Oedipus the King: An interview with composer Scott Pender
Anyone who follows this blog (or my musical career) knows of my passion for composer Scott Pender’s music. After discovering his piece, Tango: Ms. Jackson Dances for the People on the 1993 recording, Incitation to Desire: Tangos for Yvar Mikaschoff, I’ve made Scott’s piano solos a permanent part of my performance repertoire. I’ve featured many of his pieces on No Dead Guys, including Blue Jaunte, North Train,Counterfeits of the Past, Homage to Lou Harrison, The Devil’s Escalator, I Flew as in a Dream—in other words, almost every one of his Etudes. In 2015 I gave the world premier of his Three Impromptusas part of a live radio show on All Classical Portland. During that performance, I was given the chance to interview Scott as part of the broadcast. We'd been friends for nearly 20 years and it was the first time we’d ever spoken to each other. When we met in person a couple of years after that interview, we discovered shared passions that include a love of food and cooking, travel, literature, movies, and more. Little did I know when I purchased his tango in 1994 that we’d be starting a friendship that spans decades (and counting).
Scott’s music speaks my language. Every time I encounter one of his pieces, his choices feel like my native tongue. His music is both smart and accessible, with singing melodies and funky rhythms that spring from sound structure and compositional depth. Over the years, it has been a joy to introduce others to his works—either through teaching, performances, this blog, or YouTube recordings. It wasn't until ten years ago that I started exploring what he's written for instruments other than the piano. His compositions include music for orchestra, chorus, chamber ensemble (acoustic and electronic), solo voice, piano, organ, and music for theater, stage, and dance. He is the composer of the theme music for C-SPAN's series First Ladies: Influence & Image. Yet, through all his many compositions, this award-winning, brilliant polyglot (he speaks 5 languages) never loses the effervescent wit and charm that first drew me to his piano pieces.
In March 2019, Scott’s six-movement suite for large orchestra, Oedipus the King, was premiered by Washington DC-based Capital City Symphony, under the direction of Conductor and Artistic Director Victoria Gau. I was thrilled to attend the premier and when Scott agreed to be interviewed for No Dead Guys I embraced the chance to ask him about this suite, as well as my favorite piano solos.
I discovered your music 26 years ago, and since then have performed almost every one of your piano solos. They’re modern, but always with a tune and a beat (bless you!). Tell me about what inspires you to write gorgeous melodies balanced by such modern, spiky rhythms?
Yes, it’s wild that we knew each other for all those years but never met until a couple years ago! I should say straight away how much I value your performances of my music over the years, and how much I appreciate the care and time you’ve taken with my work.
Copland once said: “The melody is generally what the piece is about.” I have to agree. I’m not sure where my melodic invention comes from. I had a lot of exposure as a child to popular music (pop, soul, country), church music, plus classical, and I always loved to sing, so maybe that had something to do with it. (I do sing a fair bit when working at the piano.) I do notice, as time goes by, that some particular turns of phrase have been with me since I first started writing. Maybe that’s just what “style” means.
As far as rhythmic drive and pulse goes, I would also throw into the mix my love for early minimalist music (Glass, Reich). My earliest music was already fairly rhythmic anyway, but after exposure to minimalism, it all fell into place. Of course, there’s lots of rhythm in Beethoven and Bartok, so it wasn’t like there wasn’t plenty there to learn from!
So a regular pulse often plays a big role in my music. I think I’ve had a knack for combining persistent rhythm with melody that often feels nostalgic or from an older time, resulting in music that feels somehow older but couldn’t have been written before the late 20th Century.
You’ve composed music for orchestra, chorus, chamber music, solo voice, piano, organ, stage and theater, and music for TV, film, and video. Out of all these projects, what has been the most rewarding and why?
I really enjoy writing all kinds of music, but I think writing songs for voice (both solo & choral) is the most rewarding. This is kind of odd, since I haven’t written much vocal music over the past few years. Maybe I should...
In addition to your many successes—which include theme music for a C-Span TV show and multiple recordings—in March, 2019, your orchestral suite, Oedipus the King, was premiered by Washington DC-based Capital City Symphony, under the direction of Conductor and Artistic Director Victoria Gau. Tell me about this piece. How did you conceive of and compose it?
Oedipus the King, commissioned by the Capital City Symphony, is a six-movement suite for large orchestra, based on material I wrote in 1990 for a theatrical production of (you guessed it) Oedipus the King. The play featured vocals sung by members of the cast, accompanied by a pre-recorded electronic track which I created. The new orchestra work incorporates that original accompaniment plus the vocal parts. That incorporation of vocal lines, whose meter was mostly determined by English speech patterns, gives the new work a particular rhythmic vitality and freedom.
I always loved the music I wrote for the play, and I had often thought about somehow giving it new life. But until the offer of a commission from CCS came up, I would never have taken the time to work up a full-length piece for large orchestra. That’s a huge time commitment which only becomes viable if there’s a guaranteed performance in the works.
One of the biggest complaints I hear from composers is how difficult it is to get orchestras to program new works. How did you approach Capital City Symphony and why do you think they were interested in performing Oedipus the King?
It is difficult to get orchestras to perform new works, especially longer works for large forces. It’s understandable: orchestra budgets are very tight, and rehearsal time is at a premium. New pieces will always require extra time to put together. And audiences are not always as interested in hearing something new compared to more familiar repertoire. So right there, you have several things stacked against you as a composer approaching conductors with your new hour-long symphony for an orchestra the size of Mahler’s.
I was very lucky with the Capital City Symphony. This was a composer’s dream come true. But I don’t think it would have happened had I not known their conductor Victoria Gau for a number of years. I met Vickie (along with several symphony board members and performers) about ten years earlier at a chamber music jam fundraiser for the orchestra. Over the following years I attended many CCS concerts, and Vickie and I got to know each other better. She liked my music and I liked her approach to music overall. I got to know several of the orchestra members as well. The year before working on Oedipus, I attended a CCS concert that featured a fantastic performance of Les préludes by Liszt. That piece calls for a huge orchestra with lots of brass and percussion. Somehow, that clicked in my mind and I thought of Oedipus. I approached Victoria with the idea and it took off.
I think CCS was interested in commissioning the piece for a number of reasons. First, Maestra Gau was able to hear the original electronic score of my 1990 Oedipus music (see the previous discussion) and she liked the music. So she knew pretty well what the orchestra was getting into with this. There’s also the pride in commissioning a new piece, working on it and premiering it. And finally, CCS has a strong commitment to the local community, both in its membership and in outreach. Adding a new piece from a truly local composer to the mix was a natural fit.
What advice would you offer other composers who wish to have orchestras perform their music?
My biggest piece of advice would be: get to know conductors (and performers) personally. Don’t do what I did in my early years and send out lots of scores & recordings unsolicited to conductors whom you don’t know. They’re really busy, and they don’t have time to look through or listen to tons of stuff. You’re better off forming a few solid relationships with conductors who like what you write and who have an interest in general in fresh music.
You’ve balanced a career as a working composer and as a TV producer. How did you manage to do both so successfully?
In actuality, I didn’t. When I first started working in television news, I was still composing regularly. But as work hours increased over the years, I composed less and less. Eventually several years passed in which I wrote nothing. I’m kind of a one-track person. If I’m obsessed with one thing, I don’t do a lot of other things. TV news is a very demanding world, and I worked a lot. Plus, after coming home at 1am after working 9 or 10 hours, I just didn’t have the drive or brain power to work on music. In 2008, as the Great Recession gathered steam, news operations downsized and I was laid off. In retrospect, it was a boon. I returned to composition full-time and produced a lot of work in a short period.
What current or upcoming projects are you most excited about?
After Oedipus the King premiered in March, 2019, I listened to the recording MANY times, took lots of notes, and decided to revise the piece. I still haven’t done it! So that’s a project I intend to work on this year.
I also want to produce a new, revised score of my Requiem. I wrote this large-scale piece for men’s chorus, solo voices, two pianos, and brass back in 1987. The score has a lot of mistakes and there were several section I knew could be notated more clearly.
So it looks like I have some revising to do! I’m not sure I’d say I'm super excited about it, but I think my enthusiasm for the project will ramp up once I’m into it.
What advice would you offer to young composers just starting their careers?
Two pieces of advice for young composers:
1. Write lots of music. Do it every day. Make it a habit. Don’t worry if everything’s not a masterpiece.
2. Expose yourself early on to music outside the Western classical canon. I am so glad my parents had an eclectic record collection when I was a kid. But I wish I had gone further and gain some exposure to and knowledge of non-Western music. For young composers, I would try to listen far and wide: non-classical, music of Asia, Africa, indigenous peoples of the Americas, etc. It will open your mind to possibilities you never imagined. And it’s SO much easier now with internet access than it was when I was young.
Scott Pender (b. 1959) has called the phonograph his first music teacher. He cites his parents’ “extensive, eclectic record collection” as a primary early influence. As a child, he began making up tunes at the piano and taught himself to read music. Formal study in piano and theory as a teenager led to his enrollment at Peabody Conservatory, where he began composition studies with Jean Ivey. He holds degrees in philosophy from Georgetown University and music composition from Peabody Conservatory.
He was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to study in the United Kingdom with the English composer Gavin Bryars. In addition to a MacDowell Colony residency and the Fulbright Fellowship, he has received honors and grants from the Virginia Arts Festival John Duffy Composers Institute, the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities, the American Music Center, ASCAP, BMI, Meet the Composer, the Southeastern Composers’ League, The Phi Beta Kappa Society, and others.
Pender has written a wide variety of music, including work for orchestra, chorus, chamber ensemble (acoustic and electronic), solo voice, piano, organ, and music for theater, stage, and dance. He is the composer of theme music for the C-SPAN series First Ladies: Influence & Image. His work has been performed throughout the United States and Europe to critical acclaim: “a good ear for melody and a keen sense for the dramatic” (the Washington Post); “natural expression, remarkable emotional range and flawless compositional technique” (the Columbia Flier); and “original, contemporary music of considerable grandeur and mystery” (the Washington Times). Recent recordings include Music for Woodwinds (NV6127) and 88+12 (NV5968), both from Navona Records, and Foothills for string orchestra & piano from Petworth Music (PM1401). His sextet In the Time Before was released in 2012 on the Navona Records album Lock & Key.
Commissions include: Oedipus the King (Capital City Symphony), Foothills (North Georgia Chamber Symphony), Songs from Terezín (Annapolis Brass Quintet & Morgan State University), Solemn Overture (Annapolis Symphony Orchestra), Toccatina for four flutes (Powell Quartet), Vespers (the Jesuit Music Project), and TANGO: Ms. Jackson Dances for the People (Yvar Mikhashoff). Scott Pender’s music is published by Petworth Music (BMI).
A native of Florida, he has made Washington, D.C. his home for 40 years. For more information about Scott Pender and his work, including audio clips and score samples, visit Scott Pender.