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(U.S.A.)
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A Round * [2 saxophones alto / 2 alto saxophones] Die Berliner Hornisse * [saxophone alto et piano / alto saxophone & piano]
Susan Fancher, saxophone alto / alto saxophone Laura Loewen, piano * Première canadienne / Canadian premier |
As a member of the Vienna Saxophone Quartet for the past 6 years, Mark Engebretson has performed throughout the world (Austria, Sweden, France, Germany, South Africa, Poland, Japan, Italy, Norway, Lithuania, Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and the USA). With the Vienna Saxophone Quartet, he has released 2 compact discs, the most recent featuring New York Counterpoint by composer Steve Reich, which was made in collaboration with the composer. He has appeared as a solo recitalist throughout Europe and the United States, in particular in collaboration with the Swedish percussionist Anders Åstrand and the American saxophonist Susan Fancher, and as a founding member of the new music ensemble MeloMania!. He has been featured as concerto soloist with the Czech National Orchestra of Brno, performing the world premiere of Horst Ebenhoh's Konzert für Baritone Saxophon.
In addition to his performance activities in America and abroad, Mr. Engebretson has taught saxophone at Benedictine University and North Park University, both in the Chicago area. He holds a Masters degree in saxophone and music composition from Northwestern University, and is currently writing his dissertation, which will complete his Doctor of Music degree in composition, also at Northwestern. He also studied at the Conservatoire National de Region de Bordeaux in France and at the University of Minnesota. Also a composer, Mark Engebretson's works have been heard at major festivals and concert halls in Europe and America, including Wien Modern, Horgange (Vienna), Ny Musikk (Bergen, Norway), ISCM/Austrian Music Days (Tirana, Albania) and the Baltic Music Festival "Gaida" (Vilnius, Lithuania), the Indiana State University New Music Festival (Terre Haute, IN) and the Philharmonia Hall in Warsaw, Poland. He has received numerous commissions from the Austrian Cultural Ministry (She Sings, She Screams, Winter Ashes, Events, Say a Prayer, but the Sea Wind Blows Them Out) and he has received commissions from the Swedish Society for Composers (STIM) and the Lake Forest High School Percussion Ensemble. His composition teachers include Northwestern University professors M. William Karlins, Pauline Oliveros, Marta Ptaszynska, Michael Pisaro, Stephen Syverud and Jay Alan Yim, and Michel Fuste-Lambezat of the Conservatoire de Bordeaux. |
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| A Round was commissioned by and is dedicated to Mark Engebretson and Susan Fancher. As in many of my pieces, including Stand Apart for saxophone quartet, A Round deals with the challenges of integrating the visual and aural structures of a piece of music. It also attempts to integrate improvisation with passages of completely notated music.
noted by David Macbride |
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| Die Berliner Hornisse (The Berlin Hornet) was written for Mark Engebretson and premiered at Unerhörte Musik in Berlin in December, 1995.
Die Berliner Hornisse is a diptych inspired by insect energy. The first movement, "Inside the Hive" is a series of non-linear sonic snapshots, slight "buzzings" that suggest strange, unaccountable tasks, rituals, activities. This mysterious, almost absurd quality is underlined by the fact that the pianist never plays on the keyboard in the normal manner throughout. The second movement, "Stinger Dance," is as focussed, directed, fast and frenetic as the opening movement is not. Its "presto possibile" tempo sets a pace that never lets up. In one sense, it is a "flight of the bumblebee" (more of a wasp here) for modern times. In its virtuosity, it echoes two musical ghosts: John Coltrane of "Giant Steps," and Niccolo Paganini of the "Twenty-Four Caprices" for solo violin. noted by Robert Carl |
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