Lazy Sunday

Mine won’t stray from me
What is true will remain 

Try not to destroy everything you love
Everything that’s dear to me

мое от меня не уйдет

I am a patient faithful hound
I am a patient faithful hound

mix&master @stellararri

Faith (prod.3Eden)

Cheradi

Full album: https://soundcloud.com/bloomstaxonomy/sets/foley-age

www.bloomstaxonomymusic.com

Cosmic Village of the Jaguars

Hoping For A Sunrise

Violin

Crimson Earth for Symphonic Band and Solo Violin
Duration: ca. 14'
Publisher: Bill Holab Music. http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&zenid=3699359cefb6e31676ed8d068a02c3c4&keyword=crimson+earth
View Score: https://issuu.com/robertpaterson/docs/crimson_earth-fs-color_cover-bound
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/crimson-earth 

PROGRAM NOTES
In Crimson Earth, my primary concerns are the exploration of exotic sonorities and textures, the spatial placement of instrumental groups and the process of moving musicians throughout the hall to create interesting textural juxtapositions.

Although no specific programmatic associations are intended in Crimson Earth, two specific references were influential: Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s gruesomely detailed painting The Triumph of Death (c. 1562), and the following short verse I came across in a book of quotations from the Old Testament (Job, Proverbs, 24):

"He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting."

When I was a child, my father introduced me to Breugel’s work and to the work of other imaginative painters from the 15th and 16th centuries, such as Hieronymus Bosch. I think what originally inspired me the most about this particular work by Breugel was how something so morbid and seemingly prophetic could have been painted hundreds of years ago, before some of the worst wars occurred in the history of the world. Of course, I could not help but think to myself, what would a battle as horrifying as the one in Bruegel’s painting sound like?

Perhaps more importantly, what sounds do we associate with battles? The sounds that came to my mind for this piece were drums, trumpets, sirens and explosions, all represented in this highly programmatic work. The combination of winds, brass and percussion seemed to be the perfect vehicle to capture the horrific sounds and gut-turning feelings one might experience during a battle. The only other sounds I needed were instrumental voices meant to represent the sounds of both ignorance and innocence. The sound of a solo violin and a solo flute seemed most appropriate, and these instruments end up framing the entire work.

In this work, I attempt to depict a battle in three connected scenes: armies emerging from far away, an ensuing destructive, chaotic battle and the armies’ final departure. Three marching ?battalions? of military drum and trumpet duos represent the armies. These duos gradually convene toward the stage; the stage represents a battlefield. Once there, a battle begins in which a mostly non-pitched percussion section is highlighted through the use of battle-like sounds. As previously mentioned, two "solos" frame the three middle sections: one on a violin and the other as a duo with flute and violin. (The option of playing the violin part on an oboe is given in the score.) The whole work is essentially in a loose arch form.

The title, Crimson Earth, refers to the bloody color of the earth after battle and the power and heroism people often associate with the color red. However, although many cultures have glorified wars and battles, this is not my goal in this work. Crimson Earth represents the profound sadness that wars ultimately cause, but this work also tries to represent hope.

Part I

• (Violin Solo)
• Melting Chimes of Starlight
• Remembrance of Long Ago Idyllic Youth
• Mini Trumpet Bats, Descending
• Rising Darkness
• Brief Sky Opening, Cry for Absolution

Part II

• Calm before the Storm: Glimpses of Despair
• Three Battalions approach from Afar
• War Sirens
• Battle
• Swells of Sadness
• Three Battalions Retreat
• Ashen Rainbows

Part III

• Memorial to the Sacrificial Dead
• Deserts of Ruin
• Breaths of The Everlasting Rising Phoenix
• Peace Wish

Crimson Earth (for Symphonic Band)

Eternal Reflections for mixed a cappella choir. Duration ca. 14'. Mvt. III. Do not stand at my grave and weep, text by Mary E. Frye. Text in the public domain.
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=901
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/eternal-reflections

PROGRAM NOTE (LONG VERSION)

Eternal Reflections consistsof settings of the poems A Song on the End of the World by Czeslaw Milosz, Life’s Tragedy by Paul Laurence Dunbar and Do not stand at my grave and weep by Mary E. Frye.

Milosz is a Nobel Prize-winning, Lithuanian and Polish-American poet, prose writer and translator, and is widely considered one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. After spending most of World War II in Nazi-occupied Warsaw working for underground presses, he emegrated to America and taught at the University of California at Berkeley for more than twenty years. I chose this poem partly because I knew this work would be premiered in Berkeley, where he lived for many years.

Paul Laurence Dunbar is America’s first prominent African-American poet and was a child of ex-slaves. Although he died at the relatively young age of 33, he produced a large body of work, including this poem and the lyrics for In Dahomey (1903), the first musical written and performed entirely by African-Americans to appear on Broadway. He was friends with many prominent figures of his day, including Wilbur and Orville Wright, Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington, and toward the end of his life he was honored with a ceremonial sword by President Theodore Roosevelt.

Mary E. Frye was a housewife and florist who became well-known because of her poem. According to an article in the London Times, “Frye had never written any poetry before 1932, when she and her husband had a young German Jewish girl, Margaret Schwarzkopf, staying with them. According to Frye, their guest had been concerned about her mother, who was ill in Germany, but she had been warned not to return home because of increasing anti-Semitic unrest. When her mother died, the heartbroken young woman told Frye that she never had the chance to ‘stand by my mother’s grave and shed a tear”.” Although many versions of this uncopyrighted poem exist, the version used in this setting is the one Frye claimed as definitive before she died.

Although the three poems are related thematically, there are a few other details that link them together. They are all by poets who lived in America, and both Dunbar and Frye were born in Dayton, Ohio. The poems by both Milosz and Frye are profoundly influenced by the trajedies of World War II, and both Milosz and Frye passed away in 2004. Finally, all three poems use musical and aural metaphors, which are particularly useful when setting poems for a choir. These movements may be performed individually or together as a three-movement work.

Eternal Reflections

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Eternal Reflections - I. A Song on The End of the World

Sun Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano
Duration: ca. 35'
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=908
For More Info: http://robertpaterson.com/sun-trio

PROGRAM NOTE
Sun Trio originated when I first started the film score for a documentary entitled Journey Into Courage. After writing opening music to the film, director Bess O’Brien and I concluded that it was best to change some parts in order to properly compliment the film. The theme was kept, but some of the other sections were changed and/or edited. I never discarded the original sketches, even though much of it remained on the cutting room floor. Thankfully, it came to good use later in this work.

The first movement, Sun Day, begins with the theme from the Journey Into Courage introduction. This movement is meant to evoke the feelings you get when summer, mid-day sunbeams appear from between the clouds and warm your skin.

Sunset, the second movement, was inspired by Lake Champlain in Burlington, Vermont and my wife Victoria. I envisioned us embraced, doing a Tango–like dance under a multi–colored sunset—at times, to themes from Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du soldat. Victoria is a much better dancer than I, and in this movement, she teaches me the steps. I fumble around and finally get it right, and then the sun sets.

The third movement, Absence of Sun, is connected from beginning to end by one long melodic line. The cello melody is modeled after a classical Indian Sitar raga, specifically the traditional, slow introductory section of a classical Indian composition. The bass piano part supplies the drone while a high-pitched tone row supplies a "starry night" texture. This texture gradually melds into a wind chime accompaniment. The movement peaks in the middle with an intense cello line. At this point, the violin intervallically supports the cello line. Each instrument—and in the case of the piano, each stave—represents a specific, individual texture. This movement intended to sound somewhat improvised.

Sunrise, is meant to evoke the feeling you get when watching the sun rise. There is a "Sun" peak of an octave, a bright yellow ‘E’, symbolizing the first, intense, bright sunbeam peaking over the horizon. In the middle of the movement, a string of rising chords mimics a "fast-forward" of the sun rising in the sky. Later in the movement, the violin and cello play decelerated bird motives. I wrote the bird songs down on the morning of April 17, 1995, while watching the sun rise behind the University of Vermont music building. I use the "mystic chord" by Alexander Skryabin as melodic and chordal material for the anticipation of the rising of the sun. While I was waiting for the sun to rise, I watched the mountains intensely. I finally was about to give up, thinking that the sun tricked me and rose behind some clouds when I wasn’t looking. As soon as I turned around to walk away, I felt an intense heat hit the back of my neck. I turned around and there it was! The sun was there, in all of its glory and splendor, lighting up the mountains. As well as evoking a sunrise, this movement also uses themes from the previous three movements.

The sprightly Sun Dance is a closure movement written to provide a vibrant contrast to the other four. The initial piano motive is taken from Five Movements for string quartet by Anton Webern. The first section introduces the themes, motives and patterns which are then used in subsequent sections. The second and fourth sections are percussive, while the third section is more placid and melodic. The finale is hard and driving, utilizing both snap pizzicati (plucking the string so it bounces against the fingerboard) and loud four-note chords in the strings.

Sun Trio was commissioned by Dennis O’Brien to commemorate the 98th birthday.

Spheres

Sun Trio - I. Sun Day

Sun Trio - Mvt. I. Sun Day

A music representation of a feeling of despair. 
--
Photo by Dmitry Schemelev on Unsplash

Despair

Despair – Ambient & Cinematic Music

Small Flute Concerto written using BBC SO Professional.

Flute Concerto

The last part is inspired by Claudie Debussy - Clair de lune (Moonlight)

Muse [S4]

Performing and producing atmospheric electronic music in London.

New album LIFE RITE out now

Cosmic Village of the Jaguars

Bloom's Taxonomy