Jacobs professor to create symphonic work

IU Jacobs School of Music professor Claude Baker sat in his office chair, confidently propped up, legs crossed and gently swiveled from one direction to another.

 He was concocting his battle plan.

While Bloomington is fast asleep in the early hours of the morning, Baker is in his prime, embracing the solitude and silence of his environment to write and compose his work.

Baker was recently commissioned to compose an original multi-symphonic work by the Meet The Composer 2011 Commissioning Music/USA program.

The piece is to be performed by Ohio’s Canton Symphony Orchestra, a group that Baker has collaborated with in the past. 

Accompanying the Canton Orchestra are the Breckenridge Music Festival Orchestra and the Austin Symphony. The work will commemorate the symphony’s 75th anniversary.

“It (Meet the Composer) was really started to find as many ways as possible to engage composers in communities and musical organizations and to make them an integral part of society,” Baker said.

Baker said his composed work will embody the theme of “war and peace.” Although the work will be composed entirely by Baker, he is contracted to compose his piece to correlate with the designated theme.

“There’s something about writing orchestral music that has a level of excitement and interest for me that no other medium provides.  I’ve worked with a lot of orchestras, and I love that whole world,” Baker said.

Canton Orchestra conductor Gerhardt Zimmermann is the leader of the
commission.

“The organization (does) a great deal of good, and one of its facets is this commissioning aspect,” Baker said. “Each year the commission slightly changes. Next year, for example, it’s for musical theater, dance and collaborative projects. But this year it was primarily for established groups to commission a single composer to write a work for them.”

“I’ve been commissioned to do a piece for a consortium of three different
orchestras.”

Baker estimated it will take more than a year for the piece to reach completion.

“It’s approximately 15-20 minutes in duration, and Gerhardt has a program that he’s doing of war and peace,” Baker said.

“He wants that sort of angle of the piece, but beyond that, he is completely open as to what sort of piece it could be.”

Baker said his inspiration is derived from sources such as classical literature, sculptures and works of art and music. He said the first step in creating a work is finding a way to deal with a theme and whether or not it will reference existing works.

“I will definitely have a harpist. (I’m) not sure if I will engage a pianist,” Baker said. “The commission very specifically (inquired) I use the following forces.”

Baker is busy “preparing his platoon” for the forefront, fully equipped with a full-orchestra ensemble of triple woodwinds, three each of flutes, clarinets, oboes, bassoons, three trumpets, three trombones, four horns, a tuba, full compliance of strings, timpani and three percussionists.

“It’s a long, arduous process,” Baker said. “Mostly I like to work late at night because of the quiet.”