Arts and Entertainment

New album to bring life to professor's compositions

By Josh Brunsting GVL Staff Writer
10/7/2009

Robert Shechtman's work can finally be heard again with the first commercial release of his music.

The album, "Robert Shechtman: Moons and Ancestors," is full of music composed by the former Grand Valley State University professor of composition, who died in 2002.

A native of New Jersey, Shechtman came to GVSU's Thomas Jefferson College as a teacher of music composition in 1971. The album includes three pieces Shechtman wrote during the '90s.

"Robert Shechtman is one of the very few serious music/classical composers in the Grand Rapids area," said Glenn Freeman, a member of OgreOgress Productions, the company behind the release of this album.

The album features three pieces: "Ancestral Songs," a horn and organ piece, which was written for Paul Austin and Gregory Crowell; "Variations on the Huang Chung of the Eleventh Moon," which was written for the group Ethnoeccentric; and "Water from the Moon," which was written for performer Christina Fong, who worked on the recording.

"Each group and/or performer has a specific piece written for them," Fong said.

The sounds and styles of each song also span genres.

"The piece has many creative elements," said performer Paul Austin. "For example, at the beginning of the piece, Bob (Shechtman) requested that I hold the horn up in the air to sound like a shofar, which is a ram's horn used during High Holy Days. This gives the horn a more primitive sound. The piece really pushes the limits of technique."

This eclectic style fits perfectly with the late composer's diverse taste.

"Bob (Shechtman) had many styles, but you can basically divide his music into two camps: jazz and non-jazz," Fong said. "Unlike many other composers, these two had no relation to each other. His jazz pieces were very traditional and his non-jazz pieces were often, but not always, experimental."

His life was just as varied as his music.

"His music is as colorful as he was," Fong said. "Anyone who knows Bob (Shechtman) has stories about him. He would say things just to get a rise or to engage people in interesting discussions. He loved his motorcycles, bikes and most of all his cats."

As well as being the first commercial release from this composer, this is also a personal release for those who knew him.

"He attended one of my first performances as the GVSU horn teacher," Austin said. "From that performance, he said that he wanted to write a piece to feature me, and we spent hours in a coffee shop in East Grand Rapids discussing everything from religion to teaching. This led to his decision to compose the piece for horn and organ 'Ancestral Songs.'"

However, to many, Shectman was more than simply a composer or an artist.

"Bob (Shechtman) was my friend and one I still miss and remember so vividly after all of these years as if he was still alive," Fong said. "To have known Bob, to have met Bob, is to never forget Bob. Let's just say he made an impression. Unlike many or most of his colleagues, Bob was a personality."

For more information on "Robert Shechtman: Moons and Ancestors," visit http://www.ogreogress.com.

jbrunsting@lanthorn.com

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