Berndt Thurner is one of the leading musicians in the western world. He has worked with me extensively on Plenty. He has a particular gift which is unique among percussionists, he understands lyricism. Mr Thurner allows Plenty to sing its soaring arias. I am honored by his devotion to my music

Stuart Saunders Smith

Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain above the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts.

Dickens, Great Expectations


Plenty is thirtyfour answers to the question of what is death. And of course when ask about death you ask about life.

Smith


This is thy hour O soul. Thy free flight into the wordless, away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done, thee fully forth emerging, silence, gazing, pondering the themes thou lovest best, night, sleep, death, and the stars.

Whitman


Plenty Performance notes:

»Plenty« is a collection of thirty-four vibraphone solos. One can perform »Plenty« in one of three versions: perform 13 compositions, 21, or all 34 pieces with the proviso that composition XXXIV is always the last one performed in all three versions.

The tempo of each solo is also composed by the vibraphonist. The tempo range for »Plenty« is between slow to moderate. Plenty of silence should be performed between the compositions to give the audience time to assimulate the music and their emotional/intellectual response to it.

The pedal indications do not always mean a complete lift of the pedal, muting the ring. Rather, the performer should invent various pedal techniques that will inhance and give nuance to the vibraphonist´s interpretational approach.

Quite often melody lines cross. Whenever possible cross hands to increase the likelyhood that the audience will hear two different lines differently. On occasion where hand-crossing is too difficult use the nearest hand.

Each solo is an answer to a single question: What is the nature of tragedy? The performer will know when they have found the interior of a piece. One´s guts will feel empty - crying becomes easy. Be careful. This music hurts.

Stuart Saunders Smith

Stuart Saunders Smith

(born 1948 in Portland, Maine, USA) is one of the leading composers of his generation. He is one of the pioneers of the confessional music movement - an intense compositional focus that reveals the most personal aspects of one´s life, in the belief that the revelations of the particular speak to the universal.

Stuart Saunders Smith´s music is performed regularly on an international basis. He has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Maryland State of Arts Council, and the Pittsburgh Film Forum, as well as the Harft College of Music Distinguished Alumni Award, and a Percussive Arts Society Citation for Distinguished Editorship.

Stuart Saunders Smith´s music is published by Sonic Arts Editions and is recorded on 11 West records, Centaur Records, Opus One Records, oodiscs, Cadenza, BV Haast, and GAC Sweden. He has authored two books: Twentieth Century Scores, Prentice-Hall; Words and Spaces, University Press of America; as well as many articles published in Perspectives of New Music, Percussionist, IS Journal, Percussive Notes, Ear Magazine, etc.

Stuart Saunders Smith has been on the faculty of the Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Darmstadt Musikinstitut (Germany), Percussion Workshop Poland, the University of Maryland at Baltimore County. Residencies include University of California-San Siego, Yale University, Documenta 1992 (Kassel, Germany), the University of Gothenberg (Sweden), and the University of Akron.

The music of Stuart Saunders Smith by John Welsh is published by Excelsior Music Press, (New York). His percussion opera »...and points north« and his newly composed piece for vibraphone and violin »Family Portraits: Erika (daughter)« are scheduled for premiere performances at Lincoln Center in New York in the fall of 2006.

Berndt Thurner, percussion

Living in Vienna, Austria.

Studied percussion at the Carinthian Conservatory in Klagenfurt and finished the study with diploma. Engaged with studies of jazz and improvisation. Passionate traveller to regions all over the world, bringing along impressions and instruments which influence his music. By getting a two-year scholarship from the Federal State government of Carinthia, Thurner completed his studies at the Sweelinck Conservatoriurn Amsterdam and graduated as »uitvoerend musicus«.

Appearances in important European Festivals as a soloist and chamber musician such as Wien modern, Holland festival, IGNM World Music Days and many others. He is playing in different ensembles for contemporary music (Klangforum Wien, Ensemble 21st Century Music, Janus ensemble, ensemble symphoid, music on LINE, exxj). Plays in different formations of chamber music and as a soloist.
He performs regularly in Europe, Asia, North- and Southamerica.

CD-releases:  (excerpt)
double image: flute and percussion works by Noda, Smith, Jarrell, Ablinger, Melchiorre
Peter Ablinger: I.E.A.O.V  works for flute and percussion with live-electronics
double image:  plays S.S.Smith works for flute and percussion
Roland Dahinden: Silberen Arditti string quartett, Hildegard Kleeb, Berndt Thurner