Commissioned by Copland House for CULTIVATE 2021
Completed 03/25/2021

Recorded by Pala Garcia (violin), Alexis Pia Gerlach (cello), Moran Katz (clarinet), and Peggy Kampmeier (piano)

Based on Mokha Laget's 'Moroccan Capriccio'

I first met Mokha at an artist colony during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic. We both felt extraordinarily fortunate to have been given the opportunity to concentrate on creating art during such an exhausting time, and as such, we both spent the majority of our residencies working in our respective studios. It was only in the tail-end of Mokha’s stay that I finally got to see her work. 

I was instantly enthralled. Her paintings possessed a palpable immediacy through their surprising scale, vibrant contrasts, and endearing whimsy. They were frequently unpredictable - trying to follow any one particular shape, I would quickly lose my place in a sea of impossible geometries. Even so, when I stepped back to consider the whole, Mokha’s paintings nonetheless felt cohesive and organic. We spoke then and there about collaborating, eventually deciding that I would write a new work based on her Moroccan Capriccio. 

The resulting piece, Intuitive Geometry, seeks to capture the same kind of mercurial yet self-consistent discourse that defines Mokha’s resplendent art. Filled with whirling arpeggios, mixed meters, and restless modulations, the piece is one of constant motion. Should any listener try to follow any one particular instrument, they might quickly become lost - yet even as ideas ricochet between the members of the quartet, the piece remains united through its economy of material. Virtually every gesture is built out of an unevenly oscillating third, ensuring that the piece as a whole maintains its congruence.

It was delicious fun translating Mokha’s kaleidoscopic architectures into music, and I am truly grateful for her friendship and artistic generosity.

Chamber Pieces

Intuitive Geometry, for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano

The UT Austin Wind Ensemble, conducted by Drew Dickey in Bates Recital Hall, September 2021

Score and parts available to rent through Murphy Music Press: http://murphymusicpress.com/products/w-918

Zoom - wind ensemble

"Lilac and Orange over Ivory" for orchestra, winner of the 2020 Paul and Christiane Cooper Prize

premiered by the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Larry Rachleff

Lilac and Orange over Ivory

Joseph Swift, bassoonist & commissioner
Calvin Hu, pianist

Premiered live on December 18, 2021 at Schare Recital Hall

i.C.u

Excerpts from the Cape Symphony's performance of "Mayflower" on November 7, 2020 at the Barnstable Performing Arts Center in Hyannis, MA.

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Co-commissioned by the Cape Symphony and Plymouth Philharmonic.

Orchestra: Cape Symphony
Singer: Kristen Watson
Narrator: Neil McGarry
Conductor: Jung Ho Pak

©2020

Mayflower [excerpt 2]

Completed Feb. 17, 2023
Premiered Mar. 7, 2023 by ~nois

The more people I’ve spoken with, the more I have come to cherish moments of shared understanding. For me, language often feels rather insufficient as a means of expressing thought - like trying to portray a three dimensional image on a flat surface. Understanding someone’s words is a delicate process of reconstructing the ineffable depth and interiority of their thoughts, and quite frequently, much is lost in translation. 

These ideas provided the seed for To Speak As One. To me, the saxophone quartet as an ensemble naturally contends with such questions of mutual understanding and communication. It is conversational in scale; its instruments share much in common both registrally and timbrally; virtually any technique that can be done on one instrument can be done on any other. The result is a collection of instruments that very easily behaves as a hyperinstrument, able to blend and move with uncommon unity. 

Over the course of the piece, I sought to shift throughout between treating the quartet as a singular entity versus four unique players. The resulting work scatters its lines across the group, assigning disparate notes and rhythms to each musician as they discover the composite together. Players enter and peel off constantly, and even in moments of stasis, there is an element of confusion - it’s not always clear which instrument is playing which sounds. Even with all its raucous sounds and lurching instability, though, To Speak As One is intended to be an intimate piece, ultimately focusing on how a small ensemble - with all their cuing, breathing, and eye contact - can discover ways to nonverbally find shared understanding with one another.

This piece was begun while in residence at Copland House, Cortlandt Manor, New York, as a recipient of the Copland House Residency Award.

To Speak As One, for saxophone quartet

"sear", premiered by Alarm Will Sound and Alan Pierson at Richardson Auditorium on March 21, 2023.

I spend a lot of time in the kitchen (or at the grill) cooking. It’s something I love to do for myself and others, whether I’m preparing meals for the week or hosting a gathering. In 2018, I read Samin Nosrat’s Salt Fat Acid Heat from cover to cover. At the time, I was more passionate about eating than I was about cooking, but I was willing to learn. 

In the section of the book on Heat, the author talks about an event called the Maillard reaction, a chemical reaction in which heat causes browning of proteins and sugars within ingredients. There are many ways to achieve the Maillard reaction, one of them being the searing method. Simply put, you prepare an extreme heat source (like a 700 degree skillet), you put a raw ingredient on the skillet (like a steak), and then the surface becomes deeply browned (and incredibly flavorful). A few drawbacks of this method include smoking up your kitchen, setting off the fire alarm, sweating profusely, but it’s worth it for the flavor (…sometimes…this is why I like the grill, even in the dead of winter).

sear is a piece based on extreme contrasts, with the idea of blistering heat in mind.

sear

In Prayer takes its text from a moment of heightened drama in the Old Testament in which Miriam is suddenly struck with a fatal sickness. In desperation, Miriam’s brother Moses pleads to God with a humble, one-sentence prayer for healing, reciting the phrase, in Hebrew, “el na refa na la” (please God, heal her). I decided to set this text in three different ways in order to explore a myriad of approaches one might take to appeal to God at such an urgent moment. The outer movements (I. with devotion, III. with resolve) are more solemn and ritualistic, calling God forth with reverence and respect. The middle movement (II. with impatience), on the other hand, is agitated, frustrated, and cynical, riddled with desperation and disbelief.

In Prayer can be performed as a duo for singer (orig. mezzo) and violist, where the singer plays a scordatura guitar laid flat, and the violist plays a kick drum. In Prayer can also be performed as a quartet for singer, violist, guitarist, and percussionist. Contact aaron.i.levin@gmail.com for more information.

Elana Bell – voice
Brian Isaacs – viola
Matiss Cudars – guitar
Makana Medeiros – percussion

In Prayer: III. with resolve – for voice, viola, guitar, and percussion

Wyatt Wear — Saxophone
Sonya Walker — Trumpet
Ben Morris — Piano
Mike Facey — Bass
Michael D'Angelo — Drums

Recorded 12/13/19 at Mighty Fine Studios, engineered by Colin Bricker

Ymir's Bones

photo by https://unsplash.com/@derekstory

Mayflower [excerpt 2]

Alex Berko

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