Episode 90 — February 25, 2021
Stuart Breczinski: “Lever II” for oboe
Performed by Stuart Breczinski

The night before a concert, clarinetist and composer Stuart Breczinski needed to fill a 20-minute, unprogrammed gap. So, he sat down and began improvising. The improvisation became the three-movement work, Lever II. For the House Music series, he performs the second movement of this piece, which involves two pitches delayed such that they echo and trail off into each other.

Breczinski’s first work with Metropolis Ensemble was behind-the-scenes, when he helped with scores for an Bangsokol: A Requiem for Cambodia. Since, he’s gotten onstage, too, playing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for Metropolis’s Time Travelers to Versailles concert, which presented new works inspired by the lavish extravagance of the Palace of Versailles to go along with a room at the museum that emulates the palace’s opulence. He’s also performed at One Rivington with his wind quintet, The City of Tomorrow.

Since middle school, Breczinski has found himself drawn to improvisatory practices. He began to embellish the music that sat before him in his church music group, until eventually the music he played didn’t resemble the page at all. As a graduate student at The Hartt School, he found himself working with Bang on a Can All-Stars bassist Robert Black on free improvisation—he was inspired by music making that didn’t involve any structure. The threads of experimentation and improvisation have been part of his musical practice for some time, and in Lever II, they’re on full display. Although the music is a notated improvisation, when writing the piece, Breczinski allowed himself to follow whichever paths spoke most to him; as we listen, we’re along for the journey.

Notes by Vanessa Ague

 
House Music: Bite-sized concerts recorded at homes around the world

In 2020-21, we created a weekly video series featuring short-form concerts of newly-commissioned works, supporting 208 artists around the world during the pandemic.