Made in Bristol

Pieces awaiting premiers/recordings

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

This is the first movement in The Infantryman Cycle.  This poem and Suicide in the Trenches by Siegfried Sassoon bookend the cycle in such a way that it accomplishes my goal of showing the seemingly endless cycle of enlisting men and women to the military and sending them home broken.  They both describe a veteran attending a military parade.  Both show disgust and anger at the idea that war should be celebrated.  Both say that these parades should be more solemn to the point of reverence.  I agree with them. 

Text by Robert W. Service.
Performed by Brandon Stewart (tenor) and Felix Arifin (piano).

"Don't Cheer"

As the title would suggest, the piece explores various musical spectra.  The piano and percussion are perpetually suspended which allows for the development of a "sound cloud" as pitches continue to resonate.  Interesting things happen as new pitches enter the cloud such as pitch fluctuations, sympathetic vibrations and harmonics from neighboring resonating bodies, and the natural thinning of the cloud over time.  Rather than focus on the timbral possibilities of each instrument, I sought to change the timbre of the cloud as a unit by varying how pitches enter into it.  This became its own spectrum spanning from individual pitches, through small, rolled pitch sets, to multi-octave chromatic clusters.  This concept determines the formal structure of the piece starting with sections of sparse entrances which become very dense at the climaxes and thinning out again as the piece comes to a close.

Using this very abstract concept, I tried to describe to the audience what the world might feel like to a person on the autistic spectrum.  Sensory overload is a common cause of autistic behaviors and my aim was to amplify these sensations to the point where it would similarly affect someone not on the spectrum.  One reviewer describes the piece as a "sonic temper tantrum".  I think that assessment is rather apropos.

A workshop reading by the Bristol Ensemble.  Roger Huckle (violin), Paul Israel (piano), and David Insua-cao (percussion).

SPECTRA for violin, piano, and percussion

THE BREAK ON FOREIGN SHORES was written during my time at the University of Bristol and reflects on the first five months of my residency in the UK.  Not unlike many who move to distant places without the blessing of a network in residence, my wife and I struggled to settle, adapt, and ultimately flourish in this new landscape.  Our mental and emotional states rose and fell in unpredictable waves as great triumphs were often preceded or followed by utter failures.  Ultimately, I see my time there as a success in and of itself since it has given me the new perspective I had hoped I would receive having made the journey; that I have the fortitude to suffer the crash of the waves without letting them wear me down.

Performed on March 25, 2015 by CoMA Bristol.

The Break on Foreign Shores for variable SATB, percussion, and piano

1.6 HOURS is a piece which literally follows a composer’s hand for 1.6 hours as he works to meet a deadline.  It should be mentioned that this is not the piece intended for said deadline and yet was born of the same movements.  In a way, it is not unlike an unanticipated, yet well-received, twin.  But, unlike a twin, 1.6 HOURS is in no way similar to its brother… a piece whose identity I have since forgotten.

Performed on March 25, 2015 by CoMA Bristol.

1.6 HOURS for variable instruments

Completed May 2016.
Still awaiting a premiere.

This is my response to the Gesualdo and Monteverdi settings of the same 16th century text.  I felt their settings needed more burns and wounds so mine has those in abundance.

Poetry by Ridolfo Arlotti (1546 - 1613)

Luci serene e chiare,
Voi m'incendete, voi, ma prova il core
Nell'incendio diletto, non dolore.

Dolci parole e care,
Voi mi ferite, voi, ma prova il petto
Non dolor nella piaga, ma diletto.

O miracol d'Amore!
Alma che è tutta foco e tutta sangue
Si strugge e non si duol, more e non langue.

--- English translation ---

Eyes serene and clear 
you burn me, but the heart 
finds pleasure, not sorrow, in the fire. 

Words sweet and dear, 
you wound me, but my breast 
finds pleasure, not sorrow, in the wound. 

O miracle of love! 
The soul that is all fire and blood 
destroys itself, grieves not, dies without languishing.

Luci serene e chiare for SATTB choir (midi realization)

Completed October 2015.
Awaiting premiere.
Unfortunately the midi realization leaves much to be desired...

Written as the capstone project for my MA in music composition from the University of Bristol.  

I have always been troubled by the lack of understanding, perspective, and empathy that people have regarding the biblical narrative of the global flood.  Many people choose to focus on the positive aspects of the story (an old man and his family taking an extended cruise with a mating pair of every animal) and disregard the rest of the story (the utter destruction of every other living thing).  This never sat well with me as the most prominent motif in the Genesis account is not how Noah's family managed on the ark but how those less fortunate fared amidst the waves.  As a result, I was compelled to write a programmatic piece not from the perspective of Noah but of one of the millions, possibly billions, of people who were not saved.  Regardless if you believe in the validity of the story, it is one which describes the single most cataclysmic event in the history of our planet; much more deadly than any war, genocide, plague, meteor, or natural disaster.  Genesis states that the contemporaries of our ancestors offended their god to such a degree that he was compelled to say this of them and us in chapter 6, verse 7: 

"I will wipe man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth; both man and beast, and creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for I regret having made them."

And thus, the piece was given its title: Paenitet enim me fecisse eos.

Text taken from the Latin Vulgate translation of Genesis.

PAENITET ENIM ME FECISSE EOS for orchestra and symphonic choir (midi realization)

This piece was written in honor of April Brookins Duvic on the occasion of her retirement after having taught, and later directed, vocal studies at Clark College for over 25 years.  Her wisdom and guidance has enriched the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of students thoughout her career.  It was obvious that this occasion required a gift befitting the honoree and reflected the gift she gave so many; the gift of song.

The poetry I chose to set in this piece perfectly encapsulates how April has positively affected the lives of her students.  Everyone I have spoken with has their own unforgettable moment in which April brightened a particularly gloomy day or said something which changed them forever.  It was the ambiguity inherent in the poem which enticed me the most as it can relate to each performer and each listener in the same way as they each reflect on their own personal moments.

Poetry by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Gratitude for mixed choir and piano (midi realization)

The third movement of The Infantryman Cycle.  In this piece, the facade put up by the Infantryman in movement two (A Song of Winter Weather) is shattered as he describes his experience in the trenches.  Wilfred Owen perfectly encapsulates the terror, frustration, and hopelessness he felt as one of millions in that circumstance.  My goal in writing the starkly contrasting sections was to change perspective between the Infantryman on the front and the people in relative safety back home.  To remain in the aggressive aesthetic throughout the piece would not have worked as the text becomes less abrasive.  Things to listen for include an allusion to the Westminster Quarters and a fugato section based on Taps and Last Post, bugle calls used by the American and British militaries respectively during military funerals.

"Anthem for Doomed Youth" (midi realization)

Triskaidekaphobia for viola and piano (midi realization)

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