Mason Bates

Introduction
Mason Bates is an American Grammy-nominated composer of symphonic music and DJ of electronic dance music born January 23rd, 1977 in Richmond, Virginia. He received his Ph.D from the University of California, Berkeley in composition. While he was there he was a DJ who performed in clubs and lounges. His work led to the founding of Mercury Soul which combines the use of classical music with DJing to create music for clubs and orchestras.

Work Analysis
The work I will be analyzing is Mason Bates' Violin Concerto. The concerto is scored for violin and orchestra and was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and violinist Anne Akiko Meyers. It premiered December 7, 2012. The Violin Concerto is composed in three continuous movements Archaeopteryx, Lakebed Memories, and The Rise of the Birds. Bates describes the style of the piece in his program notes as acoustic to fully showcase the solo violin. The piece is composed for solo violin and an orchestra consisting of two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in B-flat, two bassoons, four French horns, four trumpets, two trombones, bass trombone, tuba, three percussionists, timpani, piano, harp, and strings. The solo violinist is described as a hybrid part rhythmic and part elegant. This hybrid is compared to the Upper Jurassic Archaeopteryx which is half dinosaur half bird. The beginning of the piece features a lot of percussion even including the orchestra hitting on their stringed instruments to create different rhythmic patterns. When the solo violinist is not playing the orchestra creates a grand arch of sound that resonates into the different solo violinist themes. The orchestra mainly keeps time for the soloist and creates substance behind her. Throughout the piece, there are many instances of call and response patterns between the orchestra and solo violinist.

Comparisons
Bates' most famous influences are John Corigliano, David Del Tredici and Samual Adler who he studied with while receiving his BA and MM at Columbia University-Julliard School. His music is tonal so he can be compared to a number of composers who also wrote tonal music along with using exotic electronic sounds to add uniqueness. He was inspired by Corigliano's idea that "orchestral work should concern themselves with big ideas." Some of his non-musical inspirations come from studying magical realism, metafiction, and postmodern fiction.

Observations
I loved reading about a composer who also doubled as a DJ I thought that was really cool. Because he is so modern and is still young I wonder what his opinion would be on some of the modern-day rappers who are starting to use classical instruments in their songs and over samples. It would be cool to compare some of his DJing techniques with those of artists I listen to today.