Vol. 38, No. 18

3-4-2004
By: Susan Wittstock

Out of the Cradle: Powerful contemporary piece based on Walt Whitman poem brings 130 student musicians to the stage

Even when just turning the pages of the score, Russel Mikkelson finds himself growing emotional about Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Rocking, a multi-media piece composed by the late Eric Stokes and based on the Walt Whitman poem of the same name.
“It’s just so powerful, so deeply felt,” Mikkelson said, shaking his head at the notes written in the composer’s hand. “Every hour I work on this piece, I fall more in love with it. It’s amazing.”
Ohio State audiences will have the chance to judge the piece’s power for themselves when it is presented March 9 in Weigel Auditorium by an assemblage of performing groups — the Wind Symphony, five string players from the Symphony Orchestra, vocalists from the Chorale and Symphonic Choir, as well as a baritone soloist, a soprano soloist and a narrator. The performance includes some theatrical elements, including dramatic lighting, costuming and a film projection.
Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Rocking was commissioned in 1998 by a consortium of 11 university bands, including Ohio State. “Because repertoire for bands only exists from the early 1900s, we don’t have the depth and breadth of repertoire that a chorus or orchestra would have,” said Mikkelson, director of bands for the School of Music and organizer of the performance. “If we pool our resources, we’re able to commission new works written specifically for bands.”
It was the last piece Stokes would complete. He was killed in a car crash on March 16, 1999, shortly after he finished composing. The piece premiered April 27, 2000, at the University of Minnesota, where Stokes was a member of the faculty, and was conducted by Craig Kirchhoff, a fellow faculty member who had formerly worked as Ohio State’s director of bands for 14 years. Stokes’ widow, Cynthia, will travel to Columbus to meet with student musicians and to see the performance.
Stokes was a well-respected contemporary composer, whose work had been performed throughout the United States and abroad, including by the B.B.C. Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the American Composers Orchestra. During the course of his career he received more than 80 commissions for his compositions, which often found new and creative ways to engage audiences.
Ohio State will present the first performance of Out of the Cradle since its premiere. “It’s a very difficult work to perform because of the logistics coordinating the choir and band and strings,” Mikkelson said. “We started planning this two years ago.”
Nearly 130 undergraduate and graduate students will participate. Hilary Apfelstadt, professor and director of choral activities, has prepared the chorus, graduate voice students Greg Frens and Susan Musselman will serve as soloists, and Timothy Gerber, professor of music education, will act as narrator of the poem. The performance groups rehearsed separately for approximately a dozen rehearsals, with all participants coming together for two to three rehearsals under Mikkelson’s direction, just prior to the performance.
The Whitman poem tells the story of two mockingbirds, a he-bird and a she-bird, observed by Whitman’s narrator as a child and remembered as a adult. The she-bird disappears and the he-bird mourns the loss of his love and cries out for her return, to no avail. By the poem’s end, both narrator and he-bird can hear the whisper of death in the sea as its waves crash against the shore.
Stokes’ interpretation of the poem dramatizes the poetry not only musically, but visually. “The he-bird and she-bird are sung by the baritone soloist and the soprano soloist. Everyone on stage will be wearing white, except for the soprano, who wears all black,” Mikkelson said. When her character disappears, the soprano will move backstage. She will continue to sing, however, in “this almost otherworldly voice that is echoed by three soprano saxophones positioned in different parts of the hall.”
At the piece’s conclusion, the white-clad chorus will conceal their faces behind their white sheets of music, Mikkelson said, forming “an organic screen on which a film will be projected.”
The 33-minute piece is full of unexpected moments, whether it be the choir whispering its words from time to time to sound effects created by shaking a large bucket full of dry leaves or the musicians clicking the keys of their instruments.
“It’s fascinating how he (Stokes) gets the sounds he gets. He asks us to do all sorts of things we’re not used to doing,” Mikkelson said. “He had a unique voice. It’s a sad thing that he never got to hear this piece.”
Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Rocking will be performed at 8 p.m. March 9 in Weigel Auditorium. The concert is free. For information, contact the School of Music at 292-2870.

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