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Four-year friendship produces innovative artistic collaboration

by MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson

In August 2009, they were new acquaintances with a shared love of music. Today, they are more than just friends鈥攖hey鈥檙e artistic collaborators who have ventured into new musical territory.

The class of 2014鈥檚 David Cochrane (music, Russian), Stephen Reale (music, neuroscience) and Alex Strenta (music) were jointly awarded the 2014 Weiss Prize, which funds the production of a creative work by a student or students studying music, art, theatre, dance or creative writing. Their Weiss-funded concert featured two original compositions on a related theme and was led by the first music major in Dickinson history to graduate with a concentration in conducting.

鈥淲e鈥檇 been talking about collaborating for a couple of years,鈥� says Reale, who had written a multimovement, a cappella work as part of a composition class and challenged Strenta to write a complementary instrumental piece, with Cochrane conducting. 鈥淲e put a lot of emotion and effort into this,鈥� says Reale, 鈥渟o presenting this concert together as seniors is awesome.鈥�

Diametric styles

The concert, staged in April, was titled Night and Day, a reference not only to the theme of the works, but also to the composers鈥� diametric styles.

Reale鈥檚 piece, an atmospheric vocal setting of Clark Ashton鈥檚 鈥淭he Summer Moon,鈥� traced one person鈥檚 experiences through the course of one night. His process was highly intuitive. 鈥淚 felt my way through鈥攊t鈥檚 a matter of, 鈥業 like the way that sounded,鈥� 鈥� he explains. 鈥淭he ideas just came spilling out.鈥�

鈥淚 start with the structure,鈥� says Strenta, who wrote a poem about the course of one day and used it to guide his music. 鈥淎nd when I have an idea, I have to mull it over for two weeks鈥攊t鈥檚 a grueling thing.鈥� In contrast to Reale鈥檚 piece, which is experimental, Strenta鈥檚 early sketches were deeply rooted in Mozart and Bach.

Enter the interpreter

When they relinquished their scores to Cochrane, Reale and Strenta didn鈥檛 know exactly how the pieces would sound live, or how Cochrane would interpret them. In the past, they鈥檇 conducted their own compositions. And Cochrane, like all conductors presenting premieres, had no previous scores or performances of the works to reference, so like the composers, he started from scratch. After poring over the scores for weeks鈥攊nterpreting, and hashing out details, like where the singers should take a breath鈥攈e gathered the student-musicians, and they got to work.

鈥淚n the beginning of rehearsals, the conductor is like a construction worker鈥攜ou鈥檙e building a foundation with the musicians鈥攁nd in the end, you refine it,鈥� he explains. 鈥淲ith Alex鈥檚 piece, it was about dynamics. With Stephen鈥檚 piece, it was all about the tone and how to get the singers to really emote.鈥�

After hearing the music performed, Reale and Strenta worked with Cochrane to tweak the scores as needed. Strenta, ever a perfectionist, changed the fifth-to-last note during the last week of rehearsals, so the ending had the right punch on concert night.

Both composers were thrilled with Cochrane鈥檚 results. 鈥淢y score might say, 鈥業 need you to spit this out disgustedly while sliding downward and whispering,鈥� and David is the sort of middle man who can take that direction and understand what it is that I鈥檓 hearing in my head,鈥� Reale says. 鈥淭he imagined score matches the reality.鈥�

Beyond game day

Looking back, the musicians are proud to note that the project was entirely student-produced and performed. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a really cool experience, and it reflects the path of the music department in general鈥攖he professors get us to perform at a certain level, and then they just say, 鈥榞o,鈥� 鈥� says Cochrane, who will pursue a master鈥檚 in conducting at the University of South Carolina next year.

Strenta likens the effort it took to produce the concert鈥攁nd the friendships that were strengthened along the way鈥攖o his experiences with the track & field and cross country teams.

鈥淵ou prep for a race for months and months of boring miles and hard workouts, and there鈥檚 a lot of struggle. It doesn鈥檛 go well 100 percent of the time,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut on game day, all of the work is worth it. You realize, 鈥業 can do this,鈥� and you can go forward with that in your back pocket. You know that you鈥檒l be able to handle any challenge that comes up.鈥�

Learn more

• "Music as Cross-Cultural Conversation"
• "Do You Know Jack?"
• The arts at Dickinson
• Press release: Weiss Prize for the Arts
• "Celebrating Scholarships"

Published May 12, 2014