2018 Waves

An Elemental Music (2022) for orchestra

Commissioned by the La Jolla Symphony & Chorus
Performed by the La Jolla Symphony, cond. Michael Gerdes, March 2023

I. Crisp, bright
II. The Cold Song. Desolate, icy
III. Dark, mysterious — As in the first movement — Presto

In the three movements of "An Elemental Music," I seek to explore basic musical materials—things that are primary, fundamental, or “elemental”—in fresh and unanticipated ways. I wanted to delve into some of the core components of my musical craft, and I hoped to infuse them with a new vitality.

In the first movement, I start from a chord (the dominant seventh) ubiquitous in many musical genres, from nineteenth- century symphonies to the twelve-bar blues. But rather than using the chord as a means to an end, I view it as an object of musical exploration in its own right, treating it like a hub where many different harmonic paths converge. The music explores these paths in turn, winding through the orchestra in lively and colorful fashion.

The second movement is by far the longest of the three, comprising over half the total playing time of the work. The movement is a very free reimagining of the aria “What Power Art Thou” from Henry Purcell’s "King Arthur," also known as the “Cold Song.” In Purcell’s aria, the spirit of winter (the “Cold Genius”) is summoned to life: here, then, I use the word “elemental” not only as an adjective, but also as a noun, referring to the primal forces of nature that the Cold Genius embodies. In my version, I freely transform the shivering staccato motif and aspects of the harmonic progression from Purcell’s original, gradually building to an intense, chilling depiction of the Cold Genius. Fittingly, I finished this piece on a day of subzero temperatures in central Illinois.

The brief third movement revisits materials from the first, but in a distorted, out-of-order fashion—perhaps as if being recalled from a distant memory. The music eventually transforms itself into a jig that gives way to a grotesque, march-like climax.

An Elemental Music

02 Sonata In A Minor, RV 43 - A Vivaldi  Allegro 1

'Athena' for soprano, cello, and piano (A. Mellos 2013, rev. 2014)
Madeline Cain, soprano; Daniel Pesca, piano; Hyun Ray Kim, cello
Live recording: November 12, 2014, Kilbourn Hall
The Eastman School of Music 
Text by: Emily Kendal Frey (used here with permission)

Athena (soprano version) A. Mellos

1st movement of "An Australian Backyard Suite". This 6-part composition depicts various flora and fauna commonly found in Australian gardens.

The movements are:
Lorikeet
Fire Ant
Tree Fern
Blue Tongue Lizard
Cicada
Poinciana

This piece received 2nd Prize in the Franz Schubert International Composition Competition in Vienna in 2012.
It was also selected for performance by the Fresh Squeezed Opera Company in 2014.

Lorikeet (Live)

5th movement of "An Australian Backyard Suite". This 6-part composition depicts various flora and fauna commonly found in Australian gardens.

The movements are:
Lorikeet
Fire Ant
Tree Fern
Blue Tongue Lizard
Cicada
Poinciana

This piece received 2nd Prize in the Franz Schubert International Composition Competition in Vienna in 2012.
It was also selected for performance by the Fresh Squeezed Opera Company in 2014.

Cicada (Live)

Also known as "Sol Tempest", if you want the more pretentious title. Written in December 2011, revised January 2012 at National Music Camp.

Summer Thunderstorm

Matthias Bamert
West Australian Symphony Orchestra

This work was commissioned as an education piece, and is
designed to showcase the sections of the orchestra at the circus or at the zoo:
Brass (opening): fanfare, welcome to the circus/zoo;
Woodwinds: the monkeys;
Strings: the trapeze/the swans;
Percussion: lions and tigers;
Tutti, and brass fanfare to end.
The conductor may pause at each new section to introduce the instruments
of the orchestra, or may have the opening few bars of each section of music
played before performing the piece without pause.

Roar!

For solo soprano and SSAATTBB. Commissioned and recorded by The Australian Voices, 2012. Conducted by Gordon Hamilton.

Dedicated to William Duckworth and Jocelyn Wolfe.

Text:
DROUGHT

BY JUDITH WRIGHT

The summer solstice come and gone,
now the dark of the moon comes on.
The raging sun in his pale sky
has drunk the sap of the world dry.
Across the plains the dustwhirls run
and dust has choked the shrivelling tree.

This is my world that dies with me, 
cries the curlew in the night.
I have forgotten how the white
 birdfooted water in the creek
used in spring to call and speak.
All is fallen under the sun
and the world dies that once I made.

The strength that brandished my green blade,
the force uncoiling from the cell,
 drains like water from a wrecked well,
 says the dried out corn of the earth.
The seed I cherished finds no birth.

Now the dark of the world comes on.

Drought (choral)

Rodrigo - Concierto de Aranjuez - 1

Rodrigo - Concierto de Aranjuez - 2

Assad - Valseana Isabel

Kleynjans - Arabesque en forme de caprice

Tedesco - Capriccio 18

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Athena (soprano version) A. Mellos

Aristea

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