Reading by the Carpe Diem String Quartet.

For the majority of this piece, the quartet is divided into two groups: the violins vs. the viola and cello. These groups are musically pitted against each other with different tempi and styles before finally coming together for the finale. 

The violins begin aggressively at an unyieldingly fast tempo while the the viola and cello play a slow, expressive, and dynamic texture in counterpoint. The violins finish their own "movement" and proceed to play a pizzicato scherzando-esque passage while the lower voices continue onward and eventually conclude with a short viola solo and the only moment of rest before the violent, apocalyptic finale. 

String Quartet No. 5

Deconstruction is a collection of four short pieces for solo piano that are each inspired by a different musical era or style and arranged in roughly chronological order. The music intends to break down or "deconstruct" the inherent elements of each style and use those elements in an ironic or Post-Modern way while simultaneously using them within the framework of my personal aesthetic.

"Fantasy on a Pos-Modern Philosophy" is inspired by late Romantic Chopin-esque music and is concerned with maximizing contrast and breaking down the logic of the traditional Romantic harmonic language in such a way that I can make these abrupt changes work musically in the context of the piece as a whole.

 "Transcendental Elevator Music" is inspired by jazz music and the piece itself is concerned with presenting jazz-sounding material but in a completely linear way devoid of the stability of structured phrasing or harmonic cadences.

"Portraits of Picasso" reflects the music of high modernism and is perhaps the most faithful to its style out of all four pieces. The entire work is strictly serial but each of the three themes are directly inspired by different contrasting composers and the piano music that they have written (Roslavets, Stockhausen, and Xenakis respectively) and the themes overlap one another in a very cubistic manner.

"Postlude" is, in effect, a conceptual inversion of minimalism. I determined the basic tenets of minimalist music to be short, repeated phrases; gradual harmonic/melodic/textural change; and a certain degree of overall stability that is gradually undermined in order to create tension. "Postlude", while still centering around short, repeated phrases, has extremely rapid harmonic/melodic/textural change and very short moments of any stability which manages to sustain tension rather than slowly building it. The piece (and, indeed, the cycle itself) ends with the most ironic ending that I could come up with.

Deconstructions For Solo Piano

The short opening piece to my album Sonic Eugenics. Incredibly virtuosic playing by Gerald Hildenbrand and Matthew McCormack.

Fanfare For The Final Frontier For Two Trumpets

A purely electronic "musique concrète" piece I wrote in 2012.

Pfærnix For Tape

Recorded by the incredibly talented Jessie Nucho.

Fantasizing For Solo Flute

Performed by the incredible CMU Philharmonic.

Premiered March 4th. 2015.

Carnival Of Chaos for Orchestra

This is my submission for the ADAM Audio Soundtrack Competition.

The Pulse of the Steelworker #adamaudio #steelworker

This piece tells the story of the cosmos from before the big bang and the fraction of a second following its genesis through to the end of all that is.

Performed by Jessie Nucho.

The Uncertainty Principle for Flute and Live Electronics

Intersubjectivity for Computer-Assisted Chamber Ensemble and Electronics

A blend of wubby wubstep and baroque harpsichord. Work-in-progress.

Demo - "Counterpoint" (Working Title)

I am a concert and film composer, sound designer, and audio engineer currently based in New Orleans. I received my BFA and MFA in Music Composition from Carnegie Mellon University and I am working towards a Masters in Scoring for Film and Media at Pulse College.

Adam Shield