Mark Gustavson
Encyclopedia
Mark Gustavson is an American composer of contemporary classical music.
and Nassau Community College
. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1981 and received a D.M.A. from Columbia University
in 1990. Gustavson also studied at the Sweelinck Conservatory with Ton DeLeeuw on a Fulbright Fellowship in 1985-86 and was a composition fellow at Tanglewood
in 1979. His primary composition teachers were Chinary Ung
, Ben Johnston and Fred Lerdahl
.
, the music of Charles Ives
, and East Asian music have influenced Gustavson's style. He favors strictly notated music that often sounds improvised. Form is often based on different approaches to variations. Rhythm can at times be very complex or deceptively simple; for example, the third movement of Quintet for clarinet, two violins, viola, and cello is a four-voice canon of continuous eighth notes that create a background for the solo clarinet. Because of the unpredictable entrances of each voice an improvisatory quality is suggested. In A Fool's Journey, it is the complex textures that create the illusion of improvisation. The complex layering of lines or polyphony
in this example purposely avoids the coming together of the independent voices.
His music has been recognized with various awards and prizes, including the American Academy of Arts and Letters Walter Hinrichsen Award (1987), the Joseph H. Bearns Prize
, the BMI
Student Composer Award (1979, 1982, 1983), and the ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award.
In the first decade of the 21st century, Gustavson's attention turned to texts and vocal music. Two works of note are The Fisherman Songs for bass/baritone and piano and Lament, a monodrama
for bass/baritone, bass clarinet, percussion, piano, female chorus, and double bass, using a poem of the same title by Dylan Thomas
.
A recording with Quintet performed by Contempo and Dissolving Images for solo piano performed by Lisa Moore is to be released in 2010. Both works are published by Edition Peters
.
Wind ensemble
Chamber
Vocal
Solo instrumental
Biography
Gustavson lives in Mastic Beach, New York, and teaches at various universities in the New York City area, including Adelphi UniversityAdelphi University
Adelphi University is a private, nonsectarian university located in Garden City, in Nassau County, New York, United States. It is the oldest institution of higher education on Long Island. For the sixth year, Adelphi University has been named a “Best Buy” in higher education by the Fiske Guide to...
and Nassau Community College
Nassau Community College
Nassau Community College is a two-year college. It is located in East Garden City, New York, USA. The school is in Nassau County on Long Island. NCC maintains a nationwide reputation for academic excellence and ease of transferability to four-year institutions.- History :Created as part of the...
. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1981 and received a D.M.A. from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in 1990. Gustavson also studied at the Sweelinck Conservatory with Ton DeLeeuw on a Fulbright Fellowship in 1985-86 and was a composition fellow at Tanglewood
Tanglewood
Tanglewood is an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937. It was the venue of the Berkshire Festival.- History...
in 1979. His primary composition teachers were Chinary Ung
Chinary Ung
Chinary Ung is a composer now living in the United States. After arriving in the United States in 1964 to study the clarinet, Ung studied composition with Chou Wen-chung and Mario Davidovsky. Ung is noted for combining traditional Cambodian musical elements with western instrumentation...
, Ben Johnston and Fred Lerdahl
Fred Lerdahl
Alfred Whitford Lerdahl is the Fritz Reiner Professor of Musical Composition at Columbia University, and a composer and music theorist best known for his work on pitch space and cognitive constraints on compositional systems or "musical grammar[s]." He has written many orchestral and chamber...
.
Music
JazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, the music of Charles Ives
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
, and East Asian music have influenced Gustavson's style. He favors strictly notated music that often sounds improvised. Form is often based on different approaches to variations. Rhythm can at times be very complex or deceptively simple; for example, the third movement of Quintet for clarinet, two violins, viola, and cello is a four-voice canon of continuous eighth notes that create a background for the solo clarinet. Because of the unpredictable entrances of each voice an improvisatory quality is suggested. In A Fool's Journey, it is the complex textures that create the illusion of improvisation. The complex layering of lines or polyphony
Polyphony
In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....
in this example purposely avoids the coming together of the independent voices.
His music has been recognized with various awards and prizes, including the American Academy of Arts and Letters Walter Hinrichsen Award (1987), the Joseph H. Bearns Prize
Joseph H. Bearns Prize
The Joseph H. Bearns Prize in Music was established on February 3, 1921 by Lillia M. Bearns, in memory of her father. It was her desire to encourage talented young composers in the United States...
, the BMI
Broadcast Music Incorporated
Broadcast Music, Inc. is one of three United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP and SESAC. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed...
Student Composer Award (1979, 1982, 1983), and the ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award.
In the first decade of the 21st century, Gustavson's attention turned to texts and vocal music. Two works of note are The Fisherman Songs for bass/baritone and piano and Lament, a monodrama
Monodrama
A monodrama is a theatrical or operatic piece played by a single actor or singer, usually portraying one character.- Monodrama in opera :...
for bass/baritone, bass clarinet, percussion, piano, female chorus, and double bass, using a poem of the same title by Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
.
A recording with Quintet performed by Contempo and Dissolving Images for solo piano performed by Lisa Moore is to be released in 2010. Both works are published by Edition Peters
Edition Peters
Edition Peters, also known as C.F.Peters Musikverlag, is a German music publishing house, founded in Leipzig in 1800.From the 1860s it was largely run by members the Hinrichsen family, who were Jewish. The company was confiscated by the Nazis and administered by the "Trustee of Jewish Property"....
.
Select list of compositions
Orchestra- Dust Dance (2010)
- Hymn to the Vanished (2001) for string orchestra
- Silent Moon (1998)
- Waves (1988)
Wind ensemble
- The Emperor's Music (2000) for twelve antiphonal solo brass
Chamber
- Chiftetelli (2010) for clarinet, 2 violins, viola and cello
- A Fool's Journey (1999) for flute (pic, alto), clarinet (bcl), percussion, violin and cello
- Two of Cups (1999) for clarinet and viola
- Albion (1997) for wind quintet
- Quintet (1993) for clarinet, 2 violins, viola and cello
- Bag o'Tales (1992) for saxophone quartet
- Plexus (1991) for flute(pic), harp, viola and cello
- Jag (1990) for flute, clarinet, trombone, violin and cello
- Twenty Variations (1982) for flute and piano
Vocal
- Lament (work in progress) text: Dylan Thomas monodramaMonodramaA monodrama is a theatrical or operatic piece played by a single actor or singer, usually portraying one character.- Monodrama in opera :...
for bass/baritone, bass clarinet, percussion. piano, female chorus and double-bass - The Fisherman Songs text: collection (2010) for bass/baritone and piano
- The Four Love Songs (1984) for soprano, 2 clarinets, 2 percussion, viola and cello
- The Three Mirrors (1979) text: Edwin Muir for soprano, flute(alto), clarinet, trombone, piano(hammond organ), 3 percussion (tuned water glasses)
Solo instrumental
- The Lounge Pianist (2010) for vocalizing pianist
- Trickster (1997) for clarinet solo
- Dissolving Images (1986) for piano solo
Discography
- Chiftetelli, Contemporary Chamber Players of the University of Chicago, CD Baby, Release date: September 10, 2010.
Sources
- Buell, Richard, "The Smart, Persuasive Sounds of Young Dinosaurs", Boston Globe, 7 February 2001. Accessed via subscription 2 March 2010.
- Dyer, Richard, "Tanglewood Festival Celebrates Diversity of Contemporary Music", Boston Globe, 6 August 2006. Accessed via subscription 2 March 2010.
- Gowan, Bradford, "Review: Dissolving Images by Mark Gustavson", The Piano quarterly, Issue 148, Winter 1988/89, p. 16
- Griffiths, "Looking Eastward for Patterns and a Quiet Sensuality", New York Times, 10 October 1997. Accessed 2 March 2010.
- Kozinn, Allan, "The Classical and the Vernacular, a Cohesive Choice of the Contemporary", New York Times, 2 August 2006. Accessed 2 March 2010.
- Symphony Magazine, "BMI's 28th annual Student Composer Awards", Volume 31, Issues 3-5
External links
- Mark Gustavson | American Composer Official Website
- Kalvos & Damian Chronicle of the NonPop Revolution: A Fool's Journey Interview with Mark Gustavson, November 29, 2003