About the Commissioned Work

Indian Earth, after a book of poetry by Santa Fe poet Witter Bynner, is music for organ, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon. The music is reflective of themes found in Bynner's poetry which explores the mystical cultures and resplendent terrain of the American Southwest. An underlying tenor of this collection is the complex relationship between the earth and humanity, and metaphorically the discord between native and colonial peoples. Bynner captures the essence of these relationships in this way:

"It is the earth itself that hems you round against intruders alien to the earth, that brings you heaven under a shadowy tree, curves heaven to your arm and lets you lie close to its living thorn. The crown is yours, not theirs. You know the one divinity, the only death, the offering of the heart to the cruel earth, the love, the consummation."

The three movements of the work progress from a quiet melancholy to exuberance, from darkness to light. Frahm makes use of an architectural approach to music composition in this piece, as in the building of an adobe wall brick by brick. Self-contained musical structures, often in four bar units, are symmetrically arranged as a technique of musical development. The final movement, ‘Alleluias', is based in part on plainchant tone 6 from the Graduale Romanum.

The premiere performance of Indian Earth is played by members of Chatter Ensemble, a local chamber orchestra dedicated to the promotion of contemporary music. The chamber ensemble for this performance includes Melissa Peña, oboe; Lori Lovato, clarinet; Stefanie Przybylska, bassoon; and is conducted by organist Joseph Pettit of Tacoma, WA, a significant interpreter and performer of music by Frederick Frahm.

About the Composer

Frederick Frahm was born November 8, 1964, in Hemet, California. His catalog of compositions includes numerous works for organ solo including concert works and chorale preludes, chamber music, art songs and song cycles, music for handbells, a violin concerto, and several extended works for voices and orchestra including a chamber opera and three cantatas. A prolific composer, Frahm's music is distinguished by a symmetrical and architectural approach to form, a keen sensitivity to literature and imagery as a source of musical inspiration, and a preference for music with broad tempi, modal tonality, and stark contrasts in texture.

Frederick Frahm is a graduate of Pacific Lutheran University where he earned degrees in Church Music and Organ Performance. He studied organ and counterpoint with David Dahl, Gregory Peterson, and Randall McCarty; composition with Gregory Youtz (PLU), Gary Smart (University of Wyoming), Walter Pelz (Concordia University, River Forest), and Roger Briggs (Western Washington University). A significant portion of his extensive catalog of music for liturgy is in print and is represented worldwide by more than a dozen publishers. A fullcollection of sketches, manuscripts, recordings and correspondence (1982-2008) are archived in the Mortvedt Library at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA.

A professional church musician for more than 25 years, Frahm currently serves as Director of Music and Principal Organist at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Albuquerque, NM. In addition to his work as a parish musician and a private studio teacher, he has contributed to the Bellingham Herald in Bellingham, WAas a classical music critic and served as an adjunct faculty member of Concordia University in River Forest, IL where he taught counterpoint, music theory & composition, as well as orchestration.  He is presently Dean of the Albuquerque chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

You can learn more about this composer by visiting his website at www.frederickfrahm.com

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