The Patchwork Suite

A few of the composers from this season briefly share their reflections on The Patchwork Suite, along with pearls of wisdom and views on the power of art and music in general. To learn more about how to help support WGTE as a dedicated media station for the arts, visit https://www.wgte.org/support.

In this culminating episode, we listen to the complete season two suite, from the original 19th century lament theme by Madame Sidney Pratten to all ten modern reimaginings set forth by the composers this season.

In this Patchwork Suite special, Andrea Pereira de Almeida joins Mary Claire Murphy at WGTE to share her impressionistic paintings of Northwest Ohio, especially her Simpson Garden-inspired mural, A Bowling Green Sunset. Learn more at https://www.andreaalmeidaart.com/

Composer Indigo Knecht returns to the Patchwork Suite with a personal, fixed media impression of love as a grounding force in the face of depression; they liken the piece to Toledo’s Love Wall, where splashes of color bring life to a monochromatic framework.

With inspiration from poetry and from artwork by the muralist Jayoto, Thai composer Chawin Temsittichok crafts a musical streetscape collage of Bangkok, through which hear Madame Sidney Pratten’s lament emerge from a collection of found sounds.

In this Patchwork Suite variation, pianist and composer Jane Wong explores darker undercurrents of the human psyche by translating the palette of Mark Rothko’s “Black on Maroon” into swaths of sweeping episodes for cello and piano.

In this continuation of Episode 6, we take a brief intermission from our Season 2 musical variations and turn instead to a firsthand account of mural-making, according to Portland artists Alex Chiu and Jeremy Nichols. Learn more about their stories and artwork at https://www.artbyalexchiu.com/ and at https://www.plasticbirdie.com/

Breathe in the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest through this song without words, first sketched in 2016 as a cradle song by Mary Claire Murphy, and now fleshed out with inspiration from the Portland mural by Alex Chiu and Jeremy Nichols.

Piano prodigy and social media sensation BLKBOK reconnects with WGTE to narrate the creative process behind his Patchwork Suite variation, which invites us to investigate “who’s behind the white paint.”

In his Jazz-informed variation on the “Episode of Life” by Madame Sidney Pratten, Kyle Brooks looks to a Chicagoland mural of American entertainer Sammy Davis Jr., revealing to us a juxtaposition of Davis’ inner world and public persona.

Jay Welenc and his students at Toledo School for the Arts return for the second season of The Patchwork Suite, bringing us a variation that’s shaped by family tree murals and the natural arc of human development.

This is an episode for the wanderlusting spirit, as composer Frederic Glesser approaches the end of the world with his set of three penguin-inspired variations on the “Episode of Life” by Madame Sidney Pratten.

Welcome to The Patchwork Suite Season 2, a theme and variations project based on “An Episode of Life” by Madame Sidney Pratten (1821-1895). Here, Mary Claire Murphy reveals the scope of this mural-inspired season, introduces Madame Sidney Pratten, and acquaints us with the lamenting classical guitar theme that will reappear under various guises throughout the series.

After a season filled with musical variety, what are some of the common threads in the patchwork we’ve assembled? In this episode, Mary Claire Murphy shares a collage of memorable insights from the participating composers, illuminating human connection through art.

Through this Patchwork Suite, we’ve pored over ten independent variations on a poetic waltz by Enrique Granados. In this episode, we enjoy the original theme and all its contemporary variations back-to-back as a complete suite, so as to trace all the colorful waltz transformations in our musical tapestry.

Patchwork Suite host Mary Claire Murphy shares her own variation on the Poetic Waltz by Enrique Granados. Based on a slapstick-style family home video, she gives the theme a ragtime makeover with help from the ragtime king, Scott Joplin. Her variation "Jacob’s Caper" is a tribute to her younger brother and all his humor, resilience, and zest for life.

Steven Naylor, a Michigan-raised pianist and composer, leaned into the fiber arts connection of this podcast by writing a piano solo with a three-part structure based on crochet technique. His variation on the Granados waltz, titled “Slipknot, Stitches, and Bind-Off,” offers a delightfully tactile experience with optional extended techniques.

Joshua DeLozier, a Patchwork Suite guest from Texas, discusses the subtleties of his mathematical approach to musical transformation. With a geometric design in mind, he built his variation on a three-note extraction from the Granados waltz theme and then quickly expanded it by means of pitch, rhythm, and register.

Experimental composer Ka Hei Cheng grew up in Hong Kong and, in her works, espouses a deep listening approach that was developed substantially by Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016). Through deep listening, we enter into Ka Hei’s electronic variation on the Granados waltz theme and accept her invitation into this dance of the senses as ambient layers unfold all around us in space.

Originally from North Carolina, composer Indigo Knecht incorporates various beach and natural sounds into their electroacoustic variation on the Granados waltz theme. It’s also a treasure trove of toy sound effects, suggesting their memories of an old baby blanket and childhood hardships. They describe how those memories affected their treatment of the theme, which becomes distorted beyond recognition.

Toledo composer and teacher Jay Welenc re-harmonizes and orchestrates the Granados waltz theme to depict the adventures and perils of maritime life, symbolized in this episode by a sailcloth. He conducts a performance by his students at Toledo School for the Arts.

Cleveland-based composer Meredith Gulla uses a three-note snippet of the Granados waltz theme to craft a piano solo based on the cloud-like softness of her high school prom dress, a symbol of adulthood. She takes us through a series of rhapsodic musical episodes, akin to flashbacks from her youth, styled in a way that’s sometimes whimsical, other times earnest, and heartwarming throughout.

Wisconsin artist Stephen Deeter is a composer, a vocalist, and a lyricist too. His poem “Secondhand” traces his musings on what it means to love and be loved, taking inspiration from both a thrift-shop quilt and from his relationship with his partner. In Stephen’s variation on the Granados waltz theme, he sets “Secondhand” to music by playing with the melodic contour of the original theme and supporting the text with modern-minded harmony.

Hong Kong-born composer Alvin Leung shares his electroacoustic interpretation of the Granados waltz theme, taking inspiration from flannel textures. He nestles fragments of the original theme into an atmospheric soundscape that’s reminiscent of wintertime and all its coziness.

Cincinnati-based composer Michael Nicht contributes a piano solo to the patchwork, taking inspiration from a beautiful brindle prayer shawl. In this variation, Michael casts the Granados theme in an asymmetrical meter with surprising harmonies to convey the instability one may experience in the search for spirituality.

Welcome to The Patchwork Suite, a theme and variations project based on a waltz by Enrique Granados. Here, Mary Claire Murphy uncovers the scope of the podcast, surveys the life of Enrique Granados, and introduces the waltz theme that will reappear under various guises throughout the series.