Flutist Patricia Spencer and Cellist André Emilianoff
Instrumentation: Flute and cello
Duration: 5:25
Premiere: 1981
Erica Duke and Dorothy Stone, of the E.A.R. Unit
American Dance Festival Composer/Choreographer Workshop,
Duke University
Durham, NC
Program Note:
Gazebo Music, for flute and cello, is a pastoral piece created for a site-specific dance on the grounds of Duke University, with the dancers wending their way up from woods, peeking over the railing of the gazebo where the performers were located, and ending with them lying on the branches of a huge magnolia tree. The piece was created as part of the Composer/Choreographer Workshop at the American Dance Festival in Durham, NC., with each of four composers collaborating with each of four choreographers. The performers, including flutist Dorothy Stone and cellist Erica Duke, were drawn from the LA-based E.A.R. Unit in residence for the program.
The intertwining of the flute and cello parts creates its own sonic choreography. The music, which begins with floating flute/cello chords, moves into a dance, by turns whimsical and piquant, before ending on a wave-like chordal rocking that comes gently to rest. Reviewers have singled out the way the music ‘…evokes nymphs, mysteries and pastoral magic…’ (Theatre Scene Net), and the way in which ‘…the arch form and flowing music fit perfectly.’ (Richmond Times Dispatch). Gazebo Music was recorded by flutist Patricia Spencer and cellist André Emilianoff of Da Capo Chamber Players on Dreamtigers, a Shatin portrait album on the Innova label (#613). For more information, visit www.judithshatin.com. –JS
Press Quotes:
“Gazebo Music, Judith Shatin’s flute and cello piece composed for an open-air performance, effectively evokes a nature scene without resorting to blatant pastoral imitiation.”
–The Washington Post
“The second piece – just six minutes long – was Judith Shatin’s Gazebo Music for flute and cello. Written in 1981 as an American Dance Festival (Durham, North Carolina) site-specific accompaniment for dancers emerging from woods, approaching a gazebo and then retreating for repose in magnolia trees, the piece evokes nymphs, mysteries, and pastoral magic. Long notes and lines – for both instruments – alternate with short interludes of delicate precision; plaintiveness alternates with teasing, and langor with weightlessness. The single concluding high note releases intimacy into mystery.” –Theatre Scene Net [Merkin Hall performance by Da Capo Chamber Players with flutist Patricia Spencer and cellist André Emilianoff]
“Of the Roxbury Chamber Players recording of Gazebo Music (Opus One 44, LP) Ms. Werrel and Mr. Comita take the title at its word, emphasizing the solitary, contemplative aspect of Ms. [Shatin’s] delicate, understated writing.” –Richmond Times-Dispatch
“Judith Shatin’s Gazebo Music (1981) for flute and cello was composed for a dance in which the dancers came through the woods up to the gazebo and then glided away. The arch form and flowing music fit perfectly: soft chords, pastorale, a waltzlike center section, pastorale, soft chords.”–Richmond Times-Dispatch