Premiered on February 27, 2015, by Lois Shapiro, piano, Randall Hodgkinson, piano, and Colin Gee, performance artist, for the concert Mythos/Melos: The Intertwining Threads of Music and Narrative, at Distler Hall, Granoff Music Center, Tufts Univerisity, Medford, Massachusetts.

Watch Kindling with Subsongs from Colin Gee on Vimeo.

Colin Gee

Commissioned for the concert by Lois Shapiro and Randall Hodgkinson, Kindling With Subsongs [Two-Part Prequel To Ignite Would-Be Firebirds], Op. 555 (2014-2015) for two pianos is dedicated to the performers.

PART 1: 1. Kindling I (Maestoso; brioso)—2. Subsong I (Chant-Like and Flitting)—3. Subsong II (Misterioso; Somnambulent)

PART 2: 1.  Kindling II (Crackling/Rumbling)—2. Subsong III (Martellato; Brittle)—3. Subsong IV (Tranquillo misterioso)—4. Subsong V (Incisive; Exactly Together)

Composed as an introduction to Lois Shapiro’s and Randall Hodgkinson’s performance of an arrangement of Igor Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite, Kindling With Subsongs takes notions and “rehearses snippets” from Stravinsky’s legendary ballet music in an attempt to capture bits of its singular atmosphere, thereby preparing the listener in particular quirky ways for the experience of The Firebird Suite itself. The two parts of this prequel contain smaller sections, with the “kindling music” (no direct relation to the ballet music) beginning each, building the fire (so to speak) into a somewhat-increasing blaze. The Subsongs (def: “a sequence of sounds uttered by a young bird before it has learned to produce normal birdsong;” www.yourdictionary.com) contain music paraphrased from Stravinsky; I scanned the excerpts that struck me most, pulling material from fragments or gestures of one of the Pantomimes, as well as from the Lullaby, the “Infernal Dance,” the Rondo/Round Dance, and a touch of the Finale music.

A “Code”—namely the number series 8-11-5-9-2-6-3-7—runs through every section of the work. It can be heard (or perhaps only sensed) in that there are 8, then 11, then 5 (etc.) “attacks” in each successive “Kindling” phrase (listen to the left hand of Piano I, imitating by Piano II amidst tremolos). Each Subsong runs through some of Stravinsky’s melodic material using “the code” once to divide the chosen excerpts unexpectedly, as if “fledgling firebirds” were trying to go over Stravinsky’s tunes and motives in order to learn them. But they are far from getting them “right.”

I hope the “code” functions as a unifying procedure as in an otherwise highly episodic endeavor.

Below is a further step-by-step rundown of the sections of the two parts, in case it is of help to listeners.

The great privilege of working with Stravinsky’s vivid music and responding to it in collaboration with such consummate artists as Lois Shapiro, Randall Hodgkinson, and Colin Gee has made creating this work a true pleasure.

Part 1

Kindling 1—two phrase-sets (2x “the code”); big sound with tremolos and echoes (moving “down to up”)

Subsong 1: After Pantomime; sketchy; one pianist plays “tunes” and the other tries to decorate them

Subsong 2: After Lullaby; “simple” Stravinsky melodic material in one piano is embellished with “sextuplet” figures (gesture comes from pick-ups in the Stravinsky music)

Part 2

Kindling 2—two new phrase-sets (1x “the code”); even bigger sound; moving from up to down this time

Subsong 3: After shards of the “Infernal Dance;” brittle and angular; just can’t learn it…

Subsong 4: After Rondo/Round Dance; slightly hallucinatory, drugged, fantastical

Subsong 5: After Finale: riveting chords (two-note sixteenth rivet); this figure/gesture is all we get–very brief postlude—Kindling gestures end the proceedings, re-made as expansive arpeggiations