National Public Radio
Performance Today broadcast
March 11, 1999
NPR Interview with Russell Peck: RP
by WDAV, radio station at Davidson College, Announcer: A
A: WDAV, a public radio station at Davidson University just north of Charlotte, North Carolina, celebrated its Twentieth Anniversary last week by giving a gift to the world. The station commissioned North Carolina composer, Russell Peck, to write an orchestral piece. WDAV then presented the world premiere last Friday as part of its first live broadcast of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. The piece is called “Voice of the Wood” and it is unusual for more than the way it came into being. It is scored for the rare combination of four cellos and orchestra. Russell Peck says that he wanted to take advantage of the cello’s ability to sing.
RP: They cover the entire range of the human voice. They are really exactly the same from soprano down to bass, so that makes them very special, and that is one of the reasons it was most attractive to me.
A: Did you arrange them in sort of a soprano-alto-tenor-bass way where they are playing different registers all the time, or did you mix them and match them?
RP: I tried to do all of those things that would be most effective, and one of them is to actually have them play in a harmonic fashion, playing close harmony. So, in that sense when they were playing in close harmony I did have them arrayed in a kind of top to bottom, 1-2-3-4, like a quartet of vocalists, for example, and then when they play independently and play their contraputal parts, they weave in and out, and sometimes a second player is on top, and they have little solo passages for each one, also, so there was a lot of variety in that way.
A: Could you explain the title, “Voice of the Wood,” for us?
RP: There are two features to it. Of course, I am a hiker, I enjoy the woods, so there is a kind of, that aspect to it, but in addition, really, when you see four cellos on stage you are impressed by these four large and beautiful boxes that are resonating with the musical sounds produced by the strings, so that really it is the “Voice of the Wood” in a sense that you are hearing when you hear the cello, and that is the aspect of it that I relate to the most.
A: This was a piece commissioned by a radio station, WDAV, to celebrate its Twentieth Anniversary, so this is a classic example of an occasional piece, as it is called. Over the years, there have been some occasions where occasional pieces really took off and entered the repertory, say the “1812 Overture” by Tchaikovsky, but for the most part occasional pieces appear and then disappear. How do you feel about writing this sort of occasional piece? I know you do it quite a bit. What is your feeling about that?
RP: Well, the question really I think revolves around whether the occasion is being dealt with in the work. There was nothing about this particular piece that reflected the fact that it was a Twentieth Anniversary of a radio station. I could have called it “Air Play” and actually thought about that, but there was no feature of it that connected it specifically to an event. I have had orchestras suggest to me that they wanted to commission me to do a piece that would somehow connect with that city or for some particular time or some historical feature of that particular city, and I have resisted all of those suggestions because of just exactly what you were talking about it. I feel that occasional works do rarely take off in the repertoire and become imbedded in the repertoire, and I try to write works that will have a long life and be suitable for many orchestras that have no reason to be particularly interested in the circumstances that brought the work to life.
A: And you have no qualms at all, in fact you are very forthcoming about the fact that you like to compose in a style that will communicate with audiences.
RP: That is true. The word accessibility is used a lot in this context and actually I find it disturbing because I think that great composers of the symphonic past, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, and others, they took accessibility for granted. What they were trying to do, not what they were trying to do but hoping for really was a tremendous positive response from their listeners, and that is what I am hoping for, also, and so accessibility is a word that suggests that contemporary music is some kind of black box with sort of frosted windows and you have to scrape with your fingernails to try to get a peek inside, and that is not really the way I think about it at all. Like I said, I take accessibility more for granted and try to shoot higher than that.
A: Russell Peck, thank you, thanks very much.
RP: Thank you very much.
A: North Carolina composer, Russell Peck, whose “Voice of the Wood,” a concerto for four cellos and orchestra, premiered last week at a concert by the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. I am very happy to report that Russell Peck got that tremendous positive response he was talking about. At last Friday’s premiere, the audience was on its feet just moments after the music ended. Here is what they were clapping for, “Voice of the Wood,” in two movements called “Prelude” and “Fantasia.” Peter McCoppin conducts the Charlotte Symphony with soloists Alan Black, Alexander Kramer, Tonya Beckler, and Janis Nilsen who were seated in a semi-circle on specially crafted risers just in front of the conductor’s podium.
Liner notes from CD- Russell Peck: Orchestral Works
I was given birth by my mother Margaret in 1945. My dad Thorland was an avid symphony fan and professional singer. He listened to Mozart on the radio, practiced barbershop quartet singing in the basement, and also did radio chorus work with the Detroit Symphony. He wanted me to be a composer like Beethoven, even if, of course, far inferior. Another influence in my youth was Motown Records, then in its Detroit heyday. I loved it. It inspired me just as the great composers did. In sum, my musical beginnings were in Mozart and Motown.
I studied serious composition in high school, got a doctorate in the subject at the University of Michigan, then became Ford Foundation composer-in-residence for Indianapolis, followed by a short period of university teaching. Meanwhile during the 1970’s I was developing a very successful career in composing and narrating my own works such as Jack and Jill at Bunker Hill for young people’s concerts with major orchestras. It was great fun; I could create ultra-high-energy popularizing symphony music without fear of critics, and gain tremendous orchestral experience in rehearsals and performance.
Then came 1978. I dropped out of music altogether to make ending global starvation my sole priority, which I pursued at the United Nations with a friend, Marshall Gordon – no relation to my wife, Cameron Gordon Peck. The period when I did this exclusively finally ended with my writing Signs of Life and the other pieces on this CD. It was the real beginning of my composing works that would be heard next to great composers on symphony concerts, a rare and great privilege. I remember the circumstances.
Signs of Life II
In 1983, when Signs of Life came to be, I faced a kind of personal crisis affecting other people and especially my wife Cameron. After five years devoted to work on ending starvation, my once promising orchestra composition, performing, and university career was nonexistent. I owned a jalopy, debts, and an electric piano; net worth: zero; no job. We lived one floor above Vietnamese refugees in a building soon to be condemned and demolished. And, having failed to qualify for government food stamps because we still had $200 and our utilities had not been turned off, the only hope seemed to be to revive my composing career for orchestra immediately. But getting commissions was farfetched considering my situation. So I called a conductor who earlier showed interest in my work: Paul Polivnick, then Associate Conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. I said I’d write him a string orchestra piece for free – actually it was based on my two-movement sax quartet Drastic Measures-if he’d premiere it with the MSO on a classical concert. He said okay. That was Signs of Life, which revived my orchestral career now with musical content for mature audiences, so to speak.
When Signs of Life was first played in 1984 the audience in Milwaukee was enthusiastic. So was Cameron, to whom the piece was dedicated. But reviews were mixed. Being a total departure from then trendy atonal modernism, one critic called it “elevator music.” In a way he was right. It seemed to elevate my career. Soon the piece was being performed widely by American orchestras and made its way to Europe as well. Perhaps most importantly, it fostered my relationship with a valued friend and champion, Paul Polivnick. A conductor of tremendous musical depth and technique, he proceeded to perform my works wherever he went in America and Europe, lending my music the asset of his prestige plus his insights as an expert in my total repertoire.
Later I added a short opening movement to Signs of Life. It first premiered as an independent piece, Don’t Tread On Me. Based on my string quartet of the same name, it was performed by the full strings of the New Hampshire Music Festival in 1995. Polivnick conducting. The complete three movement Signs of Life II was then premiered in 1996 by the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra conducted by Anne Harrigan. This CD of Signs of Life II does justice to the fractured genesis of the piece by combining a recording of the more recent first movement by a string ensemble of the Colorado Symphony without conductor – as also recorded on their “Up Close and Musical” CD – with the earlier-composed two other movements as performed by the Alabama Symphony under Polivnick. Incidentally, the scherzo (final movement) introduces a new orchestral string technique I’ve used in a couple of pieces. It involves tapping out notes audibly on the fingerboard, as players often do as a way to practice the fingering of a passage in a very quiet way. Because it sounds a bit like pizzicato, I jokingly call the technique “peckzzicato.”
The Upward Stream
with James Houlik, conductor-Paul McRae
In 1985, a year after Signs of Life premiered, I called another conductor friend of mine, Alfred Savia. He convinced the Florida Symphony, where he was then Associate Conductor, to commission a narrated instrument demonstration piece I wanted to write for educational concerts, the Thrill of the Orchestra. It became a great success and reenergized my work devoted to young audiences for the orchestra. At the same time classical tenor saxophonist James Houlik called about commissioning a serious concerto for himself and the Winston-Salem Symphony, The Upward Stream. That piece and The Thrill of the Orchestra premiered the same week in the fall of 1985 to standing ovations and critical acclaim, and I felt I was riding an upward stream myself. The Upward Stream debut also initiated a valuable relationship with conductor Peter Perret of the Winston-Salem Symphony, who made several excellent comments to benefit the scoring, and proceeded to become a champion of my music, eventually conducting almost all of my works.
After The Upward Stream premiered Houlik toured major cities in Europe with the piece performed by the Charlotte Symphony, Leo Dreihuys conducting. To my relief classical critics in Europe were not put off by the tenor sax, nor by the conerto’s clear tonality. They gave it great press. It also got a startling rave in the Chicago Tribune after a stellar performance by Houlik and conductor Gerhardt Zimmermann with the Grant Park Orchestra. However, programming of The Upward Stream has been held back by fear the tenor saxophone is an inappropriate concerto instrument for classical audiences. I hope this recording by Houlik and the London Symphony orchestra can help dispel that idea. It was done in Abbey Road Studios after their British premier of the work in the Barbicon Center, Paul McRae conducting. In addition to helping to arrange for this recording, McRae was a true fan. He thought constantly of all he could do to promote me, and was a real risk-taker. He even did an unprecedented all-Peck classical concert with the Lake Forest Symphony in 1993, betting it would be a hit with the audience. This London Symphony recording of The Upward Stream documents his unique devotion to my work. It also reveals the phenomenal talent of James Houlik. He is one of the most engaging virtuoso soloists, and brought to life this concerto which may be the best large symphonic structure I’ve composed. The three movements all use related ideas and thee last two are played without pause.
Peace Overture, here likewise presented in a London Symphony Orchestra recording, was commissioned by the Birmingham International Festival. It premiered in 1988 with the Alabama Symphony under Paul Polivnick, who also conducts this LSO performance. The piece is unusual for me in being a programmatic tone poem. I wanted to create a musical tribute to all the people who have struggled against conflict itself toward a just and lasting peace for all of us. Commissioned to honor Egypt in the work, I chose one man’s story to symbolize that effort, late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. He was murdered in 1981 by terrorist gunmen in response to his brave trip to Jerusalem for peace with Israel, and to protest the Camp David Peace Accords he had signed with Israeli Prime Minister Begin and U.S. President Carter. I tried to depict Sadat’s intense life in emotional terms: His desolation at the suffering of his people in conflict. The savage exhilaration and terror he felt as a warrior pilot fighting Israel. His awareness of the moments of normal happiness among the people on both sides despite the conflict. And, most especially, the agony of Sadat’s pondering the decision to make his “peace overture” – his historic trip to Israel – followed by his tragic death, and hopeful legacy of peace.
Being Egyptian, Sadat was, of course, an African as well as an Arab, and at the premiere of Peace Overture an African-American audience member told me she liked my use of a melodic refrain from the famous spiritual “Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.” With the African connection to Peace Overture and the aptness of the words, she obviously thought the quote was conscious on my part. I had not heard it as such until that moment, but six notes of the tune “like a motherless child” are clearly audible as a leitmotif; it’s even varied and developed all the way to the quiet ending.
The Glory and the Grandeur
During work on that composition I also wrote The Glory and the Grandeur, a one-movement concerto for percussion trio and orchestra. My hometown orchestra, the Greensboro Symphony, commissioned it and in 1988 did the premiere with the extraordinary Percussion Group Cincinnati, whose founding member Al Otte was a great help as I was writing it. Most especially, he suggested I incorporate material from my well-known piece for three drummers, Lift-Off. The result is a big opening group cadenza for drums that sometimes gets applause for itself. At the premiere the conductor Paul McRae came offstage and said with wild eyes, “Russell, this is the one!” Indeed, Glory became my most popular work at concerts. One reason is that I composed the piece intending the sight of the percussionists playing and moving among their many varied instruments to be part of the structure and appeal. As a result glory has been videotaped for television broadcast in several states; and the WPBY production of the West Virginia Symphony, Thomas Conlin conducting, won a major international video award.
This recording is by the Alabama Symphony, Polivnick conducting, and features the orchestra’s own percussion section – Kevin Barrett, Time Miller, and Bill Williams. It highlights the virtuoso energy of the concerto, and to a degree also captures the work’s spatial dimension of sounds spinning around and coming from different locations. Nonetheless, I’ll admit that the Glory and the Grandeur, like my other music, is really designed to have greatest impact as a concert experience. In the creative process I don’t imagine pure sound; I imagine myself seated in the audience at the actual premiere. Recording is wonderful for many purposes and makes an abstraction of the sound, which has certain advantages. Yet for me nothing compares with hearing and seeing orchestral musicians on stage making music live with all its drama and immediacy. This CD tries to capture these pieces at their best; but I say, “you haven’t lived until you’ve heard them live.”
All works published by Pecktackular Music
Signs of Life, first movement and editing: David Wilson; recorded November 10/11, 1997 at Colorado Community Church. Peace Overture and The Upward Stream recorded August 26/27, 1988, Abbey Road Studios, London; movements two and three of Signs of Life and The Glory and the Grandeur recorded November 25, 1990, Moody Music Building, Alabama university; editing: William Allgood, Allgood Productions. Mastering, Thomas Rowan, Sound Lab.
Young People’s Concert Interview
Prior to a series of student concerts (March 2004) Long Island Philharmonic’s Education Administrator Joanne Spencer interviews Russell Peck:
– Tell us a little about your background growing up—when did you first start composing; did people encourage you in music? Do you play an instrument?
RP: Believe it or not, my best friends in grade school were fans of orchestra music, and we would get together after school either to play outside or go inside to listen to symphonies!
The schools I attended near Detroit, Michigan had great music programs—and they were competitive. Kids wanted to be in music because it’s so exciting. In high school I was in the orchestra, band, and chorus. My high school band even played a piece of mine. My parents also encouraged me, especially my father. He was a professional singer and loved symphony music.
From the first time I heard Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in grade school I wanted to be not a performer, but a composer. I was thrilled by orchestra music and wanted to create that excitement myself for other people by writing music. So I took piano and composing lessons from a wonderful teacher starting in fifth grade, and began to write pieces in grade school. Then in high school I learned to play trombone so I could be “inside” the music of the orchestra as a performer. I knew that would help me compose better, and loved being part of a performing group.
– Do you think music is magical?
RP: I think music can be like magic in a way, and I say so in “The Thrill of the Orchestra.” It really is amazing to think people in the orchestra are scraping strings, buzzing with their mouth, and hitting things—and then from this you can get a great feeling of excitement and emotion. And it’s real magic—not a trick, but the real thing.
– How did you get the idea to write “The Thrill of the Orchestra”?
RP: In addition to the emotion and feeling of music, I also like humor, and learning things, too. So I had the idea to put that all together into one piece about the orchestra. This was my big chance to tell people what was so fun and special about the orchestra, and have an orchestra right there to actually show off the different instruments and the power of the orchestra all together.
It took me about nine months to write the piece, and I called it “The Thrill of the Orchestra”, because that’s what it is really about. But I also sketch musical ideas—like tunes—on paper and sometimes keep them for a long time. One main tune of “The Thrill” was one I had carried around for years as I moved to five different cities, until finally I used it in “The Thrill of the Orchestra.”
I get most of my musical ideas two ways: one is that I improvise—that is, I just play around with notes and rhythms on the piano. Sometimes I come up with a little bit of something I like. Then I work on changing it to make it bigger and better—with more notes, more rhythms—until I can use it in a piece. The other thing I do is to lie back and imagine an orchestra playing my piece as I watch and listen. That gives me ideas, too.
– What do you do when you’re not composing?
RP: Most composers teach in a school or college, but I don’t. To make a living,
I just write music for orchestra, which is a very rare thing to do. I am extremely lucky to be what I wanted to be since I was in grade school: a professional composer. Besides music, I love the forest and lakes and streams. I do a lot of speed-hiking in the woods, and also love to kayak and do white-water rafting.
– Who is your favorite classical composer?
RP: I guess my favorite classical composer is Debussy; but it’s so hard to say, because one of the greatest things about orchestra music is the variety. There are so many really great composers and pieces, and they’re all so different. To hear these great pieces is almost like traveling to different worlds, each one is its own fantasy in sound.
– Will computers and robots one day replace composers and musicians?
RP: Some people think computers and robots can replace the people who write and perform music. But I don’t think that will happen unless robots also replace the people who listen to music. People like the music that actual people create and perform, and I think it’s likely to stay that way.
– Would you ever compose music for cartoons and movies?
RP: Many people have encouraged me to write for films, and I would love someday to do an animated film-version of “The Thrill of the Orchestra.” I think it would be fantastic—with cartoon instruments dancing around and so on! However, while there is some great music being written for movies and TV, the special talent I try to have is writing music for live concerts. That’s what I love: being there when music, and just music, is what’s happening.
– Can you offer some encouraging words to aspiring composers or performers?
RP: Getting involved in music in a serious way, performing in a band, orchestra, or chorus, and maybe music lessons, is something I would really recommend. I do think it makes people smarter, and better able to work with themselves and other people in life. I think it also offers fantastic rewards as an experience. In fact, it is so rewarding that many people sacrifice a lot just to be part of music, just to be musicians on some level or other. That’s because when a concert is happening and you’re part of it, making the musical effect, it is something that feels like nothing else in the world.
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University of North Carolina Center for Public Television
July 26, 1996
Transcript of the program North Carolina People.
A conversational interview of Russell Peck, by William Friday:
William Friday:
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. All of us love great music and hear it often on University Television. Tonight on North Carolina People we’re going to get to meet and talk with one who composes, Russell Peck, and visit with him in just a few seconds.
Well it certainly is good to have you join me on North Carolina People and I particularly appreciate the opportunity to talk with someone who is in the world of great and wonderful music.
When did you know first that that was to be your life, to get into music?
Russell Peck: Actually I think it was in grade school. My father (he’s still alive; he’s almost 90 now) was a professional singer, and he was very interested in classical music.
I remember, down in our basement we had a radio and he would get these broadcasts from the Mozarteum. All types of Mozart’s music. So I would listen to those. He was always trying to lure me into it. Actually the key to it though, was when I heard Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. He bought me a record of it. And I really had no idea that such emotions were possible. I mean here I was, just a grade school kid really, and all of a sudden, I’m having emotions that might be appropriate to some gigantic figure. You know what I mean, you get to invade the feelings of a person like Beethoven, at his best. And so I was just thrilled with that.
And really from that very first moment I wanted to be a composer, and try to create those effects myself because I’d been so impressed with them.
WF: Well it’s very powerful music. I’ve had the pleasure in my lifetime of watching the state of North Carolina move to financing the first state symphony with Gerhardt Zimmerman, your good friend, and see Adlai McCall take great music into the schools.
You’re a part of this now. Do you get involved with the North Carolina Symphony often, with some of their works?
RP: Oh yes, I’ve had a great experience with the North Carolina Symphony. First of all, it’s done a lot for me. Like Jack Parkhurst, who has just retired from directing educational concerts. He took my pieces, several of them, all over the state. So that was really exciting. And he put me on some really terrific concerts. One of the concerts where I did “The Thrill of the Orchestra”, he had Bob Ward on. We had three composers, actually, doing their own works. That was really a great program.
And also Gerhardt in particular has done a great deal for me. Right off the bat, when I was just getting my start in the state, he performed my saxophone concerto “The Upward Stream.” And then he got together a commission that involved Doc Severinsen and the Phoenix Symphony, and pulled all that together for me.
Gee, actually if I start talking about Gerhardt … he also took that saxophone concerto to Chicago, up to Grant Park, where I got a nice, wonderful review in the Chicago Tribune. Actually the best review I ever got.
WF: Well we’ll come back to those specifics in a minute. Let’s go back early in your career. How difficult is it to put yourself down to compose a piece of music like “The Upward Stream”? Does the idea come to you over time? Or what happens in the thought process?
RP: My process is maybe different from a lot of people. When I’m composing I like to have… My joke is, “I like to throw the good stuff away”… [laughter…] So throwing away things is a major part of my composing process. I’m very facile… I come up with a million ideas… but I try to hone them down, and be selective. So I spend some time just sort of collecting ideas. I’ll have musical ideas that have an abstract quality. Not abstract in that they’re hard to understand, but just that they could be applied to any concrete musical form. Like it could be in an orchestra piece, or it could be… whatever… could be some other medium.
So I’ll develop this material, and then when it’s time for me to write a piece, I’ll pick through that and pick out what I think are the salient ones and develop them, and so on.
So rather than, right on the spot, trying to come up with the ideas… you know, it’s like now I’m going to write a piece… whatever, say the saxophone concerto, “The Upward Stream”. I’m going to start right now and just compose it from the beginning to the end. It’s not really that way. At least not for me.
WF: How much discipline is it? Every morning do you get your mind to music? Is it your work day, in composing? Or do you listen a lot? Do you visit a lot? Do all these things enter into your process?
RP: Actually, it’s not a discipline for me, particularly. If I have a deadline for a new work, a premiere or something like that, my feeling about it is I’m so scared that it won’t be good, it’s not a question of that. It’s a question of waking up in the morning and … oh no…what!…”the violins shouldn’t play that… stupid, stupid… get down there, fix that!”
So that’s how the thing goes. And so I’ll work extremely intensely. And all that time, it’s not really work. It really gets to be a little more … of an obsession, I suppose…[laughter]
WF: I want to hold this up so our viewers can see it: The Upward Stream by Mr. Peck. It’s one of his great CDs that’s out. You can get it at your music store, along with a lot of his other compositions. So add them to your library. I know it’s great music.
“The Phoenix” and Doc Severinsen and Gerhardt Zimmerman. How in the world did all three of you get together for that composition? It’s an interesting alliance, if I may put it that way.
RP: Actually it connects back to when “The Upward Stream” was originally premiered with Peter Perret and the Winston-Salem Symphony. We can talk about Peter later. He’s done so much for me, too.
But the performance was really so great! I mean, it was one of those nights. They had somebody working on publicity there who had done the most fabulous job, so that it was just the biggest spectacle in the world. The performance was fantastic!
WF: Was this in Raleigh?
RP: No, this was in Winston-Salem. This is the saxophone concerto. So the performance of that was so great, the tape of that was so great, that Doc Severinsen, when he heard that, he said “I’ve got to have a concerto”, because of that. And Gerhardt was working in Phoenix, guest conducting, And so he put that together with the conductor there. So that we had sort of a double premiere, that happened in Phoenix and also here in North Carolina. Which I remember very well. My parents came. It was thrilling really.
WF: It isn’t every day, but often times you’ll hear a great jazz artist like Doc Severinsen or Benny Goodman or others, can play, and play very well, in the concert or symphonic music area. There’s the discipline that goes into it, but they also render an enormous service of translating music themes back and forth, don’t they?
RP: Yes. The discipline, though, of being in an orchestra and performing as a soloist is really very different than jazz. It’s much more confined. The trumpet player, Marsalis, he stopped pretty much playing classical concerts because he didn’t like that discipline. That narrow need to play all the right notes in the right place. It’s not jazz. Anyway, that’s what he said.
WF: You have a manuscript there in front of you called “The Glory and the Grandeur”. This is one of your really wonderful compositions. What brought that out in your mind? When did you decide to do this?
RP: The Greensboro Symphony wanted to commission me to do a work, and I had one of those unusual opportunities where I could do anything I wanted. Usually they say it’s got to be an overture, or it’s got to be a concerto for something or other. So you don’t get much choice what you’re going to do. But in this case he said anything would go.
So I knew there was a trio of percussionists who had been playing a work of mine. Actually that I’d written in college. And they had played it 700 times, they told me. Now that they were still alive after 700 performances I thought was impressive… [laughter] But anyway, they were a great percussion group. And so we got them down here to premiere that work, and they did a great job. It was just terrific!
I’ll never forget – when Paul McRae [the conductor] walked off the stage there, because he was just so excited, they had performed beautifully, and we’d gotten a wonderful response – he was all bug-eyed back stage, and he said “This is it! This is it!” And it has really gone places after that. So I guess he was right!
WF: You speak of the thrill of the performer. Now you’ve done a wonderful piece called “The Thrill of the Orchestra”. This is unusual, too, what has happened here. The chemistry that you generate between yourself and an audience, learning about music. It must be very thrilling to you.
RP: I love it!! Actually the piece, I’ve done it many, many times, of course. at many venues around the country, different orchestras, and sometimes repeatedly. I remember I did a tour down in the Miami area with the Florida Philharmonic that was maybe 22 concerts, day after day. A couple of weeks. A couple of concerts a day. And what I found was, actually getting out on the stage and having young people out in the audience, and having my own music which I had worked out so that it would support me on stage and be fun to be with, and then to go “Here are the woodwinds, here are the brass” and have all this wonderful spirit about it… it never seemed to flag. I always looked forward to being able to go out there and sort of “wow” the kids with the woodwind section!
WF: Now what about older people like myself? I enjoy hearing you do that! I think it’s a great talent. Don’t you find senior citizens do that too?
RP: Yes! As a matter of fact I’ve found senior citizens to be some of my best fans actually! I think they like all of the action. So I like that quality of it. It’s a really wonderful thing. And I’ve even had performances where that was the predominant kind of audience, and they were extremely appreciative.
WF: Now as you’ve gone about the country doing “The Glory and the Grandeur, or “The Phoenix” or “The Upward Stream, or “The Thrill of the Orchestra”, your schedule shows that you’re all over the United States. What do you find are people’s attitude toward the great orchestras? There’s so much difficulty today in the performing arts. What do you hear? And what have we got to do to keep these doors wide open for cultural enrichment?
RP: One of the factors that I think is maybe wrong in the mentality of people when they think about the arts, like in school. First of all, I think school, very important. What really creates a rich musical culture, or any kind of culture, is when young people grow up learning to at least respect it. And in many cases, if it’s presented well, they’ll really learn to love it and become a part of it. We had Detroit Symphony concerts when I grew up in Detroit. And I had so many opportunities as a young musician, that it was wonderful.
Let me just say one thing about education. I’ve thought about this a lot. There is a quality of discipline in learning to be a musician, like in a school band or school orchestra, that is not available on the football field or in a track situation. Because in track, or a sports situation, you learn how you can find the courage within your heart to finish the marathon. It’s that sort of spirit to it, where you can push until the thing will give. You can push yourself. But in a lot of what we have to do in life, no matter how darn hard you push that pencil, it doesn’t get you the right math answer. And music alerts you to that I think a lot more.
Also when you play in an orchestra, the idea that these people have to cooperate. You have a conductor, who’s like the President or something, you have section leaders of each little section, you have a whole ensemble. And all these people are trying to do everything just right, at just the right moment to cooperate to make this thing for somebody else. That is a very, very profound discipline for young musicians, and I think it’s extremely useful. You’d also find that the people who get involved in that in school do better.
So I think it’s a very, very grave mistake to think that we’re going to be saving money or something by eliminating music. I think it’s a grave mistake. And I think that has eroded a little bit, the support of arts. That fear that it’s a frill or something.
But basically I’ve found the orchestras to be pretty solid when they have people who can fill the hall with a wonderful experience inside. We have many flourishing orchestras in this state. They’re doing great. So I’m encouraged by that. It’s been a hard time and orchestras do fold. But we’re hanging on. I don’t know what the situation is currently in Charlotte. They’re having difficulties right here.
WF: Yes, they’ve managed to hold on for awhile longer. But I know that when you go out and do “The Thrill of the Orchestra” you get a chance to feel the benefit that you create in your music for so many people. Do you find an awareness that you didn’t ten years ago, fifteen years ago? An appreciation?
RP: Well, I think there is more of a willingness on the part of the orchestras to view that as a positive thing. You see you can take two attitudes about the orchestra, and they’re not opposites – one wrong, one right – they’re complimentary. And one of them is that we have great art that needs to be presented. And another level, we have a great institution, which is the orchestra, which is a little bit separate from the music that it plays.
So I deal with the institution of it. I point out, “look at all these fabulous musicians who’ve learned to play all this great music, and all the great sounds they can make.” That’s my job. My job’s not to tell them to love Beethoven. I hope they do. That’s the conductor’s job. So I kind of play that role of talking about this great musical institution that’s developed.
WF: Your music is different. You have developed a composing style all your own. Where did that come from?
RP: Trying really hard! [laughter] I’m serious. As a composer, at least in my experience, developing a capacity for self-evaluation, self-critique, is really the key to developing your own style. So that you can hone in on what you really do. That’s one of the heartbreaks really, I think of being a composer, too. I mean, I love Bartok, and Beethoven, and just a wide range of composers that do a lot of different things emotionally with the orchestra. And I don’t do those same things, you know. So my music lacks some of the things that other great orchestra repertoire has. And that’s a frustration for me, but I try to do what I do well. And I don’t think there are many people who are actually doing what I’m doing in the orchestra right now. So I’m in a unique situation.
WF: But doesn’t it encourage you that the London Symphony records your music? And the great orchestras of America. That must give you enormous encouragement as to your style and form of the music you develop.
RP: It couldn’t really be more wonderful! I mean, not only do I live in an area where … like in Winston-Salem. When I arrived there, Peter Perret had just taken over the orchestra. Rebuilt it. (It was very modest when he got there.) Now it’s a great orchestra. I just landed there, and here’s this wonderful conductor, who is also technically superb, all ready to build his orchestra, and willing to take a chance with my music and make it part of that process.
And from there that spreads out, because he talks with people, and so on. That has been really thrilling. I had no idea it could be done. I didn’t believe, really. I was shocked that I was able to do it.
WF: What do you say to young people when they hear you perform and listen to your narration and get into your music with you, and the concert’s over, and they come up and sit down and say “Well gee wiz, how about this as a career?” What do you say to them? [laughter]
RP: [laughter] You mean composing?
WF: People have such an affinity for music. Everybody wants to sing or do something. How do you respond to them?
RP: Well I do encourage them to play music and to listen to it and to get into it. Like when I was a kid, following a score while listening to a symphony or something, there’s really nothing like it. It’s an amazingly thrilling and fun thing to do.
The young people, I encourage them to be involved in performing music and so on. Composing is a very special thing. There are many ways to be a composer. To be a composer for the orchestra is a very, very specialized thing. There are opportunities, though. So I would encourage them to try it, but you have to be very realistic.
There aren’t that many spots on symphony concert programs for contemporary music. So to say it is competitive is almost beside the point. It’s a very rare thing to do. So you really have to be serious about it.
WF: Is this a matter of just sitting down at the piano and having the blank score sheet, and just go to work when you get that inspiration? Is that the way you do it? Mechanically? To go about putting it on paper?
RP: I hate putting it on paper. There are two places that I love in composing. First of all, it’s when I get an idea. It’s like,” Oh, I’ve got an idea! Great… ” And then work it out so it becomes a real musical idea. That’s a lot of fun!
Then at the end, when you’re making the last little detail… and you’re going “oh, that should be pizzicato, instead of arco… that’d be great”. Some little detail, that’s thrilling.
It’s that first stage, when you have to write things down that you know you’re going to throw away, and do all this wasted work and everything… that’s the hard part. That takes discipline.
WF: But each time is a growing experience and you rise as you go. Your music, I’m sure, enriches itself as you develop each composition, and become more well-known with it.
Is music still the universal language? Everybody says this in the world today. Everywhere you go, people stop for music.
RP: I think that’s really true. I really do think that that’s true! It is a kind of universal language. And in my work I get to deal with people from all over the world and try to communicate about it. And it’s so funny, you’ll have someone from Russia and someone from China, and you’re there, and you’re all looking at some Beethoven Symphony or something, with an attitude about how something should be played. That’s kind of fun!
WF: What do you have in progress now? What new works are you working on?
RP: Well I’m doing two things right now. I have a couple of new works, that are “in the works”. Because of the way I’m having to go about organizing their premieres I don’t want to actually discuss them specifically, the medium. But I am making progress on one of them, and I also am using this opportunity right now to develop, replenish myself. Suddenly I started getting opportunities very fast, after I got a certain few key breaks. Like Peter Perret commissioning “The Upward Stream”, and “The Glory and the Grandeur” over in Greensboro, and “The Phoenix” with Gerhardt, and so on. Started getting things really cooking for me. So I quickly did put out quite a few works that have been very successful and stayed in the repertoire, which is a real achievement.
But you kind of “burn out”. I don’t have that full little Hope Chest over there where I can just pull out things, or scraps of quilt and put them together. You have to fill that box up. So I’m doing a little bit of that right now too.
WF: Is that just changing your whole frame of reference and do something very different, something unique, take yourself out of the composing style and create a whole new life for awhile to get a new inspiration? Is that the way you do it in composing?
RP: Well that’s partly true, too. Actually that is true. Like for example, right now I have – I won’t get into the details of that too – it has it’s ups and downs. I got, I guess you might call it, “skunked” on a piece I was suppose to write because of some copyright problems with the poetry. But what happens when you stop for awhile, and you’re not actually writing a specific piece for a concert – like right now – when I’m back into it I’m just sort of gushing with ideas. It’s sort of like you haven’t eaten for a really long time, or something. It tastes really good!
WF: Are there places in this country where you see the arts really booming? Like I’ve always heard in the southwest America, in Dallas and Fort Worth area that people really invest in the arts and the people who compose and the people who do dramatic things with music? Is there any of that going on in our world since the Federal attitude’s what it is towards the arts presently? I hope it doesn’t last long. But we’ve got to have this for the culture to survive.
RP: Sure. Oh sure. Yeh, it actually gets kind of silly, to be honest with you. We get into a “penny wise/pound foolish” type of attitude about things. I get a little impatient with that.
I think there was an attempt to send a signal, if you want to call it that, to the arts organizations – that they need to really focus on filling the hall. Get people there. Let’s have some efficiency, in the sense of people coming to concerts. A little bit of that is good. I think actually it’s helped me. Because I’m a somewhat popular composer. So I fit in with that idea.
However you do end up with places where the arts support is too rigid. In Europe, for example, they’ll do concerts for two or three people in the hall. You’ll have this enormous outfit, and they’ll do anything they want to. And they’ll have nobody in the hall. And this just goes on all the time. That’s not good either.
So I think that there’s a fundamental vigor to the way we’re handling it in this country, although I do think that, like I said, it just gets kind of pathetic. The penny-pinching with regard to something as important as this. And so that kind of bothers me, I must say.
WF: What do you see as the next great step then in your kind of music in our country, the contemporary symphonic piece? What will happen next? Adaptation and the use of it, like Mr. Williams has done with the Boston Symphony? And some of the things he’s done? Motion pictures?
RP: Well that’s always possible. I think the quality, for example, of the musicians in the orchestras in North Carolina would be perfectly capable of doing a film score. Because I know there is some movie work being done in the state. So I don’t think that would be inconceivable at all.
My own interest is not very much in film. The reason being, I have a unique talent. That is, not for doing works for CDs or movies or anything, but really for the concert hall. So that when you go to the concert hall, I will deliver you something. There’ll be an event there – that you’ll notice. It’s going to make an impression. So that’s where I try to keep my efforts.
But everywhere around us I think we see symphonic music more and more evident, and supporting a lot of different kinds of activities.
WF: What do you do just for the sheer recreational rejuvenation of a man as busy as you are? How do you take yourself out? What do you do for the fun of it?
RP: I have a canoe. My wife Cameron and I go out. You know we have lots of lakes.
WF: Are you a whitewater man?
RP: Oh, I love whitewater. Oh, yes! She’s grown a little bit less enthusiastic, for the, you know, five and six rapids … [laughter]
WF: Do you get to the Nantahala Gorge to make that run from time to time?
RP: Oh yes. And the French Broad River. And we’ve been up to the New River in West Virginia. And many places actually. There are lots of rivers over here. And they’re really fun. Love that, I just love that.
WF: Do you feel good about what you see happening in great music in North Carolina? You get around so much. Is the state on the right road?
RP: Oh yes. It’s really wonderful. I think we can be really very proud of it. As a matter of fact, I think we actually probably might even be a net exporter. Who knows…? We really do have a strong classical music world here. And I really feel great to be part of it. I just was so fortunate to have these truly wonderful conductors of great talent and ability in the state, willing to go with me, and wonderful musicians. So I feel very good about the state.
WF: Well I want to hold this up one more time, friends. “The Upward Stream”. Russell Peck’s great composition. Thank you for joining me on North Carolina People, and all good fortune in the future.
RP: Thank you Mr. Friday. Wonderful being here.
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AN INTERVIEW WITH RUSSELL PECK
COMPOSER AND SPECIAL GUEST NARRATOR
Mr. Peck, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra will play two of your pieces on its 1989 Young Peoples’ Concert. What can you tell us about the music we will hear at the concert?
The concert will begin with a piece called “The Thrill of the Orchestra.” It highlights the musical thrills that come from the four sections of the orchestra – the strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. It also shows how a symphony orchestra works when it combines so many different instruments.
The concert will end with a piece called “Jack and Jill at Bunker Hill.” It tells the story of famous events in American history at the time of the Revolutionary War.
When did you write the two pieces the CSO will play for us?
I wrote “Jack and Jill at Bunker Hill” in 1976 for the American Bicentennial celebration. “The Thrill of the Orchestra” is more recent. I composed it in 1985.
Did you write these pieces just for children?
Yes. I like to write for young people because they like new music. They also like lots of action in the music they hear. So, I write music that people can move to. Boys and girls in elementary schools also enjoy symphonic pieces that use a narrator or story teller.
Will we get to see you when we come to the concert?
Yes, I will be at the concert to narrate both of my pieces. You know, it is somewhat unusual for the audience at a symphony concert to see the composer. Most of the music played by symphonies today was written by composers who are no longer living! Mr. Copland, who wrote the “Gun Battle” from the Billy the Kid ballet, is the only other living composer whose music you will hear at the concert. He is almost 90 years old!
Well, how old are you?
I was born in 1945, so I will be 44 this year.
What does your music sound like? Is it wild, or scary, or really loud?
I guess you could say it sounds a little modern, but it is very easy to listen to. The best way to answer that question is to listen to it. Take a minute to hear these two examples from my pieces on the concert. But remember, this is just the music without the story. You will hear me tell the story in person when you come to the Ohio Theatre.
Do you write other kinds of music besides music for symphony orchestras?
I did earlier in my career, but not anymore. I guess you could say I am a little unusual, because I composer music only for large symphony orchestras.
Do you like other kinds of music?
Of course I do! I remember listening a lot to Motown sounds in the sixties. I especially liked a group called the Supremes with Diana Ross. I still enjoy rhythm and blues and gospel music. Other than classical music, these are really my favorite musical styles.
When did you first start to compose?
I actually wrote my first piece when I was in grade school. I was in the sixth grade and wrote that composition for piano. Later when I was in the 10th grade, I wrote my first piece for orchestra. I liked to compose solos for my friends and I also wrote some pieces for my high school band.
Where do you get your musical ideas for your pieces?
Well, first, I often get musical ideas by just making things up at the piano. That is called improvisation. Then, I try to put these ideas together in my head silently.
When do you write your music as notes for the orchestra to play?
I actually write down the notes on staff paper only after I have really developed my ideas at the piano. But truthfully, I hate the task of writing out all those notes. It always takes so much time! I guess you could say it’s a necessary part of a composer’s life.
What is it like to be a composer?
Being a composer is not like any other job. I work all by myself, alone in my studio at home. It is a very solitary life. I can not have interruptions, and it must be very quiet for me to create my musical ideas. Since I don’t have an orchestra at home to play my pieces, I have to imagine how they will sound in my head. It is not any easy job!
Do composers make a lot of money?
Some composers do, especially those who write popular music or movie music. But composers who write for the symphony orchestra are not usually very rich.
Thank you, Mr. Peck, for telling us about composers.
You are very welcome. I look forward to seeing you at the concert!
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Interview questions from Youth Orchestra member with
Russell Peck’s answers:
November 2005
Q: When you are writing your music, what helps you most as far as music theory is concerned?
There are two kinds of music theory: first, vocabulary and notation, so you can get a grip on the music; second, analysis, so you can theorize about what’s happening on a technical level in music. I use both, and studied both for many years from high school to graduate school.
Q: How do you best like to put your musical ideas into form: hand writing when you get the chance or trying to hold on to the thought until you get to your computer?
I don’t compose using a computer, because it imposes a “machine mentality” on music. It pushes you to write what computers like to execute, which is effortless mechanical repetition, without respect for the “funky” peculiar aspects of real musical instruments played by humans. You can resist the “computer mentality” and use it only for human musical purposes, but its influence is still subliminal and relentless. I admit many composers willingly let computers influence how and what they compose, and they are very successful. I leave it to them. I write by hand, and use the computer only for printing music and certain specific musical tasks.
Q: As far as musical structure is concerned, what element are you most concerned with?
In musical structure I’m most concerned to create a feeling of voyage, where every moment serves that feeling. By the end I want the listener to feel every moment was relevant to the voyage, and to feel a sense of real completeness, like a “life well lived”, a “game well played”, and so on. This is different from popular dance music, where the sense of unity and completion is rather guaranteed by the pre-packaged form, single beat, uniform sound, etc. The special excitement of classical music – which is the tradition I work in – is that more disparate or contrasting vectors tend to be involved, so that creating unity and coherence is more challenging, and therefore more energy is contained in the form. Or, to use another analogy: classical-music form is more eventful, like a run through the wilds rather than a well-paved straightaway.
Q: I’ve noticed that you always give everyone something to do in your pieces (which I appreciate, that way it doesn’t get tedious or boring 🙂 ). How do you do this and still maintain musical balance and clarity?
I try to make the parts for all instruments have an interesting role. One reason is that I tend to empathize strongly, so if I imagine a player saying “This is not enjoyable to play”, it bothers me. Fortunately, one aspect of what makes a player’s part appealing is having enough rests to re-group, so to speak, and be ready for the next passage. So, I can balance my need for instruments to be silent – for musical reasons – with my desire to give them a satisfying part overall, with good things to play, and “good rests”, too.
Q: What is your favorite thing about composing?
My favorite part is tinkering with the piece when it’s almost done. Making big early decisions about what ideas to use and in what order is the high stakes aspect, where you risk including bad ideas or bungling the form. My sense of self-worth is totally bound up in my own estimate of whether I’ve written a good piece, so it is frankly a difficult thing for me. I’m a perfectionist. And only at the end, when I’m polishing details, do I feel somewhat “safe” and at ease with the composing process.
Q: Lastly, if you could give a composer really great advice, what would it be?
As for great advice, of course, the best advice is “know what you’re doing”, which, for instance, means getting educated about exactly what you want to do with composing – to innovate, have fun, make money, garner prestige, or whatever, as such goals are not always obtainable together. Figure out what you do well, also, so you can go with the flow of your talent rather than trying to be something you’re not; and finally: seek immersion in your field, especially in your formative years – be where it is happening, where you can learn, and where competition with others gives you ideas, clarity about yourself, and stimulation.
Q: Where do you draw most of your inspiration from?
Of course, everything in life is a source of inspiration, especially music itself. Hearing Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in grade school inspired me to become a composer. I was overwhelmed by the grand emotional content of classical music – it was like the emotions of giants – of truly great people caring about truly great things – like the vastness of the universe compared to the smallness of life on Earth! So my greatest inspiration is what is called “the repertoire” – all the great classical music. However, I also find inspiration in other music, especially rhythm & blues and gospel; and in fact I can be inspired by all kinds of music when it happens to strike me. It’s an individual thing, naturally. Another inspiration for me is challenge and opportunity. For instance, I wrote a Concerto for Timpani – one of my most successful pieces – because it was a tremendous challenge (a concerto for timpani – forget about it! – the instrument’s too limited) and a great opportunity (I could write the world’s greatest timpani concerto – very little competition in that category! – and in fact I believe I did.) Finally, the possibility of creating something that will change from notes to sound is the composer’s prime challenge and opportunity.