Rumble For Two Pianos

I am grateful to Andrew Steinberg and the Megalopolis Saxophone Orchestra for giving me the opportunity to compose music for this excellent ensemble. In addition to them, the work also bears a dedication to N. Stanley Balch (1938-2018), for many years the director of the Central High School band in my hometown of Helena-West Helena, Arkansas. He taught me some of the first lessons I learned about music for large ensembles, orchestration, and writing for woodwind and brass instruments, exposed me to a lot of modern music, in the realms of classical concert band music as well as jazz, and gave me a great deal of encouragement. 

Through to (and Out of) the Other Side is in a single movement comprising several sections. The first is fast, syncopated and edgy, gradually morphing into a gigue-like rhythm. After a series of episodes this section gradually cycles back to the material of the opening, with siren-like wailing in the altissimo registers of the soprano and top two alto parts. A transition ensues, with some rock and jazz elements and a hint of bluesiness, interrupted from time to time by soft four-part harmonies marked “senza vibrato, ethereal, disembodied.” A very brief accelerando outburst yields to the heart of the work, a slow movement that is by turns lyrical and austere, with fairly large pauses interspersed, suggesting vast spaces. The opening sonority of this section is a simple simultaneous interval of a minor third (C to E-flat), which happens to be the opening sound of a haunting late work of Mozart, his Masonic Funeral Music. Not sure how this found its way in — it is not an exact quotation from Mozart’s piece — but somehow it did. After the climax of this section, a stark two-part chorale for the entire ensemble asserts itself, before the mood is swept away by the final section in waltz tempo. Besides the Mozart reference, another piece, coincidentally also in the key of C minor, wormed its way into my thinking at the end of this work: the Waltz No. 2 from Shostakovich’s Suite for Variety Orchestra, familiar to anyone who has seen Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut, where it accompanies the opening scene. Again, there is no direct quotation, and this reference, such as it is, is even less obvious than is the case with the Mozart. The overall trajectory of my piece seems to travel from a more upbeat, if rambunctious opening, through a much more introspective passage, ultimately returning to a mood similar to the opening, with perhaps more of a satirical cast.

Through To (and Out Of) The Other Side (2018) - 48k

Expansions 2 is a piece that states a simple underlying musical structure, where each note is then “expanded” by a sequence of other notes, both harmonically and melodically.  The expansions are stated in rhythms that extend the original note and span as much as three measures.  In most of the piece, the original structure is stated in the woodwinds and the expansions in the strings.  The expansions range from as little as three notes to as many as nine.  The textures sometimes become very dense, with multiple overlappings and extensions.  Once stated, notes longer than a few beats fade in a diminuendo, and much of the surface of the piece is dominated by notes fading out as others keep entering.  The piece alternates sections of various densities and dynamics, and, in the middle, the expansions become extended melodies.  A climax occurs when the expansions include both harmonies and melodies, after which the work returns to the opening texture.  The piece was written in the fall of 2017.

Expansions 2 is the second work developing an idea which I originally created as a piece of electronic music.  This work employs a large orchestra of woodwinds, piano and strings. There are 24 separate string parts, with 10 violins, 6 viola and cellos, and 2 double basses. It also uses 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons and contrabassoon.

Expansions 2

Additional flute (or violin) and cello parts for 14 piano pieces. In approximate order of difficulty: 1 Khatchaturian "Ivan Sings", 2 Tchaikovsky "Sweet Dream" (1:30), 3 Prokofiev "Evening" (3:43), 4 Ellmenreich "Spinning Song" (5:54), 5 Bach Prelude in C (7:37), 6 Chopin Waltz in Am (9:37), 7 Prokofiev March (11:51), 8 Beethoven Minuet in G (12:57), 9 CPE Bach "Solfeggietto" (15:17), 10 Heller "L'Avalanche" (16:33), 11 Chopin Mazurka in F (17:51), 12 Chopin Polonaise in Gm (19:40), 13 Nazareth "Remando" [not yet included in this file], 14 Bach Invention #1 (22:24)

Trios - Trio Accompaniments to Elementary Level Piano Literature

Live performance by C4 (The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective, www.c4ensemble.org), conducted by Michael Conley, Saturday, May 31, 2014, at the Church of St. Luke in the Fields. 

Soloists: Melissa Wozniak, soprano; Melissa Bybee, mezzo-soprano; Colin Britt, tenor; Hayes Biggs, bass.

composed in celebration of my marriage to Susan Orzel, and is dedicated to her with all my love. The Choir of All Saints Church, New York City, under the direction of Dr. Gail Archer, gave the work its premiere at our wedding on January 16, 1999. The texts are biblical, from the Song of Songs, in Latin and English.

The main material of the motet is the opening unison melody for altos and tenors set to the words “Tota pulchra es, amica mea” (“You are all beautiful, my love”). The piece begins in a style that I would loosely describe as neo-Medieval, at times tinged with influences of Renaissance sacred polyphony. Gradually a solo quartet takes over, ultimately leading to the first major stylistic shift in the motet: the reappearance of the opening motive (presented in the soprano part, with one octave-displaced pitch) and words, sung by the full choir in a much more lush, Romantic harmonization. This introduces the English text beginning with the words, “Set me as a seal upon thine heart,” heard in a duet for altos and tenors. The culmination of the piece is a restatement of the Romantic harmonization of the initial Latin text a half step higher than before, with the initial English words presented as a countermelody in the altos and second tenors. A gradual winding down ensues, and at the end of the motet a solo tenor voice remains, singing a much slower variant of the opening melody on the words “pulchra es.”

-Hayes Biggs

Published by C. F. Peters Corporation, Edition Peters 67949, Copyright © 2000.

Texts and translation:

Tota pulchra es, amica mea, et macula non est in te.
(You are all beautiful, my love, and there is no flaw in you.)
Vox dilecti mei, en dilectus meus loquitur mihi:
(The voice of my beloved! Behold, my beloved speaks to me:)
Surge, amica mea.
(Arise, my love.)
Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm:
For love is strong as death: jealousy is cruel as the grave.
Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.

Wedding Motet: Tota pulchra es/Set me as a seal upon thine heart (1998) (C4, 5/31/14)

Live recordings from the Summer 2023 Winds of the Mountain Empire concert.

Sheer Dogged Stubbornness (Evelyn Pursley-Kopitzke)

Volcano for Solo Organ

First of seven duet movements for instruments of the woodwind quintet which, along with a tutti Finale, comprise "The Boathouse in Winter."

Performed in this Recording by Pentasonic Winds, NYC.

For sheet music contact www.timothybrownmusicnyc.com

Boathouse In Winter, Mvmt I.aiff

Curtis Macomber, violin
Christopher Oldfather, piano

Inquieto (attraverso il rumore) was composed at the request of the violinist Rolf Schulte, and is dedicated to him with gratitude.  The work’s premiere took place on March 4, 2015 at the Kaufman Music Center’s Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, performed by Mr. Schulte and pianist Stephen Gosling.

In Italian, “inquieto” means unquiet or restless, even anxious or uneasy, and “attraverso il rumore” can be translated as “through the noise.” The disquiet I refer to is that of a restless mind, which must work through clatter and clutter to achieve calm. Thanks to my colleague and friend, the composer Paolo Marchettini, for helping me to come up with the right Italian phrase for the title.

A restless mind is a terrible thing to waste, hence this piece, which is in two movements, played without pause. The first begins with an oddball kind of jazz idea, moving gradually into a slow, somewhat siciliana-like tempo. The second is much more driven and somewhat frenetic, until it finally settles into a reminiscence of the slow music from the first movement. 

This track appeared in 2018 on the first CD comprised entirely of my music, a disc that was released on Navona Recordings(PARMA Recordings LLC).

Hayes Biggs, 2023

Inquieto (attraverso il rumore) (2015) (new)

This work was composed for and premiered by the Chamber group Absolute Ensemble led by Kristjan Järvi.  It was written for a concert devoted to the music of JS Bach.  Although this is an original piece of mine, there are subtle references to Bach's Inventions no. 5 and 8 which peak in from time to time.

Absolute Ensemble/Kristjan Järvi

Trios - Trio Accompaniments to Elementary Level Piano Literature

David See 2

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