Program Notes:1
Astralis tells a story about mans’ changing view of the universe
where music, images and connected interludes embody the
quality of a particular place and time. The stars have remained
essentially the same throughout human history and therefore
provide a valuable constant to understand our past and present
societies. The journey from the earliest hunter-gatherers to our
present frenetic and technological civilization has generated
many beautiful interpretations of the stars, each unique in its
way of explaining the universe and our place in it. These views
have reflected and informed the way people live their lives. In
the end, every atom of our bodies, of the air we breathe and of
the world around us is made up of ancient stars. We are
intimately tied to them and their impact on us is profound.
What follows is an extremely brief synopsis of each of the
world-views we have chosen to highlight.
Magic Period: 100,000 - 20,000 years ago
Interlude Image: The stars as they would have appeared
exactly 100,000 years ago to the day of this concert over
Southold Auditorium.
The magic period was a time where everything behaved
independently. Man’s universe the world he believes to be the
Universe endowed everything with life and spirit. It was a
1
All quotations and many of the concepts in these notes are
derived from Masks of the Universe by E. Harrison
looking-glass universe where magic was “the mind made
explicit in the external world.” Each rock, flower, animal and
star was filled with spirits that influence the way they act.
It was the most intuitive and lucid universe internally. The
magic universe reflected individuals and families. The stars
might have been seen as campfire around which other, distant
families gathered. Development to the mythic age was
purchased at the cost of increased mystery and perplexity and
the loss of magic and spirit as seen in all things.
Mythic Period: 5000 BC – 600 BC
Interlude Image: The stars as they would have appeared
exactly 1000 years ago with the overlay of the constellations.
The life that was part of all things ebbed and the power was
consolidated into gods who removed themselves from the
sphere of man. Epitomized by the cosmic gods of the delta
civilizations (Nile, Euphrates-Tigris, and Indus), the mythic
period signaled the end of enchantment with nature. Gods
endowed the world with order and design. Everything behaved
as if jerked into obedience by strings. There was little harmony
in the interaction between people and gods but great study of
the stars by mythic priests. Because gods become primary,
humans have the justification for large scale farming, hunting
and of course, war, as individuals no longer are endowed with
divine spirit. We find star charts, constellations of the zodiac
and movement of the planets but as a history of the God’s
actions not a coherent interrelationship.
Geometric Period: 600 BC – 500 AD
Interlude Image: An animated Robert Fludd graphic of
the Ptolemaic universe.
Intellectual activity quickened everywhere and found its
epicenter in the Ionian civilization, decedents of the mysterious
Minoans. The Greeks dissected and speculated and once again
awoke the dead matter of the mythic age. Anaximander
conceptualized cause and effect and the scientific method.
Parmenides wrote of absolute truth, beauty and goodness and
as a society the Ionians split science from philosophy. The first
was the study of how, the second of why.
The geometric universe is one of the mind as opposed to the
earlier worlds of the gods. Anaxagoras postulated that the
moon reflects light, that stars are fiery bodies, that things
everywhere have similar laws. Pythagoras found the earth to
be a sphere and the universe itself to be a finely tuned
instrument of celestial spheres.
This universe as described in the scriptures put God in a
primum mobile far beyond the fixed space of stars. Humans
were the center of all events “blessed by religion, rationalized
by philosophy, and verified by geocentric science, the medieval
universe gave meaning and purpose to life on Earth.” Space
was overwhelming in greatness but satisfying in harmony. In
fact the world was not the center but God.
The middle ages spawned a revolution in which specialized
skills no longer remained confined to palaces. Arts, crafts and
sciences blossomed. Ordinary people, under the hand of a
caring God and church were released from drudgery while
universities provided broader educations than even current
incarnations.
The deathblow to the medieval universe came from within. The
bishop Etienne Tempier condemned Paris scholars in 1277 for
putting limits on the power of God who was infinite. This led
the way to the Copernican revolution.
Infinite Period: 1277 AD – 1650 AD
This was a universe where thought provided answers.
Ptolemy’s description of the universe, the Almagest, was the
last great achievement of the geometric universe.
Medieval Period: 500 AD – 1200 AD (zenith) – 1600 AD
Interlude Image: A series of Romanesque, Baroque and
Renaissance paintings considering the western European view
of the heavens.
After the introduction of Tempier’s Trojan horse, the world
was opened for the Newtonian world. In addition, the
Ptolemaic system whose geometric machinery had become
labyrinthine was clearly inconsistent with Pythagoras’s
harmonious motion. This period, as each following, was
influenced by William of Ockham’s razor which states, “ it is
foolish to accomplish with a greater number of steps what can
be done with fewer.” From the 15C to the 17C universities
added little to science as they were still mired in the
Aristotelian universe. Work was left to theologians.
During this time Bishop Nicole Oresma liked the universe to a
delicately adjusted clock and Nicholas Copernicus, a canon in
Frauenburg, wrote Revolutions of the Celestial Order, in 1543
placing the sun at the center of the universe.In Rome,
Geodorno Bruno, Dominican monk, championed the infinite
universe and was burned at the stake. Tycho Brache confirmed
that the earth was in fact not in the center and Kepler inherited
his records and discovered the elliptical orbits of the planets,
which set the stage for the mechanistic universe.
The world had been prepared for the Newtonian universe,
which was the old atomist universe from the geometric period
with an inlay of medieval spirit (in its belief that space was
possible with its lack of matter).
Newton published in 1665 the Mathematical Principles of
Natural Philosophy. It succinctly explained the nature of
gravity and the motion of the planets and stars as well as falling
apples and the motion of wheels. The simple explanation could
only be the hand of God at work.
In the end, “no other proof for existence and the nature of God
has ever matched the elegance and self-consistency offered by
the Newtonians.” It introduced the mechanistic universe and
deism supplanted theism.
Mechanistic Period: 1665 AD – 1900 AD
Interlude Image: Hale Bop traveling around the sun
The Mechanistic contains a whole cycle within itself. From the
Age of reason through the reaction of the romantic age and on
to the final dominance of the mechanistic universe, it is a story
of the fall of the mythic universe.
During the Age of Reason in which Descartes stated, “I think,
therefore I am,” the possibility of understanding all the riddles
of nature was considered possible and the “world seemed
bright and young, free of the dead hand of the Renaissance
period with its conviction that all was senile and exhausted.”
Lofty thoughts descended to street level and the question,
‘why?’ was removed further from consideration.
Laws of Nature supplanted the direct participation of a
supreme being. The universe of sublime order was selfrunning. “God withdrew into a vague background of abstract
being as the indispensable architect of it all.”
The relationship of human beings to Nature usurped the
relation of human beings to God. The Age of Reason brimmed
with bright hopes and utopian dreams.
Thomas Paine demanded “life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.” Natural science was harnessed to industry. The
development of the steam engine gave impetus to the industrial
revolution and the torment of heretics by the church ceased.
Everyone became project crazy.
The ancient world had been overtaken. It was a cuckoo
universe, soon to attain such compelling power that it would
enforce worldwide adoption.
Physical Period: 1900 AD – 2003 AD
Interlude Image: A fanciful trip into a star where fusion
provides the building blocks for life and then on into the core
of the hydrongen atom, the most abundant element in nature.
Here we imagine our inner cosmos ending with subatomic
particle tracks: the evidence for that which we can’t see.
Our bounding principle that is applied to delineate all that is
part of our universe is that it is physical. All else is mythic in
nature. There is vast wonder in this view enabled by
technology and the brilliant work of scientists worldwide.
We have extended the boundaries of the knowable to an
incredible extent. We can see back through time to over 14
billion years and deep into the reaches of inner space. We have
found as we approach the extreme early universe (in our
theories, for we can only “see” back to 1 billion years after the
big bang and have evidence only in the form of background
radiation back to the first moments of the big bang) change
happens more quickly. After 1 second from the big bang most
of history had already occurred. “The complexity of the
extreme early universe reflects the complexity of the subatomic
world, and our understanding of what happens, which is not
very much, depends on what we know of the world of
subatomic particles.”
“When the universe is the age of one Planck period, the entire
observable universe fits into a size smaller than a hydrogen
atom. Around us lies a foam of inconceivable chaos in which
time and space are torn into discontinuities of cosmic
magnitude. An orderly historical sequence of events has ceased
to exist, and past and future have become meaningless.”
The Modern Period: 2004 A.D.
Interlude Image: Traveling from outside the Tully
Database from the visible universe to our location here.
Light traveling at 186,000 miles a second from the sun takes
500 seconds to reach us and 5 hours to reach Pluto. Light from
the nearest star takes years to reach us. 100 billion stars make
up our galaxy. Light takes 100,000 years to travel the diameter
of the Milky Way. The Solar System rotates around the
galactic center once every 200 million years. Light from one of
our neighboring galaxies, the Andromeda, takes 2 million years
to reach us. There are trillions of galaxies in our observable
universe.
We find ourselves, having traveled to the limits of the
microcosm, returning from the limit of the macrocosm to
where we began: our precious planet and ourselves. Here, until
we meet others from distant worlds, we will have to rely on our
imagination and knowledge to understand our place in the
universe.
We find we have come full circle. Our deep internal world and
our distant external world has are still filled with magic and the
unknowable. The cycle continues . . .
Evening Star: The future
Interlude Image: The magic of the stars once again.
Images taken only weeks ago by the groundbreaking Hubble
telescope.
The magic to be found in the first period has returned in the
smallest and largest of spaces and times, inundating all life,
time and space. Nellie Ruben’s Song at the beginning of these
notes related how through song, the stars will return to us.
Maybe one day through a combination of music and science,
through a song of the stars we will come to understand them
and ourselves.
star which we now see as represented by a short fuge leading to
a warm melody representing the emergence of earth and life.
After the various motives expire. We end with the explosion of
a star and the incredible release of energy that represents. I was
interested in writing something fun and enjoyable that focused
on the grandeur of the universe.
Walker Sextet: depicts the preparation and lift off of an
imaginary space ship for distant worlds. It draws on the chord
structure from John Coltrane’s Giant Steps, which is also the
inspiration for the title. The first two sections depict the hustle
and bustle of prepartions while the final section takes us out of
our atmosphere and into interstellar space.
Interestingly although they were written without knowledge of
each other and only with the most general theme in mind, the
augmented triad, which is two major thirds on top of each other
forms the harmonic basis for both the Robison Sextet and
Walker’s Sextet.
About the Premieres:
Biographies:
Robison Sextet: I wrote this piece specifically inspired by the
life and death cycles of the universe. I took the position of a
privileged audience to our interstellar theater where time rushes
by through the vast eons leading up to the birth of life on earth
(being the Earth-centric person I am). As we get closer to
human emergence, time slows and we notice ever more detail. I
wanted to paint the various stages of universal development.
The piece opens with the rush of the big bang followed by the
birth of the first stars. Their vast energy is represented in a
kinetic choral to the their death and phoenix-like rebirth as the
Nicholas Walker is a Fulbright Scholar and a recipient of the
Annette Kade Fellowship, Nicholas Walker studied at the
Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, and at the Nadia
Boulanger Conservatoire de Paris. Walker has been honored
with the Clifford Brown Memorial Young Talent Award, and
with featured performances for the International Society of
Bassists, the International Society of Jazz Educators, and the
American String Teacher’s Association. Walker has performed
throughout the United States and in over a dozen other
countries, including solo recitals in Italy, France, Canada, and
Australia. As a composer Walker writes music for a variety of
venues including pieces for jazz combo, big band, musical
theatre, string quartet, film, and for various chamber music
combinations. In 1998 Walker was awarded the International
Grand Prize for his composition ''EADG for Solo Bass'' by the
International Society of Bassists. As a freelance musician he
has collaborated with a diverse and impressive array of
musicians, including recordings with Blossom Dearie, Anny
Gould, Paquito D’Rivera, and Juan Pablo Torres. Walker is
honored to have apprenticed with two master mentors: three
years with swing-era saxophone legend Illinois Jacquet, and
over ten years with the pioneer of the string bass, Francois
Rabbath.
Omar Guey has performed as a soloist, concertmaster and
chamber musician throughout Brazil, the United States,
Taiwan, France, Italy, Israel and Norway. He has been a
featured soloist with the Brazilian Symphony, Campinas
Symphony, Goiania Symphony, Sao Paulo University and Sao
Paulo Municipal Symphony Orchestras as well as performing
with the Manhattan School of Music, Sao Paulo State and the
Experimental Repertoire Symphony Orchestras as a winner of
their concerto competitions. His recitals include a chamber
music concert with Lynn Harrell at the Aspen Music Festival
and a performance for the King Harald V of Norway. In 2001,
he was a prize winner at both the Tibor Varga (Switzerland)
and Rodolfo Lipizer International (Italy) Violin Competitions.
Mr. Guey’s performances have been broadcast on television
and radio and his recording of the Bach Concerto for Two
Violins with Brazilian soloist Elisa Fukuda and the Camerata
Fukuda was released on the Paulinas Label. Mr. Guey studied
at Indiana University, Manhattan School of Music, where he
received the Raphael Bronstein Award, and the Julliard School
with teachers Sylvia Rosenberg and Robert Mann.
Elizabeth Silver is the technical director for the Staller Center.
Concurrently she is the resident lighting designer for the
Seiskaya Ballet and frequent collaborator with the Sullivan
Dance Project. She also designs for the Stony Brook Opera
Ensemble and Stony Brook Stages. Theater credits include The
Rover directed by Paul Kassel, Polaroid Stories directed by
Talvin Wilks and A Macbeth directed by John Lutterbie. Dance
credits include Origins and Destinations choreographed by
Amy Yopp-Sullivan, The Unicorn, The Gorgan and The
Manticore choreographed by the Lumiere Dance Company and
This woman stands... choreographed by Amy Yopp-Sullivan.
Opera credits include L'incoronazione di Poppea stage
direction by Ronald Luchsinger and Thief of Love stage
direction by Ned Canty and Cosi Fan Tutte stage direction by
Beth Greenburg.
Benjamin Robison has performed as soloist, concertmaster
and chamber musician in France, Italy, Greece, Canada and the
United States. Mr. Robison began studying the violin at age
three. While still in high school he was a prizewinner in the
Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. After a twoyear sojourn studying theoretical physics, he returned full time
to music in 1992 and won the grand prize at the Canadian
National Music Festival. Since that time, he has won numerous
competitions and performed as chamber musician and soloist in
the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Caribbean while
collaborating with musicians like Anton Kuerti, Laurence
Lesser and David Finckel. Most recently he was awarded the
Prix de Fontainebleau for chamber music by Philipe
Entremont. Mr. Robison earned his bachelor’s and master’s
degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a
performance diploma from the Peabody Conservatory. He is
currently pursuing his doctorate and teaching at Stony Brook
University, studying with Ani Kavafian and Philip Setzer. His
former teachers include David Cerone, Claude Richard and
Steven Majeski. His interests include literature, architecture,
chess, Go, hiking, and poetry.
Nicole Hanson has appeared as concerto soloist the Minnesota
Orchestra, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota
Sinfonia, and the Masterworks Festival Orchestra. Her
competition successes include winning the Young People’s
Symphony Concert Association auditions 1999, the National
Alliance for Excellence Honored Scholars & Artists ALEX
Award (twice), and the silver medal at the 26th Annual
Stulberg International String Competition. Miss Hanson has
appeared in recital at Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, and
performed as a guest artist on national public radio’s, A
Prairie Home Companion, hosted by Garrison Keillor. Miss
Hanson is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree at
Stony Brook University, where she is a student of Colin Carr.
She has previously studied with Steven Doane and Peter
Howard.
Laura Karney received her undergraduate degree in oboe
performance from the Eastman School of Music. Recently,
Laura completed a long-term residency at the Banff Centre for
the Arts where she collaborated with international jazz and
classical musicians including Christopher Millard, Mike
Murley and Hugh Frasier. During the summer, Ms. Karney has
performed at the Sunflower Music Festival, Yellowbarn Music
Festival, Hot Springs Music Festival and with the Banff Centre
Chamber Orchestra. Her teachers include Barb Bishop, Nancy
Ambrose King and Richard Killmer.
Chi-Yuan Chen, born in Taipei, Taiwan is a two-time winner
of the Taipei Viola Competition and a winner of National
Taiwan Academy of Arts Concerto Competition. In 1999, Mr.
Chen became the first violist ever to win the New England
Conservatory Concerto Competition since its inception in1867.
Besides his solo performances, Mr. Chen is also an active
chamber music performer. His recent concert engagements
include Taiwan, Japan, Germany and North America. Chen
has performed as guest artist with numerous ensembles such as
Boston Chamber Music Society, Metamorphosen and the
Gardner Museum Chamber Ensemble in Boston. He has
collaborated with artists such as George Perle, Elliot Carter,
Yo-Yo Ma, Paula Robinson, Lawrence Lesser, James Buswell,
and Lynn Chang among others. In 2000, his string quartet won
the silver medal in the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition in
South Bend, Indiana. A graduate of New England
Conservatory with the highest distinction in performance in
both Bachelor and Master degrees, Mr. Chen is currently
pursuing his Doctoral degree at Stony Brook University,
studying with Katherine Murdock. His former teacher includes
Peng Pan, Ben Lin, James Dunham and Martha Katz.