About the Music

We thank the composer for sharing this program note:

"A certain degree of neurosis is of inestimable value as a drive, especially to a psychologist." This quote is by Sigmund Freud, I cam across it while writing my piece ‘Sigmund Says’, a chamber piece with narrator based on quotes of Freud. At the time that I was writing this piece I had already finished my bass clarinet and percussion duo, and was desperately searching for a title. ‘A Certain Degree of Neurosis’ jumped up at me as a perfect title for this music. Neurosis is a mental and emotional disorder that affects only part of the personality. My duo has elements of neurosis. It attempts to combine very individual sounds and make them work as a whole. Sounds that the ear does not expect to work together, but knows individually. -In the first movement I use the African djun-djun drum, which is basically a bass drum and a cow bell . The bass clarinet acts almost like another percussive element, playing a fast rhythmic melody that partners with the djun-djun to make a cohesive groove. In the second movement the percussionist takes another Africa drum called the Djembe and adds rhythm to a flowing bass clarinet melody. Soloing around it, breaking the beat and being all percussive in what seems to be a slow and graceful movement. In the 3rd movement we bring out the roto-toms, which are small tunable drums. Again the bass clarinet and the percussionist unite to make a rhythmical structure with a melody emerging in the bass clarinet and copied by the rotot-toms. In the fourth movement the metal family of percussion's come out and I use both the hi-hat and the suspended cymbal. I start of with color, using a bow on the cymbals and multi phonic on the bass clarinet. But the piece quickly becomes groove oriented and a catchy melody is treated, repeated and grooved on by the Neurotic duo.

Duo score: 25 pages, spiral bound. Extended-range instrument required for bass clarinet part. Edited by Skyler Hedblom

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About the Composer

Composer Gene Pritsker has written over eight hundred compositions, including chamber operas, orchestral and chamber works, electro-acoustic music and songs for hip-hop and rock ensembles. His compositions employ an eclectic spectrum of styles, that are influenced by his studies of various musical cultures.

He is the founder and leader of Sound Liberation, an eclectic hip hop-chamber-jazz-rock-etc. ensemble. He also Co-Directs Composers Concordance. Gene's music is performed all over the world at internationally recognized festivals and by highly respected ensembles and performers.

Gene is also a guitarist/rapper/Di.J./ and producer and incorporates each of these musical attributes to create music that is "not designed for easy listening or to melt into the background. It is insistent. It demands attention and curiosity." (New York Newsday)

He co-founded the Grammy-nominated Absolute Ensemble with Kristjan Jarvi and has been a composer in residence and guitarist since its creation in 1993. Gene's music has been performed worldwide at various festivals and by many ensembles and performers including the The Adelaide Symphony, MDR Symphony, The Athens Camerata, China Philharmonic Orchestra, Brooklyn, Shanghai and Berlin Philharmonics, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, St. Luke’s Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonietta Riga, Orchester des Pfalztheaters, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Anhaltische Philharmonie as well as such soloists as Anne Akiko Meyers, Lara St. John, Sarah Chang, Kathleen Supové, Martin Kuuskmann and Simone Dinnerstein. He worked closely with jazz fusion legend Joe Zawinul and has orchestrated major Hollywood movies, including ‘’ The Matrix Resurrections’ and Cloud Atlas', for which he wrote additional music and composed his ''Cloud Atlas Symphony’ released in 2022 on NEscapes Records. He is also the lead orchestrator for such TV series and Babylon Berlin, Jett, Leopard Skin and Netflix's Sense8 and Messiah.

He is co-director of Composers Concordance Records and artist-in-residence at the Austrian Outreach Festival. Gene Pritsker's music is published by: Falls House Press, Gold Branch Music, Periferia Sheet Music & Calabrese Brothers music and recorded on: Col Legno, Enja, Eutrepe, Wergo, Innova , Composers' Concordance Records, SONY Classical, and Capstone record labels.

The New York Times described him as "...audacious...multitalented." Joseph Pehrson, writing in The Music Connoisseur, described Pritsker as "dissolving the artificial boundaries between high brow, low brow, classical, popular musics and elevates the idea that if it's done well it is great music, regardless of the style or genre". Raul d'Gama Rose writes in All About Jazz: "Barring the obvious exceptions, much of 21st century composition appears to be thinning in significance, but this might be about to change. Gene Pritsker is one of a very spare handful of composers effecting this change." Evan Burke writes in ICareIf YouListen: "Pritsker seems to look at all music as one genre, in which all other possible styles, sounds and traditions are meant to be used as building blocks and palette colors, combined in various configurations to create a boundless whole. This result is almost always more interesting, and representative of how most new music will be born in the 21st century, as genres and barriers begin to vanish, and as styles begin cross-fertilizing in previously unimagined ways." Classical Music Sentinel writes: "His expressive reach is so wide as to encompass everything from ethno/techno, rock/jazz fusion, classical opera and more, and it all seems to be effortlessly integrated within his anima and comes out through different facets of his persona. You could almost see him as a modern day renaissance man."

Organizations he is associated with include: Co-director of Composers Concordance & Composers Concordance Records, co-founder/guitarist of Absolute Ensemble and artist-in residence at the Austrian Outreach Festival. Gene Pritsker's music is published by: Falls House Press, Gold Branch Music, Periferia Sheet Music & Calabrese Brothers music. Recorded on: Col Legno, Enja, Eutrepe, Wergo, Innova , Composers' Concordance Records, SONY Classical, and Capstone record labels.