Biography

Reise spent his childhood surrounded by classical music and jazz, but began his composition studies with Jimmy Giuffre and Hugh Hartwell in 1970. After graduating Hamilton College in 1972, he pursued composition study at McGill University

McGill University

Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...

 (with Bengt Hambraeus

Bengt Hambraeus

Bengt Hambraeus was a Swedish organist, composer and musicologist.-Life:...

 and Bruce Mather

Bruce Mather

Bruce Mather is a Canadian composer, pianist, and writer who is particularly known for his contributions to contemporary classical music. One of the most notable composers of microtonal music, he was awarded the Jules Léger Prize twice, first in 1979 for his Musique pour Champigny and again in...

), the University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

 (AM, 1975; George Crumb and Richard Wernick), Tanglewood

Tanglewood

Tanglewood is an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937. It was the venue of the Berkshire Festival.- History...

, and Carnatic rhythm with Adrian L’Armand.

He is currently a Professor of Music at the University of Pennsylvania.

Reise is married to visual artist Cecilia Paredes and has two sons, Matthew Reise (born 1981) and Nicholas Reise (born 1983).

Music

Reise’s music draws on polyphonic

Polyphony

In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....

 classical traditions. After being influenced by the great western classical voice-leading tradition, he became interested in Carnatic rhythm

Carnatic music

Carnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...

 and integrated its techniques into his style. This has resulted in a method he calls "rhythmic polyphony" in which rhythmic motives are developed within the phrase such that the cadence point of the phrase is implied by the rhythms alone.

Works written before the adoption of the rhythmic method include Symphony of Voices (1978) which was premiered at the Monadnock Festival with soprano Neva Pilgrim, and his Second Symphony (1980) premiered by the Syracuse Symphony, conducted by Christopher Keene, and performed subsequently by the Philadelphia Orchestra

Philadelphia Orchestra

The Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...

. His Third Symphony was premiered by Keene and the Long Island Philharmonic

Long Island Philharmonic

The Long Island Philharmonic, based in Melville, New York was founded in 1979 by folk singer Harry Chapin, Maestro Christopher Keene, and a group of Long Island's major community and business leaders...

 in 1983. His 2-act opera Rasputin with a libretto by the composer, was commissioned by the late Beverly Sills and the New York City Opera

New York City Opera

The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...

, and was premiered by City Opera in 1988. Rasputin received its Russian premiere at the Helikon Opera

Helikon Opera

Helikon Opera is a Russian opera company based in Moscow, specializing in unconventional productions. Their main performing base is the 250 seat Mayakovsky Theater, the former ballroom in the palace of the Shakhovskoi-Glebov-Streshneva family who were patrons of the arts in 19th century Moscow...

 in Moscow, directed by Dmitry Bertman

Dmitry Bertman

Dmitry Alexandrovitch Bertman is a Russian theatre and opera director and the founder and artistic director of Helikon Opera in Moscow.-Biography:...

, in September 2008.

Works after 1990 include The River Within (Concerto for Violin and Orchestra) (2008) premiered by soloist Maria Bachmann and Orchestra 2001, James Freeman conductor; Concerto for Horn and 7 Instruments (2006) with Adam Unsworth and the Network for New Music, Jan Krzywicki, conductor; Powers That Be (2005) for piano quintet with the Cassatt Quartet

Cassatt Quartet

The Cassatt String Quartet was founded in 1985. Originally the first participants in Juilliard's Young Artists Quartet Program, the Quartet has gone on to win many teaching fellowships and awards and has toured internationally...

 and Marc-André Hamelin; Memory Refrains (String Quartet in One Movement), (2002) with the Cassatt Quartet; the piano solo suite Six Pictures from ‘The Devil in the Flesh’ by Marc-André Hamelin; the Oscar Wilde-based ballet fairy-tale The Selfish Giant by the Philharmonia Orchestra with conductor Djong Victorin Yu in London in 1997; and two extended piano works, Sonata Rhythmikosmos (Mari Akagi) and Rhythmic Garlands (James Primosch). His left hand transcriptions of Scriabin’s Etudes Op. 2, No. 1 and Op. 8, No. 12 have been performed by Gary Graffman and Matthew Bengtson.

Reise’s music is published by Merion Music/Theodore Presser. The Scriabin transcriptions are published in the Journal of the Scriabin Society of America.

Discography

• Jay Reise Chamber Music (Albany TROY 1004)
• The Devil in the Flesh and Other Pieces (Albany TROY665) 2004
• Rhythmic Garlands and Other Pieces (Centaur CRC 2598) 2003
• Concerto for Cello and 13 Instruments (CRI 899) 2002
• Chesapeake Rhythms CRI 760 (CD) (1997)
• Six Preludes for Piano CRS 3862 (LP) (1984)

Performers include Charles Abramovic, Jody Applebaum, Ulrich Boeckheller, Gregory Fulkerson, Marc-André Hamelin

Marc-André Hamelin

Marc-André Hamelin, OC, CQ, is a French Canadian virtuoso pianist and composer.Born in Montreal, Quebec, Marc-André Hamelin began his piano studies at the age of five. His father, a pharmacist by trade who was also a pianist, introduced him to the works of Alkan, Godowsky, and Sorabji when he was...

, Jerome Lowenthal, Charles Ullery. the Cassatt Quartet, Four Horizons, Network for New Music and Orchestra 2001 among others.

Orchestral

• The Selfish Giant choreographic tone-poem in six scenes based on the fairy-tale by Oscar Wilde (1997)
• Symphony No. 3 (1983)
• Symphony No. 2 (1980)
• Symphony of Voices (1978) for orchestra with soprano

Concerti

• The River Within (Concerto for Violin and Orchestra) 2008
• Concerto for Horn and 7 Instruments 2006
• Yellowstone Rhythms for bassoon and 10 players (2001)
• Concerto for Cello and 13 Instruments (2000)

Chamber music

2 players

• Jisei (Japanese Death Poems) for voice and shakuhachi (2003)
• Yellowstone Rhythms (version for bassoon and piano) (1996)
• Duo Rhythmikosmos for violin and piano (1994)
• Moonwatching for flute and violin (1994)
• La Choumine for viola and piano (1984)

3 players

• Trio Rhythmikosmos (violin, cello, piano), (1993)

4 players

• Across the Horizons for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano (2004)
• Memory Refrains (String Quartet in One Movement), (2002)

5 of more players

• Powers That Be for piano quintet (2005)
• Open Night, Poem-Caprice for Six Instruments (2003)
• Chesapeake Rhythms for eleven players (1995)
• Celebrations for brass quintet (1994)
• Sinfonietta for Wind Quintet (1985)
• Concerto-Fantasy for Nine Players (1975)

Piano

• Transcription for left hand of Scriabin's Etude Op. 8 No. 12 (2005)
• Transcription for left hand of Scriabin's Etude Op. 2 No. 1 (2003)
• Six Pictures from ‘The Devil in the Flesh (2001)
• Sonata Rhythmikosmos (1993)
• Rhythmic Garlands (1992)

Two pianos

• Three Pictures from 'The Devil in the Flesh (2001)

Vocal music

• Arcadian Shadows (soprano, clarinet, cello, and piano) (5')_
• Satori (version soprano, oboe, cello, piano), poem by Damian Congressi, (2005)
• Satori (version soprano and piano trio) (1995)
• Satori (version for soprano and piano) (1995)

Writings

• “Context, Choice and Issues of Perceived Determinism in Music,” in Indeterminacy: The Mapped, the Navigable, and the Uncharted, Jose V. Ciprut, Contributing Editor (MIT Press, 2008 forthcoming): 241-266
• “Lukas Foss: Ways of Looking at Music” in National Gallery of Art (2001): non paginated
• "The Phonograph Behind the Door: Some Thoughts on Musical Literacy," [with Peter J. Rabinowitz] in Reading World Literature: Theory, History, Practice, edited by Sarah Lawall (University of Texas Press, 1994): 287-308.
• “Doctrine of Despair: Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten ,” Opera News (September): 1991
• “Late Skriabin: Some Principles Behind the Style,” 19th Century Music (Spring, 1983): 220-231 - Reprinted in The Journal of the Scriabin Society of America (Winter 1996-97): 29-46
• “Rochberg the Progressive”, Perspectives of New Music (1980–81): 395-407

Sources

• Theodore Presser Company
  Theodore Presser Company
  The Theodore Presser Company is an American music publishing and distribution company located in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania and formerly based in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. It is the oldest continuing music publisher in the United States.-Theodore Presser:...
  
  (music publishers). Jay Reise

External links

• Jay Reise official website