- Ariadnemusic (1984)
-
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)
-
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)
-
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.
- Spring Music with Wind (1973)
-
Eleanor Hovda
for solo piano
ca. 11'45"
Piano piece for Carla Hübner
This piece uses seven areas of the inside of a grand piano. These seven areas are played by five different mallets and a glass bottle. Voice sounds ("air" sounds, humming, whistling) are used to amplify or extend piano textures.
Click here to view the performance notes.
Click here to listen to the recording by Lee Humphries on the Eleanor Hovda Collection CD (Spotify).
Click here to listen on Innova Recordings.
- Strings (1989)
-
Eleanor Hovda
for violin and piano
For Stephanie Chase, commissioned by the Schubert Club
Strings was commissioned by the Schubert Club for violinist Stephanie Chase. I used metaphors from multidimensional string theories, where energy is conceived as infinite "strings" in space/time, and the Universe is said to have extra hidden dimensions. I have been working, for some time, on articulating lemniscates (figure-of-eight ribbons) as sonic sculptur. I'm also intrigued by an often unexplored timbral resource of stringed instruments: the "sound around the sound" of overtones, harmonics.
I visualize the piece as sound choreography, where the violin spins sonic "strings" and the piano is resonator, afterimage, or "shadow universe." The pitch structures in the piece derive from the harmonic series, and are shaped by bending, twisting and stretching those basic pitch relationships as much as possible without "breaking" them, or turning them into something else. The piano functions as an accumulating resonance field throughout the piece.
- 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.
- Folios (1980)
-
Eleanor Hovda
for concrète tape, voice, glass harmonica, bells, bird call, toy piano, piano, clarinet, recorders, and double plastic pipes, dancer
- Borealis Music (1987)
-
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.
- Waveschart (1970)
-
Eleanor Hovda
for flute, B-flat clarinet, percussion, piano, and bass
- If Tigers Were Clouds (1994)
-
Eleanor Hovda
for B-flat clarinet, marimba, temple blocks, vibraphone, and piano
ca. 15'15"
...then reverberating, they would create all songs.
For Zeitgeist, developed during Music in Motion Project
- Embermusic (1978)
-
Eleanor Hovda
for voice and piano