Live recording of the premiere of "Traced Upon Cinders".  Either/Or Ensemble, conducted by Richard Carrick, and the DiMenna Center for Classical Music, Cary Hall. (April 12, 2014 - recorded by Ryan Streber).

"Traced Upon Cinders" is a partner piece to my percussion sextet "Etched in Sand" (2013).  The notes to "Etched in Sand" read:

“To etch is to cut, carve, or engrave a text or design onto a surface (traditionally metal, glass, or stone).  This process leaves a permanent design on the original surface.

“I recall going to the shore as a child and spending hours etching designs into the wet, hardened sand at the threshold of beach and sea.  With the sun on my back I would revel in the glory of these beautiful and ephemeral pieces of art that I created using the sand as my canvas and a stray seashell as my stylus.  As evening encroached, the tide would slowly come in, its regular cycles of crashing waves a whispering reminder of the passing of time.  The gently lapping water would inevitably creep towards my etchings, and as it neared I waited, in tense anticipation, for the arcs of water blindly reaching up the beach.  As the first finger of water washed over my design, the image began its transformation into a subdued echo of itself.  For a short time – an eternity – I would solemnly watch my day’s work gently fade away into the original blank canvas.”

As an adult, I often look back to memories of moments from my childhood.  I trace these images over and over again in my mind, seeking new meanings and connections.  But as time passes their fidelity erodes; they are now cinders of the burning moments they once were, and quickly they do fade.

"Traced Upon Cinders" was written for the Either/Or Ensemble.

-Nina C. Young

Traced Upon Cinders (2014) for 13 musicians

Dan Shaud (horn) & Aaron Trant (drums) perform the 1999 composition "no apologies necessary" (part 2 of 2) by Curtis K. Hughes
Recorded July 1999, Groton MA.

no apologies necessary [1999] - part 2 (of 2)

Geoffrey Landman, alto saxophone
Osnat Netzer, piano

℗ 2014 Turdus Merula Music
Artwork by James St. John provided under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.


Pillars (2014)

An allele is one of a number of alternative forms of the same gene or genetic locus.  Some genetic variations result in vast differences from eye color to blood type; many others result in almost no variation beyond the gene itself.

The gene in Alleles is a simple pattern of three sustained notes: [1] The initial note, [2] a large leap in either direction, [3] then a smaller leap in the opposite direction such that the note we end up on is either just above or below the initial pitch.  Almost all possible versions of this motive [motive A] are stated fugally at the beginning with interruptions by freer melodic statements introducing a rhythmic repeated note motive [motive B] and a harmonic cluster motive [motive C], both of which derive from motive A and gain a life of their own in subsequent sections.  The fugue ends with a bigger statement of motive B, which the percussion takes over. This transitions into a much weightier, almost muscular statement of motive A in sustained brass canons moving in and out of a heavy motive B accompaniment.  Just as the brass begin to dominate the texture, motive B takes over completely and rushes headlong into a climactic statement of all versions of the motive stated simultaneously in the entire ensemble, split into two cross-faded groups.  The percussion again transitions into a restatement of the opening, though now in widely spaced chords expanding and contracting down until we are left with only motive C stated three times, aching each time more fully into consonance.


Alleles for Symphonic Band

2016

[Under the Cherry Trees]
[Sub Rosa]
[Lemon]

Tony Arnold, soprano
James Baker, conductor
Wellesley Composers Conference faculty ensemble

performed live on 7.30.16 in Wellesley


//TEXT (trans.) by Kajii Motojiro
transliterated by Mahoko Taniguchi

[Under the Cherry Trees]
Dead bodies are buried under the cherry trees!
You have to believe it. Otherwise, you couldn’t possibly explain the beauty of the cherry blossoms. I was restless, lately, because I couldn’t believe in this beauty. But I have now finally understood: dead bodies are buried under the cherry trees. You have to believe it.

[Lemon]
Before my life started being eaten into, the place I used to like best of all was Maruzen. There were red and yellow eau de cologne and eau de quinine. There were ornately etched and polished perfume bottles; Kiriko glass, with raised figures of amber and jade in an elegant rococo style. There were Japanese smoke pipes, knives, soaps, and cigarettes.

Mischa Salkind-Pearl's Album

Language of Flowers [2016]

For clarinet, violin, cello, and piano.  Composed in 2013.  Performed by Music from Copland House.

Cultivate concert 2014

P.A.W.

Peggy Pearson, oboe
Rane Moore, bass clarinet
Gabriela Díaz, violin
Rafael Popper-Keizer, cello

They bury their dead with great ululations

11 - Jute Gyte - "Detritivore"

Recorded by Alarm Will Sound at the 2011 Mizzou New Music Summer Festival.  Alan Pierson, conductor.

Mizzou New Music Summer Festival July 16, 2011

Step!

"A Mind Sang" is the winner of the Vimeo Staff Pick Award at the 2020 Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Read more about it on the Vimeo blog: vimeo.com/blog/post/staff-pick-award-a-mind-sang-vier-nev/

A Mind Sang | A Mãe de Sangue
Directed and animated by Vier Nev

viernev.com
instagram.com/viernev/

yaniselmasri.com
instagram.com/yanis.el.masri


ORIGINAL MUSIC | Yanis El-Masri
RECORDING / SOUND PRODUCTION | Guilherme Correia
MUSIC ASSISTANT/RECORDING ASSISTANT | Miguel Serrão

MUSICIANS
PICCOLO | Simão Pinto
FLUTES | Melanie Gil, Ana Teixeira
OBOE | Gabriela Pereira
CLARINET | Joana Lima
BASS CLARINET | António Lopes
BASSOON | Adriana Gonçalves
CONTRABASSOON | José Miguel Oliveira
FRENCH HORNS | Cristiana Azoia, Luis Oliveira
TRUMPET | Pedro Jerónimo
TUBA | José Santos
VIOLINS | Alice Abreu, Daví Rabog, Tiago Rodrigues, Yuri Gomes
VIOLAS | Catarina Gonçalves, Luís Silva
CELLOS | João Geraldo, Dinis Lecomte
DOUBLE BASS | Amã Oliveira

no apologies necessary [1999] - part 2 (of 2)

Curtis K Hughes