Martin Bresnick based his 1999 duet Songs of the Mouse People on the last short story written by Franz Kafka. In a recent discussion, he touched on the genesis of the work, the portrayal of an intriguing main character, and divas (both real and imaginary):
What drew you to Kafka’s story as the basis for a piece of music?
The commissioners Steven Schick and Maya Beiser wanted music that somehow took its point of departure from Kafka. As members of the Bang on a Can All-Stars they had both previously played and recorded two other Kafka pieces of mine - The Bucket Rider and BE JUST! When I recalled Kafka's final story "Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk" I knew I had the right piece for them. I think they had originally hoped the work would turn out to be a work for speaking musicians. But instead, taking Kafka's words only for the titles of the "songs", I explored the concept of a mouse diva by making her voice audible only through the exquisite cello playing of Maya Beiser (surely a diva in her own right) and the virtuoso mallet work of Steven Schick. That seemed a more interesting to me, and in the end a more musically satisfying, direction. Kafka's meditation on the nature of art and its star practitioners is complex and strange, but it is also poignant and, oddly perhaps, very funny.
For an audience member who is about to hear music you’ve composed for the first time, is there anything about this piece you would like them to know?
I would suggest listeners feel free to imagine for themselves what a mouse diva might sound like. How an animal's squeaking might be, or might eventually become, musical. I think my Songs of Mouse People takes a journey back and forth from noise to music. Enjoy the ride.
What were the challenges and rewards of writing for this combination of instruments?
There are a few (not many) places where the sounds of a cello and vibraphone overlap. I tried to find those places and exploit them - sometimes by having the vibraphone use a bow to excite the bars of the instrument and in other places letting the cello be a kind of percussionist. But then I also let each instrument employ its own unique virtuoso and expressive abilities. Songs of the Mouse People is music for divas, and not only for those with tails.
I tend to withdraw into my own imagination when I am writing music. My consultation with Maya and Steven was just to check if what I created was actually playable. I was delighted by their technical and expressive musical mastery and their generous commitment to my work. [Their recording is available here.]
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Stephen Harrison and Daniel Kennedy will perform Songs of the Mouse People on November 14 as part of SFCMP's concert Zone 2: indispensable morphology.
Martin Bresnick will give the keynote address at this year's Festival of New American Music in Sacramento on November 8. Other performances of his work during the festival include: Ballade (Left Coast Ensemble, Nov. 6), For the Sexes: the Gates of Paradise and Willie's Way (Lisa Moore, Nov. 7), and Every Thing Must Go (Iridium Saxophone Quartet, Nov. 7).
