ghosts of swallows

ghosts of swallows takes its opening pitches (heard as “prepared” notes in the piano) from the opening chord of Morton Feldman’s Swallows of Salangan. In this late 1950's piece, Feldman notated the pitches (a string of vertical chords) but let the performers choose their own slow duration for each sound, creating the effect of “a series of reverberations from a common sound source.” I was interested in how a transformation of this idea could play out on a much smaller scale. After setting all of the chords for piano, I allowed semi-chance procedures to determine note durations, density of ensemble, and in some cases, how pitches were to reverberate through the ensemble. Towards the end of the piece, I began looking for ways to bring the outside of the musical material into engagement.

Anna Höstman’s works have been performed across Canada and in Italy, the U.S., England, Mexico, China and Russia. Her compositions engage with sound as itself, with language, sensory memory, photography, and the architectures of variation; they explore her deep love for the spiritual and natural worlds. Recent performances include: Emily’s Piece, a 25-minute work for the Victoria Symphony Orchestra based on a quartet of mid-1930’s paintings by Emily Carr, Slanted Birds for string quartet (Quatuor Bozzini, Montréal), Pine Trees & Blue Sky for pipa and small ensemble (Beijing International Composer’s workshop), and Vertical Studies for flute, piano, violin and video (Pendulum Ensemble, Toronto).

From 2005-8, Anna was the resident composer of the Victoria Symphony Orchestra during which time five new pieces for orchestra were premiered as well as her opera What Time is it Now? with a libretto by poet and painter P.K. Page. Currently, Anna is in the doctoral program at the University of Toronto where she is writing on the chamber works of Toronto-based composer Martin Arnold. She is also researching material for an inter-media work exploring the relationship of the Nuxalk Nation with the Norwegian Settlers in the Bella Coola Valley in the 1900’s (Berlin, London, Oslo and Toronto), composing two pieces for baritone and piano (Norway), a flute solo (the Hague), a work for flute and piano (Vancouver), and an accordion solo (Toronto).

Anna has studied composition with Christopher Butterfield, James Rolfe, Gary Kulesha, Gordon Mumma and John Celona.

For more information about Anna Hostman, click here.