John Rea (1944- )
Born
in Toronto, Canada, John Rea leads a triple career as composer,
teacher, and concert producer. Recipient of many awards, he has been
frequently commissioned, and has written works in a wide variety
of genres: chamber music, music-theatre, electroacoustic music,
and compositions for large ensemble such as orchestra, ballet, choral,
and opera. Rea’s approach to composition is underpinned by the
alternation between a poetic conceit linked to the projection of sonic
shapes, and an artistic aesthetic rooted in the theatre—implying a
value for narrative discourse. Dialectical by nature as much by nature
as it is by desire, Rea’s style centers on the ideas of both
“discourse” and “outside observation”; his self-imposed function to
communicate and heighten awareness. Besides his activities as a
composer, he has lectured and published articles on 20th-century music
and, since 1973, has taught composition, music theory and music history
at McGill University where he was Dean of the Faculty of Music
(1986-1991). Rea was also a founding member of the Montreal new music
society, Les Événements du Neuf (1978-1989). He also currently serves
on the editorial board for the French-language new music journal,
Circuit - musiques contemporaines, and is on the artistic/programming
committee of the concert organization, Société de Musique Contemporaine
du Québec (SMCQ).COMPOSITIONS Rea Links ~ ~ ~ Works by Genre
Sonatina, flute and piano (1965)
Piece, chamber orchestra, (1967; rev. 1971)
Sestina, chamber ensemble (1968)
Prologue, Scene and Movement (classical Latin palindrome), soprano, viola and 2 pianos (1968)
The Days/Les Jours, ballet (1968-69)
Fantaisies and/et Allusions, sax quartet and snare drum (1969)
What You Will, 2 or 4 hands (1969)
S.P.I. 51, tape (1969)
STER 1.3, tape (1969)
Anaphora, chamber ensemble (1970)
Anaphora II, piano (1971; rev 1972)
The Prisoners Play, chamber opera (1972-73)
Reception and Offering Music 'Anaphora IV', woodwind quintet and percussion (1975)
Jeux de Scène 'fantaisie-hommage à Richard Wagner', chamber ensemble (1976)
Hommage à Vasarely, orchestra (1977)
...wings of silence..., chamber ensemble and tape (1978)
Com-possession, daemonic afterimages in the theatre of transitory states, 2 chamber ensembles and tape (1980)
Les Blues d'Orphée, flute, clarinet, viola, cello and piano (1981)
Le Dernière Sirène, Ondes Martenot, piano and percussion (1981)
Médiator '... pincer la musique aujourd'hui ...', chamber ensemble with soloist (1981)
Treppenmusik, sax quartet, cl, Eb cl, 2 bass cl, violin, viola, cello, double bass and tape delay and tape (1982)
Vanishing Points, orchestra (1983)
Le Petit Livre des Ravalet, opéra parlé, early music instruments, tape and 4 narrators (1983)
Litaneia (Aristophanes), chorus and orchestra (1984)
Spin, string quartet and piano (1984) [to accompany two light-kinetic works by Peter Sedgley]
Glide Reflexions, 2 clarinet and 2 cellos (1984)
Les Raisons des Forces Mouvantes, string quartet and flute (1984)
La capra che suona, 10 saxophones (1985)
Some Time Later, electronic string quartet (RAAD instruments) (1986)
Offenes Lied, melodrama, 2 sopranos and clarinet (1986) [includes "Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen"]
Over Time, orchestra (1987)
Brass Communicants, fanfare for 12 brass and 4 percussion (1987)
Musique des jardins sans complexe, brass and 4 percussionists (1987) [co-written with 5 others composers]
Time and Again, chamber ensemble or orchestra (1987)
Lièger Métal, chamber orchestra (1988)
Portrait of a Man in Elysian Fields, hommage à Morton Feldman, piano (1989)
Kubla Khan: dirge-refrains, chamber orchestra (1989)
Big Apple Jam, sax quartet and MIDI-tape (1987-91)
Las Meninas, transformal variations on Robert Schumann’s Kinderszenen, piano (1990-91)
Kubla Khan, chamber ensemble (1991)
Objets perdus, string quartet (1991)
Débâcle, chamber orchestra (1992)
Une Fleur du Mal (mélodrames d’outre-tombe), soprano, clarinet, cello and percussion (1992)
Canto di Beatrice (after Dante), melodrama, 2 sopranos and 2 cellos (1992)
… une pierre qui roule! (... a rolling stone!), flute, oboe, clarinet, violin and cello (1993)
Zefiro torna, orchestra (1994)
Einer nach dem Andern!, chamber orchestra (1994)
Alma & Oskar, melodrama from beyond the grave, voice and piano (1994) [version for two voices and orchestra, 1996]
Plus que la plus que lente, alto sax (improviser), flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion and conductor obbligato (1996)
Études Multiples, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn and piano (1997)
Great Stones, chorus (1997)
Les trois derniers jours de Fernando Pessoa, incidental music (1997)
Urfaust--tragédie subjective (after Goethe and Pessoa), incidental music (1999)
Bettina (after Goethe), melodrama, voice and piano (1999)
Symphonie du millénaire, 333 musicians, 2000 bell-ringers, 15 steeples, 1 great organ, 1 56-bell chime and 2 fire trucks (1999-2000) [co-written with 18 other composers]
Lautari, violon, cello and piano (1999-2000)
Sacrée Landowska , musical theatre, harpsichordist/actress, 7 instruments and conductor (obbligato) (2000)
Music, according to Aquinas, chamber chorus, 2 clarinets and cello (2000)
J’ignore si j’étais un homme rêvant alors que j’étais un papillon ..., Yamaha Disklavier and chamber orchestra (2001)
Catoblépas, incidental music (2001)
Homme/Papillon, orchestra (2002)
Submergé, oboe and piano (2002)
Accident, chamber ensemble (2004)
Figures hâtives (Hurried Figures), violin and orchestra (2006)
WORKS BY GENRE Rea Links ~ top of page ~
Dramatic/Theater
The Days/Les Jours, ballet (1968-69)
The Prisoners Play, chamber opera (1972-73)
Com-possession, daemonic afterimages in the theatre of transitory states, 2 chamber ensembles and tape (1980)
Le Petit Livre des Ravalet, opéra parlé, early music instruments, tape and 4 narrators (1983)
Offenes Lied, melodrama, 2 sopranos and clarinet (1986) [includes "Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen"]
Une Fleur du Mal (mélodrames d’outre-tombe), soprano, clarinet, cello and percussion (1992)
Canto di Beatrice (after Dante), melodrama, 2 sopranos and 2 cellos (1992)
Alma & Oskar, melodrama from beyond the grave, voice and piano (1994) [ver. for 2 voices and orchestra, 1996 & 2001]
Sacrée Landowska , musical theatre, harpsichordist/actress, 7 instruments and conductor (obbligato) (2000)
Orchestra
Piece, chamber orchestra, (1967; rev. 1971)
Hommage à Vasarely, orchestra (1977)
Vanishing Points, orchestra (1983)
Over Time, orchestra (1987)
Time and Again, orchestra (1987)
Lièger Métal, chamber orchestra (1988)
Kubla Khan: dirge-refrains, chamber orchestra (1989)
Débâcle, chamber orchestra (1992)
Zefiro torna, orchestra (1994)
Einer nach dem Andern!, chamber orchestra (1994)
Symphonie du millénaire, 333 musicians, 2000 bell-ringers, 15 steeples, 1 great organ, 1 56-bell chime and 2 fire trucks (1999-2000) [co-written with 18 other composers]
Homme/Papillon, orchestra (2002)
Soloist(s) w/Orchestra
Médiator '... pincer la musique aujourd'hui ...', chamber ensemble with soloist (1981)
J’ignore si j’étais un homme rêvant alors que j’étais un papillon ..., Yamaha Disklavier and chamber orchestra (2001)
Figures hâtives (Hurried Figures), violin and orchestra (2006)
Chorus w/Orchestra
Litaneia (Aristophanes), chorus and orchestra (1984)
Choral
Great Stones, chorus (1997)
Music, according to Aquinas, chamber chorus, 2 clarinets and cello (2000)
Chamber
Piece, chamber orchestra, (1967; rev. 1971)
Sestina, chamber ensemble (1968)
Fantaisies and/et Allusions, sax quartet and snare drum (1969)
Anaphora, chamber ensemble (1970)
Reception and Offering Music 'Anaphora IV', woodwind quintet and percussion (1975)
Jeux de Scène 'fantaisie-hommage à Richard Wagner', chamber ensemble (1976)
...wings of silence..., chamber ensemble and tape (1978)
Les Blues d'Orphée, flute, clarinet, viola, cello and piano (1981)
Le Dernière Sirène, Ondes Martenot, piano and percussion (1981)
Médiator '... pincer la musique aujourd'hui ...', chamber ensemble with soloist (1981)
Treppenmusik, sax quartet, cl, Eb cl, 2 bass cl, violin, viola, cello, double bass and tape delay and tape (1982)
Le Petit Livre des 'Ravalet', early music instruments, tape and 4 narrators (1983)
Spin, string quartet and piano (1984) [to accompany two light-kinetic works by Peter Sedgley]
Glide Reflexions, 2 clarinet and 2 cellos (1984)
Les Raisons des Forces Mouvantes, string quartet and flute (1984)
La capra che suona, 10 saxophones (1985)
Some Time Later, electronic string quartet (RAAD instruments) (1986)
Brass Communicants, fanfare for 12 brass and 4 percussion (1987)
Musique des jardins sans complexe, brass and 4 percussionists (1987) [co-written with 5 others composers]
Time and Again, chamber ensemble (1987)
Lièger Métal, chamber orchestra (1988)
Kubla Khan: dirge-refrains, chamber orchestra (1989)
Big Apple Jam, sax quartet and MIDI-tape (1987-91)
Kubla Khan, chamber ensemble (1991)
Objets perdus, string quartet (1991)
Débâcle, chamber orchestra (1992)
… une pierre qui roule! (... a rolling stone!), flute, oboe, clarinet, violin and cello (1993)
Einer nach dem Andern!, chamber orchestra (1994)
Plus que la plus que lente, alto sax (improviser), flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion and conductor obbligato (1996)
Études Multiples, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn and piano (1997)
Lautari, violon, cello and piano (1999-2000)
Accident, chamber ensemble (2004)
Solo Instrument
Sonatina, flute and piano (1965)
Submergé, oboe and piano (2002)
Piano
What You Will, 2 or 4 hands (1969)
Anaphora II, piano (1971; rev 1972)
Portrait of a Man in Elysian Fields, hommage à Morton Feldman, piano (1989)
Las Meninas, 21 transformal variations on Robert Schumann’s Kinderszenen, piano (1990-91)
Vocal
Prologue, Scene and Movement (classical Latin palindrome), soprano, viola and 2 pianos (1968)
Offenes Lied, melodrama, 2 sopranos and clarinet (1986) [includes "Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen"]
Canto di Beatrice (after Dante), melodrama, 2 sopranos and 2 cellos (1992)
Bettina (after Goethe), melodrama, voice and piano (1999)
Incidental/Film
Les trois derniers jours de Fernando Pessoa, incidental music (1997)
Urfaust--tragédie subjective (after Goethe and Pessoa), incidental music (1999)
Catoblépas, incidental music (2001)
Electronic
S.P.I. 51, tape (1969)
STER 1.3, tape (1969)
REA LINKS Works by Genre ~ top of page ~
Layers of Illusions - John Rea’s Hommage à Vasarely (James Galaty, Circuit)
The Underlying Madness of King John - on the Continuing Ambiguity of John Rea (Marc Couroux)
Composer's website (at McGill University)
Rea @ Wikipedia
Rea @ 104
Rea @ Answers.com
Rea @ The Array Ensemble
Rea @ Arts Alive/NAC musicbox TIMELINE
Rea @ The Canadian Encyclopedia
Rea @ Canadian Music Centre
Rea @ Les Éditions Doberman-Yppan
Rea @ esprit orchestra
Rea @ McGill University also here
Rea @ REC Music Foundation /The Lied and Art Song Texts Page
Rea @ SMCQ (Société de musique contemporaine du Québec)
Streaming Audio
Rea @ Arts Alive/NAC musicbox TIMELINE
Rea @ Esprit Orchestra
Rea @ McGill University
Recordings
Rea @ ArkivMusic
Rea @ McGill University
Rea @ YouTube [none at the moment]
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