JAMES STRECKER: Please tell us about one or more projects that you have been working on or have recently completed. Why exactly do they matter to you and why should they matter to us?
VINCE HO: The works I’ve recently completed were:
1. The Supervillain Études (solo piano) – A six movement work inspired by the villains of the Batman universe: Riddler, Two-Face, Penguin, Poison Ivy, Catwoman, and (of course) Joker. This was written for pianists Jamie Parker, Phil Roberts, and Jenny Lin.
2. Whimsical Sketches of Fanciful Birds, Books II & III (alto saxophone & piano) – Five movements in each book (ten in total), inspired by cartoonish imaginings of various species of birds (e.g. Mobster Magpie, Caffeinated Robyn, Sedated Seagull, and many more). These were written for and co-commissioned by saxophonists Jeremy Brown and Timothy McAllister.
3. Heist II (cello duo & optional drum set) – a short virtuoso work for the cello duo VC2 (Bryan Holt and Amahl Arulanandam)
4. Three Preludes (solo cello) – a set of cello preludes for cellist Beth Root Sandvoss.
With these four pieces, they were the products of a year’s work in an effort to carve out my own tactile/gestural language for each instrument. This was something that was very important to me. For example, with The Supervillain Études, this collection represents my efforts in developing my own performance practice for solo piano – the tactile characteristics that define my pianistic language. In each of these movements, various gestures of mine, all born out of the natural motor executions of my fingers as defined by my hands’ anatomical structure and technical skills, were the focuses of examination and development. This approach reflected a specific principle I wanted to explore: that the strength of a piano composition rests on how well it fits in the pianist’s hands while maintaining the expression of the composer’s voice. So, how the pianistic gestures feel as tactile ideas needed to fit with how they sound. This was a principle that was followed by many pianistic composers of the past, leading them to define their own performance practice: Scarlatti, Chopin, Ravel, Ligeti, etc.
I am now currently working on a concerto for zhongruan and Chinese orchestra for the Taipei Chinese Orchestra (premiere in Fall of 2020). The zhongruan is Chinese plucked instrument of cultural importance that has been in existence for over 2000 years. I have written only one other work for Chinese orchestra (Journey of the Red Phoenix, 2017), so this new project will allow me to further develop my skills in this area while delving deeper into the virtuoso performance practices of the zhongruan instrument. As well, being that I am bicultural (Chinese-Canadian), I’ve been exploring the dichotomies between Eastern and Western creative processes and their art forms. From this journey, my musical language has evolved into becoming a confluence of the two worlds. Thus, this concerto is important to me because it will allow me to continue my journey in finding new ways of exploring and expressing my bicultural identity in musical form.
This is also a wonderful growth opportunity for any composer: to work with the one of the best Chinese orchestras in the world (TCO) while continuing one’s own musical growth.
JS: How did doing these projects change you as a person and as a creator?
VH: With the four completed works, I took a year off to work on them with specific goals in mind. As you may have noticed, they are all works for either solo or duo instruments. I wanted to work closely with each performer to develop new techniques while advancing established ones for each instrument. I feel that advancements in any artistic practice can be found not only in the concepts a composer applies but how they are used and explored within the assigned instrumentation. This is one approach to achieve innovation: To re-explore, re-interpret, and re-examine pre-existing artistic and performance practices in ways that will yield my own perspectives on them while connecting with each instrument’s history. Historically, developments in the area of performance techniques are what expand the expressive and musical possibilities of each instrument that future composers and performers can build on (e.g. Scarlatti’s keyboard works, Chopin’s piano etudes, Ligeti’s Études for Piano, etc).
Working with these professional musicians was of great importance to my creative process. It reinforced a principle that I felt was necessary for me to grow: The composer-performer collaborative relationship. If you look at the history of Western music, many of the advancements to each instrument’s performance practice were made possible by such collaborations – Britten and Rostropovich, Brahms and Joachim, Saariaho and Karttunen, and so many more. Being that all of the musicians I was working with are of the highest caliber, their input played significant roles in exploring and developing new techniques that we hope will contribute to each instrument’s performance practice.
In addition, my creative growths normally begin with small-scale projects, then seeing them blossom into larger-scale forms. I model this process off of many great composers of the past, most especially Beethoven. His innovative ideas were first developed in his piano sonatas, then taken into his string quartets, and then fully realized in his symphonies. This process has proven successful and necessary when developing new directions in my musical thinking. So these works helped me pursue new ideas on a small enough scale to determine the direction of my writing on a much larger scale (e.g. chamber music, orchestra, opera, and ballet).
With the zhongruan concerto, since I am still working on it, we shall see what I learn from this journey later on when the work is finished.
JS: What might others not understand or appreciate about the work you produce or do?
VH: That what I, and many of my colleagues, do is the modern-day equivalent of shamanism. Writer Alan Moore said it best: “I believe that magic is art, and that art, whether that be music, writing, sculpture, or any other form, is literally magic. Art is, like magic, the science of manipulating symbols, words or images, to achieve changes in consciousness … Indeed, to cast a spell is simply to spell, to manipulate words, to change people’s consciousness, and this is why I believe that an artist or writer is the closest thing in the contemporary world to a shaman.”
So, when I write a work, I want the performance of that piece to be like a ritual with the performer(s) serving as shaman(s). This is how I see it: The audience arrives at the concert hall, sits in their seats, the entrance doors close behind them, the house lights go down, the stage lights go up, the performer(s) walk out on stage, and the moment they play the first note, from then on, the audience submits themselves to whatever happens on stage. During however long the performance may be – let it be as little as 5 minutes or as long as 2 hours – it is up the performer(s) to take the audience away from the realities of the outside world and onto a wondrous journey into magical realms (or states of beings) that transcend material existence. Once the journey ends, the performer walks off stage, the house lights go back up, and the audience return to their daily lives feeling nourished in some way from the experience they all shared.
JS: What are the most important parts of yourself that you put into your work?
VH: Oh, this and that…
JS: What are your biggest challenges as a creative person?
VH: Starting a new work is always the biggest challenge. Any creator will tell you that facing a blank page is the hardest thing to do. Normally I take on projects that inspire me in some way – let it be the performer(s) involved, the theme, or the instrumentation – then I try to figure out what I want to say. That initial process is very difficult, but oftentimes the inspiration arises from the most unexpected circumstances. For example, last year I knew I wanted to write a set of piano pieces but I didn’t what they were going to be about. At that same time, I was in the process of moving into a new place with my family in Calgary. During my move I discovered a box of old comic books from my childhood. I was delighted to have found them and spent that summer re-reading my Batman collection. It was during that period when the idea of my Supervillain Études was beginning to form. Once formulated, I mapped out a general method of how I would go about writing them:
1. Select six villains from the Batman universe: Riddler, Two-Face, Penguin, Poison Ivy, Catwoman, and Joker.
2. With Tracy’s help (my wife, a psychologist), research the psychological profiles of each villain. Being that most of them are placed in Arkham Asylum and not a prison, that suggests they each have distinguishing disorders manifested in criminal form (e.g. Riddler – OCD, narcissism, ASD).
3. Provide these profiles to dancer-choreographers and discuss what their physical/gestural languages would be (Yukichi Hattori, Kimberly Cooper, and Odette Heyn-Penner).
4. Discuss with pianists how each villain’s physical language can be recreated in pianistic form (hence “etudes”: musical compositions designed to develop particular techniques on the given instrument).
5. Compose the music.
Other challenges: limited rehearsal time, deadlines, negotiating contracts, maintaining my sanity (joke!).
JS: Imagine that you are meeting two or three people, living or dead, whom you admire because of their work in your form of artistic expression. What would you say to them and what would they say to you?
VH: I would say: “Your works have changed my life”, and then proceed in explaining how. I would have no idea what they would say in response, but it would be interesting to find out.
Actually, I do recall emailing Chinese-American composer Bright Sheng a note that fell along these lines. I wrote a virtuoso duo in 2017 titled Kickin’ It for piano and drum set. One of the inspirations for the work was Bright’s piano piece My Song (a piece I played many years ago). I emailed him saying how one particular pianistic gesture he wrote in a brief section of his piece really stuck with me, so I decided to use that as the building block for the entire first movement of my Kickin’ It. In my email I included a link to the sound file of my piece for him to listen to. His response was:
“Thanks very much for your kind note. I am glad you found my piece was helpful. And your piece is very invigorating! And the two players are excellent too.” – Bright Sheng
JS: Please describe at least one major turning point in your life that helped to make you who you are as a creative artist.
VH: After 30 years of composing, there have been so many turning points in my career that were all equally important. The first one that I can remember is watching the movie Amadeus when I was 14 years old (an Oscar-winning movie about a fictionalized account of Mozart’s life, adapted from Peter Shaffer’s play of the same name). The scene where Mozart is on his deathbed and dictating his Dies Irae while Salieri is notating it down completely enthralled me and was what inspired me to become a composer.
The second important turning point was being appointed the composer-in-residence to the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in 2007. The seven years I was with them yielded some of my best works and gave me the opportunity to develop my skills as an orchestral composer.
The third event would be working with percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie when I wrote her my first percussion concerto The Shaman (premiered in 2011). From the get go we had an immediate simpatico and our dynamic creative chemistry that made us want to continue working together. So far, I’ve written five works for her and hope to do more. She also opened my eyes to the importance of collaborating with performers when writing a new work. Having such constructive dialogue gives me greater insights to their performance practices while raising awareness about their instruments that were beyond my periphery, all of which are invaluable to my creative growth. That being said, I’ve also heard the argument that composers don’t need to have such dialogues with performers to achieve originality – that innovations will arise from not understanding the realities of the instrument’s performance practice. However, as Samuel Z. Solomon wrote in his book “How to Write for Percussion”:
“That is, however, a rare case, and the author (Solomon) believes that great innovations are most often launched from a foundation of knowledge rather than from ignorance.” I completely agree.
JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about your life as a person in the arts?
VH: Why I chose to be a composer. Whenever somebody asks me that I would refer them to Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi’s book “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience”. The process of composing (or any form of creative activity) is deeply satisfying and meaningful to me. It allows me to be fully engaged in something that is intrinsically motivated (as opposed to extrinsic), where the act itself is the reward and not the expectation of some future benefit or material/monetary/professional goal. Whenever I am in my creative process, I am fully engaged in what Csikzentmihalyi calls “optimum experience” – when all sense of time floats away and the entirety of my psychic energies achieve an effortless flow. Leading a life that keeps me engaged in this flow is what provides long-term happiness and fulfillment, something that no amount of money could ever replace.
JS: Please tell us what you haven’t attempted as yet that you would like to do in the arts? Why the delay so far?
VH: To write an opera. I have been in discussion with playwright Brad Fraser about creating an opera adaptation of his iconic play Love and Human Remains. In fact, it is something he has always wanted to see happen, and I certainly want to be the composer to do that (I LOVE that play!). Before I undertake that project though, I want to write a few song cycles first to develop my vocal writing skills (which is one of my next projects). Once I feel comfortable with that, then he and I will look into finding a company that would be interested in pursuing our opera project.
JS: If you could re-live your life in the arts, how would you change it and why?
VH: Wouldn’t change a thing. Everything I did led me to where I am now.
JS: What exactly do you like about the work you create and/or do?
VH: The process that went into its creation. 20 years ago, when I began my path as a composer, facing a blank page was like getting into a boxing ring ready to do battle with whatever obstacles I faced. Now, seeing a blank page is like getting onto a dance floor ready to whirl with each day’s challenge and discover what music emerges as we respond to each other’s moves and steps. My mind isn’t in the past or in the future, its right there in the moment, engaging with everything that is happening and seeing where it will take me. Since adopting this approach, I’ve found it to be a very healthy process that has yielded many creative breakthroughs.
JS: In your creative life thus far, what have been the most helpful comments you have heard about your work?
VH: The most helpful comments are those that come from the players themselves. They’re the ones who are putting themselves out there in front of an audience and trying to deliver an effective performance. When you have experienced artists investing their talents, skills, and efforts into your music, all of their input, suggestions, and/or criticisms are that much more invaluable and need to be taken into consideration. When they feel really good about a piece, that’s an indication that the work may have a life after its first performance. As Canadian composer Gary Kulesha once wrote:
“Success is: performers you don’t know deciding to play your piece.”
JS: Finally, what do you yourself find to be the most intriguing and/or surprising things about you?
VH: My list:
– I used to be a dance instructor (retro dance styles – 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s)
– I love graphic novels, crime noir, horror, sci-fi, and various categories of non-fiction (psychology, history, sociology, etc)
– My favourite drink is Hardy Cognac XO
– I love chess
– Aside from my family, Heston Blumenthal (chef) is one of my greatest inspirations
– As a pianist, I love playing the works of Bach, Ligeti, Ravel, and Kapustin
– I recently got hooked on South Korean action and horror films
– Life-changing composition(s):
o Postludium – Valentin Silvestrov
o 24 Preludes and Fugues, Books 1 & 2 – Nikolai Kapustin
o Strategies Against Architecture – Omar Daniel
o The Eternal Earth – Alexina Louie
o Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
– Life-changing book(s):
o The Zen of Creativity – John Daido Loori
o Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
o The Age of Insight – Eric Kandel
o V for Vendetta – Alan Moore
o American Tabloid – James Ellro