A playlist of contemporary art music:
Works for strings, chamber ensembles, electronics and sound collage (with and without instruments), organ, piano and microtonal piano, percussion, violin, saxophone, and more, performed by and with some of my favorite musicians.


Hwargmusik

Violin [Adrianna Mateo].

Written for violinist Adrianna Mateo (https://soundcloud.com/adriannamateo), We Have Less Time Than You Think deals with the fact that we humans do not really have long: on the smaller-scale, in terms of the things we attempt to immediately accomplish, and on relatively larger scales, in the time we can spend with each other, the duration of our individual existences, and the collective lifespan of the human race. One of the truer clichés, time passes in a blur, fluidly and easily escaping attempts to stop or slow its flow, with certain events standing out in hindsight as demarcations of structural points. In my own experience, the longer I have existed, the more the passage of time seems to speed up exponentially; I certainly feel like I have less time than I thought I did.  All of the electronic elements in this piece were generated using only violin and vocal samples.

This piece, performed by violinist Tian Boyang (田博阳), placed first in the 2013 Shanghai Electronic Music Week Call-for-Works competition.

Score: http://hwarg.com/content/score/h_kenty-we_have_less_time_than_you_think_score_and_notes.pdf

We Have Less Time Than You Think (With Adrianna Mateo)

A soundtrack summary of much of my contribution to the suite of music and sound for director Malin Palani's productions of Heiner Mueller's play Die Hamletmaschine, presented by the Xperimental Theatre Company at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (Nov 16-19, 2006) and by Twisted Roots at the Minnesota Fringe Festival (Aug 2-10, 2007).

Reviews were quite effusive: "...The lighting and sound designers deserve medals for providing brilliantly-conceived additional layers to the piece that make essential contributions, rather than just functioning as mood-enhancers, subservient and uninteresting padding to cover up staged inadequacies."
More reviews: https://web.archive.org/web/20131012152424/http://www.mnartists.org/work.do?rid=162298

This complete soundtrack was presented at the International Computer Music Conference (Copenhagen, 2007).  Mvmt III, "Scherzo; Dance." received an Honorary Mention in the Digital Musics category at the Prix Ars Electronica international cyberarts competition (2008); "Astonishing poetic power" (Chen Qiangbin, CyberArts 2008 compendium).

Full program notes:
- http://hwarg.com/content/text/h_kenty-i_exhale_hamletmaschinemusik_program_notes.pdf

Mvmt III: "Scherzo; Dance."
- Score: http://hwarg.com/content/score/h_kenty-scherzo_dance_score_parts_perf_notes.zip
- Performance Notes: http://hwarg.com/content/text/h_kenty-scherzo_dance_program_notes.pdf
- Max/MSP microtuner: http://hwarg.com/content/program/h_kenty-scherzo_dance_microtuner.mxb

I Exhale (Hamletmaschinemusik)

This is the instrumental version of a soundscape created for Patrick Scheid's 2015 theatrical piece "Malte's Masks," performed September 25th, 2015, at Dixon Place Theater, New York.

The narrative + soundscape version (highly recommended!) can be found here:
https://soundcloud.com/hwarg/something-stable-on-which-to-keep-a-steady-gaze-with-rilke-as-read-by-patrick-scheid

"Malte's Masks" is based on Rainer Maria Rilke's "The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge," and concerns the nature of Time. This accompanying musical work blends new material, re-imaginings of some of my old material, and additional samples into a dreamy atmospheric meditation.

Something Stable on Which to Keep A Steady Gaze (Instrumental)

Recorded live at the Park Church Co-op, January 8th, 2017, with Lykos:
Kristin Leitterman, oboe/English horn (http://www.kristinleitterman.com/)
Mara Mayer, clarinet/bass clarinet (http://maramayermusic.com/)
Marilu Donovan, harp (http://www.mariludonovan.com/)
Maya Bennardo, violin (http://andplayduo.com/about/)

The causes of separation. The manners in which we fell. The directions we each took afterward. The Ways We Each Tumbled From The Precipice explores the concept of coming together versus moving apart. The instruments generally revolve around a central pitch point, sometimes reaching it and sometimes moving away from it, or reaching it, but not simultaneously. Rhythmically, the instruments sometimes progress through sections of phasing, beginning together, moving away from each other, and reuniting at a later point. The way the instruments interact also changes, with the ensemble often working in unity, then breaking into pairings that eventually dissolve and shift. The microtones (pitches closer to each other than found in the Western chromatic scale) can be initially somewhat jarring, but after one becomes accustomed to them, can be quite beguiling.

Full score:
http://hwarg.com/content/score/h_kenty-the_ways_we_each_tumbled_from_the_precipice_full_score.pdf

Many thanks go to Nathan, Jasno, and Nick at the Park Church Co-op for their help in organizing and engineering the concert (http://www.parkchurchcoop.org/).

Lykos photo by Christina Vantzou (http://www.christinavantzou.com/).

The Ways We Each Tumbled From The Precipice (Live, with Lykos)

Music and text by Howie Kenty. Performed by F-PLUS at Tetractys Presents, Austin, TX, February 2, 2019.
- Andrew Hudson: bass clarinet, vocals
- Josh Graham: vibraphone, vocals
- Kate Dreyfuss: violin, vocals

This piece was partially composed while in residence at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, with funding assistance from the New York State and Graduate Student Employees Union Professional Development Program; great thanks goes to all institutions. The amazing F-PLUS gamely challenged and vanquished this beast, slashing their way triumphantly through dark and stormy rhythms, screeching lead lines, ominous arpeggios, and even sinister vocal harmonies, and really made the piece their own in ways that I really love. Such a pleasure working with these fine folks, can't wait for more in the future!

Horrorscene isn’t really fictional; it’s happening right now. What is your role? 

LYRICS:
A choice: which is your true head? 

Yes... sometimes monsters shriek outside,
but this call is coming from inside the house.

Run, fearful, to nostalgic times,
heedless of the slaughters past.
But what Horror’s been awoke within?
And how long before it turns to you?

Eviscerated, let’s consider:
Who walks about with crooked speech,
winks with his eyes, speaks with his feet?
Who’s always pointing his finger?
Who is it that's become the villain?
Who is it that’s become the killer?

Show us your true head.

Trio score here: http://hwarg.com/content/score/h_kenty-horrorscene-trio_full_score-transposed-2018_03_07.pdf

Horrorscene (Live, with F-PLUS at Tetractys)

After premiering this piece at the Aaron Copland School of Music on, Dec. 18th, 2012, the fabulous PUBLIQuartet (www.publiquartet.com/, @publiquartet) has added it to their frequently performed repertoire.  They performed this as one of three entry pieces in the 2013 Concert Artists Guild Competition, in which they were chosen as the New Music/New Places Ensemble and were awarded the Sylvia Ann Hewlett Adventurous Artist Prize. These folks are amazing monsters, and you can find their debut album, featuring this piece, here:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/publiquartet

Some brief words:

Frustration; interruption; the happy recklessness of youth; irritating repetition; obsessively turning over an idea well beyond what is useful or healthy; memories brought forth and altered; obnoxious and jarring juxtaposition; irritating repeinterruptionon; anger, misplaced and deserved; chaos and confusion; constructive and abusive dialogue; unfettered joy in the midst.

Score here:
http://hwarg.com/content/score/h_kenty-an_impetuous_old_friend_full_score.pdf

An Impetuous Old Friend (Live, with PUBLIQuartet)

Howie Kenty, AKA Hwarg, is a Brooklyn-based composer of electro-acoustic prog-rock clockwork artsoundmusic, sometimes using visual and theatrical elements. Throughout all of his creations runs the idea that the experience of a piece is more than just listening to the music; he strives for a wholeness of vision and an awareness of environment that attempts to fully draw the audience into his works.
