CRYPTIC FRAGMENTS further evidence_ Sound Energy_ live June 2019

chamber orchestra 15 players: fl/picc, oboe/E.H., cl/b.cl, Tpt, F.H., 3 perc., 1 Vln, 1 Vla,
2 Vc, 2 Cb, Pf/Celesta/Toy Piano

Performed by Callithumpian Consort conducted by Stephen Drury

Still Telling

Loom Study I For Player Piano

the title means: eight tends toward infinity
the piece is for 8 cellos and uses the cello in non -traditional ways
performed by the New England Conservatory Cello Ensemble, Alan Fletcher conducting


8 ----> ∞

for pierrot plus percussion (flute, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion)
uses a fast grid of 27 beats that i like to think of as a tala although the accents don't make the pattern obvious
performed by the New Millenium Ensemble

The what of the how X 6

DAGGER/the night has been unruly is String Qt. No. 3
in some passages players are given words from MacBeth
to shape their phrases with their own speech rhythms
performed by the Pro Arte Quartet


DAGGER/the night has been unruly

scored for fl/altofl, cl/bcl, vln, vla, vc, pf, perc
through composed but there are 3 distinct parts, very
different from each other
performed by the ISCM Ensemble conducted by Morris Rosenzweig

Being as How

Etude No. 3 for solo violin from a set of 5 etudes
glissandi everywhichway - performed by Carla Kihlstedt

Cartoon

piece for large wind ensemble and percussion (43 players)
6 fl (doublings on picc/alto fl)/3 ob, EH/6 cl (doublings on Eb, bass, and cb cl)/3 bsn/
3 alto sx/3 tenor sx/ 4 horns/ 4 tpts in C/3 tbn, bass tbn/ celesta/5 percussion/
performed by New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble, Charles Peltz conducting


Strange Parade

	My favored compositional medium is virtuosic chamber music, although I've also composed solo, orchestral, choral, wind ensemble and vocal works. My music is often characterized as having a very wide range of expression and includes experimental pieces like  8 ------>∞  for eight cellos (eight tends toward infinity), and unusually slow, stark music like the grief that does not speak.  Other works from the1990s found common ground between disparate musical cultures. Recent works avoid references and in the last few years, some freedom for the players has been incorporated in an effort to create complex webs and networks of sound that are fashioned from fragments of individual "utterance"; in DAGGER/the night has been unruly  rhythmic freedom was guided by the use of speech rhythm from players' interpretation of text as a way of shaping longer lines and gestures. Strange Parade has layered musical spaces and passages in which the listener can dwell in texture, meander amongst voices which branch and wander, focus on elemental shapes, or be carried along by eddies and currents. In Still Telling (2010),microtonal "tinted" colors add further subtlety; almost all the sections of the piece are fashioned out of "DNA" from a striking melody from the middle of the piece, not audible on the surface of the sound, but deeply felt.

	Great players that have performed my work include the Pro Arte Qt., Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Escher Qt., Eastman and New England Conservatory Wind Ensembles, Firebird Ensemble, Callithumpian Consort, Lions Gate Trio, Speculum Musicae,  New Millenium Ensemble, Dinosaur Annex, Phantom Arts Ensemble, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, New Century Players, League of Composers-ISCM,  Earplay, Musica D'Oggi, Composers, Inc., Parnassus, Washington Sq. Contemporary Music, Prism Players, Music on the Edge, Volti, Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra, Cabrini Quartet, pipa virtuoso Wu Man, avant garde violinist Carla Kihlstedt, pianist Donald Berman.


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