Trepidations is one of four pieces for piano duo that I wrote in 2011.  These works utilize a new systematic approach to composition that I created called the “Take-Away System”.  The system uses modular arithmetic over a finite set and can be used to govern musical decisions.

Trepidations was first premiered at the Banff Centre in November, 2012.  Since then, it has been performed throughout the United States including conferences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and Eastern Kentucky University.    An orchestral version of Trepidations is currently being arranged and will be premiered soon.

Trepidations (for two pianos)

This abstract quartet was partially inspired by the story of Rom Houben, a Belgian man who was diagnosed with a coma after a car accident that occurred in 1983.  Houbon made international news in 2009 when it was reported that he had been misdiagnosed and was able to communicate the horrifying line, “Ich habe geschrien, aber es war nichts zu horen” (I screamed, but there was nothing to be heard).  While the credibility of the story was later questioned, the thought of the haunting situation remains.

Red on Black won the 2009 Arizona State University’s String Quartet Composition Contest and was premiered in April 2010.  The piece is based on two tetrachords that generate the pitch material for the entire work.  

Red On Black(String Quartet)

In preparation for my dissertation, I wanted to experiment with orchestration and sonic colors before I embarked on my final work at Arizona State University.  I decided to write a piece that I considered my orchestrational research for my dissertation.  For several reasons, I decided to make the work approachable to both the musicians and the audience by emphasizing triadic subsets of a hexatonic scale.  As the piece progresses the triadic subsets merge into larger sets and by the climax of the piece, all twelve notes of the chromatic scale are employed equally.

In the Shadows of the Moonlight won the 2008 Arizona State University Symphonic Orchestra’s Composition Competition and was premiered by the ASUSO in 2009 under the direction of Dr. Brian St. John.

In The Shadows Of The Moonlight (for Orchestra)

This work was written while a resident artist at the Banff Centre in the fall of 2012.  At each Friday night concert, Mr. Henk Guittart, the director of the Banff Centre, asked a composer or performer who was in residence to write a piece utilizing the Stockhausen’s Zodiac piece(s) that corresponded to Zodiac sign of the date of the performance.  Music boxes that realized Stockhausen’s works were provided. 

In this realization I worked from the sun and moon Zodiac signs at the time (November 2012)--Sagittarius and Cancer.  Since many astrologers consider these signs to be opposites in many ways, I composed the piece to morph from Stockhausen’s Sagittarius into the sound of Cancer.  Thus, the piece begins with the harpsichord playing a direct quotation from Stockhausen’s Sagittarius and ends with a direct quote from his Cancer.  Using my own Take-Away system to dictate time intervals for the two music boxes and harpsichord, each music box is focused at one of the ends of the piece.  However, in the middle of the piece, where both music boxes are played, the harpsichord slowly blends the harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic ideas of both signs to create a unique sound. 

Zodiac, Sagittarius Cancer (for harpsichord and two amplified music boxes)

Written in 2006-2007, this is a humorous, challenging, and chromatic sonata for bassoon and piano.

Loki Sonata 1st Movement (for Bassoon & Piano)

Written in 2006-2007, this is a humorous, challenging, and chromatic sonata for bassoon & piano.

Loki Sonata 2nd Movement (for Bassoon & Piano)

Loki Sonata 3rd Movement (for Bassoon & Piano)

This tango was first written in 2010 for flute, bass, and piano and was later revised in 2011 for piano trio.  The inspiration comes from the introduction to Franz Schubert's 'An den Mond' (D. 193).  

An den Mond (Piano Trio)

Commissioned by Jenna Dalbey, this work was written in 2012.  Extended techniques are combined with the Romani anthem 'Gelem, Gelem'.

On Long Roads

Blue on Black III is a composition for any four instruments that blend nicely (a string quartet is used in this recording).  The work begins and ends on a single note.  While serene at the beginning, slow changes evolve into a chaotic climax that then jolts the listener back to the opening unison.

Composition Studio Concert 10-07-07

Blue on Black III

Doug Harbin is a composer, performer, and educator residing in Moorhead, Minnesota.  He integrates his fascination of mathematics within his compositions in a method he calls the ‘Take-Away System’, which applies modular arithmetic over finite sets. He is interested in composing music that is both mathematical in nature and can conform with the aesthetics of a particular performer or audience.  A composer of solo, chamber, orchestral, and electroacoustic music, his music has been performed around the world including Australia, Canada, China, England, Finland, South Korea, and throughout the United States.