two of Duffy's works as it opens the 2007-2008 season at Chippens Hill Middle School.
"We like his music," said Marshall Brown, conductor and music director of the symphony.
Duffy, who is director of bands at Yale, has a long history of composing, with published works dating back more than three decades.
The two Duffy pieces the symphony will perform are "A Parisian in America," which he wrote in 2000, and "Butterflies and Bees," from 1999.
Duffy said he took the familiar George Gershwin piece "An American in Paris" and turned the tables on it, imagining a Frenchman coming to New York in the same year, 1928.
His piece, Duffy said, is a "tone poem," or musical story telling what he imagines that scene would sound like.
"For six to eight minutes, you're in another world," said Duffy.
The story follows a French citizen on the streets of New York.
"I see him as a large, self-confident French aristocrat," said Duffy, "puffed up with self-importance."
As he travels, the Frenchman carries his nationality and patriotism with him, and listeners hear bits of the French national anthem, said Duffy.
But then he "steps off the curb on Fifth Avenue and is almost run over by taxis," said Duffy, disturbing his "Frenchness" and warping his national anthem.
When he again tries to venture out into the street, he steps right into the middle of the Macy's parade, said Duffy, and the audience hears American marches.
By this point, the visitor's aristocracy is fading and his national anthem is giving way to common French folk songs, Duffy explained.
There's a lot going on musically at this point, and listeners might think the musicians are improvising, Duffy said, but they're not.
"Every single note is written out," said Duffy. "It's definitely a minute of chaos."
The Frenchman tries again, said Duffy, and this time is nearly run over by a horse in the street. He gives up and heads north.
"You hear the taxi horns," said Brown. "At the end, it's 'Oh, Canada!'"
As a nation, Duffy said, America has given the world of music jazz, musicals and band music.
Duffy, who said his music is played by bands all over the world, said he's especially happy that the regional Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra finds value in some of his works for band.
He intends to be at the concert in Bristol Saturday if he can, said Duffy.
"Butterflies and Bees," written eight years ago, is "an optical illusion for the ear," said Duffy.
Duffy said he was inspired by an illusionary painting by artist M.C. Escher that clearly shows birds at the top and fish at the bottom. In the center, it's possible to see either one.
It's like that with "Butterflies and Bees," said Duffy, with some parts of the piece clearly sounding like butterflies and other parts obviously bees. But in the middle, he said there is "this wonderful Escher moment" when the music could be either.
Butterflies, Duffy said, are "beautiful, floating, colorful" and "soft," while the bees are "angry, swarming, industrious."
"They're clearly not the same," Duffy said.
But both insects have wings and take flight, he said. And, he said, both include royalty – butterflies can be monarchs and every beehive has a queen.
For the royalty, Duffy included fanfares.
The composer said he sometimes fools his audience by asking them which insect they're hearing. When they say one, he tells them it was the other. At that point, he said, they begin to hear the other insect in the music, much like changing perspective to see something new in an optical illusion.
Brown said the piece is "like the essay we had to write in school," comparing and contrasting two things.
"Many of the passages in the music could be heard as either a butterfly or a bee," said Brown.
The soft sounds of the vibraphone, for instance, said Brown, are clearly butterflies, while there is "a snarly passage in the middle that's clearly bees."
Brown said Duffy told him the beginning of the piece should sound "like a country sunrise."
At times, Duffy said, listeners will hear "beautiful, floating American impressionism" and at other places in the music, "aggressive and percussive" sounds of bees.
Following the pieces by Duffy, the symphony will perform "Symphony in B flat Major" by Paul Hindemith, a World War II refugee from Germany who also taught at Yale.
Brown declared it "the greatest piece of music ever written for the wind band."
During the second half of the concert, the symphony will play a selection of marches, said Brown, and then conclude with two works performed with student musicians playing alongside the professional orchestra.
About 20 students from Bristol Eastern and Bristol Central high schools and a dozen from Torrington and Farmington high schools will take part, said Brown.
"We've got over 30 students coming," Brown said. "The educational things that we do are the most important thing that we do."
In using the student musicians, said Brown, the symphony is trying to build a relationship with the communities where they play.
Plans for a children's concert are still in the works, but Brown said he expects to hold it April 10 at Bristol Central High School.
The pieces to be performed with the students will be "Abram's Pursuit," by David Holsinger and "Folk Song Suite," by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Brown said the Holsinger piece, based on a Bible story, includes mesmerizing rhythms and repeated patterns.
"It almost sounds like Phillip Glass meets a drum corps," said Brown.
The concert, which is billed as "Winter Winds," is set for 7:30 p.m. It includes about 70 minutes of music, said Brown.
Tickets are $22 for adults and $10 for students and are available at the door.
There is more information about Duffy and his music on the composer's website:
www.duffymusic.com.
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
