Music
Full Orchestra Go To Chamber Music |
Akin To Fire 3(picc.).2.2.2 / 4.2.3.1/timp/2 perc/ str |
Akin
To Fire (12') begins with a single musical thought that transforms
and journeys through a landscape of emotions and states that encompass
longing, searching, anxiety, anger, playful innocence, and ultimately
triumph.
“Transformation is at the root of “Akin
To Fire”- both a transformation of musical elements and the
transforming power of human experience…[it] is a taut muscle
of counterpoint, heaving with emotion” –Newark
Star Ledger, 5/8/2001 “The audience responded with a long and enthusiastic ovation” – Classical NJ. 5/23/01 |
The Art Spirit (Eight Miniatures after the Paintings of Young People)3(picc).2(eh).2.2./4.3.3.1/timp.3 perc/hp./str |
"The Art Spirit" (32’) is a suite drawn from two orchestral commissions from the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts (Cape May, New Jersey) in 2004 and 2005 for its “Sights and Sounds” educational program. The two original suites were each premiered at the Cape May Music Festival by the Bay-Atlantic Symphony, conducted by Jed Gaylin. The focus of the project was to have students react with musical ideas — both actual and descriptive — to the abstract paintings of fellow students. I was given the task of creating symphonic movements in response to the student artwork of my choice. My musical responses ranged from creating a representational description of visual elements, to creating a story from a painting, to capturing the emotional tone of a painting or group of paintings. The Art Spirit is a composite work, using selected movements from both year’s projects. |
 I.
Out of Nothing |
| “Out
of Nothing” begins with a high C in the violins, suggesting the blank starting point of artistic creation. Next come the pitches of the natural overtone series depicting the refraction of light into the seven basic colors, followed by swirling woodwind passages representing the act of painting. |
| II.
Purple Loops |
| In “Purple
Loops” the harp plays a continuous musical “loop” pattern while the “purple” sound of combined english horn and bassoon provides the melodic line amidst “dots” of sound played by percussion, brass, and woodwind instruments. |
| III.
A Bad Day at the Boardwalk |
| “A Bad Day at the Boardwalk” starts with the sound of the arcade games and rides so universally found at seaside resorts. From beneath this a melancholy waltz emerges, continuing along its way quietly amid outbursts of frenzy and “boom-box” beats and ending as the manic sounds of the boardwalk fade in the distance. |
| IV.
Ruby Loops |
| “Ruby
Loops” is
a delicate piece in the ruby-colored key of A-flat major. A repeated
sixteenth-note pattern serves as a basis for the interplay of melodic
motifs. |
| V.
The Persistence of Time |
| “The Persistence of Time” is a surreal musical landscape where time is sped up and slowed down through use of polyrythms. |
| VI.
House Party |
| In “House Party” hip-hop meets fughetta. I saw trails of light left by the arms and legs of break dancers in the young person’s painting. |
| VII.
The Old Woman |
| “The Old Woman in the Window” interweaves image and memory. The pastel picture I chose suggested an old, ornate Victorian home. I associate this image with the memory of seeing a very old woman staring outside through a wavy, leaded glass windowpane. Was she real or a ghost? What were her memories and dreams? |
| VIII.
The Mystery |
| The final movement “The Mystery” was based on three paintings. It begins with a meditation and fugue followed by a re-statement of ideas from the opening movement, and concludes with an innocent and joyous jig inspired by a bright, playful painting and the birth of my daughter. |
Jubilee 2(picc.).2.2.2 / 4.3.3.1/ timp / 3 perc. / strs. |
| Jubilee (5’30”) is a joyous, lyrical and rhythmically propulsive work that is an excellent ‘opener” for a concert. Jubilee was commissioned by the New Jersey Youth Symphony for their twenty-fifth anniversary in 2004. My inspiration for this overture came from the young musicians themselves who possessed a wonderful level of energy, dedication, and love of music. I also could not help but notice a “love” of cell phones, video games, and chatting when not engrossed in music making. As a result, I incorporated musical ideas that suggest those things into the compositional fabric. All of the material for the overture is derived from the opening motif. |
Closer to Home 2(picc.).2(e.h.).2.2/4.2.3./-timp/2perc./hp./str. (optional piano) |
| (8’30”) This beautiful and richly melodic suite is drawn from the score to the award-winning film. Closer To Home is an accessible, and moving concert work that has broad audience appeal. |
Dance Symphony 2(picc.).2(e.h.).2.2./4.2.3.0/hp./ pn & cel /timp., 3perc/ str. |
| I.
Prologue |
| Dance Symphony (20’) Commissioned for the 2000 Conductors Institute at Bard College, NY, USA. The four-movement Dance Suite is an exciting, rhythmically-driven work that draws upon diverse elements such as Bop, Nuevo Tango, Latin and the composer’s distinctive lyricism. The opening Prologue is jazz-informed, nervous and contrapuntal, A Heart in Winter is the elegiac second movement, De-Tangoed is a tribute to Nuevo Tango composer Astor Piazzolla, Street Play is the joyous finale of this “tour de force of the imagination”. > |
| II.
A Heart in Winter |
| (7') The powerful and lyric second movement of Dance Suite can stand alone as a concert piece. This elegiac work expresses the deeply felt emotions that come along with the experience of great personal loss. |
| III.
De Tangoed |
| The third movement to Dance Symphony, "De-Tangoed" is a tribute to Nuevo Tango composer Astor Piazzolla. |
| IV.
Street Play |
| "Street Play" is the joyous finale of (Dance Symphony) this "tour de force of the imagination." |
Lord Sedley’s Masque 2 flutes (picc.), oboe/e.hn, bn,/vln.,vla.,vc. Cb/ harp, gt., piano/harpsichord/celeste (one player)/ 3 percussion/ singer-actor (tenor). Single strings or 3-6 violins, 2-4 vlas, 2-3 vc. 1 bass. |
| Lord Sedley’s Masque – (or The Revels of Love Revealing)( 23)’: is an imaginative and entertaining score written in the style of a Renaissance masque, but for a modern instrumental “consort” and singer/actor. The masque alternates renaissance-style dances with verses telling the story of the amorous adventures of “Corydon and Phyllis”. |
| Divertimento from Lord Sedley’s Masque (13’) a suite of the dances from the masque. |
Sea Songs 1.1.1.1-1.0.0.0/pn/ hp/ accordion/ str. Optional version for solo violin and orchestra: 1.1.1.1-1.0.0.0/ pn/ hp/ str. Both versions can also be performed with single strings. |
| (13’) A haunting and evocative four-movement work inspired by vivid images and feelings of the cold, vast, desolate seacoast of New England. Sea Songs is a unique and moving concert work embraced by audiences in the US and Europe. |
Chamber Music |
The Sketchbook (fl.ob/eh.cl.hn.vln.vc.cb.perc.narrator) |
| (15')
is a work for narrator and instrumental octet. The story is told
through the text, music and projection of selected student artwork
that support the narrative. The Sketchbook was inspired by a teacher’s
idea: “I can envision a story forming from the simple act
of providing a young artist with the basic tools he needs to show
the world what is inside of him”. I took this idea and created an original storyline and score. The boy in my story has a vivid imagination that he keeps private. He “hears colors and sees sounds” (known as “synesthesia”) and lives in the inner world of his drawings and paintings. Through conflict from bullies, support and change from his teacher, the boy is transformed through “showing the world what is inside of him”. The musical ideas are generated from the main theme of the work, and for the most part the boy is represented by the violin and his art teacher by the cello. The main musical motif of the work is a major second as heard at the beginning of the piece. |
Vanishing Lands Flute, violin, viola, cello, and harp. |
| Vanishing Lands (10’) is
a musical response to the disappearance of American farmland and
its culture. “Americana” nostalgia contrasted with contemporary
elements makes this poignant work a subtle, but powerful statement
about the passing of a simpler way of life. |
Love Song |
| Love Song, (3.5’) for soprano, flute and harp. This beautifully melodic work is effective for concert performance and appropriate for wedding ceremonies. |
| Three Fitzgerald Songs , Soprano and piano. Texts from poetry by Jeanne Fitzgerald –“Love’s Poor Bird, “Waiting”, and “Catechism”. |
| Through the Valley of the Shadow (12’) for guitar and viola. Commissioned for Duofresco –Brett Deubner, viola, Christopher Kenniff, guitar. |