ROBERT SUDERBURG
ROBERT SUDERBURG
Robert Suderburg (b. 1936) was born in Spencer, Iowa. He studied composition with Paul Fetler at the University of Minnesota (1953-57), Richard Donovan at the Yale School of Music (1957-60) and George Rochberg at the University of Pennsylvania (1964-66). After having taught and conducted at Bryn Mawr, the Philadelphia Academy of Music, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Washington, Suderburg was appointed Chancellor of the North Carolina School of the Arts in 1974. He is the recipient of numerous awards and commissions including two Guggenheim Fellowships. As a conductor and pianist, he has been very active in the performance of new music, especially in his role as co-director of the University of Washington Contemporary Group (1966-74). From 1985 to his retirement in 2001, he taught at Williams College in Massachusetts, and was chair of the Music Department from 1986 to 1995.
Suderburg’s early works were serial (he did his dissertation on Schoenberg) but he abandoned twelve-tone procedures in the late 1960s, a move which allowed his music’s inherent romanticism and lyricism to blossom. His harmonic and melodic language became primarily modal with particular emphasis on Phrygian and Lydian elements. There is a striking stylistic consistency from work to work, exemplified by his preference for harmonies derived from the tetrachords E-C-F-A and E-C-F-B, and the frequent recurrence of specific motives — the rising minor ninth, for example. He occasionally incorporates theatrical gestures or draws on vernacular styles in the manner of Ives. Above all, Suderburg’s works reflect his belief that music should not lose touch with its origins in song, dance and ritual.
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Ceremonial Music for Brass Quintet (1993)
Commission Information: Williams College Bicentennial Commission
Premiere Information: 1993
Available From Composer
Chamber Music I for Violin and Cello (1967) -- 17'
Published: #114-40398
Commission Information: New Dimensions, Seattle
Premiere Information: Henry Siegel and Phyllis Allport, Seattle, WA, 1967
• Reviews
Chamber Music II for String Orchestra (1967) -- 32'
Published: #114-40407
Commission Information: Philadelphia Quartet
• Reviews
Available Separately:Set of parts (#114-40407P)
Full Score - Large (#114-40407S)
Chamber Music IV Ritual Series for Percussion Ensemble (1975) -- 13'
Published: #414-41122
Commission Information: University of Michigan Percussion Ensemble
Premiere Information: University of Michigan Percussion Ensemble, Ann Arbor, MI, 1975
• Recordings
Chamber Music VIII Sonata for Trumpet
and Piano (1988)
Published: #114-40464
Commission Information: International Trumpet Guild
Premiere Information: Anthony Plough, trumpet and Pamela Paul, piano, International Trumpet Guild National Conference, May, 1988
Chamber Music X Entertainment — Sets for Brass Quintet (1992) -- 17'30"
Published: #114-40650
Commission Information: New Mexico Brass Quintet
Premiere Information: April, 1993
Chamber Music XII: Concerto Passages Virtuosic Solos and Passages (1998)
Not yet released (in prep: #114-40981)
Commission Information: Florida State Brass Quintet
Premiere Information: Florida State Brass Quintet, Tallahassee, FL, April 17, 1998
Fanfare for Bowdoin for Brass Quartet (1993)
Commission Information: Bowdoin College Inaugural Convocation Committee
Premiere Information: 1993
Available From Composer
Chamber Music IX (Breath and Circuses) for Voice, Trombone, and Piano (1991)
Commission Information: the University of Washington Contemporary Group
Premiere Information: Elizabeth Suderburg, voice, Stuart Dempster, trombone, and Robert Suderburg, piano, Seattle, OR, November, 1991
Available From Composer
Chamber Music V "Stevenson" for Singer, String Quartet and Pre-recorded Tape (1976) -- 23'
Available from the Presser Rental Library
Commission Information: Dr. James H. Semans
Premiere Information: The Ciompi String Quartet, Elizabeth Suderburg, voice, Durham, NC, 1976
• Recordings
Choruses on Poems of Yeats for Soprano, Tenor, Mixed Chorus and Instrumental Ensemble (1966) -- 33'
2 2 3 2 - 2 2 2 0; 2Perc. Pno.
Available from the Presser Rental Library
Commission Information: Philadelphia Musical Academy Choir
Premiere Information: Philadelphia Musical Academy Choir, Elizabeth Suderburg and David Paige, soloists, Robert Suderburg, conductor, 1966
• Reviews
Christmas Carol Settings for SATB, Congregation and Brass Choir or Organ (1965) -- 12'
SATB Chorus, Cong.; 3Tpt. 2Hn. 2Tbn.
Available from the Presser Rental Library
Commission Information: Philadelphia Musical Academy Choir and Chamber Orchestra
Premiere Information: Philadelphia Musical Academy Choir and Chamber Orchestra, Robert Suderburg, conductor, 1965
Concert Mass for SATB Chorus, a cappella (1960) -- 15'
Published: #412-41039
Commission Information: by Colgate University and Bryn Mawr College
Premiere Information: Colgate University Choir and the Bryn Mawr College Choir, Robert Suderburg, conductor, 1960
First Cantata (On the Revelation of St. John) for Soprano and Chamber Orchestra (1963) -- 18'
Sop.; 1 1 1 1 - 1 1 1 0; 2Perc. Pno. Vln. Vla. Vcl. Cb.
Available from the Presser Rental Library
Premiere Information: Philadelphia Composers Forum, Elizabeth Suderburg, soprano, Robert Suderburg, conductor, 1963
• Reviews
Second Cantata for Tenor and Chamber Orchestra (1964) -- 12'
2 0 1 0 - 2 3 0 0; Pno. Vcl. Cb.
Available from the Presser Rental Library
Premiere Information: Philadelphia Composers Forum, David Paige, tenor, Robert Suderburg, conductor, 1964
• Reviews
Chamber Music III (Night Set) for Trombone and Piano (1972) -- 13'
Published: #114-40267
Commission Information: Stuart Dempster
Premiere Information: Stuart Dempster, trombone and Robert Suderburg, piano, Minneapolis, MN, March, 1973
• Recordings
• Reviews
Chamber Music VI (Three Movements) for Violin and Double Bass (1980)
Published: #114-40369
Commission Information: Sally Peck and Lynn Peters
Chamber Music VII Ceremonies for
Trumpet and Piano (1984)
Published: #114-40402
Commission Information: International Trumpet Guild
Premiere Information: Charles Schleuter, trumpet, International Brass Congress, June, 1984
• Recordings
Six Moments for Piano (1962) -- 4'
Premiere Information: Composer, NAACC, Philadelphia, PA, 1962
• Reviews
Solo Music I for Violin (1971) -- 17'
Published: #114-40219
Commission Information: Irvin Eisenberg
Solo Music II Ritual Cycle of Lyrics and Dances for Unaccompanied Viola (1989)
Commission Information: NEA composers grant
Premiere Information: Donald McInnes, Kolkovsky Memorial Concert, USC, Los Angeles, CA, April 9, 1990
• Reviews
Solo Music III for Solo Clarinet (1996)
Published: #114-40910
Commission Information: Bill Smith
Premiere Information: Bill Smith, Seattle, WA, December 1, 1997
Concerto for Solo Harp and Orchestra (1982/89)
Available from the Presser Rental Library
Commission Information: Marilyn Costello
Premiere Information: Original version: Philadelphia Orchestra, Marilyn Costello, harp. Revised version: Berkshire Symphony, Marilyn Costello, harp, Feldman, conductor, November 19, 1989
Available Separately:Solo Part with Piano Reduction (#416-41105)
Concerto for Solo Percussion and Orchestra (1977)
Available from the Presser Rental Library
Commission Information: Philadelphia Orchestra
Premiere Information: Philadelphia Orchestra, Michael Bookspan, percussion, Eugene Ormandy, conductor, April 19, 1979
• Reviews
Available Separately:Solo Part with Piano Reduction (#114-40388)
Concerto "Within the Mirror of Time" for Piano and Orchestra (1974) -- 22'
3 3 3 3 - 4 3 3 1; Timp. Perc. Hp. Str.
Available from the Presser Rental Library
Commission Information: Seattle Symphony
Premiere Information: Seattle Symphony, Bela Siki, piano, Milton Katims, conductor, October 21,1974
• Reviews
Concerto: Voyage de nuit d'après Baudelaire for Solo Voice, Solo Instruments and Chamber Orchestra (1978)
Available from the Presser Rental Library
Commission Information: Piedmond Chamber Orchestra
Premiere Information: Piedmond Chamber Orchestra, Elizabeth Suderburg, voice, N. Harsanyi, conductor, 1979
Orchestra Music I Dramatic Movements for Large Orchestra (1969) -- 30'
4 4 5 4 - 6 4 4 1; Timp. Perc. 2Hp. Pno. Str.
Available from the Presser Rental Library
Commission Information: Seattle Symphony
Premiere Information: Seattle Symphony, Milton Katims, conductor, January 12, 1970
• Reviews
Show for Kid and Orchestra (1970) -- 50'
3 3 3 3 - 4 3 3 1; Timp. Perc. Pno. Hp. Str.
Available from the Presser Rental Library
Commission Information: Washington State Cultural Enrichment
Premiere Information: Seattle Symphony
Winds/Vents for Orchestra (1973) -- 20'
3 3 3 3 - 4 3 3 1; Perc. Hp. Str.
Available from the Presser Rental Library
Commission Information: Hindemith Foundation
Premiere Information: Winterthur Orchestra, Matthias Bamert, conductor, 1974
ITG 001:
Terry Everson, trumpet and Susan Nowicki, piano.
Coronet Records LPS 3210:
Michael Tunnel, trumpet and Meme Tunnel, piano.
"…so dramatic in their contrast that they were reminiscent of the avant-garde Karlheinz Stockhausen."-Philadelphia Inquirer
"…slid back and forth between irony and burlesque… The spirit of Ives presided over the piece, which quoted snippets of both ancient and recent popular tunes… A lighthearted piece, it nonetheless put the trombonist through the hoops."-Donal Henehan, New York Times
"This was a highly impressive example of well-crafted music-making. The piece itself has a haunting, other-worldly lyricism and it was handled beautifully by its players."-John Hinterberger, Seattle Times"Each movement, notably the second, demonstrated with unusual clarity that music does not have to have a tonic and a dominant to have a beginning, a middle and an end. This new work held its own with the now classic songs of Webern and Dallapiccola."-Henry Leland Clarke, Musical Quarterly
"…an intense, dramatic five-movement exploration of musical motions and the resulting interplay of tension and relaxation. While the structure of the piece seemed ingenious enough, it was the forceful rhetoric of the composer’s string writing that fascinated and held the attention throughout the work’s ambitious 35-minute span."-Peter G. Davis, New York Times"…the movements actually did move, interestingly and with a strong amount of urgency… the ‘motion of frenzy’ turned out to be a genuine tour de force that the players executed with astonishing skill."-Albert Goldberg, Los Angeles Times
 | Solo Music II Ritual Cycle of Lyrics and Dances for Unaccompanied Viola |
"Lasting 23 minutes, the five-part work does not shy away from making big, expressive and rhetorical gestures. It requires formidable technique and rich, strong tone, yet also a sense of inwardness, alertness to folk and national borrowings and even a willingness to indulge in impish wit."-Chris Pasles, Los Angeles Times
"…the cantata builds up blocks of sonorities as intensely contrasting in color as the vibraphone and double bass… The whole work seethes with a vitality that is rarely heard in any cosmopolitan center today."-James Felton, Philadelphia Bulletin"The music has a strong and driving quality with the soprano contrasted against the tonal masses of the orchestra. Sometimes frenetic, the cantata gained a dramatic intensity, which grew almost urgent."-Rolf Stromberg, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"Robert Suderburg’s Cantata No. 2 for tenor and chamber orchestra… is brilliant, its inspiration unflagging. It is a vision, a passion, a conviction in sound. Every movement unleashes a fury of energy that is nevertheless intensely controlled."-James Felton, Philadelphia Bulletin
"…this difficult music makes no cheap appeals to nostalgia. What it has to give is a fresh experience in sound, based on its own premises of beauty and expression. For a kick-driven society it is a kind of sobering medicine. For the composer it is an anguished cry for sanity in a disordered environment, a painful cry for beauty in the midst of pain."-James Felton, Philadelphia Bulletin
| Concerto for Solo Percussion and Orchestra |
"…the work is highly melodic, and eclectic in its recollection of jazz and distinctly American gestures… This music is varied, expressive, boldly colored, often songful; it surprises its listeners with combinations of timbre."-Daniel Webster, Philadelphia Inquirer
"…a remarkable achievement: a big colorful, vibrant, and consistently fascinating composition which is surely an important contribution to contemporary musical literature."-Wayne Johnson, Seattle Times"The concerto might be described as neo-Romantic; it is filled with passion and fury, and it contains some passages of real beauty. Mr. Siki performs prodigies of virtuosity."-The New Yorker
"For Suderburg, the orchestral is a source of splendor. His writing is complex but the details don’t cancel out other points. The textures are remarkably clear, with massive consonants singing out after a dense passage, brass groups blazing out from a full-orchestra moment, percussion propelling the music ahead."-Daniel Webster, Philadelphia Inquirer"Suderburg has attempted nothing less than a synthesis of the musical styles of the 20th century and an expression of his own view of these styles, along with a deeply personal statement of his perceptions of total reality. All that is, obviously, a large order, a highly venturesome, gutty effort. But Suderburg makes it work: with superb craftsmanship and acute musical intelligence and imagination — and without self-conscious pretension."-Wayne Johnson, Seattle Times
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