The PORTRAITS COLLECTION is a set of four works composed by Vanessa McClintock with commissions from the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission (SMAC), beginning in 1987 with the original PORTRAITS .
(At least) in the beginning, a requisite was attached to each commission: create a work of art that somehow represents Sacramento. There was an outcry from many artists claiming that such a request stifled their creativity, and they would not be able to fully express themselves.
However, I saw it as an opportunity for creative freedom. SMAC gave me a goal and a very, very loose, and very, very broad boundary. I saw an opportunity to push this boundary to its limits--which could be, essentially, whatever I wanted it to be; what was important was the goal , which to me translated as purpose and direction.
PORTRAITS COLLECTION is both musical sculpture and canvas that portrays or reflects upon the known and lesser known of Sacramento’s past. At times the music may specifically depict a scene or at another instant might be the personal feelings of the composer for people and events portrayed.
Each of these four "portraits," then, represents the many sundry facets of the greater Sacramento (California, USA) area and its history. It is rich with evolution, revolution, tragedy, success, dreams fulfilled, characters of many natures, a vast cultural population, and a future that can be as rich and varied as its past. Although each section (movement) is a musical portrait of various people, events, places, things, and of ideas, they are not necessarily about well-known aspects of Sacramento’s history—some can be considered to have become obscured over the years, but each has had an impact to someone, somewhere.
PORTRAITS: This one started them all, in 1987. It is written for chamber orchestra with baritone vocalist and synthesizer and was premiered by The Summer Chamber Orchestra with the composer conducting. It addresses mostly lesser-known people and events, with the exception of the Pony Express. Themes are based on a Native-American girl (Mariah) abducted by another tribe who eventually escapes; a Southern African-American slave (Archy Lee) who successfully challenged slavery status in California whilst traveling as a slave; the very first Japanese immigrant (Okei-San) in the United States, a young geisha who travelled to California with a family; and the famous—but short-lived Pony Express; and concludes with Immigration, a tribute referencing the merging of 160+ ethnic immigrant groups and their unique cultures in the Greater Sacramento region.
PORTRAITS 2: for large jazz band ensemble, with violin and cello, soprano and narrator. Its premiere was in 1988 by the California State University, Sacramento (CSUS) large jazz band, with the composer at the keyboard. Although the instrumentation is decidedly “jazz” on paper, it is in reality “tinged” by the influence of jazz in the “big band ensemble” way, reflecting the composer’s college studies with one of her greatest mentors, Herb Harrison. During her college years Mr. Harrison introduced one of her works, Sun, Rise, with a bit of a disclaimer in the form of a question, “Is it jazz, or isn’t it.” He went on to explain that I was using established jazz components in my own unique perspective. The solo violin and cello, the narrator, and the percussion that is fully notated as would a composer of a “classical” work are clear indicators that this is a unique work. At another concert another mentor, Dr. Daniel Kingman, conducted the premiere of another work for a “New American Music” concert and in his introduction posed “Is it modern and new, or isn’t it.” That was in 1974; “modern” music since then has become considerably more tonal.
It begins with an Invitation, then covers The City of Sacramento, Indo Arch (large outdoor sculpture), and the Viet Nam War Memorial (with vocal). It concludes with a Postlude recap.
PORTRAITS 3: for full orchestra, had its premiere performance with the composer conducting the Consumnes River College (and community) orchestra in 1989. Its themes are an incident of Native-Americans reacting to their first sight and meeting with a white baby of European descent (The White Baby Cries); the relationship between a young Chinese-American girl and her Chinese immigrant grandfather (The Wall); a very young and obviously impoverished Hispanic girl (That Ryde Girl) featured in a large black-and-white photograph inside the California State Museum (in Old Sacramento); a young boy (TryCycle) with grand ideas to travel from Sacramento to San Francisco—on his tiny tricycle, encountered bullies who beat him and attempted to steal his tricycle, and his safe return home; a young girl who died in her early teens and her scant but valued personal treasures that were placed in a small box and sealed with wax (The Waxed Box); and a tribute in general to the innate faith found in children universally (The Faith of a Child).
PORTRAITS 4: from 1993 for Symphonic Winds (not a concert band) was premiered by Dr. Lester Lehr and the American River College (and community) Symphonic Wind Ensemble with noted news anchor Stan Atkinson narrating. The theme and subtitle are “The Four Elements” and how they impacted Sacramento’s history through the Earth from its native and natural habitat and eventual human habitation from the Native Americans to pioneers to later immigration and development; the Wind with musical interpretation of the placid and comforting evening “delta breezes” that bring relief to the hot Sacramento summers; Fire, based on the fires that destroyed historic Sacramento on multiple occasions; and Water, following the Sacramento River from its headwaters at the base of Mt. Shasta in upper California and its evolution as it flows from the mountains and through the valley, including the great floods from the confluence of the Sacramento and American rivers and multiple occasions. A “fifth element,” that of Hope for our people and our future concludes the work.
Each of the links at the top of this page will take you to a page with an option to view and hear the complete work as a whole, or by sections. You may link to the full score viewable on screen and downloadable PDFs, and audio recordings of the work.
The full/complete downloadable score includes cover, notes, and narratives for each section/movement.
Parts will be made available upon confirmation of concert programming.
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