Preludes for Piano

Preludes for Piano Numbers 1-6 and 11-12.  Recorded by Alex McDonald

12. The Lucky Ones

5. Stars

4. Fly Through The Night

3. Tip Toe Down The Corridor

2. Red

1. Empty Houses

"They Come Through the Wires" is an exploration of my own anxiety that I was dealing with at the time I was writing it.  This recording is from a reading session with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Fortner.

They Come Through The Wires

"For Jessica" is a set of two songs written for Jessica Pinkham with texts by Jessica Pinkham.  This audio is from the premiere performance in Taos, New Mexico.

Alissa Roca, Soprano
Jessica Pinkham, French Horn
Mary Anna Salo, Piano

The Volcanologist

Through the Looking-Glass Scene 2b: Alice Meets the Red Queen
Performed at Sam Houston State University of January 27, 2017.

Rebecca Roose as Alice
Lauren Anderson as the Red Queen

Jason Mulligan, Piano

Alice Meets the Red Queen

This is the third movement of my in progress song cycle "The Defeat of Youth".  In this song I tried to capture the uncertainty of life and the naivety of youth.

Harrison Hintzche, Baritone
Carson Rose Schneider, Piano

The Defeat of Youth - Loveliness Revealed

A Child's Garden of Verses (tenor)

a harsh reminder why brings us to the conclusion of the work.  The quartet begins with a rushing pizzicato gesture that has a constantly shifting pulse.  This music is full of energy, despite some left over aggression from the previous movements there is a real sense of hope.  The quartet races forward excitedly until it slams head first into a brick wall, a harsh reminder.  The harsh reminder that I received in Austin and again when I was diagnosed with HIV, to never become complacent.  Never assume people have your best interests in mind and never expect the universe to be on your side.  A harsh reminder that nobody should need a second time.

a harsh reminder why

there is no place was completed in January of 2019 and is the centerpiece of this work.  This music is once again about an internal conflict, if there is one recurring theme of this work it is the idea of being torn apart from different directions.  The long lyrical melody presented at the start fights against the more aggressive gestures that begin to overtake the work.  A final coda by the viola displays the slightest sense of optimism, maybe there is a way to hold on through everything.

there is no place

tie me down was composed in the spring of 2016 but I later made significant revisions to this movement.  This music takes a break from the internal conflict of the surrounding movements but has its own frantic energy.  To me there is something almost painful in the way that the quartet is pulling forward only to be constantly slowed down.  The final rush of energy of this movement leads us to the edge of the abyss.

tie me down

status:Reactive was written in the fall of 2018 immediately following my HIV diagnosis.  I decided to use my viral load as a pitch set and then derived the musical materials from the result.  This music has a sense of urgency, a sense that no matter what you have to move forward, because staying still means being ripped apart from the inside.

status:Reactive

This piece was composed in the span of just a week while I was in the Catskills for Weekend of Chamber Music.  I wanted to evoke a feeling of open space and a sort of traditional Americana classical sound.  In three short movements this piece follows a typical day of waking up at dawn, stopping to look at the clouds and imagine the possibilities of space, and the finally getting hungry at 11:00 and engaging in the community of a meal together.


Recorded at the 2019 Weekend of Chamber Music

In Broad Daylight

Gloria Cheng, piano
Baldwin Auditorium
September 22, 2019

Dripped in Gold is part of an ongoing trend in my work that draws on pop culture and reinterprets it through my own experience and love of the western classical canon. This work began as a response to Arianna Grande’s song Imagine. I was initially drawn to the intimacy of the lyric “Me with no makeup, you in the bathtub, Bubbles and bubbly”. I took the overall shape and rhythm of the melody Arianna sings at this line and at times inserted into the piece, but it is recontextualized within my own harmonic language. Ultimately this piece is a love letter to my amazing partner with its title drawn from the pre-chorus of Imagine “Click, click, click and post, Dripped, dripped, dripped in gold, Quick, quick, quick, let’s go. Kiss me and take off your clothes.” This piece is not meant to resemble the song it is inspired by but is instead an honest and intimate response to the emotions it made me feel and the amazing companion it made me think of.

Dripped In Gold (Live)

Performed by Kate Dreyfuss

Sometimes the easy things aren't so easy.

As Though Breathing Was Easy (Live)

In Norse mythology Fólkvangr is a meadow ruled over by the goddess Freyja. Literally translated “field of the host” this meadow is where half of those that die in combat go upon their death. This piece begins with a programmatic approach, playing with the literary concept of “in media res,” the listener is thrown into the middle of things as the horn is struggling to stay above the rumbling accompaniment in the piano. The music then takes a sharp turn and the piece becomes about traversing an unknown landscape. A chaconne in the piano lays a foundation on which the horn slowly wanders.

To me this piece is not literally about death, but rather about trauma. Trauma comes in many forms but everybody who experiences it in some form shares a common scar. After a long journey the music finally settles into something more peaceful, but the piano is still influenced by the opening chords of the chaconne.

Jessica Pinkham, Horn
Ariadne Antipa, Piano

Fólkvangr (live)

Composer. Pianist. My focus is on opera and chamber music.

Jason Mulligan

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks