Gernot Wolfgang

Born: 1957, Bad Gastein, Austria

New York Moments

• Composed: 2008
  
• Premiere: October 31, 2008 at Bargemusic in Brooklyn, New York by the Tapestry Ensemble  
  
• Duration: approx. 18 minutes

Grammy-nominated composer Gernot Wolfgang has so far received more than 50 commissions from organizations and individuals such as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, European Broadcasting Union, Verdehr Trio, and Los Angeles Philharmonic principals David Breidenthal (bassoon), Joanne Pearce Martin (keyboard) and Michele Zukovsky (clarinet). 

He has received awards and grants from the American Composers Forum, American Music Center, Berklee College of Music, Billboard Magazine, BMI and the Fulbright Commission.

Wolfgang, who lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, also works as an orchestrator in the Los Angeles film and TV music industry. He is a former associate artistic director of HEAR NOW — A Festival of New Music by Contemporary Los Angeles Composers. gernotwolfgang.com

Wolfgang wrote the following about New York Moments: 

New York Moments was commissioned in 2008 by the CSU Mike Curb College of the Arts, Media and Communication in Northridge, California for the Tapestry Ensemble. When I learned that the premiere of the piece was going to be at Bargemusic in Brooklyn, the good times that I had spent over the years in New York City immediately came to mind. As I started writing, locations and memories of certain events became the inspiration for the three individual movements. 

East River Funk is a tribute to the waterway on which the venue of the premiere, Bargemusic, is located. Its musical backbone is a steady funk rhythm, which forms the base for a virtuosic oboe solo. The movement proceeds through a quieter groove into a contemplative, contrapuntal section featuring the winds and the cello. Nearing its conclusion, the original theme reappears.

After Hours reminds of the wee hours of the morning in Manhattan, when most businesses and restaurants are closed, when traffic is light and the city is not quite awake yet. The clarinet paints the picture of a relaxed late-night-feel in this jazzy ballad.

Avenue A & 2nd is the location where I have stayed during most of my visits to New York. The apartment at this address was bustling with life at all times — three jazz musicians were living there, one of them in the living room — and the movement reflects on the energy and sometimes insanity (in the good sense of the word) of things going on there. The piano is clearly the solo instrument in this movement, romping through a quasi-swing groove and accompanied — or disrupted — by percussive woodwind accents.

New York Moments is published by TrevCo Music.