Hypoxia - Read by the Toledo Symphony Orchestra. November 8, 2016.

Recorded during an unrehearsed reading session. Published with permission from the TSO.

Hypoxia is a musical narrative inspired by descriptions of near-death experiences. Combining the inner peace of the sufferer’s consciousness, the hyperactivity of his neurological system, and the urgency of the world surrounding him, Hypoxia juxtaposes simple tonal gestures with highly agitated rhythmic motives and atonal effects.

Hypoxia - Toledo Symphony Orchestra

Aleksander Tengesdal, cello. September 29, 2016.

I. The Persistence of Memory (0:00)
II. The Meditative Rose (2:29)
III. Swans Reflecting Elephants (5:04)
IV. Landscape with Butterflies (6:26)
V. The Disintegration of The Persistence of Memory (8:03)

SCF 9/2016

Five Dali Miniatures

A teaser of "Refractions" performed by the Brno Philharmonic under the baton of Maestro Mikel Toms.

Now available at www.ablazerecords.net

Refractions Teaser

The Lord Bless You And Keep You

Based on my poem of the same name.

Recorded in rehearsal by:
Kenneth J. Cox, flutes/percussion
Derek Emch, clarinets/percussion
Brandi Main, violin
Otavio Kavakama, cello
Ariel daCosta, piano
Nicholas Fox, percussion

I stood and stared at a lake
in a rainstorm,
watched it grow
absorbing its torment,
and resented it when
I only got wet.

I stood and stared at a lake in a rainstorm

Purpose, for improvising keyboardist and electronic track.

Premiered at the 38th Annual Bowling Green New Music Festival (2017).

Purpose - Guided Improv

Guided improv with electronics. 

Premiered at the 38th Annual Bowling Green New Music Festival (2017).

Oceanography

Songs from the Barstool was written in 2017 for percussionist Scott Charvet. Originally transcribed onto several bar napkins, Songs from the Barstool is a rhythmically-set amalgamation of one-sided conversations I participated while bartending through my master's degree.

There's an old adage that has been passed down from generations of bartenders. "People go to bars when they can't afford therapy." During my time as a bartender, I was astounded by how many people were willing to trust me with incredibly personal information just moments after I handed them a napkin and a Stella Artois. There is a specific type of bar-goer – not my usuals, not my friends, but strangers – who often tell me these personal stories. Between my interest in Cagean music philosophy and my general disinterest in these people’s lives, I often found myself listening to the internal rhythms of their speech, rather than the actual words about their marriage. I could always tell when I wasn't the first bartender to hear a customer's story or anecdote, because in these cases, the slightly-buzzed orator reaches moments of rhythmic regularity not present in their extemporaneous conversation. When I wasn't feeling the aforementioned apathy, I appreciated these stories for their slightly-masked, yet authentic personal expressions of universal human struggle, "rehearsed" or not. 

Songs from the Barstool imitates both regular and irregular rhythmic speech patterns (highlighted by the accompaniment of bar glasses, wood blocks, bongos, and a triangle) in a fictional retelling of a common bar-side venting session. This story was written to contain generic themes and characters. Any resemblance to real people is purely coincidental.

Songs from the Barstool

Alligator Piano is based on a video of my niece Claire playing a piano that looks like an alligator, with her toddler musings being the central motives of a form inspired by early childhood development and the disjunct story-telling of two-year-olds.

Alligator Piano

BGSU's A Cappella Choir, under the direction of Dr. Mark Munson, performing my work for a cappella mixed choir, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" (text by Dylan Thomas: permissions secured)

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Performed by the Baltimore Choral Arts Society. Anthony Blake Clark, artistic director. 

Dedicated in loving memory of Stephen Paulus, The Lord Bless You and Keep You is written to both emulate and subvert the techniques of Paulus's choral writing This duality evokes a simultaneous sense of peace and emptiness, a feeling similar to the loss felt by the choral community after Paulus's untimely passing.

The Lord Bless You And Keep You - BCAS

Oboe: Jonathan Thompson
Clarinet: Erin Cameron
Bassoon: Alex Meaux

I wrote "I want to build that shed out in the garden" in the Autumn of 2018.

I am hesitant to address depression in my writings or my pieces. While it has been more-or-less present throughout my entire adult life, and undoubtedly left its mark on several of my works, I intentionally avoided it as an overt theme in my music. However, shortly after solidifying plans with the Third Inversion Reed Trio for a new piece, I learned of the death of a close friend of mine, Ally. She and I kept in touch after we premiered a musical together, and I would visit her in Brooklyn whenever I was able to make it to the city. Losing her in the middle of my first semester of DMA study made it difficult to separate my grief from the everyday grind of school and work, and it became clear that my path to acceptance would require me to break the self-imposed filter between my mental health and my music. 

The work as a whole, and the outer movements get their names from quotes of plays I read in my high school and undergraduate years. These plays, and the quotes specifically, stuck with me when I felt down, and took on a special meaning while writing this piece. The quote “I want to build that shed out in the garden" comes from Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker, in the scene where Aston, who has suffered mental, physical, and emotional trauma from his years in electroshock therapy, states his intention to build a shed. This goal represents structure and autonomy for him where he otherwise feels powerless. “The fog was where I wanted to be” comes from Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night, where the fog represents Edmund’s substance abuse. He enjoyed being able to be in a world by himself, and used alcohol as means to achieve that separation. This movement is dedicated to Ally, who was studying to become an addiction counselor before her passing. The middle movement, Just, acts as an intermezzo devoid of dedications, quotes, or other direct influences, coping with the onset of an anxiety attack. The word “just” precedes many “simple” actions, but those simple actions can have complex and powerful effects, both positive and negative. “So you carry it around…” comes from a larger quote from David Lindsay-Abaire’s Rabbit Hole, a quote which continues “and it doesn’t go away. Which is… fine, actually.” The line, spoken by the character Nat, describes her feelings of grief several years after the death of her son, and how she has learned to live with her grief because it’s what she has to remember who she had. This movement is dedicated to Nicole, whose memory I have carried with me since 2014.

I Want To Build That Shed Out In The Garden

Praised for its “depth, beauty, and rich dimension” (The Courier), and “tremendous instrumental color, beautiful textures, [and] impressive formal structure” (ABLAZE Records), the work of Baltimore-based composer/pianist Adam D. O’Dell (b. 1992) seeks to combine classical, jazz, rock, theatre, and folk influences into music with humanistic and story-like qualities.

Recent commissions include the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra, Altered Sound Duo, the Oklahoma State University Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble 135, Just Duet, saxophonist Sean Garde, hornist Andrew Pelletier, and the Julien Chamber Choir. His works have been performed in the United States, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Russia, Brazil, Germany, and Italy. He has won awards from ABLAZE Records, the Tri-State Wind Symphony, the Philharmonia of Greater Kansas City, Make Music Inc., and the Kennedy Center, among others.

O’Dell holds degrees from Bowling Green State University (MM) and Clarke University (BA). He has studied with composers Marilyn Shrude, Mikel Kuehn, Christopher Dietz, and Amy Dunker. He is currently pursuing his DMA in Music Composition at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University as a student of Kevin Puts.

O'Dell is an internationally published academic writer, and has given lectures and masterclasses in composition, analysis, and biomusicology across the United States and Europe. O’Dell currently serves as the Artistic Director, composer-in-residence, and pianist with the Noise-to-Signal Ensemble, and is a licensed PARMA Recordings Artist. His music can be heard on the Navona and ABLAZE record labels, and his debut solo album “Clarinet and Percussion pieces I gone and done” is set to be released in November 2018 by the contemporary chamber music/sketch comedy duo Just Duet.

Adam D O'Dell

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