Comprising stories, nods to classic holiday tunes, and an underlying current of wistful nostalgia, DASHING VOL. 3 series keeps the spirit of holiday music alive with new compositions and arrangements of well-known favorites. Brought to life by a number of orchestras, chamber ensembles, and choirs, the works of new and returning composers to the series are sure to ignite the charm and congeniality of the holiday season. Featured on the album is composer Carol Barnett’s Hodie and Christmas Eve, Bells.
Today, Carol is our featured artist in “The Inside Story,” a blog series exploring the inner-workings and personalities of our composers and performers. Read on to learn how she decided to embark on her artistic journey, and how she utilizes life experiences to enhance her compositions…
Who was your first favorite artist(s) growing up?
It was a toss-up between Artur Rubenstein and Van Cliburn, a 23-year-old Texan who won the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1958. This event, organized by the Soviet Union to demonstrate Soviet cultural superiority, was won by an American, with the blessing of Nikita Khrushchev! Of course we all bought the LP of his performance of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto — it was the first classical album to go platinum.
When did you realize that you wanted to be an artist?
I knew that I wanted to be a musician of some sort shortly after I started taking piano lessons at the tender age of 4. My teacher had all his students writing music, and eventually I realized that I was better at writing music than playing it.
What was your most unusual performance, or the most embarrassing thing that happened to you during a performance?
Once when I was playing piccolo during a band concert, I tried to get rid of the water in one of my keyholes by sucking it in rather than blowing it out. I nearly swallowed a loose pad, but coughed it out, stuck it back in its place and went on playing. Not sure anyone noticed…
What is your guilty pleasure?
Reading light fiction while eating chocolate.
If you could spend creative time anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
I’d like to spend time in a place somehow related to the music I’m writing at the moment – the deeper the background experience, the better the music can communicate the essence of that place. For example, spending several weeks in Cyprus gave me some of the sound materials for my Cyprus: First Impressions for alto flute and string quintet, as well as the folk songs I used in my Cyprian Suite for concert band.
Is there a specific feeling that you would like communicated to audiences in this work?
In Hodie, a feeling of overwhelming joy and wonder. In Christmas Eve, Bells, the sense of being in a snowy English countryside and hearing the bells from various churches echoing between the hills.
Carol Barnett writes audacious and engaging music. She is known for breaking the mold with meter changes, differing tonal centers, unusual instrument combinations, and her love of fast tempi. Despite these typical thumbprints, Barnett’s works are diverse, uncovering the needs of each piece and each text with her characteristic integrity. Barnett’s varied catalog includes works for solo voice, piano, chorus, diverse chamber ensembles, orchestra, and wind ensemble.
