Music of Intensity: Jennifer Higdon’s "Steeley Pause"

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Music of Intensity: Jennifer Higdon’s Steeley Pause

by Jeremy Beck

Winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto, Jennifer Higdon’s

music has been praised by the New York Times for being ‘imaginative, richly orchestrated and

accessible.’1 The conductor Marin Alsop has said the ‘pulsing rhythms, layered harmonies and

lithe melodies’ found in Higdon’s compositions ‘betray exceptional skill and emotional power.’2

Higdon’s compositions have been commissioned by most of the major orchestras of the United

States, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Baltimore

Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Indianapolis

Symphony and Dallas Symphony, as well as such groups as the Tokyo String Quartet and the

President’s Own Marine Band.3 Recorded on dozens of CDs and enjoying hundreds of

performances a year of her works,4 Jennifer Higdon has established herself as one of the major

American composers of the twenty-first century.

Studies of some of this important composer’s works are now beginning to emerge.5 This

article discusses one of her earlier compositions, Steeley Pause (1988).6 Composed by Higdon

while she was ‘thinking about creating intensity in music and about the challenge of writing a

piece that is full of tension,’7 this four-minute work for four C flutes provides a window into

1 Vivien Schweitzer, ‘MUSIC REVIEW; Yes, Tonal. Have a Problem With That?,’ New York Times (29 Jan. 2007),

<http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F03EEDF143FF93AA15752C0A9619C8B63> (accessed 9 May

2013). 2 Kevin Berger, ‘Composer Jennifer Higdon pursues friendly music,’ Los Angeles Times (25 Mar. 2012),

< http://articles.latimes.com/2012/mar/25/entertainment/la-ca-jennifer-higdon-20120325> (accessed 9 May 2013). 3 ‘Jennifer Higdon – Biography’ <http://jenniferhigdon.com/biography.html> (accessed 9 May 2013). 4 Ibid. 5 See, for example, Max Brenton Harkey Williams, ‘Jennifer Higdon’s Violin Concerto: The Genesis of a Twenty-

First Century Work’ (DMA diss., Fla. State U., 2010). 6 Steeley Pause is copyright © 1990 by Lawson Press. All rights reserved. Excerpts from the manuscript score used

by permission. 7 Jennifer Higdon, ‘Steeley Pause - Program Notes’ <http://www.jenniferhigdon.com/pdf/program-notes/Steeley-

Pause.pdf> (accessed 9 May 2013).

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certain features of Higdon’s musical language and style that may suggest a continuum in her

composing up through the present day.

Higdon’s original instrument is the flute,8 so it is no surprise she would compose certain

of her earlier works for her own performance of them.9 Steeley Pause is in a three-part form, with

the third part being something of a return to the opening section. The form is delineated primarily

by meter and type of pulse and secondarily by texture.

8 Vivien Schweitzer, ‘Despite Anxiety and Naysayers, Composer Wins Her Pulitzer,’ New York Times (22 Apr.

2010): C1, <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/arts/music/22higdon.html?_r=0> (accessed 9 May 2013). 9 Higdon performs with the quartet for Steeley Pause on her CD rapid•fire (I Virtuosi Records, IVR 501, 1995). In

an email to the author, Higdon states she played the third flute part on this recording, but that she thinks she’s

‘played each of the parts … at some point or another[.]’ Jennifer Higdon, email to the author (10 Feb. 2013). The other three players on the rapid•fire recording are Pat Spencer, Jayne Rosenfeld and Stephanie Starin.

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The first section of the piece (mm. 1-56) is primarily composed in duple time. As shown

in Example 2, the opening gesture is one of disjunct rhythms played in rhythmic unity.

The textural progression which follows this rhythmic unity is one in which three of the

four parts remain in rhythmic unison while the fourth part is a freely-moving one. As sketched in

Example 1, the freely-moving line passes through all four of the flute parts until m. 34, where the

opening rhythmic unison returns.

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Notably, when the opening rhythmic unity reappears in m. 34, it returns at its original

pitch. Higdon’s harmonic language throughout Steeley Pause is that of free atonality, within

which there are certain levels of order and priority. The first tetrachord (0,1,6,7) is used as a

pitch-specific structural marker (F, Gb, B, C). Referring back to Example 2, the first three

measures of the piece show this sonority is played in alternation with chords that all contain at

least one half-step.

By way of contrast, when this structural tetrachord marks the return of the ensemble’s

rhythmic unity in m. 34, it alternates with chords that contain only whole-steps. Finally, at the

last return of rhythmic unity in the concluding section of the piece (m. 152), one finds that the

structural tetrachord alternates between both of these types of sonorities.

The middle section of Steeley Pause (mm. 57-114) is framed in a triple meter.10

This

section is itself in a three-part form, with its middle section being a six-bar passage which returns

to duple time. The outer parts of this middle section are also defined by an identifiable rhythmic

texture: as shown in Example 1, here the four flutes are divided into two pairs, with each pair

playing in a rhythmic unison. The harmonic priority in this section emphasizes the tritone.

10 See Example 1.

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The return of the opening music may be described as recurring in a fluid manner. In other

words, not all of the elements which would indicate a return to the opening material present

themselves simultaneously. First, the duple meter returns for the remainder of the piece at m.

115. Musically, this may be understood as part of a transitional passage. A stronger indication of

an actual recapitulation of the opening material comes in m. 128, where the texture of disjunct

rhythms played in rhythmic unity returns.

The harmonic language at this point leans strongly to a whole-tone palette and the speed

with which the sonorities change is at a much faster pace and more frenetic than previously

experienced. The opening gesture does not actually return at pitch until m. 152, nearly the end of

the piece. Here, the structural tetrachord clearly defines this music as being a return to the

opening, just in time for the piece to end.

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There are other points of unity in Steeley Pause. For example, one point of reflection

concerns the end of the work, where a series of running notes and scales beginning on C#4

eventually leads up to C#6. This ending gesture reflects, enharmonically, a descending series of

running notes and scales from Db5 down to a pedal-point Db3 found at the beginning in mm. 20-

22. It is this pedal-point which begins the texture of the three parts in rhythmic unity paired with

the free solo line.

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One of the most refreshing aspects of Steeley Pause is its lively and engaging rhythmic

language. Rhythm, as it informs the texture, is a major element in this work, more important than

pitch. As well, although the work is freely atonal, the type of ordering Higdon uses (half-step

sonorities versus whole-step sonorities) allows one to perceive and follow in real time a sense of

harmonic differentiation and motion. Along these same lines, the use of one particular tetrachord,

at pitch in a certain rhythmic context and in conjunction with other elements of the work, also

allows one to hear the form of this composition as it unfolds.

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All of these aspects of Steeley Pause reflect Higdon’s stated desire that her compositions

‘communicate to everybody.’11

While her present harmonic language employs both tonal and

post-tonal elements, the clarity of her structural principles and the singular importance of rhythm

as a major determinant in her compositions reflect a consistent priority in her compositional work

from 1988 up through the present time. As Higdon herself has observed, ‘[Steeley Pause]

actually shows my interest in rhythmic interplay, no matter the harmonic language. I’m always

looking for a certain intensity[.]’12

An examination of Steeley Pause reveals Higdon’s early approach to structure and how

she uses rhythmic and harmonic elements to achieve a certain clarity of form in real time. In

future studies of Higdon’s more recent compositions, this discussion of Steeley Pause may

provide a basis for others interested in exploring the catalogue of this vital composer.

Discography

Anderson, Claudia. American Flute (Centaur, CRC 2203, 1994).

Higdon, Jennifer. rapid•fire (I Virtuosi Records, IVR 501, 1995).

Assorted artists. I Virtuosi, Volume 1 (I Virtuosi Records, IVR 505, 1996).

© 2013 by Jeremy Beck

11 Berger, ‘Composer Jennifer Higdon pursues friendly music.’ 12 Higdon, email to the author (10 Feb. 2013).