World Premiere, 7.17.25
Jennifer Gersten, violin
Hannah A. Barnes, electronics
Scholes Street Studio, Brooklyn

“Caminante, no hay caminos, hay que caminar.”
—anonymous inscription on a Spanish monastery
“In my beginning is my end.... In my end is my beginning. —T.S. Eliot, “East Coker”
The paths one takes are rarely, if ever, clear and straightforward. clouded winding paths reflects upon the above mantra, which has guided me for several years, as well upon as the circumstances surrounding the composition of the piece and the physical recovery of both myself (before the composition) and my collaborator, Jennifer Gersten. After an injury necessitated a drastic change in how Jennifer played the violin (taking up an improvisation practice with the violin on her lap), creating uncertainty around performance possibilities, I was eager to continue this collaborative project, finding a connection between her situation and my own years of chronic scoliosis-related back pain as a young woman.
Before intensive physical therapy, which led to significant and lasting positive change, I had to adapt and limit certain activities for years as a teenager and young adult. In clouded winding paths, I took an adaptive approach to violin writing, which led to certain discoveries in our collaboration that I would not have found otherwise—wispy harmonic sounds that come from inserting a knitting needle between the strings; or different approaches to overpressure or molto sul tasto bowing that are only possible with the violin positioned horizontally; and so on. As Jennifer was able to return to playing in the “traditional” position, in the finished piece, these adaptive materials are present in the electronics, which augment or contrast with what takes place in the live violin. This adaptive playing also influenced materials and development in the “traditional” position, which is modulated by the filtering and delays within the live electronics.
At the heart of the piece is a complex network of material and textural relationships, which includes polyphony between the solo violin and its fixed electronic counterpart. Materials and structures that are created and used in rigorous manners (including a thirteen-note microtonal tone row) come into contact with messy, unpredictable materials and processes. While some of these paths were determined at the outset, many were illuminated along the compositional process and could not have been anticipated at the origin of the journey.
clouded winding paths, which pays homage to Luigi Nono, was composed for and is dedicated to Jennifer Gersten. It is a cousin to my piece for electric guitar, Negative Capability (2020).
— HAB

Poster/thumbnail design by Jennifer Gersten.
All fixed media recordings by Jennifer Gersten.

clouded winding paths (2025, world premiere)

“Dream Diary: Concerto for Seven String Electric Violin and Orchestra,” was premiered in 2015 by the Muncie Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Douglas Droste, with Joe Deninzon as the soloist.  The work was Inspired by (composer) Joe Deninzon roots in classical music and falling in love with ‘80s/‘90s guitar virtuosos such as Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, and Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt. “Dreams were a recurring theme in their music. Joe Satriani had a popular instrumental rock album titled ‘Flying in a Blue Dream.’”  

Joe was further inspired by Steve Vai’s “Passion and Warfare” and the guitarist’s mention that he kept a dream diary, “writing down his dreams while they were still vivid when he woke up. He allowed those dreams to influence his compositions.” 

The piece loosely follows the cycles of sleep, including the sensation of “Falling and Flying” in the early stages of sleep (1st Movement), “Delta Waves”, the first stage of deep sleep (2nd Movement), “Rapid Eye Movement” and dreaming (3rd Movement), and “Waking Dream” (4th Movement)

Joe plays a seven-string “Viper” electric violin, which has a range that goes a whole step below the cello, and incorporates effects such as distortion, delay, whammies, wah-wah, and loops to conjure surreal, dream-like soundscapes. 

The piece is also available for 5-string violin and string orchestra.

DREAM DIARY: CONCERTO FOR SEVEN-STRING ELECTRIC VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA by Joe Deninzon

Stare into the Sun was written for a Sci-Fi/Detective show that didn't make it off the ground.  I still like it and hope someone picks it up for their show, or game  - Written by Clair Marlo and Marty Davich.

Stare into the sun

STARE INTO THE SUN THEME

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop, conductor

Copland: Symphony No.  3 (October 2018)

A transcription for euphonium of the second movement of Bach's mighty 4-movement solo partita for flute - performed by Finale 26 music notation software, Vienna Ensemble, and the Vienna Symphonic Library euphonium with some tweaking by DG

Pictured is a Yamaha YEP-321s silver plated 4-valve euphonium, the same kind I played through high school, college, and graduate school

Partita, BWV 1013 - II. Corrente

J.S. Bach: Partita for solo flute BWV 1013, transcribed for euphonium - II. Corrente

The Love Song

Song "Too Close" from Clair Marlo's album Behaviour Self

Too Close

McKinley improvised on the theme of "Happy Birthday" as part of a concert tribute to composer Gunther Schuller on occasion of his 65th birthday. Performed November 28, 1990 at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall in Boston MA.

Homage To Gunther ("Happy Birthday" solo piano improvisation)

One of the strongest teenage piano trios in the country performs Beethoven with passion and precision. They’re joined by a young vocalist performing Shakespeare, and a 15-year-old violinist who just might be an orchestral conductor someday.

17-year-old flutist Blue Shelton

Als Luise Die Briefe - Mozart

Widmung - Schumann

Composer David Gaines (b. 1961) has been recognized both by critics and by other artists for his imaginative orchestrations and his uniquely international and eclectic style. His music, which has been performed across the United States and Europe, includes two symphonies, concertos for baritone saxophone, trombone, and euphonium, plus a variety of chamber, choral, and electronic music.

Recordings are available in compact disc and digital download formats on the Navona Records, Verda Stelo Music, and MMC Recordings labels, the most recent of which is a newly remastered version of the long out-of-print 2001 orchestral album "The Music Of David Gaines."

A graduate of Northwestern University, American University, and Johns Hopkins University's Peabody Conservatory of Music (where he earned a doctoral degree in composition), David Gaines studied with M. William Karlins, Stephen Syverud, Jerzy Sapieyevski, Jean Eichelberger Ivey, and Robert Sirota. His awards include annual ASCAP Standard Awards since 2000 as well as first prize in the 1997 College Music Society Mid Atlantic Chapter Student Composers Competition and first prize in the song division of the World Esperanto Association's 1995 International Fine Arts Competition. The "Society and Esperanto" Foundation of Bulgaria named him an Honorary Life Member in 1994, and in 2006 the international organization Muzika Esperanto-Ligo awarded him the title of Honorary President in recognition of his usage of the international language Esperanto in his music. In 2010, the Leonard Falcone International Euphonium Competition selected Gaines’ Jubilee for euphonium and piano as one of the required semifinal round compositions.

Past faculty appointments include The New School's online Master of Media Technology degree program via Connected Education, Inc., for which he created the first Internet university-level music course for credit (on the history of electronic music technology), as well as University of Maryland University College, where he held the rank of adjunct associate professor.

Recent performances include the premiere of Free Air for trombone and organ at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas; the Esperanto choral work Povas Plori Mi Ne Plu in Saint-Nazaire, France; The Lion Of Panjshir (Symphony No. 2) in Baltimore; the piano reduction version of the Concerto for euphonium and orchestra at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia; Duo for flute and tuba at the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh; Lyric Fanfare for trombone and piano at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan, the University of Oregon, Texas State University-San Marcos, and Shoreline Community College in Washington state; Five Miniatures for flute and euphonium at West Virginia University, Southwestern University, and the University of Oklahoma; and the premiere of a trombone concerto written for Robert Kozánek (principal trombonist, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra) as part of the 60th anniversary celebration of the P. J. Vejvanovský Conservatory in Kromeríž, Czech Republic.

Outside of his musical activities, Dr. Gaines has been an animal welfare activist, shelter trainer, and an advocate for ferrets and other small mammals for many years. He is a former volunteer director of legal and legislative affairs for the American Ferret Association.

J.S. Bach: Partita for solo flute BWV 1013, transcribed for euphonium - II. Corrente

David Gaines

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