Small Art for piano is a set of nine short character pieces (each about a minute long, give or take). It started as a general call for friends to create new and original, but small art works for each other. Some of my friends sent me small visual artworks that now grace the walls of my studio. Not being a visual artist myself, I embarked on composing this set of short pieces, each dedicated to a friend (though only five of the nine are musicians, and only three of those are pianists, one of whom is deceased).

As a set of short pieces, Small Art may be reminiscent of the keyboard suites of J.S. Bach (or perhaps some of the collections of short piano pieces by Bela Bartok). Though most of the pieces have no explicit reference to dance music styles of the 18th century, the 7th and 9th pieces do draw on specific stylistic aspects of that era.

This recording is a performance by Brenda Tom with earplay at the Taub Auditorium in San Francisco 5 February 2018.

Small Art for solo piano

Small Art — 9 short pieces for solo piano (2015)

Three Epigrams for violin and piano

how sad to hear day turn to dark

The seventh and final movement of Canciones del amor y la noche (1998-99) for soprano, electronics, and dodecatet. Performed by the Berkeley New Music Group in Herz Hall. Rajna Klaser, voice.

Canciones - Epilogo

The sixth movement of Canciones del amor y la noche (1998-99) for soprano, electronics, and dodecatet. Performed by the Berkeley New Music Group in Herz Hall. Rajna Klaser, voice.
Text by Federico Garcia Lorca.

Canciones - Madrugada

The fifth movement of Canciones del amor y la noche (1998-99) for soprano, electronics, and dodecatet. Performed by the Berkeley New Music Group in Herz Hall.

Canciones - Noche Transluciente

The fourth movement of Canciones del amor y la noche (1998-99) for soprano, electronics, and dodecatet. Performed by the Berkeley New Music Group in Herz Hall. Rajna Klaser, voice.
Text by Federico Garcia Lorca.

Canciones - Cruz

The third movement of Canciones del amor y la noche (1998-99) for soprano, electronics, and dodecatet. Performed by the Berkeley New Music Group in Herz Hall.

Canciones - Noche Oscuro

The second movement of Canciones del amor y la noche (1998-99) for soprano, electronics, and dodecatet. Performed by the Berkeley New Music Group in Herz Hall. Rajna Klaser, voice.
Text by Federico Garcia Lorca.

Canciones - Noche

This is the first of two movements of my 1993 composition "a dog named Jethro ... a cat named Felix" for Wind Quintet. It was composed at Fontainbleau and this performance is by the Ligeti Quintet.

Wind Quintet — Largo (1993)

“Walk around feeling like a leaf.
Know you could tumble any second.
Then decide what to do with your time.”
 - Naomi Shihab Nye

Have you ever sought anonymity in a crowded streets of the city? Tried to blend in with the wallpaper at a party? Thought about going out, but couldn’t bear the thought of being seen? There is an art to remaining in the shadows, to fading from view, to disappearing completely. 
This piece was composed for and dedicated to Ellen Ruth Rose (viola) and Meredith Clark (harp). It is a very quite piece. Throughout the piece, each instrument tries to hide behind the other. The take turns fading in and out of the texture. Occasionally, they blend into one another. The starting note takes on different shades and textures, before dissipating into trills and losing its focus. A little more than half way through the piece, a short, simple, sentimental passage is exposed, like a tender memory. The simple counterpoint of this passage actually underpins much of the piece as a whole, even though one is unlikely to hear it. While it does its best to hide itself throughout, in this moment it is starkly exposed. One might consider this an authentic moment that has done its utmost to elude exposure—not unlike how we shield our own authentic, most vulnerable selves from public perception in preliminary social engagements. 
The piece trails of with a series of slow harp arpeggios and with the viola sustaining long single notes. It fades and eventually evaporates leaving the first note of the piece lingering as a harmonic played by the viola.

brucecbennett

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