PSU Magazine Fall 1987

Oregon Symphony, has become part of the standard repertory and has been performed 75 times around the country. "My goal is to give Tomas more time to compose," said Stangland. Being a witness to that creative process is the most wondrous part of his work with Svoboda. Stangland will never forget the day he went to Svoboda's house to tell him that he'd been selected to write a work in honor of composer Aaron Copland's 85th birthday. Within seconds Svobodajumped up and said, "I've got it!" and ran to the piano to play the first seven notes of Chorale in E flat . Ninety percent of what he came up with on that "magical afternoon" did not change, said Stangland, and much of the session is on tape for the archival record. It is more customary for Svoboda's composing to be a solitary affair. "From the moment I started to write music ... it was a strictly exciting private world." It's romantic to conjure up an image of the composer sitting under a tree, scribbling madly while the wind blows and rain splashes onto his score. But it might be more accu– rate in Svoboda's case to picture him watering his garden or driving to work or lying awake at night. "The most exciting part of compos– ing is just to think about it. You can go so deep with your thinking while still not committing yourself to a single note. Once you're writing, you're extending this excitement, putting it into concrete music." For Svoboda, every step of compos– ing has its rewards, from the first thoughts to the rough piano sketch, the polished score, and, for an orches– tral work, the final step of preparing the parts - the separate finished scores for each instrument. Svoboda even makes an art of this meticulous task. "I like the precision," he said modestly while drawing perfect notes and rests for the first violin part of Dance Suitefor Orchestra, a work com– missioned for the 25th anniversary of the Britt Music Festival in southern Oregon. "He is a master calligrapher," said Stangland later, coming closer to the truth. The perfectionist composer has shied away from computer composing not for lack of an open mind but because of the frustration with the software for notation. "It doesn't read flats outside the key signature!" he said, his voice leaping into an agitated, but slightly amused, upper register. "It's flipping stems and it doesn't read rests properly!" Nevertheless he was able to write a straightforward brass quintet on his computer/ synthesizer for the Governor's Art Award cerem– ony earlier this year. A lthough the papers haven 't been signed yet, Svoboda is already thinking through a commissioned piano concerto to be premiered two years from now by a world-famous pianist known for being able to play "practically anything," according to the composer. "This will be the first time I've written a piece for the piano which I'll be unable to play," said Svoboda with great antici– pation and only a touch of regret. A gifted pianist and percussionist, Svoboda has had to make at least two difficult choices between performing and composing. "When I was around 20, I felt I could be a concert pianist, but the excitement of composing was so much stronger for me and there was not enough time for both." PSU MAGAZINE PAGE6 Then, when he earned his master's at the University of Southern Califor– nia in 1966, he saw two career paths ahead: playing percussion or keyboard professionally and being a teacher. "When you're playing in an orchestra, you're passive as a composer. When you're teaching, you're active, applying and discussing your ideas." He decided to teach and accepted a posi– tion at Portland State. But his performing by no means ended. Svoboda can frequently be seen on campus or in the community playing piano, organ, harpsichord, orchestra bells, gong, or any manner of percussion instrument. This August, after conducting the Dance Suite in Jacksonville, Svoboda played celeste in the next piece on the program, while the celeste player filled in for the ill French horn player. "My ideal of a great artist is Stravinsky. He was one of those rare composers who artis– tically never repeated himself. I'm trying to follow that path. " "I love performing!" said Svoboda. "Always when I'm on stage I am in heaven because I'm sharing the beauty of music with other people" Conducting is a slightly different expe– rience for Svoboda. "You must sacri– fice your own spirit to inspire the musicians," he explains while admit– ting that conducting his own work is the perfect conclusion to a composing experience. Through forty years of expressing musical ideas ranging from romantic to atonal and atmospheric, Svoboda has developed a healthy but perhaps groundless fear of falling into a rut. "My ideal of a great artist is Stravinsky. He was one of those rare composers who artistically never repeated him– self. I'm trying to follow that path myself." According to Stangland, he's been successful at that. "With Tomas, you never know what you're going to hear next. And that's a high compliment from the people Continued on page 13