Smokesong

“What is any ocean but a multitude of drops?”
― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas 

Seascape was written for the first Atlas Ensemble Composers Competition. It was premiered by the Atlas Ensemble at the Muziekgebouw aan't 1J in Amsterdam on 7 September, 2014, conducted by Artyom Kim. As I have never written for an ensemble of a combination with Asian and European instruments, the challenge to create a body of work to balance both sound worlds was daunting.  I investigated the non-western instruments that resonated with my style as a composer, and therefore created an atmospheric and haunting landscape that embraces both forces from the two continents.  I decided to explore the voices and densities of the sea, as some of the Asian instruments in this piece often depict the fluidity and density of water.  Seascape includes various motifs represents sounds and clichés from the ocean, notably waves, water currents, drones, and ship foghorns.  In addition, this work illuminates a melancholic and meditative experience for the listener.

Instrumentation

Flute/Alto Flute/Shakuhachi
Oboe/English Horn
Clarinet/Bass Clarinet
Soprano Saxophone/Sho

Duduk
Sarangi
Qanun
Zheng
Sheng
Kemençe

Percussion (2 players): Tam-Tam, Crotales, Triangle, Woodblocks, Vibraphone, Bass Drum, Waterphone

Harp

Violin
Viola
Violoncello
Contrabass


Also, special thanks to Anne Breathwick for sharing her artwork on this page ("Seascape" oil on canvas, 2008)

Seascape

A vvvv sentimental piece written in the days following the passing of my dearly loved Winston. 

For some reason, people sometimes need to compare animal relationships and human ones. But it’s never been something I could separate— love is love. 

Written in a a weekend 10 years ago, I’m coming back to this piece more often as the specter of its pain is here again. 

🩵

DGS: I - Winged White and Spotted

Shanghai Conservatory of Music
2015 Shanghai International Chamber Music Festival

March 27, 2015 - Shanghai, China

String Quartet
World Premiere
Roman Baranskiy, composer

Fenyang Quartet
Chen Jiayi, violin
Hua Hui, violin
Cao Yibo, viola
Li Zhenqi, cello

Amphithymia - Mov. I - Allegro

Performed by the San Francisco Choral Artists

Composed by Paul Hansen

Text by Jorges Luis Borges

San Francisco Conservatory of Music; 5/1/2016 

Text:

There is such loneliness in that gold.
The moon of the nights is not the moon
Whom the first Adam saw. The long centuries
Of human vigil have filled her
With ancient lament. Look at her. She is your mirror.

The Moon (For A Capella Mixed Chorus)

Elegy reflects on a human experience that crosses boundaries of culture, place, and time: the death of one’s mother. The use of the word “mother” and “mama” in different languages throughout the piece portrays the universality of mourning and the relationship between mother and child. 

Written for six-part women’s chorus on a text by the composer, Elegy alternates between a refrain and three verses; in each verse, the ensemble divides into two three-part choirs. The first two verses begin with one choir echoing the other in an imitative texture, building toward a merging of the two choirs into one at the climax of each verse. In the third verse all voices begin together, then individual parts break away until the piece ends with a final quiet plea.

The text incorporates the word "mother" or "mama" in English, Italian/Spanish, Arabic, German, Czech, and Hebrew.

Mama 
mother
madre,
don't go too far.

I have lost you
in a crowd
of cluttered days.

Mama 
oom 
Mutter,
don't go too far.

Your voice echoed in mine,
lyrically calling me
to your arms.

Mama 
matka
eemah,
don't go too far.

Your arms held me then;
Hold me now from afar.


Performed by Canzona Women's Ensemble, March 4, 2018

Elegy for SSSSAA chorus

String Quartet No. 1

Instrumentation: Orchestra 3-3-3-3, 4-3-3-1, timpani, 3 percussion, harp, piano, and strings

Commissioned by the Chelsea Symphony
Ankush Kumar Bahl, Conductor

I began working on The Persistence of Time in August of 2005.  Originally I had intended to write a programmatic piece for orchestra, based on Salvador Dali’s The Persistence of Memory.  However, half way through the composition, I felt stuck and was not sure where the piece was going.  A day later, I was thinking about a live performance I then attended of the fifth movement from Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the end of time (“In praise of the eternity of Jesus”), and discovered that the two works have often been linked together. For instance, Dali’s Persistence represents the illusion of time, while Messiaen’s Quartet refers to The Revelation of St. John, chapter 10, dedicated to the angel “who lifts his hand towards the heaven saying, ‘There shall be no more time.’”  I decided that the piece would pay an hommage to the composer himself.

The Persistence of Time is in A B A form.  The piece begins with a simple foreground melody in the flute(s), which is the main theme of the piece.  This motive represents the “melting watches” in Dali’s painting, as the melody ascends before arriving at a static conclusion.  In addition, it is also juxtaposed with descending chromatic clusters in the strings, also representing the melting watches.  The theme is further restated in a lyrical augmented form by the violins, before coming to a full textural climax.  The section then introduces an energetic orchestral fanfare before closing with echoes of the theme.

The B section begins with a haunting chordal progression from the fifth movement of Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time (“In praise of the eternity of Jesus”) and the descending clusters heard earlier in the piece.  This section depicts the dream-like state associated with the notion of time found in Dali’s painting.  These two ideas form a dialogue between different groups of the orchestra, supported by a variation of the main theme in the English horn and clarinet.  A new theme is introduced in two solo violins.  The texture then slowly builds into a pulsating, ostinato climax before coming to a complete halt.

The opening melody returns, once again played by a solo flute.  The texture changes into a set of variations and colorful ornaments of the main theme before the piano enters as an imitative ostinato taken from the eighth and final movement of Quartet for the End of Time (“In praise of the immortality of Jesus”).  As this hommage to Messiaen is carried out by the piano, the chordal progression from the quartet’s fifth movement serves as a pedal point for a canonic texture (the lyrical material from the exposition) in the violins.  Echoes of the first theme are heard from the clarinets combined with two solo violins playing a repeated variation of the second theme.  The piece closes with a gradual decrescendo of an E major chord in the lower strings against the piano ostinato E (add 6) chord, which is associated with the ending of Messiaen’s eighth movement.  Quoting Messiaen’s conclusion, The Persistence of Time fades off into an eternal distance as we are reminded that an ethereal concept of time is far above any mortal’s interpretation.

–The Persistence of Time received honorable mention from the 2015 American Prize in Orchestral Composition.

Brian's Compositions

The Persistence of Time

Mastered

VAGABOND SONG

Putting it together-String Quartet

Composed by Daniel De Togni
Premiered by Delgani String Quartet

Putting it together is a piece about the importance of community and about the struggle of voices aiming to unify themselves. The piece begins with small fragmented and very much isolated musical germs that throughout the course of the piece, strive to come together as one.

Much of the music material is not derived from, but is inspired by taiko drum patterns. The tapestries of weaving accents and rhythms created by a taiko community sets a back drop for many sections of Putting it together. Community plays a significant role in the taiko community as well as was a driving force behind the writing of this piece.

https://www.delgani.org/
https://www.danieldetogni.com/

Putting it together

A Path Is Found

music art dreams culturalcritique poetry trauma drama education literaryfiction resilience life death

DGS: I - Winged White and Spotted

Alex Goodhart

Related tracks