Jay Reise


Jay Reise is an American composer.

Biography

Reise spent his childhood surrounded by classical music and jazz, but began his composition studies with Jimmy Giuffre and Hugh Hartwell in 1970. After graduating at Hamilton College in 1972, he pursued composition study at McGill University, the University of Pennsylvania, Tanglewood, and Carnatic rhythm with Adrian L'Armand.
He is currently Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Pennsylvania.
Reise is married to visual artist Cecilia Paredes and has two sons, Matthew Reise and Nicholas Reise from his first marriage to Esther Barazzone.

Music

Reise's music draws on polyphonic classical traditions. After being influenced by the great western classical voice-leading tradition, he became interested in Carnatic rhythm and integrated its techniques into his style. This has resulted in a method he calls "rhythmic polyphony" in which rhythmic motives are developed within the phrase such that the cadence point of the phrase is implied by the rhythms alone.
Works written before the adoption of the rhythmic method include Symphony of Voices which was premiered at the Monadnock Festival with soprano Neva Pilgrim, and his Second Symphony premiered by the Syracuse Symphony, conducted by Christopher Keene, and performed subsequently by the Philadelphia Orchestra. His Third Symphony was premiered by Keene and the Long Island Philharmonic in 1983. His 2-act opera Rasputin with a libretto by the composer, was commissioned by Beverly Sills and the New York City Opera, and was premiered by City Opera in 1988. Rasputin received its Russian premiere at the Helikon Opera in Moscow, directed by Dmitry Bertman, in September 2008.
Works after 1990 include The River Within premiered by soloist Maria Bachmann and orchestra 2001, James Freeman conductor; Concerto for Horn and 7 Instruments with Adam Unsworth and the Network for New Music, Jan Krzywicki, conductor; Powers That Be for piano quintet with the Cassatt Quartet and Marc-André Hamelin; Memory Refrains with the Cassatt Quartet; the piano solo suite Six Pictures from 'The Devil in the Flesh by Marc-André Hamelin; the Oscar Wilde-based ballet fairy-tale The Selfish Giant by the Philharmonia Orchestra with conductor Djong Victorin Yu in London in 1997; and two extended piano works, Sonata Rhythmikosmos and Rhythmic Garlands. His left hand transcriptions of Scriabin's Études Op. 2, No. 1 and Op. 8, No. 12 have been performed by Gary Graffman and Matthew Bengtson.
Some works by Reise have been performed by Anastasia Vedyakova for the first time in Russia.
Reise's music is published by Merion Music/Theodore Presser. The Scriabin transcriptions are published in the Journal of the Scriabin Society of America.

Selected works

Discography

Performers include Charles Abramovic, Jody Applebaum, Ulrich Boeckheller, Gregory Fulkerson, Marc-André Hamelin, Jerome Lowenthal, Charles Ullery. the Cassatt Quartet, Four Horizons, Network for New Music and Orchestra 2001 among others.

Compositions

Stage

  • Rasputin opera in two acts ; libretto by the composer

    Orchestral

  • The Selfish Giant choreographic tone-poem in six scenes based on the fairy-tale by Oscar Wilde
  • Symphony No. 3
  • Symphony No. 2
  • Symphony of Voices for orchestra with soprano

    Concerti

  • The River Within 2008
  • Concerto for Horn and 7 Instruments 2006
  • Yellowstone Rhythms for bassoon and 10 players
  • ''Concerto for Cello and 13 Instruments''

    Wind ensemble

  • Tinicum Rhythms for concert band

    Chamber music

;2 players
  • Jisei for voice and shakuhachi
  • Yellowstone Rhythms
  • Duo Rhythmikosmos for violin and piano
  • Moonwatching for flute and violin
  • La Choumine for viola and piano
;3 players
  • Trio Rhythmikosmos,
;4 players
  • Across the Horizons for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
  • Memory Refrains ,
;5 of more players
  • Powers That Be for piano quintet
  • Open Night, Poem-Caprice for Six Instruments
  • Chesapeake Rhythms for eleven players
  • Celebrations for brass quintet
  • Sinfonietta for Wind Quintet
  • ''Concerto-Fantasy for Nine Players''

    Instrumental music

  • Dragonflies sing near for solo guitar

    Piano

  • Transcription for left hand of Scriabin's Etude, Op. 8, No. 12
  • Transcription for left hand of Scriabin's Etude, Op. 2, No. 1
  • Six Pictures from 'The Devil in the Flesh
  • Sonata Rhythmikosmos
  • Rhythmic Garlands
;Two pianos
  • ''Three Pictures from 'The Devil in the Flesh''

    Vocal music

  • Arcadian Shadows
  • Satori, poem by Damian Congressi,
  • Satori
  • ''Satori''

    Choral music

  • Psalm 23 1980

    Writings

  • "Context, Choice and Issues of Perceived Determinism in Music", in Indeterminacy: The Mapped, the Navigable, and the Uncharted, Jose V. Ciprut, Contributing Editor : 241–266
  • "Lukas Foss: Ways of Looking at Music" in National Gallery of Art : non paginated
  • "The Phonograph Behind the Door: Some Thoughts on Musical Literacy," in Reading World Literature: Theory, History, Practice, edited by Sarah Lawall : 287–308.
  • "Doctrine of Despair: Zimmermann's Die Soldaten", Opera News : 1991
  • "Late Skriabin: Some Principles Behind the Style," 19th-Century Music : 220–231, reprinted in The Journal of the Scriabin Society of America : 29–46
  • "Rochberg the Progressive", Perspectives of New Music : 395–407