William Brobston's SOJOURN

Program note:

SOJOURN is a meditation on a variety of musical gestures that are loosely based on the sounds emanating from a particular kinetic sculpture that I was fascinated with as a child in Birmingham, Alabama. The sounds become increasingly familiar as the tension of the piece unfolds, ultimately driving toward their impending cessation. 

Behind the Score:

Much of my compositional interest lies in the musical parameter of time. The way in which my work often explores this parameter is through the sequencing of repeated musical fragments. These fragments may act as interjections within a musical texture or they may occupy space harmoniously, depending on the nature of the piece. I am interested in the multitude of ways in which these small musical units can combine to create larger networks of sound, while also playing with the listener’s sense of time, memory, and expectation. Sojourn is an example of a piece that relies on a dense texture composed of several recurring fragments, but just as crucial to the composition is the sudden cessation of these sounds once they become familiar. 

Will supplied the following track as an example:

https://open.spotify.com/track/0LKWhvxKi0NH02F2XiNa2v?si=2e962c40689e472b

To explore more of his music, visit Will Brobston's website.

Concert! Slee Sinfonietta, March 11, 2025

The Robert & Carol Morris Center for 21st Century Music, with the Slee Sinfonietta conducted by Matthew Chamberlain, will premiere four pieces by UB graduate student composers on March 11, 7:30pm in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall.

Program:

Thomas Little, Two Visions of the Prophet Ezekiel

William Brobston, SOJOURN

Brian Caswell, Arrow Through Time

~~Intermission~~

James P.A. Falzone, Ricercar in Sixth-Tone Harmony

Falzone, in particular, takes the Sinfonietta to new places, as he utilizes his newly devised sixth-tone tuning system. The work features three separate pianos (tuned differently!) for the first time in the Sinfonietta’s history, and will show the ensemble in its largest formation in over a decade.

Brian Caswell’s work Arrow Through Time is also in an ‘absolute music’ vein and features polymeter, a technique in which different musical parts play at the same time but using different meters, or time signatures, for a richly complex rhythmic effect. 

William Brobston’s SOJOURN is a hefty revision of work presented at June in Buffalo 2024, and plays with time, memory, and expectation as fragments morph and return in unexpected ways.

Leading off the concert, and writing from specific extramusical inspiration, Thomas Little’s work Two Visions of the Prophet Ezekiel is a tone poem based on the first and 37th chapters of the Biblical book of Ezekiel.

Tickets may be purchased here ($10, or free with student ID).

Stay tuned for program notes, further details into the composers’ processes, and extra behind-the-score info this week!