Seven Minutes Three Years in the Making
written by Liza Sobel Crane
Bahlest Eeble Readings Cycle 16 Fellow
I first met Gabriela at the Aspen Music Festival when she came for a performance of her piece, La Centinela y la Paloma, in the summer of 2018. When Gabriela spoke at the Composers’ Seminar, the session completely flew by. I hoped I would have the opportunity to work with her one day.
That very summer I applied to GLFCAM’s Bahlest Eeble Reading Program. Since a major aspect of the program is about being unafraid to fail, the failure I’m about to share is particularly relevant - I applied and I didn’t get in. However, Gabriela sent one of the nicest rejection letters I have ever received. She encouraged me to reapply for a future cycle.
I reapplied in the summer of 2020 thinking, “surely this whole Covid thing will be long over and I’ll be able to participate by the summer of 2021.” As we know, Covid didn’t end then. Accordingly, GLFCAM was postponed several times until the spring/summer of 2023.
As excited as I was to finally participate in GLFCAM, another issue presented itself: I was pregnant with my daughter and due to give birth only six weeks before the residency began. I considered dropping out, but I convinced myself that I could do it. It was too fantastic an opportunity to pass up - and I had certainly waited long enough for it to happen!
My reservations were further relieved when Gabriela reached out to ask how GLFCAM and the American Composers Forum could help make the residency experience easier for me given how soon it would be after my giving birth. They were so accommodating: they provided me a separate AirBnB so my daughter and husband could come and a room for pumping/nursing on site. They encouraged me to leave sessions whenever necessary to pump and they scheduled the activities so there would be breaks every few hours for me.
Participating in this residency was a transformative experience that completely upended the traditional composition model of arriving with a finished score. The format of writing short excerpts, first for the individual instruments, then for the trio, and thereafter, writing a fully fleshed out piece months later was very liberating. Often, as composers, we arrive with a finished piece a few days before a performance with very limited rehearsal time or we attend a final rehearsal the day before the performance. In either case above, the composer is not given the opportunity to test out new ideas or make any changes. At GLFCAM, were able to make these important changes.
This new format removed the pressure to write a “complete, perfect piece,” which was particularly challenging with such an unusual instrumentation: flute, horn, and cello. Instead, I utilized each excerpt as an opportunity to experiment with an idea. For example, often the highest instrument plays the melody. Could I write an excerpt where the flute is more of an accompaniment with the horn and cello playing the melody? I experimented with several different permutations of this idea, and ultimately it became the seed for the first movement of my finished composition.
In another excerpt, I wanted the three instruments to play together as a sort of “super instrument,” which is pretty challenging considering the instruments’ vastly different timbres and ranges. This idea of bringing the ensemble together was one of the last excerpts I composed, mostly just on a whim to try out my idea. When the trio played through it during the first session, it was one of my favorite excerpts. We had time at the residency to rework ideas and experiment further. I spent the majority of my second session with the trio experimenting with different permutations of this “super instrument.”
I thought I would prefer one permutation over another, with one version of my idea being revealed to be “the perfect version.” The permutations weren’t competing with each other, but rather worked together. As I composed over the following few months, I realized that some permutations were meant to be climactic later versions where the entire ensemble plays constantly moving rhythms, while other versions were the hushed, still opening material. The different permutations were ultimately all incorporated in the second movement of my piece.
Although I was nervous at first about the residency given how soon it was postpartum, it wound up being just what I needed to remind me how much I love to compose. After only six weeks, breastfeeding was still not going well and had become all-consuming for me. (It turns out my daughter had a tongue tie. After it was remediated, everything went a lot smoother.) When the residency began, I was incredibly exhausted and barely even able to think of anything besides feeding my daughter. The residency reminded me who I am in addition to being a mother.
I also feel so fortunate to be mentored by Gabriela. At GLFCAM, we discussed how I hope to write operas. Though I’ve already composed my first chamber opera, Gabriela wants me to dream bigger. She envisions me one day writing a full opera for numerous characters, chorus, and orchestra. We discussed how I should strategize and prepare myself to write a large-scale opera by filling in gaps in my composition experience, such as writing more for male voices. (As a soprano, I often compose for sopranos so I can perform my own music.)
Accordingly, I’m fortunate to be commissioned through GLFCAM and the American Composers Forum to write a song cycle for baritone Andrew Garland. Not only is it an excellent opportunity to write for a male voice, but it’s especially exciting because Andrew is such a fantastic singer.
The program showed me a new way of creating music. Whenever possible, I try to arrange for similar workshopping opportunities like GLFCAM with future projects. I purposefully incorporated time to workshop and make changes to my song cycle for Andrew with several months between the two versions. It’s a method of working that I will continue applying long after the program has ended.
I also feel so fortunate to be a part of the GLFCAM community. It was my first time at a festival where all the participating composers were women. Since the residency, we four composers have kept in touch. I’ve been lucky to meet with all the composers since the residency, which I hope to keep doing. The GLFCAM created friends and a community for a lifetime and a new method of composing that has been incredibly freeing.
Liza Sobel is a Chicago based composer and soprano. Her compositions are often influenced by social issues. Venues her music has been performed in include Carnegie Hall, Le Poisson Rouge, Symphony Space, Bang on a Can, Aspen, Creative Lab, Aldeburgh Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, Norfolk New Music Workshop, Brevard, and Bowdoin. Performers that have played her music include: Orchestra of St. Luke's, Minnesota Orchestra, Ensemble Dal Niente, Spektral Quartet, Cygnus Ensemble, Third Coast Percussion, Nouveau Classical Project, and Ekmeles. Current commissions include: new orchestral works for New York Youth Symphony’s Carnegie Hall performance and for Texas State University's orchestra. Liza was a Fulbright scholar to the UK. As a singer, Liza performs standard and new repertoire, and numerous composers have written pieces for her. Liza recently performed George Crumb's Apparition in Chicago's Ear Taxi Festival in September, 2021.
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