John Mackey: Haunted Objects - 付喪神: Tsukumogami (2024)

John Mackey (b. 1973)
John Mackey (he/him) has written for orchestras (Brooklyn Philharmonic, New York Youth Symphony), theater (Dallas Theater Center), and extensively for dance (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Parsons Dance Company, New York City Ballet), but the majority of his work for the past decade has been for wind ensembles (the fancy name for concert bands), and his band catalog now receives annual performances numbering in the thousands.
Recent commissions include works for the BBC Singers, the Dallas Wind Symphony, military, high school, middle school, and university bands across America and Japan, and concertos for Joseph Alessi (principal trombone, New York Philharmonic), Christopher Martin (principal trumpet, New York Philharmonic), and Julian Bliss (international clarinet soloist). In 2014, he became the youngest composer ever inducted into the American Bandmasters Association. In 2018, he received the Wladimir & Rhoda Lakond Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He resides in San Francisco, California, with his spouse, A. E. Jaques, a philosopher who works on the ethics of artificial intelligence for MIT, and also titles all of his pieces; and their cats, Noodle and Bloop.
Haunted Objects - 付喪神: Tsukumogami (2024)
I. 0:06
II. 3:26
Commissioned by the Siena Wind Orchestra
The thing about ghost stories - the good ones, anyway - is that they reflect the psychological inclinations of the reader. They may surprise, frighten, inspire or dazzle, but at the end of the tale an impression is made only if we see our own dreams, fears, and hopes in the characters. Sometimes we’re the protagonists, and sometimes we’re the ghosts, but the magic happens in the creeping realization that what lurks in the pages might also be right behind us.
Haunted Objects (Tsukumogami) is a musical ghost story; one that aesthetically captures the spirit of a particular supernatural cultural phenomenon of Japan, as the composer writes:
I love Japanese culture, and wanted to write something that would honor its people’s traditions from my own perspective. I first visited in 2007 for the premiere of Kingfishers Catch Fire, and have been back several times since including with my wife Abby on our honeymoon.
She’s the person who first introduced me to the concept of tsukumogami, which are everyday items or tools that, after being around for a century, acquire a spirit and take on a life of their own. The idea inspired me to write music that alternated-and danced-between harmless and mischievous. I don’t consider the tsukumogami to be hurtful; they’re pranksters! They’re always reminding us that they have a use, and you should discard them with caution, as they might end up haunting you...
Haunted Objects (Tsukumogami) is cast in two relatively short movements, each of which captures the phantasmagoric nature of these pseudo-creatures. The first movement begins with a wail of terror: clanging percussion and dissonant clusters of notes with an insistent marching rhythm set the stage for the unexpected. Out of this cacophony emerges a gentle, bubbling pointillism that seems far removed from anything unnatural, except for the strange ghostly descent of ethereal trombone glissandi. A dreamy oboe solo feigns a continuation of the musical material, but is almost immediately (and repeatedly) disrupted by loud interjections of fragments of the opening wail. Adding to the foreboding atmosphere, each new phrase finds itself in a shifting harmonic landscape, giving a sense of instability and unease. At the apex of the movement, the two ideas merge, as the dreamy melody takes on the aggressive character and shows that, in reality, the two were the same all along. The movement ends ominously, with the monstrous side of the tsukumogami in full display.
The second movement begins with the contrast of a short, beautiful chorale that emphasizes a rising motif, before bursting forth with a quirky dance in asymmetric mixed meters. In many ways, this movement mirrors the first: the effervescent textures mimic those from the opening movement, and the primary melody is once again stated in a long oboe line before being conjoined with the opening chorale material. One might suggest that the two movements envision the tsukumogami from two different perspectives: in the first movement... (continued in score)
Instrumentation
for Concert Band
Performer
Siena Wind Ensemble
Conducted by Daichi Deguchi
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[@picklepantspopp1189]

showed this to my toemate . loved it

[@stinkyapple7457]

the best chords John Mackey wrote 3:27

[@Peter28148]

Im so exited to play this!

[@degbovevo]

What a fire piece

[@ssgmusic2237]

No way bro posted twice in a week

[@summ3rplumag3]

YIPPEE

[@mrman12w]

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