Ourself Behind Ourself, Concealed

The esteemed composers and performers on the release include (from left) Dave Eggar, Phil Faconti, Martha Redbone, Tasha Warren, Paquito D’Rivera, Pascal Le Boeuf, and Meg Okura. (Not pictured: Nathalie Joachim and Cornelius Boots)

The title of clarinetist and bass clarinetist Tasha Warren’s latest release, “Ourself Behind Ourself, Concealed,” comes from Emily Dickinson’s poem, “One need not be a Chamber to be Haunted.”

The poem’s essence—that everyone is in some way “haunted” by their own unconscious—led Warren and multi-Grammy-nominated cellist, pianist, and composer Dave Eggar to invite diverse composers from across the U.S. to reflect on the paradox of recent times when everything seems to be standing still yet fundamentally altered. The concept Warren and her musical partners explored inspired the performers and composers for this unique project

Warren, an assistant professor of chamber music at the Michigan State University College of Music, worked with Eggar to commission six of today’s most dynamic and influential composers for the chamber music project, including Paquito D’Rivera, Cornelius Boots, Martha Redbone, Nathalie Joachim, Meg Okura, and Pascal Le Boeuf.

The project involved Tasha Warren (left) and Dave Eggar (center) commissioning six composers/performers, like Meg Okura (right), who gathered in early April to perform premieres and conduct workshops on campus.

“Ourself Behind Ourself, Concealed” explores the unprecedented reckoning and surreal struggle to survive during the global pandemic. It was released in April on the Bright Shiny Things label, and the project was made possible by a 2020 MSU HARP Development Grant.

Warren said the collective compositions on the recording weave together influences that range from Far East Asia, the Haitian Caribbean, the plains of Africa, Cuba, Appalachia, and New York to form a beautiful and poignant collision of musical styles. Composers represented on the release are known for working in a variety of genres, and they represent a cross-section of generations and places. Each composer is also a renowned performer; several appear on their own compositions with Warren and Eggar.

Seen here with Tasha Warren, one of the esteemed composers commissioned for the recording by Warren and Dave Eggar is fourteen-time Grammy winner Paquito D’Rivera, a renowned artist in Latin jazz and classical music.

“These new works come to life via the shape-shifting nature of the complimentary instruments of clarinet and cello to tell stories of beauty, power, joy, ecstasy, isolation, and unity,” Warren said. “The compositions are all uniquely inspired by personal narrative, identity, and the time they were written.”

Warren is an avid teacher and international performer having premiered more than 100 solo clarinet and chamber works through the U.S., Europe, China, South Korea and India. She has recorded widely, and has earned praise from International Record Review, Fanfare Magazine, The Clarinet Magazine, and others. She is a member of American Modern Ensemble and Jackson Symphony and performs regularly with the Lansing Symphony.

The great Paquito D’Rivera introduces his composition, African Tales, for the “Ourself Behind Ourself, Concealed” premiere events in April.

Eggar is a four-time Grammy nominee, an Independent Music Award-winner, and has performed world-wide as a solo cellist, pianist, and composer. A virtuoso in classical music, jazz, and rock, Eggar has performed, recorded and arranged for artists such as Foreigner, Evanescence, Norah Jones, Paul Simon, Frank Ocean, Breaking Benjamin, Esperanza Spalding, Lindsey Stirling, Judy Collins, Michael Brecker, James Taylor, and others.

“This project represents the culmination of several years of collaboration, friendship, and contemplative self-reflection of everyone involved,” said Warren. “By seeking new voices and new stories to tell in classical music, Dave and I reveal and combine our own varied interests, backgrounds, and friendships to explore what makes a ‘classic’ in classical music today.”