Video-recording of contemporary American organ music: Sectional Resonance by Jerome N. Margolis.
Jerome N. Margolis (born in 1941): Sectional Resonance for the Organ. As part of the research program Four American Originals for the Organ: Anthony Philip Heinrich, Charles E. Ives, John Cage, Jerome N. Margolis.
A project by Aloma Bardi; a collaboration of ICAMus with Centro Studi Musicali Ferruccio Busoni & Collegiata Sant’Andrea, Empoli, Italy.
Première performance.
Lucia Baldacci, organist; Lorenzo Ancillotti, organ advisor & registrant; Organ Bevilacqua-Chichi 1964-2004. Live recording, Collegiata Sant’Andrea, Empoli, Italy, October 25, 2021.
Introductory Notes by Aloma Bardi.
Video by Matteo Picardi & Marco Stefano Innocenti. Duration: 10:58.
Photos by Sanzio Fusconi.
Sectional Resonance was composed in 2019 for the ICAMus projects; it is dedicated to organist Lucia Baldacci.
Sunday, December 12, 2021: publication of video on our channels.
In the image below: The organ of the Collegiata di Sant’Andrea, Empoli, Italy; Organ Bevilacqua-Chichi 1964-2004; photo by Sanzio Fusconi.
INTRODUCTORY NOTES by ALOMA BARDI
JEROME N. MARGOLIS (born in 1941)
Jerome N. Margolis was born in Philadelphia and holds a Ph.D. in Music. He is a member of ASCAP.
Dr. Margolis is the composer of more than 200 works in almost every medium, including orchestra, chamber ensemble, electronic, mixed media, piano, and in different musical genres, including jazz, ballet, music theater, film, incidental music, and songs.
In 2019, Jerome Margolis began donating his unpublished music scores and archival recordings to the ICAMus Special Collections, housed at The ICAMus Studio in Ann Arbor, MI, USA, where they are accessible for study and research. The Margolis Collection is constantly enlarged and updated.
In the image above: Jerome N. Margolis. Photo courtesy of the composer.
SECTIONAL RESONANCE FOR THE ORGAN
Composed by Jerome Margolis for ICAMus in 2019, as part of Aloma Bardi’s research project Four American Originals for the Organ: Anthony Philip Heinrich, Charles E. Ives, John Cage, Jerome Margolis. Dedicated to organist Lucia Baldacci.
This composition is a study in acoustics, sonorities and harmonic changes, and consists of contrasting sections in terms of harmony, texture and dynamics. The sections flow naturally, each one expressing its own uniqueness.
We gratefully première Sectional Resonance as a homage to centuries of American experimental organ music, and to the American composers who championed the experimental use of dissonance as a spiritual value.
In the image below: Organist Lucia Baldacci during the live recording session of Sectional Resonance for the Organ by Jerome N. Margolis at the beautiful instrument of the Collegiata di Sant’Andrea, Empoli, Italy, October 25, 2021; Organ Bevilacqua-Chichi 1964-2004; photo by Sanzio Fusconi.
Acknowledgments
Lorenzo Ancillotti
Lucia Baldacci
Aloma Bardi
Gabriele Boccaccini
Barbara Boganini
Centro Studi Musicali Ferruccio Busoni
Collegiata di Sant’Andrea, Empoli
Sanzio Fusconi
ICAMus Special Collections
Marco Stefano Innocenti
Jerome N. Margolis
Matteo Picardi
Chiara Sintoni
Paolo Somigli
In the image below: The organ of the Collegiata di Sant’Andrea, Empoli, Italy. Organ Bevilacqua-Chichi 1964-2004; photo by Sanzio Fusconi.
For the Memory of
Oscar G.Th. Sonneck (1873-1928)
Who studied the American musical past to understand the present
And taught us the importance of an American-music archive.
May his example continue to lead our way.
In the image above: Piazza Farinata degli Uberti in the town of Empoli (Tuscany, Italy), where the great international composer, Ferruccio Busoni was born. In collaboration with Centro Studi Musicali Busoni, ICAMus has been working on a new program for the organ of the church Collegiata di Sant’Andrea, whose exquisite bi-color marble façade we see in this photo by Sanzio Fusconi.
Learn more about Jerome N. Margolis: his biography, catalogue of works, and his donation of music scores and recordings to the ICAMus Special Collections HERE.
"The composer speaks": Discover more about Jerome N. Margolis HERE.
Discover the European première of Kol Nidre by Jerome N. Margolis in Budapest, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27, 2020 HERE.
Learn about the world première of That Their Memory Be Blessed. For the Victims: The Tree of Life Temple by Jerome N. Margolis in Venice, Old Ghetto, conducted by Davide Casali, January 12, 2020 HERE.
In the photo below: Organist Lucia Baldacci with Lorenzo Ancillotti, Director of Centro Studi Musicali Ferruccio Busoni, organ advisor and registrant, during the live recording session of the Heinrich program for ICAmus, October 25, 2021; Organ Bevilacqua-Chichi 1964-2004. Photo by Sanzio Fusconi.
