DESCRIPTION:
Spectrum (2014) by Lisa Whitson Burns (*1983)
Daniel Andor-Ardó, conductor
Christopher Staskel, poems
Jonathan Singer, vibraphone
Melissa Bybee, Natalie Chamat, Perry Townsend, Brian Mountford, solo voices
C4 Ensemble: The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective
November 13, 2014 at Galapagos Art Space, Brooklyn
November 15, 2014 at The Church of St. Luke in the Fields, NYC
November 22, 2014 at Michiko Studios
Noriko Okabe, Brian Mountford and Jim Bilodeau, audio
Brian Mountford, Daniel Andor-Ardó and Joe Upham, video

Program Notes:

Ellsworth Kelly's Spectrum V, which is on display in the Modern and Contemporary Art wing of the Met (gallery 924), consists of thirteen separate panels, each approximately seven feet tall, and each painted a single color. (To see this artwork, visit: http://tinyurl.com/spectrum5). When Chris and I decided to write a choral piece inspired by the work, we wanted to capture both the distinct character of each color and the sense of balance and cohesion of the spectrum as a whole.

Musically, I undertook the experiment of creating a harmonic spectrum. Just as each panel in Kelly's work has only one color of paint, each miniature movement of "Spectrum" is based on a single harmonic color, a six-note chord type. For example, the first movement, which corresponds to a blaring yellow panel, uses a six-note chromatic cluster, a chord built entirely of half-steps. And just as neighboring panels in Spectrum V are most similar in color, consecutive movements in "Spectrum" are most closely related harmonically. By building this progression, I hope to capture to the overall experience of a spectrum — that of traveling a great distance in small steps, unaware in the moment of the gradual changes that are taking place within the harmony.

Looking back, I realize that Chris and I have not created the choral equivalent of Spectrum V, because while Kelly limited himself strictly to varying only one element, color, from panel to panel, our piece functions in many dimensions. It is as though we took from Kelly's work not a series of painted canvases, but rather thirteen blocks of brightly colored clay, which we shaped freely into musical sculptures.

~ Lisa Whitson Burns

Text:

Spectrum
Christopher Staskel

1.
I should be thinking sunshine,
But all I see is imperfection.
Jaundiced skin, raised and reaching.
Sickly lemon bruises, sinking.
I should be thinking sunshine,
But all I see is imperfection.

2.
Not quite verdant yet,
You're less like blades of grass pinched between my thumbs,
Emitting proud, but tiny elephant sounds,
And more like slips of Easter grass
My cat chokes on.

3.
Like painter's water, cup of murky.
Garden hose, pinched.
You scream like a coked-up Julie Andrews on the Austrian hillside.

4.
Swallow me whole Charybdis,
You bloated-on-topaz Narcissus

5.
Eddies in the backyard creek
Crinkle like Saran wrap.

6.
You diffuse like Alka-Seltzer
And leave a fine silt behind.
I've pushed your crumbs to the foot of my bed.

7.
I never really knew my grandfather. Eggplant, age spot.
Storm clouds, peacock, damp towels, full stop.
Cushions for a chair not for sitting on.
I never really knew my grandfather, but I knew
He held me when I was a baby.

8.
It wants to
Be lace, but
It plays too
Rough.

9.
You, you are Chiclets. You, you are scuzz breath.
I get you stuck in my head, cuz you are one-track.
I get you stuck in my head, then blow my brains out.
Yeah, yeah, I splatter the wall with Pepto-Bismol.

10.
Make your hair nest, Bird-of-Paradise!
Frizz it out for social mixers!
Buy a treadmill! Wear leg warmers!
Serve your salad with grapefruit slices!

13.
Primarily –
Like highlighters want to be present, have merit,
And have their highlations be as important
as the words they illuminate,
Or like dogs urinate on fresh snow –
Primarily, we want to leave an impression.