Burr in Montreal, 1970s"We
had never heard anyone like him before, and we haven't since." -
Malcolm Peyton (2011)
Current New England
Conservatory student Jason Belcher rediscovered the music of Burr Van Nostrand (b.1945), a composer of adventurous music and visually
striking scores, who was thought by many to have disappeared. Belcher
currently leads the Burr Van Nostrand
Project, which begins with a concert to re-introduce his work to a new generation of musicians.
Burr Van Nostrands scores combine
highly graphic visual elements with conventional notation, and his music
emphasizes extreme sonic contrasts, often using amplification. His technique
shows near-predictions of what would emerge in the later 70's, and 80's from composers in and outside of the academic world.
His work has not been heard publicly since the 1980's.
The concert will take place Sunday,
April 22, 2012, at 4:00
PM in Brown Hall at the New
England Conservatory; 290 Huntington Avenue, Boston. Performers for whom these works were written have come out to work with the students to help re-create the original ambience. The composer gives particular credit to performers Robert Stallman (flute), Paul Severtson (violin), and Herman
Weiss, (pianist/ composer), whose premiere performances/recordings of Phaedra
Antomines and Fantasy Manual for Urban Survival were original and groundbreaking in their time. A new recording release of these early recordings, with other archival material tbd is planned by New World Records for 2013. The April 22 NEC concert Repertoire program:
Phaedra Antomines (1969)
Tara Mueller, Violin
Fantasy Manual for Urban Survival
(1972)
Lisa Husseini - Alto Flute
Jason Coleman - Cello
Alex Zhu - Piano
TUBA-TUBA (1973)
Beth McDonald - Tubas
Voyage in a White Building I (1969)
Chamber ensemble piece, with Hart Crane poetry, with Lautaro Mantilla, Narrator
Tuba Tubadetail excerpt
Jason Belcher confers with Burr Van Nostrand, 2011NEC student Jason Belcher meets with Burr Van Nostrand in New Haven, 2011
Voyage in a White Buildingpage 19