Performed by United Instruments of Luicilin
Shopie Deshayes - flute
Jean-Philippe Martignoni - cello
Guy Frisch - percussion
+
Jug Marković - electronics
Live performance at Rainy Days Festival, Luxembourg, 20.11.2021.

rusty rose(2021) - for flute, cello, percussion and electronics

Karen Kim, violin
Chris Gross, cello
David Friend, piano

recorded and mixed by Gleb Kanasevich
LeFrak Hall, Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College
Queens, NY

1.10.23

Many thanks to Adrian Morejon, Tori Cheah, and Talea Ensemble.

burnt canvas, for piano trio

Postures 1

for chamber ensemble, electronics, and lighting

+++

this piece is inspired by the devastating beauty of nacreous clouds. these clouds are both very rare and hauntingly beautiful, with luminous pastel colors streaking across the sky. 

despite their beauty, these clouds are irrevocably harmful to the atmosphere. while their beauty comes from the diffraction of light as it passes through tiny ice crystals in the air, their appearance acts as a catalyst for the reactions of toxic chemicals that deplete the ozone layer and contribute to the ozone hole in the antarctic. 

this piece is a meditation on the beauty and destruction of the world we’re making. 

+++

premiered by collective lovemusic at Paine Hall at Harvard University April 28, 2023

+++

performed by collective lovemusic:
Emiliano Gavito - bass flute
Adam Starkie - bass clarinet
Emily Yabe - viola
Christian Lozano - e-guitar

volatile horizon

volatile horizon (2023) | collective lovemusic

Ruckus:  a disturbance or commotion.
"a child is raising a ruckus in class"

OTHER THINGS:
a heated argument
a devastating, sudden, sick feeling in your stomach
being "woken up" with construction equipment as you are trying to fall asleep

Commissioned by and composed for Lati2de (Leo Schlaifer and Matt Dardick).

Performers: Leo Schlaifer and Matt Dardick
Additional mixing and mastering credit: Douglas McCausland

ruckus ruckus (2022, two soprano saxophones and electronics)

The inspiration for this composition project is to explore the electromagnetic signals that surround us but are not audible in everyday life. Humans emit electromagnetic radiation when making decisions or engaging in activities like driving or choosing what to wear. These brainwave activities alter the electromagnetic field (EMF) signals. I find it fascinating that these physical EMF signals can be transformed and amplified into audio signals, allowing us to hear the sonic differences between devices like laptops and iPhones.To prepare for this project, I used electromagnetic sensors to detect various gadgets that emit EMF. These sensors convert the magnetic signals into audio signals. I am fascinated by the diverse musical qualities present in these recordings. Some have strong rhythmic grooves, while others have distinct and persistent frequency content. However, these signals are fragile and unstable, depending on the position of the sensors. Even a slight movement of the sensor can significantly weaken the audio signal or completely change the sound. Sometimes, moving the sensors closer to the source can trigger a dangerously loud boom, followed by a signal break. In "Rupturing Signals," the ensemble and electronics collaborate to recreate different rhythmic and frequency patterns of the EMF. This composition aims to highlight the unstable, ever-changing, and instantly breaking characteristics of the recorded audio signals.

Special thanks to the SPLICE Ensemble for commissioning this piece.

Rupturing Signals [trumpet, drumset, piano, elec]

different gravities
mov. III of IV

written for & performed by Longleash
live recording from University of Louisville New Music Festival

different gravities, mov.III

different gravities
mov. II of IV

written for & performed by Longleash
recorded at the Loretto Motherhouse, Lebanon, KY

different gravities, mov. II

Originally inspired by oleanders, the first flowers to bloom in Hiroshima after the bomb, "flowers which bloom from blackened earth and poisoned air" is a piece reflecting on environmental destruction, resilience, and hope through duration, slow transformation, and timbral complexity. The piece unfolds in four stages which create affective sonic environments, each containing an enmeshment of one another. 

resonant earth | blackened earth | poisoned air | flowers blooming

written for Broken Frames Syndicate

premiere date: february 2, 2024 at Harvard University’s Paine Hall, Cambridge MA

flowers which bloom from blackened earth and poisoned air (2023) | Broken Frames Syndicate

Out of Dust - Tyler Taylor
April 27, 2024 | St James Cathedral
Chicago Composers Orchestra
Music Director - Allen Tinkham

Out of Dust - Tyler Taylor

VV Cephei is an eclipsing binary star system located in the constellation Cepheus. The supergiant primary of this system (VV Cephei A) is one of the largest known stars, with approximate size varying from 1050 to 1900 solar radii. The fact that VV Cephei A fills its Roche lobe causes the flowing of matter from star to companion VV Cephei B. It probably makes the space around the system one of the deadliest places we could imagine. However, if there was the smallest probability to survive on a hypothetical planet revolving around VV Cephei, it would be possible to watch one of the most spectacular sunrises in the Universe. “VV Cephei” was composed in 2019 as a part of the “Hammer & Nail” collaboration between band and composition departments of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music; represents an attempt to create a musical image of this stunning event that we are unlikely to ever see.

The piece was premiered on 12 November 2019 at concert Sacra et Profana by IU Concert Band and Jason Nam, its conductor and Assistant Professor in JSoM.

VV Cephei (concert band, 2019)

Alexey Logunov was born in Leningrad, Russia. He graduated in 2014 from Saint-Petersburg State Conservatory of Rymsky-Korsakov, where he studied composition with Vladimir Tsitovich and Gennady Banshchikov and was later assistant to Sergei Slonimsky. Logunov studied piano performance at Saint Petersburg Conservatory, mentored by Ekaterina Murina from 2016 to 2018. In 2020, he earned a Master of Music degree in Composition from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he studied with P. Q. Phan, Eugene O’Brien, and Tansy Davies. Logunov is now a doctoral student and associate instructor of composition at the Jacobs School.

Logunov’s compositions have been performed at numerous festivals in Russia and internationally, including From Avantgarde to Present Days, Children’s Earth, Sound Ways, reMusik.org, Musica Futura (Minsk, Republic of Belarus), New music-new reality (Ekaterinburg), Composer 2.0 (Yaroslavl) and the Midwest Composers Symposium 2019 (Indiana University, USA), Performing Media Festival 2024 (South Bend, Indiana) and SEAMUS@40 (Louisiana State University, USA). He collaborated with artistic groups “Musica Futura” and “Dialectic of Sound” from 2010 to 2011. In 2016, he participated in the “Roche Continents” program in Salzburg, Austria. The following year, he joined a concert tour of France’s Atlantic coastal cities as part of the Dinard Réunit les Jeunes Virtuoses festival. He was respectively a scholar of and a student of the X and XI International Young Composers Academy in Tchaikovsky-city and a participant of 2023 Splice Institute (Kalamazoo, Michigan).

VV Cephei (concert band, 2019)

Alexey Logunov

Related tracks