Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times recently hailed "When Crows Gather and Other Works" as "challenging ... lucid, engrossing and vibrantly imaginative." "Mr. Spratlan proves that a rhythmically charged modern vocal style can still be alluringly lyrical," wrote Tommasini in The Times. "This recording should spread the word about Mr. Spratlan's music."
Much of Spratlan's contemporary musical style has been inspired by a series of unique events. "My work draws on a wide variety of 'stimuli,'" Spratlan said. Black crows outside his window triggered this most recent release. "This was a case of being almost overwhelmed into some sort of reflection-there were over a hundred crows and their noise was nearly scary (shades of Hitchcock's 'The Birds')," explained Spratlan. "Remembering the 'Farmer's Almanac' warning that a gathering of crows is a sign of a hard winter to come, what emerged was the series of musical diary entries-'Nine Vignettes of Winter'-that make up the piece."
Spratlan's piece for 10 instruments, "Sojourner," was inspired by the Mars Rover. "[Sojourner would go around] sampling Martian objects with its little hinged snout," said Spratlan. "[My] thoughts [were] about how sojourners on Earth sample pockets of society in that same way."
"A fascination with the idea of finding the musical equivalent of 'zooming in' photography," sparked Spratlan's piece for chamber orchestra, he said. "'Streaming,' a piece for piano and three strings, is about those moments when we're half-asleep half-awake and not fully in control of our thoughts, though aware of them," said Spratlan. "So, things that generate a piece for me are of many different kinds."
Spratlan, who has been teaching at the College since 1970, when he founded and conducted the Amherst-Mt. Holyoke Orchestra, began composing seriously in his senior year of college. "I had done many vocal arrangements and a number of little pieces as far back as eighth or ninth grade," he said. At such a young age, Spratlan could scarcely imagine that his devotion to music would take him so far. In 2001, he received the Pulitzer Prize in Music for Act II of the concert version of "Life Is a Dream." According to Spratlan, the experience of winning a Pulitzer was both "thrilling and slightly unbelievable."
Although Spratlan was an active performer at a very young age, he encourages those who have yet to study music to seize the opportunity in college. "Such study can open a whole universe of experience and feeling and insights into humanity that may not be available without some prompting and keys about how to direct the ears," he said. "Once that has happened you can take it from there on your own and a world of pleasure, with little islands of charged order, is yours."
Fans of Spratlan will have a variety of opportunities to hear his work over the next year. A Spratlan concert will be performed in Buckley Recital Hall next year. The CD of "When Crows Gather and Other Works" is also widely available. In the fall, Ellen Redford, a flute teacher from Smith College, will premier "Piccolodium" for piccolo and piano at Smith. A workshop of Act III of Spratlan's opera "Life is a Dream" will take place in New York soon.