Steelworks

The name of composer Anna Clyne (b. 1980) will be new to most listeners this evening. Clyne is one of the most successful young British composers, having been featured by the world’s leading conductors for the past decade. She is currently composer-in-residence with the Chicago Symphony. Steelworks was commissioned by TACTUS, the contemporary music ensemble at Manhattan School of Music where Clyne was studying. The 15-minute work premiered at Manhattan School in 2006 and has been performed on a handful of occasions since then. It is scored for four on-stage performers (appearing in construction jumpers and hard hats) plus audiotape. The tape part contains Clyne’s recorded interviews with employees and machinery at Flame Cut Steelworks, the last active steel factory in Brooklyn. Around these interviews, she weaves a musical texture inspired by the rhythms of her mechanistic subject matter. There are multiple sections whose moods range from motoric to mystical to frantic. Along the way Clyne indulges in curious manipulations of the audio interviews. For its world premiere, Steelworks also included a companion film showing clips from a 1936 steel industry documentary. Ironically, the Brooklyn factory which inspired Clyne closed its doors just one month after she made these recordings.

(c) Jason Stell