Classical music: Vivian Adelberg Rudow
Recently returned from hearing one of her compositions performed in Havana, Cuba, Vivian Adelberg Rudow is preparing for upcoming concerts that are much closer to her Roland Park home.
Waving her arms as if conjuring up musical notes, the composer is a study in affable animation as she describes the pieces being done in Ellicott City and Towson.
“For me, as a composer, this spring represents a huge variety of styles,” says Rudow enthusiastically about her electronic piece just presented in Havana, plus a world premiere planned for Ellicott City of two orchestral works and a guitar ensemble piece to follow in Towson.
“They’re entirely different in textures, so I feel fulfilled.”
The act of composing music is almost by definition a solitary activity. But all of those notes on a page do not come fully alive until the piece is performed before an audience for the first time.
“Composing is like being blindfolded as an artist, and then painting — only in my case I am making sound pictures.” Her sense of being in the dark about what she has created, she says, lasts until its first concert: “And then I know.”
Rudow was moved by ecological inspiration for the piece debuting at St. John’s Episcopal Church, in Ellicott City, this Sunday, April 18 at 4 p.m. “The Earth Day Suite” is actually comprised of two pieces: “Dark Waters of the Chesapeake” and “Go Green!” Both will be played by the Orchestra of St. John’s, conducted by Ronald Mutchnik, with featured soloists Luis Engelke on trumpet and Sara Nichols on flute.
The emotional nature of Rudow’s music might be epitomized by “Go Green!” It’s a cheerful flute concerto that encourages people to help with cleaning up bodies of water. “It has a clean-up spirit!” laughs the composer.
Also on an Ellicott City program thematically titled “Water, Water, Everywhere” are pieces by two much earlier composers: Handel’s “Water Music” and Elgar’s “Sea Pictures.” The latter also features contralto Alison Matuskey.
Rudow confides that it was a “nightmare” composing a piece for the Towson University Classical Guitar Ensemble concert in the school’s Center for the Arts Recital Hall on May 5 at 8:15 p.m. She had never written music for the guitar before, so she fretted about how to compose for it.
The result will be the world premiere of her “The Ocean Sings.” Its instrumentation combines a solo viola played by Sherrie Norwitz with a guitar orchestra conducted by Troy King. This program also includes other Maryland composers.
All of this recent activity comes from a composer who has been on the local scene for a long time. Rudow received a bachelor of music degree from Peabody Institute in 1960. She did not pursue an active music career at the time, because she and her lawyer-husband, David, were raising three sons. They now have six grandchildren.
“As a composer, I began 20 years late. I stayed home and raised a family, then went back to Peabody.” She received a master of music in composition there in 1979.
“So now, I’m right where I’d be as an emerging composer,” smiles the 74-year-old Rudow, whose youthful appearance seems as fresh as her music.
She made quite a mark during the 1980s. When the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under then-conductor Sergiu Comissiona performed her “Force III” in 1982, she became the first Maryland composer to have her work debut in the new Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.
Rudow’s profile remained extremely high as both composer and conductor through the rest of the century. She may have made her greatest impact, though, as the founding artistic director of Res Musica Baltimore, an important organization on the Baltimore music scene for years. It specialized in presenting the work of living composers at the Baltimore Museum of Art until folding in 1991.
One memorable highlight for Res Musica was its presentation of Rudow’s “With Love,” a fantasy for cello and two cello cases composed in 1986. The cello cases were decorated by the late Baltimore artist Amalie Rothschild and had speakers placed inside them. The piece won first prize in the 14th International Electroacoustic Music Competition in Bourges, France.
As Rudow discusses “With Love” today, those two cello cases rest on the floor behind her in an otherwise traditionally furnished living room. One cello case is painted purple, the other is painted blue, and they both have bodily features playfully marked on curving bodies that are topped by red hair.
“We did wonderful new things and the audience never knew what to expect at Res Musica,” Rudow recalls, “but that was yesterday and today is today.”
In the 21st century, her activities include performing an electro-acoustic composition on the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage. Her music has been performed around the world — even in Beijing, China. She was chairperson and producer for the Peggy and Yale Gordon Har Sinai Trust concerts from 1992-2006. Last year she released a CD titled “Love, Loss and Law,” and was named an ASCAP award winner for 2009/2010.
However venturesome her music becomes creatively, she strives to make it easy to enjoy. “I write American music,” she observes. Whether electronic or orchestral, it has a percussive feeling and is receptive to pop cultural influences.
This is classical music meant to make you smile.
The Ellicott City concert is this Sunday, April 18 at 4 p.m. at St. John’s Episcopal Church, at 9120 Frederick Road. Tickets are $15, free for those younger than 18 accompanied by an adult. Call 410-461-7793 or go to orchestraofstjohns.org.
The free concert at Towson University is Wednesday, May 5 at 8:15 p.m. in its Center for the Arts Recital Hall, at Osler and Cross Campus drives. Call 410-704-2787 or go to tuboxoffice.com.