Interview with Colin Clarke in Fanfare Magazine

Stylistic Diversity Today: An Interview with Composer Brian Field

There is normally some diversity in a composer’s output, but it is rare one finds a composer who can turn his or her hand to widely divergent modes of expression with equal success. But that appears to be the case with Brian Field. From the Christian songs (By and By and Let the Light Shine on Me) to the more progressive Tres Canciones de Amor, to the biting satire of Let’s Build a Wall (hints of musical theater here) to the Modernistic passages of Chimneys, sonnets-realities, Field offers a kaleidoscopic world vista. The website for this disc (Brian Field - Vocal Works) lists such influences as post-Romanticism, Minimalism and jazz (and I note Field has a disc out called Funk and Fire!). I wonder, was this all-embracing compositional virtuosity a deliberate choice all along, or was it something that developed?

This collection demonstrates a broad range of vocal compositions that span 30 years or so. The more Modernistic work, Chimneys, is actually the oldest, and By and By the most recent (from 2021). In my vocal music, I endeavor to match the aesthetic of the poem and music as tightly as possible, while also having fun with the settings. In the case of “when you rang, at Dick Mid’s Place” from Chimneys, sonnets-realities, for example—while more Modernistic—I weave in jazz; in the closing moments of the third movement of the Neruda love songs (Tres Canciones de amor), I reference the Brahms Lullaby.

Perhaps you could tell me something about your musical development. Were your parents musical, and if so how did that influence you? You studied with Milton Babbitt and Mario Davidovsky, right? I’d be fascinated to know what you gleaned from each.

My parents played instruments when they were younger, but are more “music appreciators” than musicians themselves; they certainly encouraged my instrumental and compositional drive when I was young. My first formal composition studies were during my high school years with a fabulously enthusiastic and interested-in-everything church organist and composer—Steve Wolff—who was also a jazz player. From him I really went deeply into early Western vocal polyphony and liturgical music; those have always stayed with me as interests and often find their way back into what I write today. Noel Zahler was a mentor and teacher of mine during my undergrad years and exposed me to Modernist practices and repertoire though, admittedly, I found it aesthetically challenging to embrace. Because of that, I found myself quite nervous about studying with Milton Babbitt both because of his towering intellect and—predominantly—because I wasn’t a fan of “his style,” though I’d heard that he had an expansive musical view. This was absolutely the case; he grew up playing pop band music and he had this incredibly broad musical mind, as well as being an extremely funny man. Regardless of aesthetic, we would workshop the architecture of pieces, which was very valuable. Mario Davidovsky always struck me as a more intuitive composer; from him, I learned many subtle nuances and techniques of orchestration.

Can you tell me about your poetic choices? Neruda and Cummings both appear here, both poetic giants. What draws you to these texts?

I have a wide interest in poets of all eras, languages, and nations; it’s really the poem itself that needs to “speak” to me to begin the flood of musical ideas. I love these particular E. E. Cummings and Neruda texts for the imagery they evoke—the Cummings, a surreal and dark, back-alley kind of mood; the Neruda, a sultry, humid, animalistic passion. I’ve most recently been collaborating with a working poet from Barcelona—Carles Duarte i Montserrat—and find his poetry a great fusion of this flavor of Romantic and surreal.

The Neruda settings, Tres Canciones de Amor, are award-winning: third place in the Franz Schubert Competition and second prize at the Canadian 21st Century Talents Competition. I find the settings very moving indeed—and the harmonies are incredibly varied here. What determined your choice of texts? Was the piece written for specific performers?

I had read a good deal of Neruda’s poetry before settling on these three texts, and originally had scored it for tenor and piano, though not for any specific vocalist. I just loved the poetry and wanted to get to work on it straight away. Once I had completed the set, I couldn’t get the third movement out of my head and kept thinking about how terrific it would be if orchestrated, since it’s so lyrical. While many other pieces came between thinking about that and rescoring it, I’m very pleased with the results and really love that movement, in particular.

Tell me more about the “American satire” Let’s Build a Wall. It’s hilarious (speaking from a non-American’s perspective) but must hit home to those involved. I do love the way you mesh this aspect with what I imagine is a quote from Robert Frost (“something there is that doesn’t love a wall” from “Mending Wall”?)

I really hope that piece does hit home to U.S. listeners. Of course, it’s intended to be funny by poking fun at the political extremes in the U.S. today—the xenophobic “Trump-lover” on the one hand, who has all sorts of misconceptions and historical/factual inaccuracies that go unquestioned; and then the caricature of the “all embracing” liberal on the other who is equally myopic, but in different ways. Extremism on either side is a growing problem in the U.S. (and elsewhere too, where there’s a frightening surge of nationalism afoot). The echo-chamber of niche media and social media channels are only reinforcing that divide; no one earnestly listens to each other these days. But maybe they’ll at least share a laugh with this piece. I do like embedding little hidden references, like the Frost quote—and the Canadian national anthem at the very end.

There is a great singer for this piece (Let’s Build a Wall), Zoli Mujahid; he seems to have a voice made for the musicals (and how he belts out “America” at the end!). Is this someone who comes from a musical theater background? The musical vernacular here really suits the subject matter.

Thanks. Yes, this is stylistically a musical theater-type piece and Zoli fits that genre. While this could be performed by any good “musical theater” voice—male or female—what I liked about Zoli is that he comes from a Middle Eastern background (Pakistani) and has a bit of an accent too—both of which are other layers of irony for the performance. He’s great—and was selected as a Eurovision contestant recently.

The piece Sephardic Lullaby is really lovely—what drew you to this text? You choose a very warm (almost Christmas-y, to my ears!) setting, presumably to echo the lullaby element?

I was collaborating with the Turkish soprano Lori Şen on a piece for her recital of Sephardic music from different periods. Not being very familiar with Sephardic poetry, I dug in and read a lot of different poems from varying eras to find one that really resonated to me. This one is wonderful, as it contemplates the whole cycle of infant to adult to a new generation of children, all in a very delicate way. While the poem is the original, traditional Ladino text, the melody and orchestral setting are entirely my own, supporting the repetition and sweetness of cradle songs.

The Chimneys. sonnets-realities is more spiky, a great piece. There’s a sort of contradiction implied in the title, right? Sonnets are normally thought more of in terms of Shakespeare than Modernism. And is that something Cummings and/or yourself play with?

There is a twist, I suppose, in the “sonnets-realities” subtitle of this collection as one usually thinks of Shakespearean sonnets (or at least more traditionally structured sonnet forms from centuries-old poets). I think that what Cummings was going for here was that each of these verses—while clearly not adhering to normal sonnet meter, though almost all have 14 lines—are nonetheless self-contained tableaux that convey a specific story and feeling which—aside from the differences in meter—was what the more traditional sonnets aimed to do too. I’ve attempted to extend that idea musically, where each of these six poems has a self-contained story and mood—laden with irony and the harshness of reality.

This piece seems to sum up the variety of expressive modes you can reference. Was that a deliberate element from the start, or was it a natural outcome of working with Cummings’s texts? And in extension of that, do you find that different poets demand different modes of harmonic/musical vocabulary in response to their vocabularies or modes of utterance and poetic structures?

As each of the “sonnets” is a self-contained story, I wanted to create musical separation of the movements. Nonetheless, they are all “birds of a feather” in that they are generally more expressionistic and—while I’m not claiming to have synesthesia—evoke images that are more black, white, and gray feeling to me, befitting of what I see in my mind’s eye as a late 1950s time period for the narrative.

You raise a great question about the relationship between text and musical response; in the end, every composer will have a unique point of view there. For me, I inherently am drawn to a musicality within a poem and try to uncover that in the compositional process. Each poem is unique in that regard, for me at least!

It’s good to see this disc here—I see only one other piece by yourself has ended up on the Fanfare Archive, so it is good to redress the balance. What’s in the pipeline for more?

This is my sixth album release, so there is certainly more that’s not been covered in Fanfare (yet), including some music for strings, choral, and orchestral works. I have some projects that I’m working on now in collaboration with a choreographer—a modern dance piece—as well as a piano suite on climate change for a Sony artist. So, lots in the pipeline!

Actually, what discs would you point readers towards to experience more of your music? Perhaps one of the ones of orchestral music?

For a survey of more choral-focused works I’d point readers to Choral and Orchestral Works; and/or String Play, which is a collection of all sorts of pieces for various string ensembles.