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Time is the Sea We Swim In

Debra Kaye composer

Release Date: March 1, 2024
Catalog #: NV6604
Format: Digital & Physical
21st Century
Chamber
Jazz
Piano
Saxophone
String Quartet

Following her first Navona Records release, IKARUS AMONG THE STARS, New York-based composer Debra Kaye has curated an ever-varying mix of chamber and solo pieces with TIME IS THE SEA WE SWIM IN. Kaye’s inspirations are seemingly endless, from the improvisatory piano solo At Liberty (1988) where Kaye returns to her roots as a performer, to the jazzy Colossus 1067 (2021) written to accompany Gus Foster’s time-distorting panoramic photograph taken on a roller coaster with a rotary camera; from current events to the poetry of Zen monks, European Romanticism to a philosophical, even metaphysical meditation on time and the creative process.

Kaye’s eclectic collection showcases and reconciles heterogeneous influences by way of a sonic language that is wholly, uncompromisingly her own. Her confident embrace of diverse sounds and styles invite and challenge listeners to join her on this voyage of discovery and dip a toe into this sea that we all swim in.

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Track Listing & Credits

# Title Composer Performer
01 While We Were Sleeping Debra Kaye Craig Ketter, piano 4:32
02 Time is the Sea We Swim In Debra Kaye Lincoln Trio | Desirée Ruhstrat, violin; David Cunliffe, cello; Marta Aznavoorian, piano 11:21
03 three zen poems: I. Allegro Debra Kaye James Nyoraku Schlefer, shakuhachi; David Yang, viola; Hikaru Tamaki, cello 4:15
04 three zen poems: II. Allegro, a little slower Debra Kaye James Nyoraku Schlefer, shakuhachi; David Yang, viola; Hikaru Tamaki, cello 6:06
05 three zen poems: III. Andante Debra Kaye James Nyoraku Schlefer, shakuhachi; David Yang, viola; Hikaru Tamaki, cello 5:37
06 String Quartet No. 2—Howland Quartet: I. A shimmering idea…you decide to follow Debra Kaye Voxare String Quartet | Emily Ondracek-Peterson, Galina Zhdanova - violin; Erik Peterson, viola; Wendy Law, cello 5:48
07 String Quartet No. 2—Howland Quartet: II. The beauty of the dream upon reflection Debra Kaye Voxare String Quartet | Emily Ondracek-Peterson, Galina Zhdanova - violin; Erik Peterson, viola; Wendy Law, cello 6:23
08 String Quartet No. 2—Howland Quartet: III. Danza Energico Debra Kaye Voxare String Quartet | Emily Ondracek-Peterson, Galina Zhdanova - violin; Erik Peterson, viola; Wendy Law, cello 8:59
09 At Liberty Debra Kaye Debra Kaye, piano 3:49
10 Colossus 1067 Debra Kaye Dan Block, tenor saxophone; Steve Sandberg, piano; Frank Wagner; double bass; David Meade, drums 13:40

three zen poems
Commissioned by Kyo-Shin-An Arts

String Quartet No. 2—Howland Quartet
Commissioned by the Howland Chamber Music Circle for their 25th Anniversary

Colossus 1067
Commissioned by Gus Foster for his retrospective at the Harwood Museum in Taos NM

Track 1
Recorded live January 21, 2014 at Saint Peter’s Church/Citigroup in New York NY
Presented by the New York Composers Circle
Recorded by Robert Anderson

Tracks 2-5, 9, 10
Recorded April 3-4 and 8-10, 2022 at Oktaven Audio in Mount Vernon NY
Recording Session Producer Judith Sherman
Recording Session Engineers Charles Mueller and Ryan Streber
Recording Session Engineer and Editing Assistant Jeanne Velonis
Piano Technician Daniel Jessie

Tracks 6-8
Recorded live June 9, 2018 at the Howland Cultural Center in Beacon NY
Presented by the Howland Chamber Music Circle
Recorded by Erik Christian Peterson

Mastering Jeanne Velonis and Judith Sherman

Executive Producer Bob Lord

VP of A&R Brandon MacNeil
A&R Danielle Sullivan

VP of Production Jan Košulič
Audio Director Lucas Paquette

VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Design Morgan Hauber
Publicity Chelsea Kornago

Artist Information

Debra Kaye

Composer

“A new voice on our horizon is felt and heard with [composer] Debra Kaye” (Classical Modern Music Review). Her visceral music has been described as “an eclectic unfolding of creativity” (Gramophone), it ranges from lyrical to grooving, experimental to coloristic but above all, expressive and deeply felt. Kaye is a hybrid and her music reflects it. Born in Motown, currently living in New York City, she moved to Atlanta at an early age. Her life and music reflect a desire to feel, understand, and to integrate opposites.

Learn More

Wendy Law wendylaw.com / Erik Christian Peterson violaland.com / Emily Ondracek-Peterson emilyop.com / Galina Zhdanova gigiviolinist.com

Craig-Ketter

Craig Ketter

Lincoln-Trio

Lincoln Trio | lincolntrio.com

James-Nyoraku-Schlefer

James Nyoraku Schlefer | nyoraku.com

David-Yang

David Yang | newburyportchambermusic.org

Hikaru-Tamaki

Hikaru Tamaki | hikarucello.com

Voxare-String-Quartet

Voxare String Quartet | voxarequartet.com

Dan-Block

Dan Block | juilliard.edu

Frank-Wagner

Frank Wagner | frankdwagner.com

David-Meade

David Meade | steinhardt.nyu.edu

Steve-Sandberg

Steve Sandberg | stevesandbergmusic.com

Notes

While We Were Sleeping is a dramatic piece, an evocation of Poseidon unleashed, unpredictable and turbulent. To some extent the whole score can be seen as a frame for improvisation. The overall shape is a crescendo-diminuendo, the storm gathers and then subsides. In the beginning it is notated traditionally, but as the piece and the storm progress, it becomes more of a “graphic score” with only certain musical events notated specifically, alternating at times, between these two modes. Particularly in the improvisatory sections, I hope to elicit a “heat of the moment” intuitive response from the performer. The pianist is also called upon to imitate bisbigliando, an effect usually used on the harp. The word translates from Italian as “whispering,” and is employed here to denote playing small constellations of notes freely in non-uniform groups of 2’s, 3’s, and more with varying emphasis. The heart of the piece is in the pianist’s touch, expression, and gesture. How it moves is more important than where. There are no wrong notes. Chaotic gyres and eddies surge and dissipate. The relentless momentum of this “mighty monster” outweighs all other considerations. While We Were Sleeping grew out of an improvisation I did while listening to the weather report the night before Superstorm Sandy devastated the shores of the northeast.

— Debra Kaye

Time is the Sea We Swim In is an exploration of our changing perceptions of time, of how it can seem to speed up as we get older, or slow down during times of intense “being in the now.” I think of it as a life-cycle piece. The title actually came to me before a single note was set to page. A few years later, following my mother’s death, I remembered the phrase and it seemed fitting for the occasion. In writing a piece for a departed loved one, a lifetime of memories washes over you; past, present, and future seem to be there all at once. The piece begins in near silence, rises to a crescendo only to fade to silence once more, in a musical “ashes to ashes.”

The piano’s opening minor chord is answered by a pleading call in high harmonics on the cello. Gradually, the musical lines accelerate and take on more rhythmic profiles, ultimately appearing in double time. Musical palindromes appear throughout and echo the crescendo-diminuendo form in miniature, giving a sense of something familiar, yet different, like memory. As the piece ends, the stillness of the opening returns, this time in calm resignation and acceptance.

Time is the Sea We Swim In was composed for the Lincoln Trio, who premiered the piece on March 1, 2020, and was presented by the Howland Chamber Music Circle, to an enthusiastic sold-out audience. I am thrilled that they were available to make this recording of “our” piece.

— Debra Kaye

three zen poems was inspired by the poetry of Zen monks of the 15th and 16th Century. Together they evoke the three phases of a life in music — enchantment, aspiration, and hope in times of need, and the fulfillment that’s possible in a creative life. In writing the piece, I took a certain liberty in splitting the first poem into two movements. Musically, the shakuhachi acts as the protagonist with the strings representing the poet’s interior thoughts. Considering the work’s Japanese inspiration and instrumentation, I allowed for a meditative aspect, but aside from this cultural reference, I responded to the shakuhachi’s unique sonic qualities and the allusive nature of the poems through my own creative impulses. three zen poems is dedicated to shakuhachi master James Nyoraku Schlefer, who premiered the work and performs on this recording.

— Debra Kaye

I. I take out the shakuhachi from beneath my sleeve, to blow it while waiting and the wind through the pine- scatters flowers as though a dream;

II. How much longer will I have to play until my heart is quiet again?

— Anon. Zen monk, 16th century

III.
This shakuhachi of mine
May well bear the name
'Single Night'
But now that many nights have passed
It has become the companion of my old age

— Ikkyu (15th century Zen monk and shakuhachi master)

String Quartet No. 2—Howland Quartet, commissioned for the 25th anniversary of the Howland Chamber Music Circle, honors this musical community by “telling its story,” beginning with the selection of the historic Howland Cultural Center, a venue perfect for chamber music with its magnificent wooden interior, vaulted ceilings, and resonant acoustics.

Movement I, “A shimmering idea...you decide to follow”
Shimmering harmonics gain energy as imitation passes through the four instruments for a feeling of incipience and creative excitement. Conversations unearth difficulties but come to agreement as the movement closes.

Movement II, “The beauty of the dream upon reflection”
Movement II takes its theme from the “Andante Cantabile” movement of Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No. 1 to evoke the ethos of the time that the Howland Center was built. The shimmering harmonics of the opening now overlay the Tchaikovsky quote. A duet between violin and cello symbolizes the founders' shared vision. A middle section puts us in unfamiliar terrain, using extended techniques until the lyrical theme insinuates itself again in an earthy counterpoint of plucked strings. The ending quietly points us in a new direction.

Movement III, “Danza Energico”
This lively dance expresses the regenerative spirit of the Circle as it entered a second generation. A chorale tune emerges and morphs into Jesu Joy of Man’s.

— Debra Kaye

Dating back to 1988, At Liberty is the earliest work on this recording and in many ways, a milestone in my artistic development. At Liberty evolved through successive improvisations, its elements gradually falling into place as I began feeling my way to give them a formal structure, similar to the way folk songs evolve. This intuitive process would become the way I often work as a composer. At that time, I was living in the pristine mountains of northern California near the Oregon border and had been collaborating with visionary artist and spiritual mediator Rowena Pattee Kryder, who was working to integrate art, science, and consciousness. This piece revolves around her concept of the four stages of creativity which correspond to the four elements, earth, water, air, and fire, tracing their evolution from inspiration to fruition. For me, At Liberty is also a hero's journey and a deeply personal, even confessional work of responding to my calling as a musical creator.

I wish to acknowledge my particular debt to Rowena Pattee Kryder. Throughout her life and work she explored nearly every facet of life, helping others to unlock their full potential as fully actualized creative beings. She developed a highly personal theory of creativity based on psychologist and co-founder of the London School of Economics Graham Wallas’ four stages of creativity: preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification. Wallas in turn developed his theory from a talk given by the eminent German physicist Hermann von Helmholtz, who described his process in problem solving as beginning as an investigation during which “happy ideas come unexpectedly without effort, like an inspiration.”

— Debra Kaye

A roller coaster can be a metaphor for life’s uncertainties, its ups and downs, and the variety of perspectives we gain along the way. My recent composition, Colossus 1067 is inspired by Gus Foster’s panoramic photograph taken on one of the last wooden roller coasters in the United States (the Colossus) with a rotating hand-held camera of his own creation. The enigmatic number 1067 in the title refers to the camera’s 3 rotations (360 degrees x 3 = 1080), about 3 seconds in all.

Drawing heavily on the sounds and gestures of jazz, the music is a blend of pattern and serendipity. Each instrument has its role, but changes it up from time to time. Piano, bass, and drums portray the clatter of the coaster and the machinery of its gears. Sax is most often the protagonist.

This 8-foot-wide panorama perfectly conveys the experience of a live roller coaster, the joy of a beautiful day at the amusement park, the disorienting blur of the rotating camera, the whirl of colors and sounds. I wanted the music to express the unique spirit of the photograph and to explore the ideas about time and recurrence inherent in it. Foster calls it a “Time Photograph,” a “short story…capturing a few seconds.” It can be read left to right or all at once. Past, present, and future are characters in the story as we look forward and backward, and remain also in the present. Cross rhythms portray their simultaneity and the real-time ratchet and jolt of the coaster in this still center.

— Debra Kaye