An SATB arrangement of a beloved Sufi Chant by Maitreya Jon Stevens. Score available for purchase at MusicSpoke.com.  https://musicspoke.com/downloads/almighty-peace/

Almighty Peace

Almighty Peace (Allaho Akbar) Stevens-Pierce

A tangy meditation on the process of fermenting honey into mead. Three little mouthful movements: 1)Must ( The clouded, sweet mixture of warm honey, water and acid to which the yeast is added. 2) Skald,  the Norse word for poet, whose inspiration—like that of the berserker—comes from sacred mead. 3) Pitch, the catalytic act of pouring the living yeast into the must, from which the violent transformation of sugar into alcohol begins.

On the Fermentation of Honey (Forrest Pierce)

On the Fermentation of Honey

A meditative, minimalist structured improvisation for Bb and Eb instruments. Based on the idea of original substance found in historical Alchemy. Score available at www.forrestpierce.com.

Prima Materia (Forrest Pierce)

A virtuosic variation set on the first eight verses of the Cantico delle Creature, by St. Francis.

Pierce - Canticle Variations

A single-movement concerto for cello with percussion quartet. The quartet includes four diddley bows (1-stringed hammered slide guitars) representing the four strings of the cello. The work imitates the aiming of Roman siege scorpions, whose strings were tapped and tuned to ensure equal tension.

Scorpion Zikr (Cello concerto)

A cycle of songs on the subversive exit speeches of Ariel, from Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Ariel Exits

A setting of William Stafford's "A Ritual to Read to Each Other," encouraging us to be truthful and transparent in our communication. Sung by the Central Washington University Chamber Choir, Nicole Lamartine, director

The Darkness Around Us

Excerpt from Forrest Pierce's symphony for Coloratura, Oboe d'Amore and Chamber Orchestra.  Margaret Marco, Oboe d'Amore, Sarah Tannehill, coloratura, Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, Bruce Sorrell Conductor.  Score and parts available from www.forrestpierce.com

To Me My Myrrh, From  "The Twelve Kisses"

Third movement from "The Twelve Kisses," for coloratura, chamber orchestra and oboe d'amore.  Sarah Tannehill Anderson, coloratura. Score and parts available at www.forrestpierce.com.

Honey-Stuck, From  "The Twelve Kisses"

Fourth Movement from "The Twelve Kisses," for coloratura, chamber orchestra and oboe d'amore.  Score and parts available at www.forrestpierce.com.

The Old Song, From  "The Twelve Kisses"

An excerpt from "Bison Circles," for flute and piano, performed by DuoSolo.  Depicting the subtle interaction of the tallgrass prairies of Kansas with their native Bison, the work celebrates the resilience of these immense creatures.  Score and part available at www.forrestpierce.com.

Bison Circles (Excerpt)

The Dante Samadhi, as recorded by Charlotte Mundy and Kivie Cahn-Lipman on "The Sun and Other Stars" (New Focus Recordings)

The Dante Samadhi

Unaccompanied Chorus, setting text of Christina Rossetti. Score available at www.forrestpierce.com.

Short is time, and only time is bleak;
Gauge the exceeding height thou hast to climb:
Long eternity is nigh to seek:
Short is time.
Time is shortening with the wintry rime:
Pray and watch and pray, girt up and meek;
Praying, watching, praying, chime by chime.
Pray by silence if thou canst not speak:
Time is shortening; pray on till the prime:
Time is shortening; soul, fulfil thy week:
Short is time.

Short Is Time, for SATB chorus

SATB a cappella settings from "Il Cantico delle Creature" of St. Francis of Assisi.  Score available for purchase at www.forrestpierce.com


Il Cantico del Sole: 4. Frate Vento (Brother Wind)

SATB a cappella settings from "Il Cantico delle Creature" of St. Francis of Assisi.  Score available for purchase at www.forrestpierce.com

Il Cantico del Sole: 5. Sor'Acqua (Sister Water)

"I am like an elegant cypress whose face and form your beauty ruined," writes Hafiz; this work traces an arc of love, rapture and devastation in a single movement.  Commissioned by DuoSolo, the work is available for purchase at www.forrestpierce.com.

The Ruin of the Cypress

An advent piece on text by Wendell Berry, commissioned by the choir of Gonvill and Caius College, Cambridge.

The Old Ground

An 11-part divisi work setting "At the Un-National Monument along the Canadian Border" by William Stafford.

Monument

The story of Moses and the Shepherd, from Rumi's Mathnawi, in the Coleman Barks translation.  For voice and drone.

Moses And The Shepherd

"Of Wine" from The Twelve Kisses

"The Wild Lands" from The Twelve Kisses

The Twelve Kisses 2014

"Breeze-You" from The Twelve Kisses

Concerto for Piano and Consort (2003). For flexible-instrumentation ensemble of seven parts, percussion, and piano soloist.

Kyle Naig, piano/conductor
Helianthus Contemporary Ensemble

Concerto for Piano and Consort: I. Allegro

Two movements from Jasmine Arrow Music, by Forrest Pierce, on texts from the sayings of the Buddha (Dhammapada).  www.forrestpierce.com

The Scent of Jasmine

Two movements from Jasmine Arrow Music, by Forrest Pierce, on texts from the sayings of the Buddha (Dhammapada).  www.forrestpierce.com

1. Hatred is never settled by hatred: hatred is settled by freedom from hatred. This is the everlasting law.

2. The scent of Jasmine cannot blow against the wind, nor can sandalwood. But the scent of the good does blow against the wind, and the good person brings flowers to the four corners of the earth.

Freedom from Hatred

Magnificat (F. Pierce)

Magnificat: 1. Magnificat Anima Mea

Magnificat: 2. Omnes Generationes

Magnificat: 5. Suscepit Israel

The blistering conclusion to The Kansas Rapture, Wichita Vortex Sutra imagines the young Allen Ginsberg writing is apocalyptic poem of the same name in the back of a Greyhound bound for Wichita.

from The Kansas Rapture: 4. Wichita Vortex Sutra

Bison circle before the gathering storm for a Sufi ritual of remembrance. Prairie Chickens sound their lonely booms over the forgotten grass.

from The Kansas Rapture: 3. Bison Zikr

From the Song of Solomon (Song of Songs), 2:14.

English translation (NRSV):

O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
    in the covert of the cliff,
let me see your face,
    let me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet,
    and your face is lovely.

Columba Mea

The excavation team runs for safety as an unearthed Mother Rumbler of the Red Earth variety roars to life.  Professor Majors is understandably upset, as this would not have happened if Simon, his graduate student, had followed protocol.

from Artifacts: 4. A Red Earth Mother Rumbler

A ferocious duo for piano and percussion interpreting Fenris Wolf eating Odin and his eight-legged steed at Ragnarok.

Fenris: Runic Bloodlust Music for piano and percussion

A free adaptation of the first chapter of the daodejing (Tao Te Ching)in both English and Classical Chinese, this dark tango is scored for men's chorus (TTBB). Commissioned by, and dedicated to the Singing Statesmen of the University of Wyoming, the first song of the dao was premiered by that ensemble under the direction of Nicole Lamartine.

Forrest Pierce

Pinned to spotlight

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