Youngstown Symphony Orchestra to perform world premiere

By GUY D’ASTOLFO

dastolfo@vindy.com

Inspiration can come at the oddest times.

For Chris Brubeck, it came at the train station in Stamford, Conn., on a cold winter day.

But let’s backtrack.

Brubeck, son of jazz legend Dave Brubeck and a sought-after orchestral composer, had been commissioned to compose a suite of music for Time for Three, the groundbreaking and category-defying string trio.

A consortium of orchestras led by the Youngstown Symphony — and including the Boston Pops, Colorado Music Festival, IRIS Chamber Orchestra and the orchestras of Anchorage, Portland (Maine) and Wichita — sponsored the commission.

Randall Craig Fleischer, music director of the YSO, was the driving force behind the project. For that reason, the world premiere of Brubeck’s piece will be at Youngstown’s Powers Auditorium on Saturday, with Time for Three and the YSO. Afterward, the concerto will be performed in the cities of the other commissioning orchestras.

Before writing the composition, Brubeck traveled to Philadelphia in January 2009 to jam with Time for Three.

But the act of traveling stirred his creative juices before he even left town.

While standing on the platform in Stamford, a melody came to Brubeck. It would become the common thread that runs through the suite.

In a phone interview, Brubeck talked about how the piece — which has been named “Travel In Time for Three” — was born.

“The idea was I would stay in the house of Time for Three’s bass player [Ranaan Meyer] to jam for two or three days and tape it. I would get to know them and what they are interested in exploring,” said Brubeck. “But while I was standing at the station waiting for the train, a melody came to me, and I wrote a theme. That’s something that I never do.”

Brubeck sang the upbeat and jazzy melody into the phone and then continued.

“When we jammed, I said, ‘Let’s see what this feels like.’ [That melody] wound up becoming the theme of the first movement. And variations of it are in the other movements. It doesn’t beat you to death, but it keeps appearing, and it’s the glue [of the suite].”

The melody — which was borne out of travel — was then transported to different times and places by Time for Three.

“We were jamming and Nick Kendall [Time for Three violinist] said, ‘How would this sound when played in classical style?” said Brubeck. “It sounded like Bach.”

Time for Three is well-versed in many different and far-ranging styles of music and kept on exploring.

“When we were jamming the second movement, Zach De Pue [also a violinist for Time for Three] started playing fiddle music, and it sounded really cool,” said Brubeck. “That inspired the second movement, which is called ‘Irish Folks in Odd Time’ because it has weird time signatures.”

The third movement is very slow and passionate, with no drums or percussion and a reharmonized version of the theme.

The fourth and final movement has been jokingly dubbed “The Mancini Thing,” after composer Henry Mancini.

“Think of the ‘Theme from the Pink Panther,’” said Brubeck. “That evolved into a very sunny, kind of country-happy melody which again included the main theme in a variation that then evolves into a very funky gospel sort of thing. The last part, which we called ‘Celebration in 7/8,’ sounds very triumphant and uses tubular bells.”

The overall effect of the piece — which is about 30 minutes long — is of a journey.

“If it was made into a video, it would show them playing the theme and then stepping into a time portal,” said Brubeck. “Suddenly, they would reappear in powdered wigs in the time of Bach. Then they would appear in Ireland or the hills of Appalachia.”

The eclectic mashup of different times and places also inspired the title of the suite.

“We came up with the name very democratically,” said Brubeck. “There was a consensus.”

After the Philadelphia jam sessions, Brubeck listened to the tapes and boiled them down to their essence. “When I found the things that I thought were the most right, I expanded forward and backward, and the seeds sprouted,” he said.

From start to finish, the making of “Travel In Time for Three” consumed a year of Brubeck’s life. “I literally finished it about two hours before the Super Bowl,” he said. “Only then was this wonderful creative albatross off my back.”

Those who attend the world premiere of “Travel In Time for Three” will hear the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra perform Tchaikovsky’s “Fourth Symphony” in the first half of the concert.

Time for Three will take the stage after the intermission for the premiere, backed by the YSO. Brubeck, who also arranged parts for the orchestra, will not take part in the performance, although he will be present. He will arrive in Youngstown by midweek for rehearsals.

The whole process of creating “Travel In Time for Three” also has energized the YSO’s Fleischer.

He called Brubeck’s piece electrifying. “I am absolutely thrilled with Chris’ work,” he said. “It’s funky, energetic, beautiful. ... It’s a ride on the big roller-coaster!”

“This is a truly unique work,” he continued. “It combines elements of classical violin playing, jazz, Celtic fiddle and funk all rolled into a symphonic concerto. The audience should expect to be utterly electrified ... blown away.”