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Dana Wilson’s Polystylistic Voice: Examining Excerpts from Mandala and Kalamus

Natalie WrenCornwall, New York

Last August at the 43rd annual IDRS conference in New York City, bassoonist Saxton Rose presented a stunning performance of Dana Wilson’s bassoon concerto Avatar with my colleagues in the West Point Band. With eight recent compositions featuring

the oboe and bassoon, Connecticut native Dana Wilson is one of today’s most prolific com-posers expanding the double reed repertoire. With his jazz background and his deep-seated interest in non-Western music traditions, Wilson aberrates from the third-stream movement, to create a polystylistic voice that is uniquely his own. In examining selected passages from Mandala for oboe and piano, and Kalamus for oboe, bassoon, and piano this writer will show how Wilson has created a distinctive sound world in which, as the New York composer puts it, “unlikely musical combinations emerge.”1

Dana Wilson is currently a Professor of Music at Ithaca College. He holds degrees from Bowdoin College, the University of Connecticut, and the Eastman School of Music. His many accomplishments include the Humanities Fellowship at Cornell University and the Wye Fellowship at the Aspen Institute. Wilson is the recipient of such grants as the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the New England Foundation for the Arts.2 His works have been commissioned and performed by renowned ensembles such as the Chicago Chamber Musicians, the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings, and the Netherlands Wind Ensemble.3

Growing up in Wilton, Connecticut, Dana Wilson began piano lessons at an early age. Wilson admits that as a young piano student, he would “always rather make up material than play what was on the page.”4 In high school Wilson played piano in a number of jazz ensembles and rock bands, studied organ, and co-wrote a revue that was produced at his school. As he prepared for college, however, he did not consider pursuing a career in music. Wilson shared in an interview:

...In the 1960s virtually all ‘serious’ music that received any significant attention was very serious—strictly serial and the like. I was intrigued by that music but didn’t want to be a member of that club myself.5

Discouraged by the predominant compositional styles of the 1960’s, Wilson eschewed the music conservatory and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Bowdoin College. It was only after being drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War that Wilson was exposed to music on a professional level. Stationed in Germany at the European Headquarters, Wilson played jazz piano with high-caliber professional musicians, many of whom were graduates from America’s finest conservatories. Upon his return to the United States, Wilson pursued a Master of Music at the University of Connecticut, and later a doctorate at the Eastman School of Music. At Eastman his weekly composition studies with Samuel Adler and his contact with Joseph Schwantner were of particular importance.6 Wilson recalls his time at Eastman saying,

I gradually learned that there is only one world of music despite the different lan-guages, and communication comes from the writer finding something meaningful

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in one or several of those languages and leading the listener down a given path with resolve and commitment.7

Wilson’s approach to composition mixes the different languages of traditional concert music, jazz, popular, and non-Western folk elements together to create an eclectic compo-sitional voice that intones his philosophy on multi-culturalism and musical universalism. His rich background in jazz performance has guided him towards third-stream music—a synthesis of classical and jazz music. Dana Wilson approaches his compositions in a consis-tently third-stream fashion, but it is his multicultural philosophy that enables him to write compositions that sound vastly different from one another. In an interview with Wilson in 2013, he acknowledged these influences, saying, “I am incredibly drawn to the sounds, shapes, cross-rhythms, and even harmonies of many cultures, and making an effort to draw upon those worlds often gets my compositional juices flowing.”8

Reflecting his veneration for non-Western sounds, Wilson approaches the oboe as a vehicle that captures very well the jazz and non-Western influences within his compositions. Wilson’s compositions featuring oboe or bassoon have not yet made it into the standard repertoire for many musicians, despite its breadth as seen in Figure 1.

When discussing writing for oboe Wilson shared in an interview,

[...] What strikes me about the oboe is the fact that every pitch seems to have its own color, its own overtone structure. Instruments that are more consistent, suggest greater ‘perfection.’ [...] In traditional Japanese music, each note has its own life. It’s not simply the ‘fourth scale step of the major scale.’ I love that each oboe note has its own life.9

Mandala (2002)

Mandala, Wilson’s two-movement work for oboe and piano inspires visuals of exotic lands through non-Western harmonies, quasi-improvisatory lines, and jazz-inflected rhythms and blue notes. The oboist endeavoring to perform this work must be aware of the contrasting styles within each movement, and navigate the multiple sound concepts effectively on the oboe. As insinuated in his program notes, Wilson artfully creates a sound world reflecting timelessness and cyclical motion in the first movement of Mandala, titled “Seeking.” The plaintive melodies in the oboe are quasi-improvisatory in nature. As seen in the passage below, Wilson arranges the melodic contour in an organic way that evokes an improvisatory aesthetic.

Title Work Instrumentation Year Pub.Calling, Ever Calling... Solo Oboe and Wind Ensemble 1990Mirrors Woodwind Quintet 1994To Dream, Perchance to Hope... Oboe, Viola, and Piano 1996Song for Shirley English Horn (or Clarinet) and Piano 2000Whispers from Another Time English Horn (or Musical Saw) and Piano 2001Mandala Oboe and Piano 2002Kalamus Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano 2005Avatar Solo Bassoon and Wind Ensemble 2005

Figure 1: Table of Works for Oboe Composed by Dana Wilson

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In measures 25 through 29 the oboe melody rises and falls in a meandering fashion, resulting in a high E-flat before tumbling gracefully down a ninth. Though the melody is not notated as

“improvisatory,” the rhythmic development from 8th note duples, to triplets, to 32nd notes simulates improvisation. The oboist may approach this figure, and similar figures within the movement with rhythmic flexibility, allowing the melodic turns and neighbor tones to flow organically as in an improvisation.

Wilson reflects non-Western overtones through the use of the double harmonic minor scale—a harmonic minor scale with a raised 4th scale degree. This scale pervades the har-monies of the first movement.10 Coined the Hungarian or Gypsy scale for its prominence in Romantic Hungarian music during the 19th and 20th centuries, the double harmonic minor scale evokes an Eastern exoticism through the intervals of an augmented second found between scale degrees 3 and 4, and 6 and 7. In Mandala the composer first presents the scale as an altered E-flat double harmonic minor scale in measure 9 in the oboe line. Wilson utilizes this scale in many of his compositions, and it has become a signature of his music.

While one can see how Wilson references his admiration for non-Western music in the first movement, “Seeking,” evidence of his rich background in jazz surfaces in the second movement, “Coming Full Circle.” Wilson’s incorporation of tied and untied syncopations, recognizable blue notes in the melody, and unison texture highlight his propensity towards

Figure 2. Dana Wilson’s Mandala, “Seeking,” oboe line in measures 25–29

Figure 3. Example of the “Gypsy Scale”

Figure 4. Mandala, “Seeking,” oboe melody in measures 1–9

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third-stream composition. For example, in measures 111–119 Wilson places the oboe and piano in unison with a syncopated and rhythmically complex melody.

The unison melody outlines an altered C-heptatonic blues scale with flatted third and seventh scale degrees (E-flat and B-flat) and a split fifth (G-natural and G-flat). Wilson adds color interest with an alternative inflection of the lowered sixth scale degree, or A-flat. In the 1940s era of blues and bebop, pitch often revolved around an elastic heptatonic framework.11 Wilson’s evocation of blues and bebop harmonies resound in this passage. For the musicians performing this work, both the pianist and oboist could exploit these jazz harmonies by ghosting, or deemphasizing the non-color tones of the heptatonic scale.

Kalamus (2005)

In the program notes to Kalamus, Wilson writes, “[...] the title pays homage to the ancient roots of double reed instruments, and reflects the ancient roots of the musical styles sug-gested in the piece itself.”1 Corroborating these notes Wilson explains his inspiration in an interview saying, “I did want to conjure something ancient, and I did want players to think more shawm/reedy than warm and lyrical oboe/bassoon.”1 In examining Kalamus, one can hear Wilson’s use of the Gypsy scale as in Mandala. Additionally mixed meter, asymmetrical meter, pitch bends, and ornamental embellishments enable this work for oboe and bassoon to evoke the reedy sounds of primitive Middle Eastern instruments.

In measures 88–91 Wilson writes the melody between oboe and bassoon in parallel fifths, outlining an obscured B-flat double harmonic minor scale that emphasizes the seventh scale degree. In an interview concerning Kalamus, the composer relates:

“[...] The two most often play in parallel 5ths. Perhaps, again, since the color of each pitch is so rich, this pure perfect fifth interval has so much vitality and wealth of sound, while also allowing two rather “vulnerable” instruments to have, collectively, a powerful strength that the 5th provides acoustically.

Wilson also writes the bassoon and oboe parts in canon throughout the work—for example, this passage below outlining measures 109 to 117. The

Figure 5. Mandala, “Coming Full Circle,” oboe and piano melody in measures 111–119

Figure 6. Dana Wilson’s Kalamus, measures 86–91.

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canon writing in this excerpt allows the listener to hear both instruments, which are in Wilson’s words “so similar to, yet so distant from one another.” The bassoonist and oboist should approach Kalamus exactly as is insinuated in the program notes, with an emphasis on reedy and plaintive sounds. Here, pitch bends should be played slowly and beseechingly, disregarding the parameters of traditional intonation. Ornamentation notated by rhythmic figures should be played ostentatiously. When playing in canon, all three instruments should enter with a clear attack and balance equally without one line sticking out from the polyphonic texture.

American composer Dana Wilson’s incorporation of jazz elements such as syncopated rhythms, blues harmonies, Afro-Cuban dance rhythms (as seen in his woodwind quintet Mirrors), and quasi-improvisatory melodies designate him as an established third-stream

Figure 7. Kalamus, measures 109–117

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composer. His use of ethnic percussion instruments and complex polyrhythmic layering (as seen in the oboe concerto Seeking, Ever Seeking...), melodic ornamentation, pitch bends, and Eastern- influenced scales highlight his penchant for non-Western music traditions. Studying the various styles found in Wilson’s compositions, be it blues and bebop elements emulated in Mandala or traditional Middle Eastern sounds reminiscent in Kalamus, will facilitate a musically-informed performance. Although complicated rhythms and technical passages call for an advanced player, Wilson’s compositions for oboe and bassoon require a command over the instrument in which a flexibility of pitch and timbre, and a disregard for the conventionally dark and stable tone is necessary. By absorbing Wilson’s use of diverse musical languages through stylistic study, the performer may also capture the multicultural fibers that Wilson weaves throughout his compositions.

Natalie Wren currently performs oboe and English horn in the West Point Band in West Point, New York. An active freelancer, Natalie has performed with the Louisville Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and the South Carolina Philharmonic. She holds a Master of Music from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, and a Bachelor of Music from Furman University. Her teachers include Dr. Mark Ostoich, Petrea Warneck, and Christopher Philpotts.

Endnotes

1 Ferrari “Two Symphonic Wind Ensemble Compositions” 70.2 “Bio,” Dana Wilson, accessed September 12, 2014, http:/www.danawilson.org 3 Ibid.4 Natalie Wren, Interview with Dana Wilson, email, August 30, 2014.5 Ibid.6 Timothy Salzman, Interview with Dana Wilson, email, September 14, 2006. 7 Ferrari, “Two Symphonic Wind Ensemble Compositions,” 6.8 Natalie Wren, Interview with Dana Wilson, email, August 30, 2014.9 Natalie Wren, Interview with Dana Wilson, August 13, 2013.10 Oxford Music Online, “Gypsy Scale,” accessed December 2, 2014, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/subscriber/article/grove/

music/12089?q=gypsy+ scale&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit.11 Gerhard Kubik, “Blue Note” in Grove Music Online, The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz

2nd ed., accessed December 30, 2014, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/subscriber/article/grove/

music/03310?q=heptato nic+scale+jazz&search=quick&pos=25&_start=1#firsthit.

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