Polarity begins with an introductory toccata that begins with distant bell-like chords in the piano and a meandering, improvisatory response in the piccolo. The interplay between these two elements intensifies as the distant chords grow nearer and when they “arrive,” the piccolo plays a short cadenza. The bell-like chords are transformed into an abrupt motto that interrupts the cadenza heralds a scherzando where two unimportant motives from the introduction are given prominence and woven together. The development of this material is cut short by a strange and meandering mazurka that dips in and out of tonality. A return to the introductory material makes way for recapitulation of the scherzando and a coda that triumphantly recapitulates the mazurka before ending abruptly.

Performed 5 May 2021 by Bre Beasley, piccolo and Xiangyu Zhao, piano at the UMKC Composers' Guild Concert.

Polarity for Piccolo and Piano

Gathering Terror is a meditation on the opaque and oppressive force that is the uncertain future. A four-chord motto punctuates a texture that grows denser and denser as the piece progresses, eventually becoming a chromatically-saturated glacier of arrhythmic chords. Chords played with uncomfortable handshapes pervade this piece, contributing to the oppressive and pained atmosphere.

Performed by Yintong Liu, piano at the UMKC Composers' Guild concert on 25 October 2021.

Gathering Terror

We are alienated from our work, from nature, and from those around us and the result is often a sense of isolation. Isolation explores emotions that comprise this isolation: starting with a lonely saxophone solo in the saxophone which is punctuated with echoes in the piano, then moving into a duet pervaded with an uneasy feeling of longing. This is followed by a brief surge of resentment that just barely fails to boil over into anger. The mood suddenly returns to longing before the piece ends with the opening phrase of the initial lonely solo, this time the piano fails to echo the gesture, which is instead repeated by the saxophone.

Don-Paul Kahl, baritone saxophone, Xiangyu Zhao, piano

Isolation for E flat Saxophone and Piano

This little fantasy for unaccompanied bassoon focuses on two motives, a triplet on the first beat of a measure and a syncopated suspension. The introduction presents these motives in sequence, followed by a languid falling figure. After a few brief statements, the line begins to focus on the first motive, which eventually solidifies into a sassy little mazurka. The mazurka continues for two strains, but eventually loses steam and switches to the second motive in a solemn lamentation. As the music continues, shorter staccato notes begin to fill in the gaps between the suspensions, and just as this new figure takes over, the mazurka suddenly returns, followed by a quick restatement of the opening to end the piece.

Performed by Dennis Pearson on 2 March 2022 at the Diastole Scholars' Center in Kansas City.

Fantasy for Bassoon

Performed at the Valencia International Performance Academy & Festival by the Mivos Quartet. Audio by Emmanuel Berrido.

Olivia de Prato and Maya Bennardo, Violins
Victor Lowrie Tafoya, Viola
Tyler J. Borden, Violoncello

Aporroia for String Quartet

Undercurrent begins with a six-note motive that is established as an ostinato that runs throughout the piece. Other brief motives play over the ostinato, pulling it in many directions, with the quiet, plodding motion occasionally punctuated with sudden outbursts. The ostinato changes over time, further pulling apart from the textures above it, but as the notes that make up the ostinato change, so to do the notes making up the other material: no matter what direction these currents are going, they are all made up of the same stuff. When the currents finally align, a calm emerges from the busy texture. Motives that arose from the ostinato are stated without it before the ostinato gradually returns. The initial ostinato returns, but this time the currents converge and the piece ends.

Ensemble Concept/21, Jorge Muñiz, Artistic Director
Carmen-Helena Tellez, Conductor
Sherry Kujala, Flute
Chris French, Bass Clarinet
Ben Runkel, Percussion
Jennifer Muñiz, Piano
Brendan Shea, Violin
David Machavariani, Violoncello

Performed 5 April 2019 at IU South Bend's Louise E. Addicott and Yatish J. Joshi Performance Hall

Undercurrent (IU South Bend performance)

During the first years of the AIDS pandemic, the US government did virtually nothing to assuage the suffering of thousands of LGBT people, especially those of color, who were dying. Many politicians appeared to find joy in the suffering of people who they clearly considered undesirable. These politicians have since received grand state funerals attended by mourners from around the world. The bodies of many victims of AIDS were never claimed. Elegy 81/05 (2019)is for them. 
This nocturne is based on melancholy and tonally-ambiguous thirteenth chords that mask the simple underlying harmonies. There is a darker contrasting section, but the texture is otherwise full of lush, rolled chords. Near the end, the tonality shifts towards the minor, ending bleakly.

Performed on 5 April 2019 by Jorge Muñiz at IU South Bend.

Elegy 81/05

The World (2018) is the putative finale of an unfinished ballet-pantomime titled The Major Arcana, which is based on scenes from tarot decks. Originally a card game that dates from the 15th century, 18th-century mysticism appropriated it for cartomancy, or divining the future using cards. For this reason, I appropriated Bon Jour, Bon Mois, a 15th-century tune by Franco-Flemish Guillaume duFay (1397-1474), and in each movement but the prelude I juxtapose it with quotations of and/or allusions to well-known pieces from the 18th century and later. As the ballet continues, the original theme fades into the background, only occasionally returning to the foreground—even as its constituent motives make up much of the piece.

The World is the final card in the 22-card sequence of trump cards known as the major arcana. It represents wholeness, fulfillment, and the end of a journey, and is often illustrated with a woman representing Sophia, the personification of knowledge, and four beasts representing the evangelists. For this movement, I allude to Gustav Mahler’s epic Symphony No. 3, the finale of which starts with a beautiful string chorale. Once the winds enter with a contrasting theme, building up to an ecstatic coda that explicitly quotes Mahler’s symphony. The initial theme returns, this time soured by a “wrong note” in the trumpet. When the music finally arrives at its final cadence, the clarinet and flute recap the first phrase of the duFay.

Timea Brassai, Flute
Abby Chlebowski, Clarinet
Mathew Miller, Trumpet I
James Farnsworth, Trumpet II
Drew Fletcher, Horn I
Austin McBride, Horn II
Colleen Mahoney, Violin I
Keith Taylor, Violin II
Neil Schroeder, Viola
Alejandro Montiel Tellez, Violoncello
Donald Britton, Contrabass
Juan-Carlos Alarcon, Conductor 

Performed on 4 April 2019 at IU South Bend.

The World

I’ve always found something compelling in the work of Morton Feldman, especially the early indeterminate works and his later works of extreme length. These works invite the performer to create soundscapes both alien and familiar and challenge the listener to process these musical universes. Six Atmospheric Pieces (2017) is my first attempt at such a composition. 

Performed by Josiah Sprankle at the White Recital Hall at the University of Missouri Kansas City on 8 November 2019.

Atmospheric Pieces

My main composition of 2012.

I. Sonata Prelude (Very Slow - Allegro Moderato)
II. Nocturne (Slow)
III. Funeral March (Grave and solemn - a little slower - faster than before)
IV. Finale: Rondo Impetuoso. (Impatiently)

Alec J. Radecki

Pinned to spotlight

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