Goldberg 7 5 3

Commission for Harmonia Girls’ Choir - spring 2022 . Lyrics from a poem by Julie Pellissier-Lush

The Dandelion

The first section of music for Yvonne Ng's choreography "Sleeping, Tucked in the lonely Purple" produced by tiger princess dance projects and Theatre Gargantua in Toronto.

Nick Storring — Fender Rhodes, Hohner Pianet-T, Hohner Clavinet D6, Yamaha CP60M Stage Piano, electric mandola, electric mandocello, electric cello, glockenspiel, toy piano, handbells, bar chimes, Orff Xylophone, tongue drum, harmonicas, melodicas, Suzuki Andes 25-F, ocarinas, slide whistles, bird calls, voice, drums and percussion, hand claps.

ROXA — I (2022)

The Purpose of an Empty Room(2022)

Performed by David Zucchi - September 9, 2022 at Arrayspace, Toronto

David Zucchi, alto saxophone
Live Electronics

Commissioned with support from the Canada Council for the Arts

Audio: Michael Murphy

The Purpose of an Empty Room (2022)

Premiered by the DePauw University Concert Band, Craig Paré, conductor

how many heartaches? is based on Johann Sebastian Bach’s chorale harmonization of the Lutheran hymn “Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid” (Oh God, how much heartache). The work arises out of the despair many feel as we see daily news of gun violence, the treatment of migrants, the destruction of our environment, and injustice towards vulnerable communities.

In video conversations with the students of the South View Middle School Bands, they talked maturely, openly, and honestly about the emotions that inspired this piece, and connected it with their own lived experiences of loss and sadness. However, they insisted that hope and comfort always comes to ease that pain.

This piece was commissioned by the South View Middle School Bands.

how many heartaches?

Single Red Flower
I: a few warbles for the little dead
II: the big alive, feeling small
completed July 2022

Performed November 20 2022 by Standing Wave at St. George the Martyr, Toronto, ON. Part of "Ex Machina" presented by New Music Concerts.

ABOUT
“single Red flower” was written shortly before, during, and after the death of my two rats Parsley and Sage. They were my pandemic companions, providing much love and friendship during two awful years of lockdown in a small Toronto basement apartment. The two movements are threaded with residual emotion from their passing. 

Having never dealt with losing my own pet before – let alone two in quick succession - I was mystified, touched, and overwhelmed with the rituals of their little deaths: laying them in the cage for their cagemates to process their death; picking out a flower pot, soil, and seeds in which to bury them; and laying them to rest in a backyard rental in which we would soon be leaving. Only one plant bloomed from the planter, a beautiful red flower of a species I have never seen before. 

While I often try to keep my emotions out of my music, this piece inadvertently became strange, small, and ritualistic, reflecting these experiences. Little, quiet sounds are brought to the forefront and amplified to fill the space in the same way that little things can fill our hearts beyond bearing.

single Red flower (sextet)

The title track from a forthcoming album... eventually... ;-) 

Nick Storring — cavaquinho, electric mandola, mandocello, electric bass, khamak, electric cello, voice, Suzuki Andes 25-f, harmonicas, melodicas, clarinet, bawu, hulusi, xaphoon, assorted flutes, whirly tubes, Fender Rhodes, Orff xylophone, boomwhackers, glockenspiel, tongue drums, cuíca, assorted drums and percussion. 

Contains field recordings captured in São Paulo (rain on steel blinds, birds) and Guarujá, Brazil (hydrophone ocean waves).

Mirante (2023)

"Young Afro Future" (2014) is the third movement of Tijani and the final movement of Children's Suite (2007-2014), which consists of nine movements for solo piano dedicated to my three children. I'm posting it today in honour of my son turning 10.

There are three melodic ideas. The first is a pattern of ascending fourths in the right hand which goes through changes in pitch and harmony. The second is a bassline of staggered octaves which becomes a root-fifth-octave pattern in the second section. The first section of the movement is based on a rhythmic pattern of nine beats; the second, fours alternating with threes. The third idea arrives in this section: progressions of four-note chords moving in half notes, alternating with dotted quarters and then dotted half notes.

The thundering character of the left hand provides a contrast to the rest of the suite, which is relatively placid. This movement provides a bright, uptempo ending to the overall work.

The form and structure here are simple, almost pop-song like. There is a limited amount of complexity and abstraction present in the harmonies and rhythms. I take inspiration from Bach's Prelude in C major, in the idea of a repeating pattern cycling through changes of harmony.

Stephen Clarke, piano
World premiere recorded live at The Array Space, Toronto by Daniel Tapper, November 21, 2020

Photo: still from video by Daniel Tapper

Music and composer’s notes copyright Bruce A. Russell 2024

Young Afro Future

the being/the world (2024)
for Juliet Fraser and Ensemble Musikfabrik

extract recording: 
scene 10: the atmospheric agent, 
scene 11: aria (happiness) [from 4:28], 
and part of scene 12: ensemble (love) [from 10:00]

premiere recording extract from WDR, Köln on 3 March 2024

total piece duration: 1 hour

in loving memory of Amelia Cuni

commissioned by Ensemble Musikfabrik and Kunststiftung NRW
photograph: Janet Sinica

the being/the world (2024) scenes 10, 11, 12 (extract)

This piece is an interpretation of a Shepard Tone for string quartet. It was written for the Quatuor Bozzini and premiered in their opening season concert of 2015/16. 

This recording was made by John Klepko.

Young Afro Future

El Mahboob

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