Jay Reise
Composer
Jay Reise is the composer of the choreographic tone-poem The Selfish Giant, based on a fairy tale by Oscar Wilde. This work
was commissioned and premiered by the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Djong
Yu in London in 1997. Reise's opera Rasputin, which was described in The Washington Times as "a spellbinding, challenging and
profoundly beautiful creation,"
was commissioned
and premiered by the New York City Opera in 1988. Open Night, commissioned for the Kimmel Center Fresh Ink
contemporary music series in Philadelphia in 2003, was described in the
Philadelphia Inquirer: "..there must be something to draw listeners back
for repeat visits. That magnetism was immediate in the heart-grabbing opening
violin solo... the piece unfolds with a reasoning that's hard to explain but great
to feel." Reise has also written three symphonies (performed by the
Philadelphia Orchestra among others) as well as numerous chamber works.
The recipient of many commissions, prizes and fellowships
including the Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the National
Endowment for the Arts, and the Koussevitzky Tanglewood prize in Composition,
his composition teachers included George Crumb, Richard Wernick, Jimmy Giuffre.
He also studied Carnatic rhythm with Adrian L'Armand. His music has been
performed widely both in the United States and abroad including all-Reise
retrospective concerts in Moscow and Philadelphia. His chamber concerto Chesapeake Rhythms and Concerto
for Cello and 13 Instruments are
recorded on CRI by Orchestra 2001. A recording of piano and chamber works Rhythmic Garlands is available on Centaur 2598. The Devil in the Flesh and Other Pieces (Albany TROY 665) features world-renowned
virtuoso pianist Marc-André Hamelin.
Deeply influenced by Carnatic (South Indian) music and jazz, Reise
has developed his own rhythmic method, which is a signature element of his
music after 1990. Peter Rabinowitz has written of Reise's recent music,
"His work is firmly in the Western tradition. But because of the fresh
perspectives offered by his study of Indian music, he has been able to rethink
some specific problems facing contemporary Western art music... Reise's study of
rhythm has allowed him to think of phrasing (and cadence) in a new way. In
traditional western practice (and in Reise's own earlier music), cadences are
marked harmonically. Through a technique which Reise calls 'rhythmic
counterpoint,' rhythmic motives (often based on 5's and 7's) are developed
within the phrase such that the cadence point is implied by the rhythms
alone."
Reise's articles have appeared in Opera News, Nineteenth-Century Music, and Perspectives
of New Music.
Jay Reise is Professor of Music Composition at the University of
Pennsylvania. His music is published by Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co. He is
married to visual artist Cecilia Paredes.
Discography
Across the
Horizons - Albany Records
(forthcoming)
The Devil
in the Flesh and Other Pieces (Albany
TROY665) 2004
Rhythmic
Garlands and Other Pieces - (Centaur CRC
2598) 2003
Concerto
for Cello and 13 Instruments (CRI
899) 2002
Chesapeake
Rhythms - CRI 760 (CD) (1997)
Six
Preludes for Piano Gary
Chapman, piano - CRS 3862 (LP) (1984)
Reviews
Powers
That Be (2005)
"... the kind of transcendence that lets you
know you're in the presence of greatness."
- Eric
Bruskin, Journal
of the Scriabin Society of America
Open
Night (2003)
"... magnetism
was immediate in the heart-grabbing opening violin solo ... the piece unfolds
with a reasoning that's hard to explain but great to feel... flute, clarinet,
violin and cello unfurl melodic lines of almost Wagnerian breadth... Whether or
not his new Open Night is fabulous, the piece unfolds with a reasoning that's
hard to explain but great to feel."
- David Patrick
Stearns, Philadelphia Inquirer
Six
Pictures from The Devil in the Flesh (2000) ".. a fine group of virtuoso
pieces...[with] a riotously sizzling finale." - American Record Guide
Yellowstone
Rhythms (2001) for bassoon and 10 instruments..."nature in its most songful
state."
- Peter Dobrin,
Philadelphia Inquirer
The Selfish
Giant (1997)
"It had
epic quality. The full organ, the rolling timps and the squabbling brass at the
start had weight. A clumsy giant's angry dissonances were peeled back to reveal
strings pulling anguished chords."
- Rick Jones,
Evening Standard (London)
Satori (1994) "with
its starlit rotations and seemingly suspended atmosphere, makes a striking
impression." - American
Record Guide
Rasputin (1988) Opera in Two Acts
"The new
opera is a spellbinding, challenging and profoundly beautiful creation." -
Washington Times
"..[an]
audaciously colorful opera ,,." - Peter Burwasser, Philadelphia City Paper
Symphony
No. 2 (1983)
"... this
score is far more compelling than most comparable worksÉ Reise has achieved a
rare balance between accessibility and complexity." - Peter J. Rabinowitz,
Musical America
Catalogue of Compositions
Compositions
marked * available through:
Theodore Presser Company
588 North Gulph Road
King
of Prussia, PA 19406 USA
Phone: 610-592-1222
Fax: 610-592-1229
Unmarked
compositions are available from the composer.
Stage Works
Opera
Rasputin opera in two acts. (120') 1988*
Orchestra
The Selfish
Giant Choreographic tone-poem
in six scenes based
on the
fairy-tale by Oscar Wilde (26') 1997*
Rhythms
Unto Night - (Prelude for orchestra)
(10') 1994*
Symphony
No. 3 (22') 1983*
Prelude for
String Orchestra (8') 1982*
Symphony
No. 2 (25') 1980*
Symphony of
Voices, (16') 1978*
Hieronymo's
Mad Againe - Tone-poem for Large
Orchestra (14') 1976
Instrumental
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (22') 2007
Concerto for
Horn & 7 Instruments (25') 2006
Open Night Poem-Caprice for six instruments, (17') 2003*
Yellowstone
Rhythms, Bassoon and 10
Instruments Orchestra, 1997 (15')*
Concerto
for Cello and Chamber Orchestra (23')
2000*
Chesapeake
Rhythms for eleven players
(17') 1995*
Celebrations for brass quintet (4') 1994*
Nightones for trumpet, string quartet, and keyboard
percussion (9') 1981
Paraphonia for large chamber orchestra (20') 1978
Concerto-Fantasy
for Nine Players (13') 1975*
Concert Band Tinicum Rhythms (12') 1997*
Chamber music
Powers That
Be for
string quartet & piano (30') 2005
Across the
Horizons (clarinet, violin,
cello, and piano) (23') 2004 *
Jisei
(Japanese Death Songs) (voice
and shakuhachi) (11') 2003
Memory
Refrains for String Quartet (28')
2002*
Yellowstone
Rhythms (bassoon and piano)
(16') 1996*
Duo
Rhythmikosmos (violin and
piano) (23') 1994*
Moonwatching
(flute and violin) (10') 1994
Trio
Rhythmikosmos (violin, cello,
piano) (18') 1993*
Conjurings (flute solo) (3') 1992
Bassoon
conjurings (bassoon solo) (4')
1992
Sinfonietta
for Wind Quintet (15') 1985*
La Choumine (viola and piano) (5') 1884*
String
Quartet No. 2 (17') 1983*
Fantasy for
Cello and Piano (17') 1983
String
Quartet No. 1 (17') 1977 (*Association
for the Promotion
of New Music,
publ.)
Duo
Concertante for Violins (5') 1976
Hyperdensity
for clarinet solo (3') 1976
Four Dark
Caprices (7') (clarinet and
piano) 1976
Après (flute solo) (4') 1973
Bagatelles (violin and piano) (5') 1973
Vocal
Arcadian
Shadows (soprano, clarinet,
cello, and piano) (5')
(Orchestra 2001
Aids Song Book Series) 1996
Satori (soprano and piano trio) (10') 1995*
Satori (version for soprano and piano) (10') 1995*
Cleopatra for soprano and chamber ensemble (10') 1979
Alice at
the End, An Operatic Tableau (13')
1978 (*Association
for the
Promotion of New Music, publ.)
Movements
of Imagination (soprano and
large chamber orchestra), texts by
Gerard Manley
Hopkins and William Gass (22') 1974
L'Eventail
se meurt (SATB soli and small
ensemble) (8') 1974
Alba (speaker, small mixed chorus, small mixed
ensemble) 1973
Choral music
Psalm 121 (3') 1982
Psalm 23 (4') 1980
Guitar Dragonflies sing near (3') 2000
Organ New Idols (1992)
Piano
Six Pictures from ÔThe Devil in the Flesh'
for Piano (17') 2001
1. Romance (for
left-hand alone)
2. Dragonflies
sing near (for left-hand alone)
3. A Corner in
the House of Innocence
4. Unfounded
Joy
5. Night falls
raining
6. The Madwoman
on the Roof
Two Popular
Pieces 1998 (from the
operafilm The Devil in the
Flesh )
1. Enchantment
2. Waltz
Two
Preludes for Piano (4') 1995
1. In the Heart of the Heart
2. Watching
Prelude for
Christopher Keene (2') 1995
Sonata
Rhythmikosmos for piano (12')
1993
Rhythmic
Garlands for piano (18') 1992
Tableau
fugitif for George Rochberg(1') (1987)
Preludes
for Piano, Book II (7') 1984
1. Cascades and Shadows
2. The Stasis of Delirium
3. Awakening to Memory
Preludes
for Piano, Book I (10')
1972-76
1. Morning Star
2. Scriabinalia
3. Scape
4. Nocturnal
5. Tempus Fugit
6. Quiet
Time
Two Pianos
Three Pictures from Radiguet's 'The Devil
in the Flesh' for Piano (17')
2001
1. Unfounded
Joy
2. Night falls
raining
3. The Madwoman on the Roof
Articles
"Lukas
Foss: Ways of Looking at Music" National Gallery of Art (2001)
"The
Phonograph Behind the Door: Some Thoughts on Musical Literacy" [with Peter
J. Rabinowitz], Reading World
Literature, edited by Sarah
Lawall (University of Texas Press, pp. 319- 340) 1994
"Doctrine
of Despair: Zimmermann's Die
Soldaten ," Opera News, September, 1991
"Late
Skriabin: Some Principles Behind the Style," 19th Century Music, Spring, 1983, pp. 220-231
- Reprinted in The Journal of the Scriabin Society of America, Winter 1996-97 pp. 29-46
"Rochberg
the Progressive",
Perspectives of New Music,
1980-81, pp. 395-407
Updated August 16, 2007