- Ariadnemusic (1984)
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Eleanor Hovda
for flute, clarinet in Bb, violin, viola, violoncello, piano, and percussion
ca. 14'42"
For the Boston Musica Viva, Richard Pittman, music director
Click here to view revised performance notes.
Click here to hear a recording by the Prism Players on the Eleanor Hovda Collection CD on Spotify.
- Leaning Into and Away (1994)
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Eleanor Hovda
for flute, oboe, clarinet in Bb, percussion, piano, and string quartet
ca. 12'51"
Commissioned by the Cuicani Orchestra Project, with support from the US/Mexico Fund for Culture
Dedicated to the memory of Manuel Enriquez
I use the title Leaning Into and Away because the piece grew out of many thoughts about and experiences dancing and making music for dancers. I found myself focussing particularly on the energies of running on the ground and leaping into space, and the flow of energy involved in any physical moves from balance to suspension. I also wanted to work with the idea of excavating sounds from the bone and sinew of piano, wind, string, and percussion instruments – as dancers draw energy from deep inside their bodies.
Click here to view the performance notes.
Click here to hear a recording by the Prism Players on Spotify.
- Regions (1971, rev. 1997)
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Eleanor Hovda
for flute, clarinet in Bb, violin, grand piano, and crotales
ca. 12'40"
Commissioned by the Atlanta Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, California EAR Unit, and Boston Musica Viva through the Meet the Composer/Readers Digest Commissioning Program
Click here to view an addendum related to pages 4 - 11.
Click here to hear a recording by the California EAR Unit on Spotify.
- Snapdragon (1993)
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Eleanor Hovda
for flute, oboe, Bb clarinet, bassoon, horn in F
Commissioned by the Holland Festival for the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble
Snapdragon is written for the Nederlands Wind Ensemble, and was completed on May 19, 1993. I use the title Snapdragon because it refers to a game** where raisins are snatched from burning flames. I wanted to work with extremes of energy (from relaxed to intense-but-inward, to most extroverted, flung energy). I also wanted to work with the idea of excavating sounds from the bone and sinew of wind instruments: the expansions of single pitches, either fingered or otherwise altered, which can happen when extremes of breath control, additions of auxilllary keys and alternatve fingerings are used. I imagine the energy of watching the flames and then swiftly snatching at the raisins. I imagine the energy of both participating in the game and watching the action.
**a Victorian-era game played during the winter, particularly on Christmas eve
Click here to hear a recording by the Prism Players on the Eleanor Hovda Collection CD (Spotify).
- Fields (1987)
-
Eleanor Hovda
for orchestra
ca. 16'00"
This piece was performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with Principal Guest Conductor Ilan Volkov on Thursday 21 October 2021 at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.
Click here to view the score and listen to the recording.
- Earthrunner (1966)
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Eleanor Hovda
for flute, timpani, and double bass
- Music from "The Proclamation" (1966, rev. 1968)
-
Eleanor Hovda
for solo flute
Written for David Gilbert
Music from the Proclamation was composed in 1966 as the musical component of a play "The Proclamation" by Iva Martirano. The script called for a flutist, a man (mime), and a woman (actor). The Flute, played and acted by David Gilbert, presided over the flow of action between the Man and the Woman, and had continuous shifting role-involveent throughout the play. It was performed at the Roundhouse, in Urbana, Illinois. It was revised, in concert version, in 1968.
I had become interested in considerations of breathing with respect to sound production, energy shape composing, and timbral painting as well as to the problems of periodicity (a natural resultant of inhale/exhale cycles of wind and brass players and singers). The necessity of producing a long (ca. 25 minutes), evolving statement for the flute character provided a "psychological form," a theatrical context, within which some ways to foil periodicity in a flute solo could be developed and shaped.
David Gilbert, a flutist and composer, had already developed new techniques using inhale and exhale melodically, vowel and consonant sounds, and alternate methods of sound production to enlarge the timbral palette. These included "air" sounds, combinations of air/pitch, pitch color, and weight change by alternate fingerings, "chords," etc. The compositional availability of "air" sounds combined with vowel and consonant articulations (which can be produced during inhale as well as exhale cycles) served to free me from the inevitability of the "sound/take-a-breath, sound/take-a-breath...n" loop.
Factors governing the durational limits of inhales and exhales were explored. For example, the greater the "force" required to play an inhaled/exhaled segment, the shorter the possible duration of that segment. Parameters which combine to determine the total "force" include registral placement, dynamics, density (ex.: single pitches/"chords"; flute alone/flute with humming; method of sound production (modo ordinario, pitch, and "air" combinations); phonetic articulation (vowel and/or consonant sounds, simple or complex, such as Ho versus rtchu with a rolled r).
This piece has been a process, in three general stages: First, by developing sound materials from combinations of parameters which focused on extents of time, weights and energy, and flow shapes, I hoped to avoid the natural periodicity of inhale and exhale cycles. Second, the sound material took shape and life when molded within the theatrical context/content (psychological form) of the play. Third, the flute music was revised into a concert version wherein the interaction between the performer and the material became the event, and the "meaning" is a timbral/energy flow soundscan.
Click here to view the script.
- Boundaries (1989)
-
Eleanor Hovda
for four flutes and four double basses
ca. 7'11"
Boundaries is about extents and limits. The piece makes use of the differences and similarities of the instruments, including variables in dynamic and pitch ranges, timbre and articulation (bowed, plucked, blown). The energy of extremes and stretched perimeters contrasted to dense overlays, works with ideas of expanding and conracting sound-fields.
Click here to listen to the recording by Anonymous on the Eleanor Hovda Collection CD on Spotify.
- A Quartet (1971)
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Eleanor Hovda
for voice, flute, and Flexitone
- Song in High Grasses (1985)
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Eleanor Hovda
for soprano, flute, cello, and bowed piano
ca. 12'14"
Song in High Grasses is written for Charlotte Regni, and is made around a yodel-like call which she learned as a child living in Zaire, Africa. The piece is a sonic visualization of an imaginary outdoor space with tall grasses, large plants, warm winds, and somnulant insects, birds, and beasts. The call-song floats around and dances with the ambience of wind, rustling grasses, and creature sounds.
- Piece for Flute Alone (1963)
-
Eleanor Hovda
for solo flute
- Ondes Doubles (1971)
-
Eleanor Hovda
for flute, viola, harp, and Ondes Martenot
- Journeymusic (1981)
-
Eleanor Hovda
for flute, clarinet in Bb, violin, contrabass, piano, and percussion
ca. 8'00"
Commisioned by the Jerome Foundation for the Orchestra of Our Time, Joel Thome, music director
Click here to view the performance notes.
- Firefall (1974)
-
Eleanor Hovda
for flute, voice, double bass, and dancer
- Cheetah (1992)
-
Eleanor Hovda
for flute, oboe, Bb clarinet, bassoon, viola, electric bass, percussion
Cheetah is written for Relache, and was completed on December 24, 1992. I have used the image of cheetahs for several reasons. I wanted to work with extremes of energy (from relaxed to intense-but-inward to most extroverted, flung energy). I also wanted to work with the idea of excavating sounds from the bone and sinew of acoustic instruments: the expansions of single pitches, either fingered or bowed, which can happen when extremes of breath control, additions of auxillary keys and alternative fingerings (winds) and larger spectra of bowing techniques and placements (strings) are used. Cheetahs are said to be the fastest animals on earth when they run, but their sprints are very short. The rest of the time they spend recovering from their runs or preparing for the next dash by scoping out the landscape with intense focus, from stationary positions or by prowling. I imagine an enormous amount of energy and motion in the stillness flowing from them during these periods of intense focus.
- Borealis Music (1987)
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Eleanor Hovda
for flute, oboe, bassoon, piano
ca. 10'30"
For the Sylmar Chamber Ensemble
Commissioned by the MCF/CCP Program funded by the Jerome Foundation
Borealis Music suggests energy which moves but doesn't go anywhere. The Aurora Borealis is seen as curtains or ribbons of active energy, but not a travelling form. There is also the perception of the aurora being a series of super-imposed "after-images" – the idea that what is seen is the resultant of a field of reflected/refracted electrical impulses.
The energy fields are achieved by introspective probings of the "sound around the sound" of strings and winds. Sonic ribbons emerge, and lengths of time taken to excavate and articulate resonance fields.
An important aspect of performance is to be able to work with very soft dynamic levels with intense concentration and energy. A theatrical metaphor is the Noh drama of Japan, where the slow unfolding of infinitesimally distilled material serves to heighten and sustain focus and attention.
- Air Moment (1973)
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Eleanor Hovda
for 11 to 33 flutes
This piece was commissioned by the NY Flute Club in 1973 for a concert in honor of Otto Luening. Since the Flute Club had scheduled Luening's "38 flutes" piece, which is very much a pitch/pulse canon, I decided to enlarge on that area that had been fascinating to me for some time: the acoustic articulation of "the sound around the sound." Not only would this make a nice contrast to Mr. Luening's wonderful piece, but would allow me to work in some directions that had been intriguing me. David Gilbert, flutist and inspiration for many of the techniques, conducted.
Essentially, the piece is played from full score. There are 11 distinct parts, and these parts can be doubled/tripled, etc. up to probably not more than 44 total players. However, anyone who wants to try 11 on each part for a total of 121 is welcome to try!
At no time, in this piece, is an "out and out pitch" blown. The piece is built on the idea of amplyfying breath resonances caused by vowel and consonant sounds plus variation of dynamics, and use of fluttertongue. The sole instance of "almost clear pitch" is the "dove sound" sections where "subtone" blowing and use of trill keys produces a hollow, reedy, "dove-like sound" (George Crumb is responsible for calling these sounds "dove sounds").
Timing is by breathflow and the process of proceeding through the piece. The conductor is involved to choosing when to make changes and for engendering "connectedness" amongst the ensemble.
- Onyx (1991)
-
Eleanor Hovda
for chamber orchestra
ca. 13'45"
This piece was commissioned by the Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra.
This project was supported in part through funding from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Click here to view the score with composer's notes.
Click here to view the score with conductor's notes.
- The Lion's Head (1971)
-
Eleanor Hovda
for flute, B-flat clarinet, violin, and cello
- Hollows (1985)
-
Eleanor Hovda
for flute, oboe, bassoon, violin, and cello
For the Sylmar Chamber Ensemble, with gratitude to the McKnight Foundation
This piece is a very introspective probing of "the secret life" of the winds and strings. It resonates hollow places and takes long lengths of time to excavate and articulate the "sound around the sound."