Hailed by the Houston Chronicle as a composer whose music reflects a charging, churning celebration of the musical and cultural energy of modern-day America, Cindy McTee (b. 1953 in Tacoma, WA) brings to the world of concert music a fresh and imaginative voice. The Washington Post likewise characterized her work as unmistakably American-sounding, composed with craftsmanship and a catholic array of influences across several centuries. There’s also a polished gleam about her colors, according to the Detroit Free Press, as well as an inventive approach to form and a respect for tradition.
Cindy McTee has received numerous awards for her music, most significantly: a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship, a Composers Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, two awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Music Alive Award from Meet The Composer and the League of American Orchestras, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's third annual Elaine Lebenbom Memorial Award, and a BMI Student Composers Award. She was also winner of the 2001 Louisville Orchestra Composition Competition.
Devin Patrick Hughes: We are really looking forward to playing your work, Einstein’s Dream next week. I’m really enjoying learning the score!
Cindy McTee: Thank you very much for your interest in my music. It really means a lot when others, musicians and listeners alike, dedicate time to something I’ve created.
Albert Einstein, aside from being one of the greatest minds of our time was deeply involved in music, particularly Bach and Mozart, as opposed to Beethoven. Regarding Mozart, Einstein said “Mozart’s music is so pure and beautiful that I see it as a reflection of the inner beauty of the universe itself.” What about the former two composers do you think drew in Einstein’s inspiration and interest?
I’m not sure about Beethoven except that perhaps genius experiences genius more acutely and powerfully than most of us can ever know.
As to Bach, Einstein reportedly said: “I require the clear constructions of Bach.” Bach's universe of sounds distinctly articulating time must have resonated intensely with Einstein.
You incorporate Bach into Einstein’s Dream, as well as Beethoven’s 5th Symphony and music of Barber and Penderecki for instance into your music. What are some of your strongest musical influences and how did you start composing?
In addition, I have been influenced by Igor Stravinsky, Jacob Druckman, Maurice Ravel, John Adams, and by the repetitive sounds of finely crafted machinery. Although not particularly evident in Einstein’s Dream, jazz, especially bebop, has also been an important influence. The music of Cannonball Adderley, Charlie Parker, and John Coltrane comes to mind.
I began playing music at the age of five with a teacher who encouraged improvisation. I now realize the importance of this. Mrs. Melvin was not classically trained as far as I know, but a masterful performer of popular music from the 1930’s and 40's. Her teaching method included requiring that I play a small number of pieces differently each time I returned for a lesson. I credit her with having given me my first opportunity to compose, although it wasn't until much later that I actually put notes to paper.
Einstein’s Dream is performed by the conductor and players “following” the computer generated sounds. To me, this is one of the most moving and innovative uses of electronic sounds - created by transistors - made possible through Einstein’s thought experiments. How were you able to integrate electronic sounds into the sounds of percussion and strings in such an innovative method (in 2005!)?
Thank you. I am glad you used the word “integrate” since it was in fact my intention to merge orchestral and computer music sounds to create a single sonority and a sense of mystery as to the source of those sounds - the loudspeakers or the musicians. To accomplish this fusion, I began with recordings of acoustic sounds included those created by orchestral instruments (verses synthesizing the sounds from scratch) and then, using the computer, I applied various time-stretching and filtering processes to “electrify” them.
One of Einstein’s frustrations was that the technology wasn’t available at his time to prove or disprove many of his theorems, many of which have been proven correct throughout the rest of the 20th century and after his death. A composer has this same quandary, you only have the “mind experiment” in which to work, your experiments being carried out by performers and “tested” on audiences. Do you feel a connection to the sciences or Einstein in particular in this way and would you talk more about your specific compositional process? Has it changed over the years?
Einstein said "All great achievements of science start from intuitive knowledge.” He also said "After a certain high level of technical skill is achieved, science and art tend to coalesce in esthetics, plasticity, and form. The greatest scientists are always artists as well.”
I think we could turn that sentence around and say that "The greatest artists are always scientists as well.”
I would like my music to communicate an integrated approach between spontaneity and formalism, subjectivity and objectivity, heart and brain, art and science. In fact, I think music is moving toward (or back to) a place of balance between these necessary opposites.
The Bach Chorale you quoted in Einstein’s Dream, Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott (we all believe in one God) is a very clear unifier in what has always been a divided world. What do you believe is the purpose of music in addressing conflict and dissonance?
I have always believed that participation in the arts, whether passively or actively, will surely lead to a kinder, gentler, world. A person who has experienced and truly felt the magic of a Picasso painting, the emotional depth of a Beethoven symphony, or the eye-popping beauty of ancient Chinese bronze ritual vessels will be a more compassionate person with an expanded appreciation for what it means to be human. We need art now more than ever.
Thank you so much, we are having a fantastic time preparing your music and I am really looking forward to it’s Colorado premiere!
Thank you. I wish I could be there with you.