Randy Bauer, composer

Who or what are the most significant influences on your musical life and career as a composer?

I could say everything: all the music I’ve heard, the scores I’ve studied, the performers I’ve met and listened to. And that would be true. To be more specific, jazz is a huge influence. Composers like Ravel, Bartok, Britten, and Stravinsky are strong influences. As a pianist especially, harmony is particularly central.

What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?

Getting my work out there! It’s a niche industry, what we do, and there’s plenty of competition. At the same time, if a product has recognizable merit, there will be interest. That’s the first step, developing something strong to give to the world.

What are the special challenges/pleasures of working on a commissioned piece?

My commissions have never come with many stipulations. It’s a great privilege to be invited to do what you do, and to have that kind of freedom extended.

What are the special challenges/pleasures of working with particular musicians, singers, ensembles or orchestras?

It is a great pleasure to have any of my compositions come to life. It’s a joy to work with committed professionals, who put their all into a performance.

Of which works are you most proud?

My pieces are like my babies, and as such it’s hard to pick a favorite. I think when performers have been really into one of my pieces, it’s very gratifying. They’re effectively saying to me, I believe in this, this stands on its own. I think the piano sonatas that I’m releasing now are strong. A lot came together in these pieces.

How would you characterize your compositional language?

Equal parts 20th and 21st centuries? I’m a pianist, and a jazz pianist at that, and so much of that world is about harmony, chord voicings, spacing, permutations, and the like. So I think my harmonic vocabulary is central. But emotion is important, too, and you get all sorts of emotions in my work. A really sublime slow movement can be very special, and I managed to get one of those in my second sonata.

How do you work?

I have a home studio, and most of the action takes place there. I’m lucky when I have a sustained period in which to work, but day to day reality often means it’s more piecemeal. I only work on one piece at a time, and usually a bit of time has to pass before starting the next, to clear my mind I suppose. Starting a new piece is always hardest. Once some ideas are down, it becomes clearer how things should take shape.

As a musician, what is your definition of success?

I think it was Stephen King who said that if you receive a royalty check, however small, if you cash it, and use the money to pay the electric bill, you’re a success. I find that hilarious! I think success for me can simply be measured in terms of freedom to keep going, to keep doing this (writing music), to let pieces gestate and release them into the world. There’s always magic in hearing a new piece played, concerts are amazing, but even the first rehearsal is special. The music becomes real, it’s not just on paper or in my mind.

What advice would you give to young/aspiring composers?

Don’t feel as though your music has to conform to some standard, or be like some other composer’s, or that you have to please everyone all the time. Craft takes a while, and developing your voice takes time, but it’s worth it. If you have something to say, then say it, but do it honestly.

What’s the one thing in the music industry we’re not talking about but you think we should be?

These questions go together. I do feel that the United States deprioritizes the arts, especially access to quality and robust arts education in K-12. Once kids grow up, what motivates them to want to support the arts if they really haven’t had much prior engagement? It’s a niche thing, as I said before. Now, within that niche a lot can be happening, and it can be healthy. There are audiences, even if they’re small. But they’ve been small for a long time. That doesn’t seem to change a whole lot. What is utterly fantastic is that artists continue to create, and find ways to offer their vision to the world. People do pay attention, maybe not as much as we like. But the courage to make art is still there, talent is enormous, and each new generation is brimming with ideas. Without that, there would be nothing. I don’t think anybody wants that. I certainly don’t.

DIS/ENTANGLEMENTS Music by Randy Bauer performed by pianist Clipper Erickson is released on 13 October 2023 on the Navona Records label

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