performed and recorded by L'Instant Donné

musica spolia (quartet version)

Infinity Room_by Robert Fanning

Lucas Petersen and Kansas University Wind Ensemble

Live world premiere recording 11 April, 2023, Lied Centre, Lawrence, KS

POUNCE for Wind Ensemble

An incident wave is any kind of wave (sound, ocean, shock, etc.) traveling away from its source. After an initial loss of energy, the wave will continue unabated until it encounters a resistance, whether an object, a load, or a distant shore. In its stable state, the wave can cross dramatic distances, conveying energy from one far-removed place to another without displacing the matter between them. Experienced, for instance, on a windswept beach on the central California coast, such waves are reminders of the deep interconnection in the world; between matter and energy, between distance and proximity, between observer and observed.

Incident Waves

The Disarray was inspired by the self-taught abstract and street photographer Olga Karlovac, more specifically her second photography book of the same name, as well her as self-portraits. Her work strikes me as dark and unsettlingly beautiful, and it instills in me a sense of inner turmoil that takes over the outside world. In this piece I aimed to simply capture the feeling of profound grief and inescapable desolation that I find in her photography.

The Disarray

"Bravado" (2023) was written for the Tanglewood Music Festival 2023 orchestral readings and explores the many connotations of the word “bravado,” a descendent of the Old Italian adjective bravo, meaning “wild” or “courageous.” A person with bravado can be seen as bold or reckless, daring or arrogant, confident or overbearing. The orchestra musically embodies this range of traits through the transformation of the piece’s primary melody. Thank you to the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra for bringing "Bravado" to life.

INSTRUMENTATION:
Flute 1-2 (Flute 2 doubles Piccolo)
Oboe 1-2
Clarinet in Bb 1-2
Bassoon 1-2
Horn in F 1-4
Trumpet in Bb 1-2 (metal straight mute)
Trombone 1-2 (metal straight mute)
Bass Trombone (metal straight mute)
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion 1: Suspended Cymbal, Xylophone
Percussion 2: Bass Drum, Glockenspiel
Harp
Strings

PERUSAL SCORE REQUESTS:
Contact Just a Theory Press at admin@justatheorypress.com

WIND BAND VERSION:
Arrangement commissioned by "The President's Own" United States Marine Band (touring fall 2023: https://www.marineband.marines.mil/Tour/). Perusal score available via Just a Theory Press (admin@justatheorypress.com); available for programming beginning November 2023.

LEARN MORE:
https://www.galaflagello.com/

Bravado - Tanglewood Reading

Can’t Never Could is a fantasy for two pianos and orchestra. As an alumna of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra—I was the orchestral pianist—I had a blast thinking about what sort of orchestral colors, techniques, or ideas would have excited me as a young composer sitting in the middle of an orchestra during rehearsals and performances. With this in mind, I decided to give each instrumental family a virtuosic section which challenges what one might normally do in traditional repertoire. These changes in
orchestration trigger the changes in form as the duo pianists (my piano duo, HOCKET) interact in fantastical flourishes around the orchestral material.

Can't Never Could

The United States Air Force Band, Col. Don Schofield, conductor. Live performance on March 6, 2024 at the American Bandmasters Association.

Part 1 from "Deep Down (Symphony No. 1)"

for alto saxophone, electric guitar, percussion, and accordion 

March 26, 2024 - Illinois State University
REDNOTE Composition Workshop

Black Ice

Black Ice - Performed by HYPERCUBE

Enigma (2024) for wind ensemble with optional organ

performed by the Michigan State University Wind Symphony, Michael Gabriel, conductor

Enigma was originally written for brass choir and organ for the dedication of the Red Cedar Organ in the Michigan State University Alumni Chapel. This version was created for my friend Henry Dorn and the St. Olaf Band. It was awarded the 2024 National Band Association William D. Revelli Memorial Prize.


Enigma comes from a Greek word that means “to speak in riddles,” and in this piece, the riddle—or theme—is revealed gradually. The theme comes from the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor by Johann Sebastian Bach, which is one of my favorite pieces of music, and, once the theme is revealed, it is repeated cyclically with 21 variations, just like in Bach’s original. This piece is dedicated to my former teacher, José-Luis Maúrtua, a composer, theorist, conductor, and teacher with whom I studied at Central Michigan University. José-Luis was an extraordinary musician and teacher who was tirelessly dedicated to his students and to pushing them to do their best. I am forever grateful for the lessons I learned from him, and my music and my life are far better for having known him. Unfortunately, he was taken from this earth far too young—at the age of 57—by pancreatic cancer in the spring of 2022. I miss him dearly, and this music is for him.

For more information: https://davidbiedenbender.com/work/enigma-2/

Enigma

This work is part of a cycle of four works related to representations of the four elements in the Old Testament. Neshamah means “breath” and is inspired in the following biblical text:
Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature (Genesis 2:7).
This piece was commissioned by the Ibermúsicas Project and was composed at the Centro Mexicano para la Música y las Artes Sonoras and at the Centro de Pesquisa em Música Eletroacústica of Federal University of Minas Gerais. It received an honorable mention at the Concours International de Composition Electroacoustique de Monaco 2016 and at the Destellos Competition 2016.
Also check the version with video at:
https://youtu.be/RIzLRAQ9h0M

Neshamah

Composer David Biedenbender’s music has been described as “simply beautiful” [twincities.com] and is noted for its “rhythmic intensity” [NewMusicBox] and “stirring harmonies” [Boston Classical Review]. “Modern, venturesome, and inexorable…The excitement, intensity, and freshness that characterizes Biedenbender’s music hung in the [air] long after the last note was played” [Examiner.com]. David has written music for the concert stage as well as for dance and multimedia collaborations, and his work is often influenced by his diverse musical experiences in rock and jazz bands as an electric bassist, in wind, jazz, and New Orleans-style brass bands as a euphonium, bass trombone, and tuba player, and by his study of Indian Carnatic Music. His present creative interests include working with everyone from classically trained musicians to improvisers, acoustic chamber music to large ensembles, and interactive electronic interfaces to live brain data. He has had the privilege of collaborating with and being commissioned by many talented performers and ensembles, including Alarm Will Sound, PRISM Saxophone Quartet, Stenhammar String Quartet, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, U.S. Navy Band, Philharmonie Baden-Baden (Germany), VocalEssence, and Eastman Wind Ensemble, among many others. 

He is currently Assistant Professor of Composition at Michigan State University. He holds degrees in composition from the University of Michigan and Central Michigan University, and has also studied at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study, the Aspen Music Festival, and in Mysore, India where he studied carnatic music. For more information, visit: www.davidbiedenbender.com.

Enigma

davebied

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