Elastic Band

Program Note by the Composer

(NB: these notes are free for use but cannot be altered/edited without the permission of the composer)

Elastic Band for octet is scored for clarinet, string quintet, and 2 percussionists.

I. Rise; II. Pure Happenchance; III. Stretch: Snap Back!

Elastic Band was conceived as a fun, divertimento-like work. The title refers to both the elastic nature of the work–which happily straddles the Classical, 21^st Century, and Pop music worlds–and to a pun: the ensemble writing is often more reminiscent of a jazz “little big band” than a traditional chamber ensemble. The original scoring for clarinet and string quartet has classical resonances. But, add percussion to the mix, and a decidedly jazzy-rock tinge emerges: the Mozart Clarinet Quintet… with a twist, if you will. Additional strings, plus a second percussionist add texture, color, and impact.

I wanted all three music worlds to co-exist and co-mingle within the piece. Among the Classical elements are: the clarity and symmetry of phrases, and the three-movement design (a more serious-toned opening movement in sonata form; a quirky “Ellingtonian” scherzo second movement; and, finally, a lighthearted rondo-like finale). However, the free chromatic writing, quick tempo shifts, and irregular meters and rhythms are most definitely contemporary concert music! That said, much of the work’s detail–the rhythmic, harmonic, and gestural language–comes from jazz, or its cousin–funk-fusion music.

Growing up playing jazz, rock, and classical I was always struck by how the harmonic and rhythmic materials found in some 20^th Century music, e.g. Stravinsky and Bartók, resembled the sound worlds of jazz and funk. Elastic Band is steeped in that favorite scale of the 20^th Century: the eight-note octatonic scale (an alternating pattern of whole and half steps, referred to as the “symmetric diminished” scale in jazz). By selecting only parts of the scale I could make a “filter.” “Tightening” the filter created familiar, “tonal” jazz harmonies. “Opening” the filter, using more of the scale, allowed for denser, more chromatic sounds. But, probably the most striking, and popular, element in both Stravinsky and Bartok’s music was their fantastic sense of rhythm. Like jazz and funk, their music has “beat.” It heavily employs rhythmic syncopation, but against that clear and strong, if sometimes changing, pulse–a trait common in my music as well.

Rise, the first movement of Elastic Band, is cast in a tight sonata form that is a “hat tip” to the Classical Style, and is a good example of the previously mentioned “filtering effect.” The tenser, more chromatic opening theme is opposed by the more expansive and tonal-sounding second theme. Motivically the movement is very organic: almost everything heard is thematically related to either the clarinet’s opening melodic idea–a falling perfect 4^th followed by a rising major 2^nd–or the brief, seemingly “improvisatory” rock-style drum breaks that periodically explode during the movement (listen to how they later reappear in the pitched instruments!). For you musical detectives in the audience: these drum breaks echo a figure used by Ringo Starr in his only commercially recorded Beatles drum solo (here’s a hint: it’s on Abbey Road). At the center of the movement is a brief moment of repose–the eye of the storm–that also marks the beginning of a terse, unstable, and dramatic development section that gradually re-gathers momentum and drives towards the recapitulation the opening themes. The movement ends with a scampering perpetual motion coda.

The second movement, Pure Happenchance, functions like a quirky scherzo–the dance movement!–with Duke Ellington overtones in the primal drum ostinato and the clarinet’s timbre (think of Ellington’s 1920’s “jungle music”) … and even a hint of klezmer. This movement relies more on juxtaposition and pop-like repetition than the classical-style motivic development found in the outer movements. The scoring is reminiscent of jazz big band writing (e.g. sectional voicings, or harmonizations, of a line in the strings) and the percussion replete with the ostinato pattern.

The third movement, Stretch: Snap Back!, while often the most overtly “jazz-funk,” also harkens back to the Classical model of the finale: a fun rondo-like romp. The rondo is characterized by a returning refrain. But, here the repeats are developed and rarely literal. While the opening rondo musical material might be reminiscent of Earth, Wind, & Fire meets the Brecker Brothers, the irregular meters, sudden temporal shifts, and developmental process are fully contemporary concert music. Ideas from the first movement freely float in and out of the finale. The rondo idea, and the subsequent second theme, are characterized by funky, syncopated rhythms. In contrast, the central section, signaled by the first abrupt tempo change, is lyrical and broad (but over a “chugged” accompaniment). Like the 1^st movement there is an unstable, “free-for-all” development section in the middle (that begins as the recap of the opening rondo). Later on a swaggering blues treatment of the second theme appears, only to be cut short by a compact, breathless coda. 

Elastic Band has had a rather long and circuitous journey. The piece began as a chamber sextet (clarinet, string quartet, and one percussionist), and while that version has had a healthy life (including performances by Speculum Musicae, theNew York Chamber and Adorno Ensembles), I always felt that it would make a great chamber orchestra piece. In 2015 Grace Cho and Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez of the New Orchestra of Washington graciously commissioned me to revise and rescore the work for clarinet, fuller strings, and two percussionists playing a larger battery of instruments. In 2017 at the request of Evan Solomon of the Inscape Chamber Orchestra, I created a chamber septet edition: clarinet, string quintet, and 1percussion. It’s all about that bass. Most recently both Noah Getz at American University and Jonathan Newman at Shenandoah Conservatory requested an octet version: clarinet, string quintet, and 2 percussion. I do prefer these editions to the original sextet version. Finally, Leonid Shushansky of the National Chamber Ensemble premiered a trio arrangement (clarinet, piano, and percussion) of the 2^nd movement, “Pure Happenchance” in Spring 2018. A full, 3 movement trio edition is in the works.

“An added bonus was a performance of composer Joel Phillip Friedman’s “Elastic Band,” a work of serious fun, which also draws on pop and jazz… [Friedman] has ingeniously transformed popular themes in a chamber setting.  He even cops (his admission) Ringo Starr’s famous, thudding drum solo from the Beatles’ “Abbey Road” and turns it into a motif. The second movement takes on Duke Ellington’s “jungle music” of the ’20s when the great Sonny Greer sat behind the traps.”   Richard Scheinin, The Mercury News

“The final work in the programme is Joel Phillip Friedman’s Elastic Band. Here we move into the worlds of Rock and Jazz which lends the music a ‘drum break’ and Big Band mélange, served up with great confidence by the composer. Friedman explicitly cites Barney Bigard’s clarinet playing and Duke Ellington’s ‘Jungle’ music when discussing the second movement, Pure Happenchance, and in the clarinet/drum exchanges, the jazz ensemble sound, feel to rhythm and in its sectional approach this makes sense. The shifting meters in the finale are part of a full-on, sonically wild Rondo, complete with enticing jazzy lope from the clarinet – Jeremy Eig should be mentioned here for his fine playing – and a slightly sleazy air to the proceedings. This is certainly the most demotic and outgoing of the three pieces.”    Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International