Bernard Rands

Bernard Rands (born 2 March 1934 in Sheffield, England)[1] is a British-American contemporary classical music composer. He studied music and English literature at the University of Wales, Bangor,[2] and composition with Pierre Boulez and Bruno Maderna in Darmstadt, Germany, and with Luigi Dallapiccola and Luciano Berio in Milan, Italy. He held residencies at Princeton University, the University of Illinois, and the University of York before emigrating to the United States in 1975; he became a U.S. citizen in 1983. In 1984, Rands's Canti del Sole, premiered by Paul Sperry, Zubin Mehta, and the New York Philharmonic, won the Pulitzer Prize for Music.[3] He has since taught at the University of California, San Diego, the Juilliard School, Yale University, and Boston University. From 1988 to 2005 he taught at Harvard University, where he is Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music Emeritus. For his notable students, See: List of music students by teacher: R to S#Bernard Rands.

Rands has received many awards for his work, and was elected and inducted into The American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2004. From 1989 to 1995 he was composer-in-residence with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Rands's music is widely recorded. The recording of his Canti D'Amor by the men's vocal ensemble Chanticleer won a Grammy Award in 2000.[4] Rands is married to American composer Augusta Read Thomas.[5]

Works

Opera

Orchestral

Chamber
  • Actions for Six (1962), for flute, viola, cello, harp & two percussion
    written for the 1963 Darmstadt Festival; premièred by the Kranichsteiner Ensemble under Bruno Maderna
  • Espressione IV. (1964), for two pianos
    premièred at the 1965 Darmstadt Festival by Aloys and Alfons Kontarsky
  • Ballad 1 (1970), for mezzo-soprano solo, flute, trombone, piano, percussion & contrabass
    written for SONOR Ensemble, a group formed by Rands. Text by Gilbert Sorrentino.
  • Tableau (1970), for flute, clarinet, piano, percussion, viola & cello
  • as all get out (1972), for miscellaneous instrumental ensemble
    notated as a graphic score; the duration of the work can be anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes
  • déjà (1972), for flute, clarinet, piano, percussion, viola & cello
  • Response - Memo 1B (1973), for contrabass & tape / two contrabassi
  • Cuaderno (1974), for string quartet
  • étendre (1974), for solo contrabass, flute, clarinet, horn, trumpet, trombone, piano, electric organ, percussion, violin, viola & cello
    15-minute work, based on Rands' Memo 1 (for solo double bass, from 1971), and was written for bassist Bertram Turetzky and commissioned by the Claremont Festival, California.
  • Scherzi (1974), for clarinet, piano, violin & cello
    commissioned by the Capricorn Ensemble with funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain
  • Obbligato - Memo 2C (1980), for trombone & string quartet
  • ...in the receding mist... (1988), for flute, harp, violin, viola & cello
    commissioned by the Arts Council of Great Britain for the ONDINE Ensemble, and is dedicated to Jacob Druckman on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday. Premièred in Washington D.C. in November 1988. Recent performances have been given by the Boston Musica Viva under Richard Pittman, the North/South Consonance Ensemble under Max Lifchitz, the Verge Ensemble (Buffalo, New York), the Dal Nienete New Music Group (Chicago), and ensembles at the Indiana University School of Music and the Arizona State University.
  • ...and the rain... (1992), for horn, harp, violin, viola & cello
  • String Quartet No. 2 (1994)
    commissioned by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society for the Mendelssohn Quartet (who, in 2003, recorded the work on BIS Records). The work has since been taken up by the Fifth House Ensemble, DePaul University, Chicago.
  • ...sans voix parmi les voix... (1995), for flute, harp & viola
    commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association in honour of the 70th birthday of Pierre Boulez
  • Concertino (1996), for oboe solo, flute, clarinet, harp, two violins, viola & cello
    commissioned by Network for New Music with generous support from Anni Baker; premièred in 1998 conducted by Jan Krzywicki. Recent performances have taken place with the Dal Neiete New Music Group (Chicago), the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign New Music Ensemble, ensembles from the University of Nevada, the University of Iowa (who recorded the work on Capstone Records in 2006) and the Yale University, and at the June in Buffalo Festival (New York).
  • Fanfare (1997), for brass quintet
    commissioned by the Atlantic Brass Quintet
  • String Quartet No. 3 (2003)
    commissioned by the Eastman School of Music (financial support from the Howard Hanson Foundation) for the Ying Quartet. Premièred by that ensemble in January 2004 at Symphony Space, New York
  • Prelude (2004), for flute, viola & harp
    commissioned for the 2004 June in Buffalo Festival
  • ...now again... (2006), for mezzo-soprano solo, flute, clarinet, trumpet, percussion, harp, violin, viola & cello
    commissioned by Network for New Music, and premièred by that ensemble in November 2006 with mezzos-soprano Janice Felty
  • PRISM (Memo 6B) (2008), for saxophone quartet
    10-minute work commissioned by the New York State Arts Council for the Prism Quartet. Premièred: 21 November 2008 in Philadelphia, by the same artists.
  • Scherzi No. 2 (2008), for clarinet, piano, violin & cello
    18-minute work

Vocal
  • Ballad 1 (1970), for mezzo-soprano solo & ensemble
    written for SONOR ensemble, a group formed by Rands. Text by Gilbert Sorrentino.
  • Ballad 2 (1970), for female voice & piano
    commissioned by Jane Manning
  • Metalepsis 2 (1971), for mezzo-soprano solo, small choir & chamber orchestra
    commissioned by the London Sinfonietta, who gave the première in 1972 with soprano Cathy Berberian, conducted by Luciano Berio at the English Bach Festival
  • Ballad 3 (1973), for soprano & tape (plus bell)
  • Wildtrack 2 (1973), for soprano solo & orchestra
  • Canti Lunatici (1980), for soprano & ensemble/orchestra
  • déjà 2 (1980), for female voice solo & ensemble
  • Canti del Sole (1984), for tenor solo & ensemble/orchestra
  • Canti dell'Eclisse (1992), for bass solo & ensemble/orchestra
  • Walcott Songs (2004), for mezzo-soprano & cello
    song-cycle to texts by Derek Walcott, commissioned by the Tanglewood Summer Music Festival; premièred in the Seiji Ozawa Hall in January 2005 by Abigail Fischer (mezzo-soprano) and Norman Fischer (cello)
  • ...now again... (2006), for mezzo-soprano & ensemble
    commissioned by Network for New Music, and premièred by that ensemble in November 2006 with mezzos-soprano Janice Felty

Choral

Solo Instrumental
  • Tre Espressione (1960), for piano
  • Formants 1 - Les Gestes (1965), for harp
  • Memo 1 (1971), for contrabass
    commissioned by Barry Guy; premièred at the English Bach Festival, Oxford in 1972
  • Memo 2 (1973), for trombone
  • Memo 3 (1989), for cello
  • Memo 4 (1997), for flute
    commissioned by Ekkehart Trenknner for Judith Pierce, who gave the work's première in 1997
  • Memo 5 (1975), for piano
  • Memo 6 (1999), for alto saxophone
  • Memo 7 (2000), for female voice
  • Memo 8 (2000), for oboe
  • HBDZ (2001), for piano
  • Preludes (2007), for piano
  • Three Piano Pieces (2010)

Music Theatre
  • Ballad 2 (1970), for female voice & piano
    commissioned by Jane Manning
  • Ballad 3 (1973), for soprano & tape (plus bell)
  • Memo 2B (1980), for trombone and female mime
  • Memo 2D (1980), for trombone, string quartet and female mime

Educational
  • Sound Patterns 1 (1967), for voices & hands
  • Sound Patterns 2 (1967), for voices, percussion and miscellaneous instruments
  • Per Esempio (1969), for youth orchestra
  • Sound Patterns 3 (1969), for voices (project)
  • Sound Patterns 4 (1969), for miscellaneous instrumental groups (graphic score)
  • Agenda (1970), for youth orchestra

Awards

In 2014 Rands was inducted to The Lincoln Academy of Illinois as a Laureate of the Arts and was awarded the Order of Lincoln (the state's highest honor) by the governor of Illinois.[6]

Current Projects

Rands has most recently completed a Seattle Symphony commission, which premièred under Gerard Schwarz on 7 December 2010 at Benaroya Hall, Seattle, alongside works by Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich.[7]

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References
  1. "Bernard Rands: Concerts, Biography and News". BBC.
  2. "Schott Music". en.schott-music.com. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
  3. ""Canti del Sole" for Tenor and Orchestra, by Bernard Rands". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
  4. "EAM: Bernard Rands Celebrates 85". www.eamdc.com. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
  5. "Bernard Rands : Composer".
  6. "Laureates by Year - The Lincoln Academy of Illinois". The Lincoln Academy of Illinois. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
  7. "Recent Press Release - Seattle Symphony Orchestra". Archived from the original on 2011-06-09.
  • Kennedy, Michael and Kennedy, Joyce Bourne (eds.) (2006) "Rands, Bernard" The Oxford Dictionary of Music (2nd rev.) Oxford University Press, Oxford, ISBN 0-19-861459-4

Listening
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