Potirion Sotiriu (The Cup of Salvation) (1999)                                                                              Victoria Bond
                                                                                                                                                           (b.1945)
 

Cherubikon (2001) World Premier                                                                                          John Muehleisen
                                                                                                                                                           (b.1955)
 

Orphée Suite for Piano (2000)   World Premier                                                                             Philip Glass
     I.  The Cafe                                                                                                                                 (b. 1938)
     II.  Orphée’s Bedroom transcribed for piano by Paul Barnes
     III. Journey to the Underworld
     IV.  Orphée and the Princess
     V.  Return to Orphée’s House
     VI.  Orphée’s Return
     VII. Orphée’s Bedroom- Reprise
 

Trilogy Sonata
     I.  Knee Play No. 4 from Einstein on the Beach
          Arranged by Philip Glass , revised and edited by Paul Barnes
     II.  Act III Conclusion from Satyagraha
          Arranged by Michael Riesman, Revised and edited by Paul Barnes
     III.  Dance from Act II Scene III of Akhnaten
          Arranged by Paul Barnes

Philip Glass’s Music is published by Dunvagen Music, Inc.
The transcription of Philip Glass’s Orphée was made possible by a UNL Research Council Grant
 
 

 Program notes

Potirion Sotiriu (1999)
 Ps. 116 (LXX 115)
 Potírion sotiríu lípsome, ke to ónoma Kyríu epikalésome.
 The cup of salvation I will receive, and call upon the name of the Lord.

I first encountered the Greek Orthodox hymn “Potirion Sotiriu” as the chanter of the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Its simplicity of line and mystical drone or “ison” made a most powerful impression on me as a recent newcomer to the spiritual vision of  Byzantine chant.  The text is taken from Psalm 115 of the Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint which was done in Alexandria at the request of a third-century BCE Egyptian Pharaoh desiring to have all of the world’s greatest spiritual treasures available to him in his library.  During a recording session in Budapest with composer Victoria Bond, I happened to sing this chant as she and I were in the glorious St. Matthias Church.   At that moment, she said she would composer a piano piece for me based on that chant.   Ms. Bond had the formidable challenge of writing a large scale work for piano that on one hand effectively utilized the resources of the piano but at the same time preserved the unique mystical aura generated by the chant itself.   After the piece was composed last year, we decided that the most appropriate format for the performance would be to sing the chant both before and after the work so that the spiritual world from which the piece emerged was clear.   It also communicates to the audience what I have come to embrace as a champion of new music:  namely that one of the most profound uses of music is to give the listener the ability to leap artificial temporal boundaries and embrace the totality of human expression in both the present and in past ages.   Making the past a present reality is also paramount in the liturgical theology of the Orthodox church where through ancient ritual, twentieth century believers are mystically united to the past in ways that illumine the eternal significance of our spiritual ancestors.
        Paul Barnes

Cherubikon
The Cherubic Hymn (Herubikon in Greek) is sung at a pivotal moment in the Divine Liturgy on Sunday mornings in the Orthodox Church and represents the blending of the worship of the Earthly Church with the Heavenly worship as described in the biblical book of The Revelation of St. John, as well as in passages from Isaiah and other Old Testament scriptures. Settings of the Cherubic Hymn represent some of the most extended musical treatments of text in the Divine Liturgy. The music is typically divided into two parts, the first often being quite extended (especially in Byzantine settings) and frequently slow in tempo, comprising the first 3/4 or so of the text; the second section is shorter, frequently in a faster tempo, and includes what amounts to the last line of the text plus the Alleluia.

Two of the great traditions of Cherubic Hymn settings are found in the European-inspired Russian Orthodox settings (some of which blend ancient Russian Znameny chant with European homophony and polyphony) and in the Byzantine-chant settings of the Greek and Arabic Orthodox churches. Muehleisen’s Cherubikon setting blends elements of the Byzantine-chant style with his own musical language. The Byzantine-chant elements in the setting include:
? Use of ison (drone) techniques.
? Several types of melodic ornaments.
? Highly melismatic and florid lines.
? Chromatically inflected melodic lines, esp. inflections of raised and lowered 2nd, 3rd,  and 7th scale degrees
? Breaking and resumption of phrases in the middle of vowels.
? Alternation of solo (cantor) passages over a group ison with choral passages over the ison.
? Predominantly step-wise melodic motion with occasional leaps.
? Distension and segmentation of text with frequent repetition of syllables.

The influence of elements of Muehleisen’s own style in the setting include:
? Diatonic clusters, frequently derived from the resonance of particular notes in a melodic line (like notes of a melody that “get stuck in the On position”). For example, the ison, which begins either as a single pitch or as a 5th gradually accrues other pitches to become a diatonic cluster or other more complex chord.
? Lydian inflection of 4th scale degree (not typical in Byzantine chant).
? Frequent use of text-painting.

- John Muehleisen (March 2001)
 

Orphée Suite for Piano (2000)
 The impetus for my transcriptions from Philip Glass’s Orphée came when Mr. Glass visited Lincoln, Nebraska back in 1999.   After spending an exhilarating hour in my studio going over potential opera scores, we both decided that Orphée would work especially well transcribed for piano.  A University of Nebraska-Lincoln Research Council grant enabled me to transcribe the newly created Orphée Suite for Piano during the summer of 2000.   I have always been inspired as a musician by the mystical interplay between the spiritual and the physical worlds. And this fascinating intercourse is the basis for Jean Cocteau’s remarkable 1950 film version of Orphée on which Glass based his 1991 opera.  The disarming simplicity of Glass’s music idiom is especially capable in communicating the unique tension that exist between these two worlds.
  I have tried in my selection of transcriptions, to communicate the most poignant aspects of the emotional world so brilliantly crafted by Glass in his score.   The opening movement, The Cafe, takes place in the 1950’s in a trendy, poet’s cafe in Paris.   At a time when poetry constituted the cultural life blood of society, poets young and old gathers in this stimulating and emotionally charged environment to discuss the latest and most controversial trends.  Orphée (played by Jean Marais in Cocteau’s film) is in the cafe and comments to the owner “Your cafe is a winner.  I think it is the center of the world!”  Glass uses a neo-ragtime style that increases in complexity as the scene erupts into a brawl of emotionally fired artists and poets.
 The second movement is a touching piece accompanying the scene where the mysterious Princess,  Orphée’s ‘Death’, (played by the stunning Maria Casares) seriously violates a precept of underworld justice:  she tarries in the human world for personal reasons.  Here she simply watches Orphée as he sleeps with Euridice, crossing that forbidden chasm of emotional connection to the human world.   Glass’s music is particularly effective in portraying the timeless contemplation of love in this scene totally without action.
 The Journey to the Underworld is the mysterious journey of Orphée with the Princess’s chauffeur Heurtebise to find Euridice who has been prematurely taken to the Underworld by the Princess.  The journey begins with Heurtebise revealing the mysterious nature of mirrors.  Mirrors are the doors through which death comes and goes...” And right before the journey begins, Heurtebise gives Orphée the most important truth for those seeking the mystical journey:  “You don’t have to understand.  It is only necessary to believe.”    Again, because time stands still in the Underworld, Glass’s musical idiom is quite appropriate.  Heurtebise exclaims, “Life takes a long time to die.”   And the static quality of Glass’s music communicates this spiritual limbo most effectively.
 The forth movement introduces an important chord progression symbolizing the love of the Princess for Orphée.   It’s simplicity and emotional directness disarm the critic as the listener  melts into the unadulterated beauty of triadic bliss.  Yet the F Major-a minor, B-flat Major-D-flat Major love theme never occurs without an excursion to e-minor, a musical darkness that reveals the complicated nature of this cross-temporal love.  The princess remarks “In our world, no one loves, we only move from judgment to judgment.”  A brief musical interlude accompanies Orphée, Euridice, and Heurtebise as they return from the Underworld to the world above.
 In a brawl, Orphée is shot and returns for a second time to the Underworld where he encounters the Princess.  Orphée exclaims:  “I found a way to rejoin you!”  This impressive scene consists of the love progression varied and brought to an almost frenzied climax as the Princess reveals her plan to sacrifice herself in order to send Orphée back to the land of the living.  She exclaims to Heurtebise “A poet’s Death must sacrifice herself to make him immortal.”  And then to Orphée: “Don’t try to understand what I am about to do- for it isn’t understandable in any world.”  As the love theme builds to an impassioned climax, Heurtebise begins the difficult task of leading Orphée out of the Underworld, unauthorized- a sacrificial act that will doom the princess for eternity.  The clock strikes six, the same time when Orphée entered the Underworld revealing that time as we know it does not exist in the Underworld.
 The final scene return’s to Orphée’s bedroom ironically this time with Orphée watching Euridice sleeping.   In the style of a baroque lament, the music is at once tender and melancholy.  The contemplative mood of the first Bedroom piece is maintained yet the piece then moves to the ominous key of e-minor where the fate of the princess is being carried out amidst the bliss of the reunited Orphée and Euridice.   The love progression returns for a final time, as the princess faithful aides have now been transformed into her escorts to her final judgment.  The Princess bids adieu amidst the tension of the bittersweet final C minor/major triad.
  Paul Barnes

Trilogy Sonata  (1998)
The Trilogy Sonata was given its world premier performance by the arranger, pianist Paul Barnes on April 19, 2001 in New York City. The Trilogy Sonata consists of three transcriptions from the trilogy of "portrait" operas of Philip Glass, Einstein on the Beach (1976), Satyagraha (1981), and Akhnaten (1984). The first movement is Barnes ' revision of Glass's own piano transcription of the 'Knee-Play No.4" from Glass's landmark opera Einstein On the Beach. The four acts of the opera are musically joined by musical interludes entitled "Knee-Plays", a reference to the quasi-physiological function of the interludes as the connecting tissue of the opera. The transcription of the conclusion from Glass's second "portrait" opera, Satyagraha (1981) was initially arranged by Glass's musical director, Michael Riesman and subsequently revised and edited by Barnes during the summer of 2000. As Einstein represented the man of science, Glass chose Ghandi, the man of politics, as the subject of his second "portrait" opera, Satyagraha (1981). The sanskrit word refers to Ghandi's political philosophy of non-violent resistence. The final transcription in the Triology Sonata, Dance from Scene 3 Act II of Akhnaten (1984) was done by Barnes in 1999 and premiered separately in Minneapolis in March of 2000. The Egyptian Pharaoh Akhnaten lived from 1385 to 1357 BC and was responsible for unsuccessfully introducing monotheism, the worship of the Sun god Aten, to ancient Egypt. The Dance serves as the energetic celebratory ritual for the inauguration of Akhnaten's new city, Akhetaten (The Horizon of Aten). With Akhnaten, Glass's own "Ring cycle", the trilogy of portrait operas, is complete with an operatic exploration of science, politics, and finally religion.