beauty and intensity. Wonderful composition, Brandon.

A new setting of Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore's playful poem "Paper Boats" for a cappella mixed choir, written for the Oregon Bach Festival Composer's Symposium. This is the first of four settings in a cycle of Tagore's poetry. 

This particular recording features the OBF American Creators Chorus under the direction of Craig Hella Johnson.

Paper Boats (2013)

Pastiche-ios! (I. Vertigo + II. Reverie)

Ah Sunflower, weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the sun;
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller's journey is done;

Where the Youth pined away with desire,
And the pale virgin shrouded in snow,
Arise from their graves, and aspire
Where my Sunflower wishes to go!

—William Blake

Ah Sunflower

I wrote this piece in response to a particularly hard event which took place during 2013.  My confidence was shattered and my depression flared.  Well-intentioned people instructed me to do things like "smile more" and "cheer up".  It was then that I realized that hiding my misery behind a facade of happiness was not only impossible but to attempt it would be detrimental to my health.  Would their opinion of the facade change if they knew how painful it is to maintain it? My goal was to imbue this piece with that idea.

©2013

Performed May 22, 2015 at the University of Bristol by George Owen (cello) and Lydia Ward (piano).

Facades for cello and piano

Sharp Edges for solo clarinet (2015)
Commissioned by Christopher Grymes. Premiered at East Carolina University on January 23, 2015. 

Sharp Edges for solo clarinet (2015)

Ensemble Modern&HR  Frankfurt/M.

Solistin : Nina Janßen-Deinzer

Edition Peters Frankfurt/M. 
https://www.edition-peters.de/cms/deutsch/general/komponist.html?composer_id=3425

iv 7 für Kontrabassklarinette

Paired with the poem by <a href="http://plthomaspoetry.blogspot.com/" target="_paulhm">P. L. Thomas:</a>

<a href="http://plthomaspoetry.blogspot.com/2011/07/no-other-snowflakes-and-ashes-pt-1.html" target="_blank">no other (snowflakes and ashes) pt. 1</a>



Visit:  <a title="“snowflakes &amp; ashes”" href="http://www.peterbkay.com/music/snowflakes-and-ashes/" target="_blank">http://peterbkay.com/snowflakes-and-ashes</a>

snowflakes & ashes (Live)

" ...simultaneously innovative, intellectually stimulating, but most of all emotionally moving." - Maria Choban, Oregon ArtsWatch

Facades for cello and piano

Brandon Stewart

Recent comments

Joe Choice

karmaeiic

Related tracks