The Music of Stuart Saunders Smith

Abstract

The Music of Stuart Saunders Smith. By John P. Welsh. (Contributions to the Study of Music and Dance, 38.) Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. 1995. [xl, 356 p. ISBN 0-313-29805-X. $59.95.] The Music of Stuart Saunders Smith is the first comprehensive survey and analysis of the composer's work to appear in print. Smith, whose work remains relatively unknown by the general concert audience, nonetheless has been recognized by a smaller group of composers and performers of new music, particularly within the percussion community. His music continues to receive increasing attention, both in the United Slates and in Europe; this publication is concurrent with recent retrospective concerts and recordings, including a performance of his entire Links series, which features the vibraphone as a solo instrument. John P. Welsh is undoubtedly the foremost expert on Smith's music today, having written numerous articles (some of which have been incorporated into this book) and reviews about many of Smith's compositions. Most important, Welsh allows Smith's work to speak for itself, by printing many complete scores, which enable the reader to study and comprehend the work firsthand. In addition, Welsh has included numerous transcripts of interviews with the composer, who provocatively articulates the philosophy and intentions behind his work. The reader benefits greatly from Welsh's direct and extensive contact with Smith, and is privy to compositional and analytical insights from both subject and author. Smith's compositions find their roots in the diversity of American musics of this century, primarily jazz, experimental, and the avant-garde. Like John Cage, who continues to inspire and influence generations of younger composers, Smith explores the interconnections between percussion, theater, and the spoken word. Smith's work also transcends traditional categories; his pieces touch on a diversity of media, from movement to poetry to visual art. Welsh's study of Smith's music reveals four main areas: (1) open-form compositions which define various levels of composer/performer collaboration, (2) trans-media systems (open-structure compositions in which a concept or system is performable by any type of performer, that is, an actor, dancer, luminist, mime, musician, etc.), (3) speech songs (spoken vocal compositions), and (4) traditionally notated scores (p. xxx). Welsh presents detailed analyses of each of these four types of compositions. Gifts (for any two melody instruments and keyboard) is an example of an open or mobile form composition. In this piece, the three performers' parts consist of (basically) the same passages (or licks). Within a general structure that is predetermined, each performer spontaneously chooses to play specific individual phrases, as dictated by the immediate musical context and his or her own ear. Tempos, articulation, timbre, register, and dynamics are at the individual performer's discretion. While the resulting music is readily identifiable as Gifts, each performance will necessarily be unique, spontaneous, and impossible to replicate. Welsh's exhaustive tabulations regarding durations, stressed subdivisions, intervallic content, and so on, reveal the consistency and cohesiveness of Smith's materials. …