Composer/keyboardist/producer Elodie Lauten creates operas, music for dance and theatre, orchestral, chamber and instrumental music. Not a household name, she is however widely recognized by historians as a leading figure of post-minimalism and a force on the new music scene, with 20 releases on a number of labels.
Her opera Waking in New York, Portrait of Allen Ginsberg was presented by the New York City Opera (2004 VOX and Friends) in May 2004, after being released on 4Tay, following three well-received productions. OrfReo, a new opera for Baroque ensemble was premiered at Merkin Hall by the Queen's Chamber Band, whose New Music Alive CD (released on Capstone in 2004) includes Lauten's The Architect. The Orfreo CD was released in December 2004 on Studio 21. In September 2004 Lauten was composer-in-residence at Hope College, MI. Lauten's Symphony 2001, was premiered in February 2003 by the SEM Orchestra in New York. In 1999, Lauten's Deus ex Machina Cycle for voices and Baroque ensemble (4Tay) received strong critical acclaim in the US and Europe. Lauten's Variations On The Orange Cycle (Lovely Music, 1998) was included in Chamber Music America's list of 100 best works of the 20th century.
Born in Paris, France, she was classically trained as a pianist since age 7. She received a Master's in composition from New York University where she studied Western composition with Dinu Ghezzo and Indian classical music with Ahkmal Parwez. Daughter of jazz pianist/drummer Errol Parker, she is also a fluent improviser. She became an American citizen in 1984 and has lived in New York since the early seventies
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Monday, May 02, 2005
Orchestral Maneuvers
Is the standard orchestra a form of the past? Does the unchangeable arrangement of the instruments perpetrate its own convention ad infinitum? It seems that if the piece strays from what is expected, i.e. complicated, hypermarked music for a required set, it will never get read. We are faced with a conundrum: the more creative we are with the orchestra, the chances of the piece getting played get fewer to none. Also, the required know-how, i.e. how to get a melody/harmony to work within the standard array of instruments, pushes the music towards old tried and true recipes.
On occasion, some pieces stretch the envelope but they are rare and quickly dismissed. Once the S.E.M. Orchestra performed a 5 minute free improv conceptualized by a composer who names himself mr. dorgon (sic). On the other hand, even famous jazz improvisers write orchestral music that is strangely close to sounding like fifties serialism. The most creative event I have seen involving an orchestra was in 1996, a performance of Charles Ives’ Universe Symphony by the American Festival of Microtonal Music – with two conductors to render the simultaneous different tempos. I have heard about pieces with musicians walking around with their instruments… extreme minimalist scores with the orchestra staying on one note for a long time, and this not going over too well.
If orchestra presenters continue to perform classical repertoire that has been heard too many times, or so-called modern pieces from the early 20th century – nearly a hundred years ago – or more recent difficult pieces that turn the audiences off, there is not hope for the survival of the orchestra as the audiences will most certainly lose interest and turn to other forms of music. I believe it is very important that we write creative orchestral pieces – negotiating what is acceptable and what will never get played… so as to co-opt the old form for our own creative purposes and for the future of classical music. This is possibly the greatest challenge we are facing as 21st century composers.
posted by Elodie Lauten
7:33 AM
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