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David Dzubay is the current Department Chair of Composition and director of the New Music Ensemble at the prestigious Indiana University. He has won many awards for his music and has been commissioned by some of classical music’s most prestigious organizations. His compositions have been played throughout the world by many reputable and renowned performers and ensembles.
SIJO is a piece written for orchestra inspired by a sijo (a Korean poetic form) written by Yun Seondo. The piece’s form comes from the text “discussing "five friends" – water, stone, bamboo, pine and moon”. For the rest of the piece Dzubay explains in his program notes that “near the beginning, the orchestra recites the second half of the first line, introducing four of the five "companions." The first two thirds of the piece is an exploration of music representing water, stone, bamboo and pine. After reaching a moment of calm, the fifth companion – the rising moon, is introduced; then the music gradually builds to a rather dramatic statement of the questioning final line, followed by a calm reflection of the contented ending.” (http://pronovamusic.com/notes/sijo.html)
SIJO
Delicious Silence is a piece written specifically for the violinist Liana Gourdjia. The piece is based on two differing note structures, one inspired by the letters in her name, and one repeated note. Also, something important to note is that “no meters are used in the score, and the work is played with a great deal of freedom and perhaps sounds almost improvised.” This impresses on me that there is a kind of collaboration happening between the composer and the soloist. A beautifully written piece with lyrical lines that although disjunct, are almost romantic.
Delicious Silence
Lullaby is a piece written for solo harp. The larger piece was commissioned originally as an orchestra project by the Minnesota Orchestral Association. The program notes, which can be found on his website explain that the idea behind the commissioning was based on a children's book. Each character in the book is performed by a different soloist or section within the orchestra, and the harp gets the role of “lullaby”. The piece then became reworked as a short piece for solo harp which embodies a whimsical kind of grace that floats in the air and a variety of beauty that haunts the listener. It is definitely one that has quickly become one of my favorites of classical contemporary music.
Lullaby
It can be easy to see why Dzubay’s music is insanely popular in classical music today. While his music is intensely varied, each piece seems to be simply beautiful in its own unique way. To follow David Dzubay’s career or to listen to his music please visit his Website, or subscribe to his YouTube and SoundCloud channels.
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