Mountaintops

-Copyright 2015 by David Zheng-
"A Father you can't with a lantern" is the present composed by the composer to his father for the Father's Day. The title is derived from a joke between the father and the son.
It is composed solo piano in the style of Joplin, as the composer's first attempt to write ragtime music.

A Father you can't find with a lantern

I had the privilege of doing a read-through of this piece at Furman University for composition juries this fall. We only had one short rehearsal ahead of time, so forgive the messiness; but I'm very happy with how well it turned out considering. Also forgive the over-loudness of the piano; it's a very bright one, the lid was open, and we didn't have close mics on the strings. The string players were phenomenal - most of the mistakes were on my end :). Also ignore the awkward dropout of left hand piano towards the end - my pages were about to fall off and I had to catch them. In any case, I hope you enjoy the heartfelt performance! :) As Beethoven once said, "To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is inexcusable."

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Fantasy for Piano Trio (jury read-through)

For piano quartet
This 6-minute work is literally derived from the first measure. The main is introduced then immediately
intensified. The contrapuntal first theme, in B minor, is developed from a cantus firmus, which is an extension of the main motif. Each instrument joins in and the music slowly turns homophonic, then culminates on the first melody written in counterpoint of the cantus firmus. The transition starts as theme is repeated on the piano, the string joins, playing the variations of the main motif.
The second theme is a fugue, in which the subject is a variation of the main motif. The piano is dropped out for a while as the 3 voices slowly progresses in the developmental section of the fugue. After the piano joins, the subject returns and a smorzando ends the theme.
The return of introduction material is rather dramatic. There is a confusion of the tonality as tonic chords of splitted thirds are used. The is a brief return of the first theme, then the quartet lands on an unidentified F chord.
This piece is an example of the composer attempting to cooperate his harmonic system into orthodox techniques of composition. Meaning the music does not sound hugely baroque nor contemporary. The process of combining them turns out to be impossible, so the composer had to decide when which system have to give in in order to compensate for the other system.

Chorale And Fugue

A string quartet that was written when I first started composing. It consists of 2 contrasting themes each presented, varied and re-stated. 

The image has nothing to do with the music.

Dream In Nightmare

The 10-minute version of a set of preludes and interludes for piano.

Reminiscences (Shortened Version)

Music for a short student film my friend filmed. Performed by Lucas Liu and Alison Thomas

The Road Original Soundtrack

Songs for the summer, hope you like it!
Out now on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0pQ2qWfyw7W9MbLX5HeiIy

Ehrling!
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All my cover art are painted by my good friend Niclas, go check him out: www.instagram.com/niclasbrgstrm/

Ehrling - Sthlm Sunset

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimm’d:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Sonnet 18, Shakespeare 

(composed in 2015)

Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day

Downpour

The third entry to the series. A humoresque recorded at Interlochen Public Radio.

Mountaintops

Catherine McMillan