Pink Zephyr Continuum (extract)

Written for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

Memex (2014), for symphonic orchestra

Teratoma /ter·a·to·ma/ Gr. teraton, or monster] n. A tumor made up of different types of tissue, none of which is native to the area in which it occurs. Teratomas have been reported to contain hair, teeth, bone, and, very rarely, more complex organs or processes such as eyes, torso, and hands, feet, or other limbs. Early beliefs explained the growth as a punishment for cannibalism or adultery with the devil.

Odradek /Od·ra·dek/ At first glance it looks like a flat star-shaped spool for thread, wound with ￼old, broken-off bits of thread, knotted and tangled together. ￼He lurks by turns in the garret, the stairway, the lobbies, the entrance hall. "Well, what's your name?" you ask him. "Odradek," he says. "And where do you live?" "No fixed abode," he says and laughs; but it is only the kind of laughter that has no lungs behind it. (Kafka)

Performers: Chelsea Komschlies (flute), Geoffrey Wilson (piano)
photo: Paul Nougé, from "Subversion des images"

Teratoma, Odradek

distortion 1

distortion 2

distortion 3

dissonance 1

dissonance 2

【Alchemy】for snare drum with crotales, ride, splash & live electronics
The medieval forerunner of chemistry, concerned with the transmutation of matter, in particular with attempts to convert base metals into gold or find a universal elixir. -from Oxford.
The piece turns the multiple-timbre of snare drum into the unique sound by processing though the Max/msp, corresponding to the concept of Alchemy.

< Alchemy > for snare drum with crotales, ride, splash & live electronics

Video: https://youtu.be/obO7uqMYGLs

Performed by the Azure Quartet: Kj McDonald, Brenden Zak, Hannah Geisinger and Yifei Li

Spiral Sequences is a string quartet performed in two movements. The first, the shorter of the two, is frantic and pulse-driven, carried by momentum generated by spiraling 16th note patterns and repeated ostinatos. It presents fragments of a sequence-like pattern, one which is played in its complete form at the beginning of a longer, introspective second movement. The first movement presents an inward spiral, constantly tightening. The second works to unravel it.

Spiral Sequences - string quartet

Composer, Ph.D. student of Jean Lesage at McGill University, alum of the Curtis Institute (AD) and CU Boulder College of Music (MM)

Teratoma, Odradek

Chelsea Komschlies

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