Performed at Mississippi University for Women on February 20, 2015. In composing "Settling In," I worked with long rhythmic and pitch series, using them to create both placid, static textures as well as more expressive, even agitated ones. The violin and piano in this work have their own identities, at times seeming to cross paths without noticing one another but at other moments influenced by each other’s presence. The piano creates an ambient environment inspired by natural soundscapes, a habitat that is mostly static but that shifts slowly and inexorably. The violin initially borrows some of the piano’s character, but gradually emerges with a much more active role. "Settling In" was written as a complement to an earlier piece, "Setting Out," also for violin and piano. In "Settling In," I took the idea of long-term registral trajectories from the earlier work and approached it from a different angle.

Settling In - Juan Carlos Ortega, violin; David S. Carter, piano

Performed by Spencer Schaffer and David S. Carter April 16, 2023, at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, California.

Subalpine - Spencer Schaffer, trombone; David S. Carter, marimba

In "A Drift, a Thought, a Prayer," fragmentation is fundamental. Ordinary sounds, some “musical” and some not, are broken into pieces. There is a suggestion of a trajectory, yet we primarily hear fragments that have to be perceived only in the here and now. At the center of the piece is the transformation of the human voice - both spoken and sung - via technology. This can happen with implements as simple as using a microphone and as complex and estranging as a vocoder. The transformed voice differs from the natural voice, yet is still recognizable and connects with how air pushes through a larynx.

Art by Jennifer Domani.

A Drift, A Thought, A Prayer

Premiered by Daria Binkowski and David S. Carter February 26, 2022 in Azusa, California.

Settling Up - Daria Binkowski, flute; David S. Carter, piano

Voices of the Bienen Contemporary/Early Vocal Ensemble under the direction of Donald Nally.

Albacore

The Bienen Contemporary/Early Vocal Ensemble under the direction of Donald Nally.  Text by Alfonso Reyes (1927).

Apenas

A veces, hecho de nada,
sube un efluvio del suelo.
De repente, a la callada,
suspira de aroma el cedro.

Como somos la delgada
disolución de un secreto,
a poco que cede el alma
desborda la fuente de un sueño.

¡Mísera cosa la vaga
razón cuando, en el silencio,
una como resolana
me baja, de tu recuerdo!

Scarcely

Sometimes, made of nothing,
an emanation arises from the soil.
Suddenly, in the quiet,
sighs the cedar its scent.

Because we are the thin
dissolution of a secret,
as soon as the soul yields
the source of a dream overflows.

A wretched thing vague
reason when, in the silence,
something like sunlight
comes down to me from your memory!

A veces, hecho de nada . . . - Bienen Contemporary/Early Vocal Ensemble

Written for my son, Alex Carter, who gave the premiere in 2018.

Lunar Reflections - David S. Carter, piano

"Almost Past" was inspired by a print by Mexican artist Demián Flores Cortés depicting a stylized contemporary businessman wrestling with a half-jaguar, half-man deity from pre-Columbian mythology. Cortés in his art explores the interaction of cultural past and present, and shows that the past is never really past: we exist always on the verge of escaping history (personal and collective), but never actually move beyond it.

Almost Past - David Halperin, bass clarinet; Robert McConnell, conductor; NUSO (excerpt: m. 167-end)

In "Setting Out" the violin and piano start with slow, sustained gestures with significant pitch variety, then gradually move toward a registral middle while increasing their rhythmic activity and simplifying their pitch content.  The violin undergoes this journey at a faster pace than the piano, dragging the piano along with it until it catches up.  Three-member pitch and rhythmic cells are the foundation of the piece, with the content of those cells changing over the course of the work.  View the score at:
https://static.squarespace.com/static/5230b7f5e4b0f0d96ed8a8ec/t/53ecefdae4b0134b246b1571/1408036826797/Setting%20Out%208-14-14.pdf

Setting Out - Lavinia Pavlish, violin; Winnie Cheung, piano

Recorded February 23, 2011, at Northwestern's Lutkin Hall by the International Contemporary Ensemble

Surface Tension, for violin, cello, clarinet, & piano (Mvt. I) - International Contemporary Ensemble

A Wilder Swing - Madeline Widman, Clarinet; Victor Guerrero, Tenor Sax

In Sidetracked, I was influenced by the great tradition of Appalachian train songs. The immediate reference is to the folk song “900 Miles,” in which the narrator sings

“Now if my woman tells me so
Then I can't railroad no more
I’ll sidetrack my engine, go on home”

There are numerous other train and railroad folk songs in the Appalachian tradition that contribute to the mythology of the train track. Sidetracked alludes to this tradition with its use of minor pentatonic pitch material, syncopation, drones, open fourths and fifths, sliding, and the bluesy raised fourth scale degree. “Sidetracked” in the case of this piece also refers to the adjacent tracks of the violin and the piano, as well as to how the composition of this piece unfolded. I began with a riff and originally had the idea of repeating it in a call-and-response relationship. After experimenting with a contrapuntal treatment of this riff I ended up following this sidetrack to create the piece as it exists today.

Sidetracked - Juan Carlos Ortega, Violin; David S. Carter, Piano

Lunar Refraction - Juan Carlos Ortega, Violin; David S. Carter, Piano

David S. Carter is a composer, theorist, and teacher based in Los Angeles, where he is an Assistant Professor of Music (Theory/Composition) at Loyola Marymount University.  His works have been performed or recorded by the JACK Quartet, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Ensemble Dal Niente, Ensemble Court-Circuit, Ensemble Signal, and the Callithumpian Consort, among others.  Composition prizes he has been awarded include first place in the 2012 Iron Composer competition at Baldwin Wallace University, Northwestern University’s William T. Faricy Award, and second prize in the Rhenen (Netherlands) International Carillon Composition Competition.

He earned his doctorate in music composition at Northwestern University, where his principal teacher was Lee Hyla, and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at Yale University. He also has a law degree from the University of Southern California and previously worked as an attorney in Los Angeles.

David S. Carter

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks