“Reconstructed Music” was begun on September 14, 2001. It begins with isolated notes in extreme ranges, and slowly fills in the space and time between events. As the title (and date of composition) suggests, the idea is one of rebuilding. The central pitch of the work is C, both because it represents the lowest note in the cello and because it is the starting point of the tonal system’s “circle of fifths” – the first key learned by beginning music students. The title also pays tribute to the Construction Company, as this composer is a founding member of “Music Under Construction”. The performers here are the Alaria Trio Yuri Vodovoz (violin),  Diliana Momtchilova cello), and Margaret Kampmeier (pianist).

Reconstructed Music

The title "Azure Skies" arose from my original intention to have the work’s premiere take place on the Cote d'Azur. The design is seemingly simple. There is a cello melody that appears three times - each of which continues the last appearance, but making use of a higher range. The first continuation includes double stops, while the second one has the violin below the cello. In between there are two interruptions with fragments of melody which try but don't succeed in leading the cello in other directions - in keeping with the lack of energy typical of days spent in the sun. The first of these has the harp taking off from the cello melody and leading the players to faster material, while the second begins faster and gradually slows down, both in tempo and in the speed of the subdivisions of the beat, which move from sixteenth notes to triplets to the eighths which also characterize the cello melody. The harmony remains tonal, but with tension just below the surface calm. The work ends with the other two instruments joining the cello, at which point the three slow down and fade away.

Azure Skies for violin, cello, and harp

Reflections on a Distant Love uses poems by female writers (Sara Teasdale and Emily Dickinson) to tell the story of absence from a loved one (the “distant love”) from a female point of view.

Reflections On A Distant Love (2021) Faye - Ellen Silverman

This performance was part of an event on March 19, 2013 at the Theresa Lang Community and Student Center called Shared Waters. The event was funded by The New School Green Fund. The performers were Ashleé Miller, cl , Solène Romieu, cond and The Green Fund Orchestra. The work is about water. The fourth movement is called Shared Waters. One place where water is scarce is in the Middle East. The Jordan-Israeli peace treaty calls for sharing the waters of the Jordan River. So this movement is based on the very popular Arabic song – “Ah Ya Zein” – chosen in consultation with an Arabic friend, and the Jewish song “Mayim-Mayim”, which talks about “drawing water out of the wells of salvation”. Both are popularly used for dance, and are upbeat.  



Orch. Tides 4 Shared Waters

Written over 40 years ago and never performed, it is a setting of a poem by the German poet, Stefan George, invoking an augury by observing the flight of birds.

Weisse Schwalben sah ich fliegen
Schwalben schnee und silberweiss
Sah sie sich im Winde wiegen
In dem Winde hell und heiss

Bunte Häher sah ich hüpfen
Papagei und Kolibri
Durch die Wunderbäume schlüpfen
In dem Wald der Tusferi

Grosse Raben sah ich flattern
Dohlen schwarz und dunkelgrau
Nah am Grunde über Nattern
Im verzauberten Gehau 

Schwalben seh ich wieder fliegen
Schnee und silberweisse Schar
Wie sie sich im Winde wiegen
In dem Winde kalt und klar




Vogelschau-new

music for violin viola cello tuba and piano

Tumbleweed

Anssi Karttunen, cello
Argento
Michel Galante, conductor

Fred Lerdahl: Arches for cello and ensemble

A pair of settings for baritone voice and piano. They were finished in 1976. They are performed here by the baritone, John Ballard, and my old friend, Robert Pollack. The texts are; 
I) "What a lovely day again! Were it a new made world and made for a summer house to the angels, and this morning the first of its throwing open to them, a fairer day could not dawn upon that world. 
II) Oh, grassy glades! Oh, ever vernal endless landscapes in the soul, in ye, though long parched by the dead drought of the earthy life, in ye men yet may roll like young horses in new morning clover and for some few fleeting moments feel the cool dew of the life immortal on them."
 

Settings From Ahab

Susan Altabet, flute, and Tomoko Sugawara, harp

Asian Themes

Meditation

Shifting Colors was written for the ZigZag Quartet. I found writing for the combination of instruments that made up the group challenging, as it consists of double bass, guitar, percussion (using small instruments for easy travel by the performer) and piano. The group itself plays jazz and Latin music as its main repertoire, although several of the performers were classically trained, and classical music is part of ZigZag Quartet’s eclectic repertoire.  I wanted to write music that would be different than the works they usually perform. Therefore I chose to emphasize the unique timbres of the group, and to work with sparse textures that transfer sounds among instruments so that each instrument could be heard.  I ended up with four short movements. The first movement, Dark Seeds, starts with low instrumental colors, and also uses sounds within the piano as well as on the keys.  The second movement, Brighter Palette, is faster and higher. The third movement, Transparencies, uses high and scattered sounds made by crotales, guitar harmonics, and plucking high piano strings. A high double bass melody weaves through the movement.  The last movement, Colors That Dance, accelerates into a dance featuring percussion. The movement picks up momentum, giving closure to the work as a whole.

Shifting Colors

II. Night Cafe at Arles (Musette) by Laura Schwendinger. Christopher Taylor, piano from Van Gogh Nocturnes. Complete piano music CD to come out soon.....

Settings From Ahab

jeff-8-2

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