This is the 1st movement of a youthful piano sonata I wrote in 7th grade, which I just recently arranged for orchestra. I called it "Juvenescent" because it has a youthful & uninhibited naïve feel to it. Even though it's juvenilia, and is essentially Mozartian in style, I still stand by this work -- always was dear to me. Glad I can finally share it, even though it's just a MIDI playback. Hopefully you can tolerate the processed sounds enough to enjoy this musical portrait of my junior high years.

Symphony in C major "Juvenescent":  I. Allegro

I began this chamber piece as a study in textural contrasts, and completed a fragment of it for the composition seminar I attended in Aspen, CO during the summer of 1989. I then labored over it (joyously- l loved writing this piece!) during my next semester of grad school at Indiana University under Frederick Fox. It is a quintet for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano ... the standard Pierrot Lunaire ensemble.
 
FYI: this is not a live performance, but a MIDI file recorded as an MP3. 

The title refers to five 'plateaus' or arrivals in five diverse sections: 1)fluid/streamy/snaky -- 2)jagged/impetuous/spiky -- 3)static with restless flute & spooky, swingy piano -- 4)expressive legato lines in octaves -- 5)secco/staccato with pairs. The opening thematic statement is a synthesis of these five diverse musical moments, like snapshots strung together, then the rest is the piece is spent exploring their contexts and arriving at each of those snapshots, note for note ... like eventual horizons.... then there's an over-the-top kind of coda, which I needed in order to exhaust my pitch material. 

Although the five sections are dominated by their respective 'textural parameters', there is motivic and textural development going on as well... certain parameters leaking into other territories. The harmonic material is mostly an exhaustive exploitation of the 3-2 tri-chord (013). 

The form of EVENTUAL HORIZONS is as follows:

0:00 - 0:20 Opening composite statement (all five diverse "plateaus" strung together with a 3/8 bar of silence at 0:10 - 0:12)
0:21 - 1:38 fluid section (coursing streams)
1:39 - 2:52 jagged section (block structures)
2:53 - 4:47 stagnant section (base texture w/ athletic flute)
4:48 - 4:52 CENTER of the work - 3/8 bar of silence (as at 0:10)
4:53 - 6:30 broad octave section (smooth lines of blending timbres growing rhythmic)
6:31 - 7:40 staccato section (this is a dry and spunky recap of the fluid section, providing thematic closure while at the same time exploring the staccato context from the last part of the opening composite phrase)
7:41 - 8:22 CODA (hyperactive and exhaustive - lots of octatonic scales)
8:23 - 9:00 Restatement of the opening composite phrase in abridged form



All in all, it's a nine minute work -- probably more like ten in a real performance; a strange, complex, adventurous and very difficult piece. Not one of my prettier things by a long shot, but certainly one of my best compositions in terms of ... well ... composition.

Eventual Horizons

This is a children's song I wrote for Vacation Bible School one summer at the Church in Florida where I was Director of Religious Education for 10 years. That year it was a jungle theme, so the songs I wrote focused mainly on animals. It's a song about friendship and building bonds that overcome differences -- sometimes great differences. I recorded this demo in my friary bedroom one Saturday before the event.

LYRICS:
Coming from the jungle path
there came by a behemoth
with a giant snake-like nose
like a swinging garden hose
he was colored warship gray
he asked us to come and play.

I spoke for my speechless sect:
We would play with you except
you're one thousand times our size
bad idea, not too wise.
Don't you see we're only ants.
Ants don't play with elephants.

Ant ant elephant
you're out of your element
no one knows your discontent
you're lonely every day.

If they give consent
you could have an accident
squishing ants, not having meant
to hurt them, just to play.

He got sad and sadder still,
his big eyes began to fill
tears came down, and they were deep
then they rolled toward our antheap.
Send a message back to town!
warn our friends, or they might drown!

Ant antennas then conveyed
warning to the hill, but they
took it as a chance to play
on a water ride.

Innertubes and floats,
ant-sized rafts and ant-sized boats
cruised around the anthill moats
drifting with the tide.

You can stop your crying now
eleph-ant don't you see how
you are helping us to play
in your own gigantic way.
We'll have fun if you will stay.
Entertainment every day!

Jumbo stopped and wiped his eyes
he was pleasantly surprised
they no longer saw his size
as a detriment.

He laid his body down
and became a big playground
for the ants to play around ...
happy and content.


Ant Ant Elephant

This is a children's song I wrote for Vacation Bible School one summer at the Church in Florida where I was Director of Religious Education for 10 years. That year it was a jungle theme, so the songs I wrote focused mainly on animals. It's a song about celebrating our individuality -- as God created us -- and not fitting ourselves into the molds of others. I recorded this demo in my friary bedroom one Saturday before the event.

LYRICS:
Way up in the jungle trees
you can see chimpanzees
swinging around the vines
calling their monkey lines.

Watching them play their games
they look and act all the same
or don't they notice too?
or don't the monkeys see
monkeys too?
monkey be
monkey me 
monkey you 
monkey see
monkey do.

When God made you and me,
he made us differently.
Why can't they take a clue?
Monkey see
monkey me
monkey you
monkey he
 monkey too
monkey see
monkey do.

Monkeys enjoy bananas
none of them wear bandanas,
you'll never see one instead
with grapes and a banded head.

Back in the city streets
people know they're unique.
Still there are people who
copy-cat what they see
people do
person he
person me
person you
people see
people do.

Everyone has to choose
whether to win or lose.
You won't get far if you
monkey be
monkey me
monkey you
monkey he
monkey too
monkey see
monkey do.


Monkey See Monkey Do

This is the fourth movement of a seven movement suite I wrote in 1984 (I was 16 - 17 at the time of composition). I enjoyed the challenge of composing these pieces strictly in each of the seven church modes. This one is in G Mixolydian, which means it utilizes the G major scale, except with a flat seventh - the F is natural, so it's all white keys! I always favored this one particularly among the seven; there's something about that middle part which I always felt was one of my best inspirations.. even while writing it! This recording is of me at the piano in 1985.

Caprice in the Mixolydian Mode

This is a string quartet I wrote as an undergrad at Eastman School of Music. It was a breakthrough piece for me - well, the second piece in my breakthrough wave, I guess - and had garnered for me much attention and some toothsome awards in the late 80's (ASCAP Student Composer Award and the Charles Ives Scholarship among them). 
The work is stylistically a blend of influences, esp. Elliott Carter and Gyorgy Ligeti - two of my favorite contemporary composers. It's in three sections: Presentation -- Variations -- Resolution

The PRESENTATION features four distinct "characters" shaped in four different ways: 
1. mechanical; pizzicato -- palindrome: vc-vla-v2-v1-v2-vla-vc (at 0:19)
... ...impassioned violin solo interlude... ... (at 0:53)
2. jagged; impetuous -- block (1:15)
3. lyrical; yearning -- duos: step up: vc+vla/v1+v2; step down v1+v2/vc+vla(1:52)
4. flowing; gossamer -- reversed/reordered palindrome: v1-vla-v2-vc-v2-vla-v1 (2:36)
The underlying harmony is an exploration of the half-diminished chord - or, atonally, the 4-27 tetrachord (0,2,5,8)

The VARIATIONS section (begins 2:59) juxtaposes and counterpoints the four "characters" introduced separately in the Presentation: sometimes as solos, duos and trios - and twice the whole quartet. (an obvious Carter influence here)There are ten variations (the tenth one in two parts); the first five feature: violin 1 lyrical / violin 2  mechanical-pizz / viola gossamer / cello impetuous. Then the second five feature a re-assignment (at 4:24) Violin 1 gossamer / violin 2 impetuous / viola lyrical / cello mechanical pizz.

The final variation (Var. 10 Part 2 --at 5:45) is a cumulative moment for the whole quartet which actually provides all the gestural material for the last part.

The RESOLUTION (begins 5:52) exploits the character counterpoint arrived upon in variation 10 part 2 - and basically "cuts and pastes" this cumulative material on to the original landscape (the "shapes") of the Presentation.

Harmonically, the final vertical chord resulting from the systems of transposition employed on the (0,2,5,8) tetrachord during the variations happened to be a 3-2 (0,1,2,4). This very contrasting, more "crunched" harmonic language engages the rest of the piece - giving it a stepped up tonal intensity, as the gestures concentrate further and squeeze the material: almost like atomic fusion -- thus the name of the work: FUSER.

This intense, expert performance is from a 1988 Composers' Forum in Kilbourn Hall; Eastman School of Music. 
Violin 1: Todd Reynolds
Violin 2: Brett Deubner
Viola: (? originally Mark Jacobs, but he needed a sub)
Cello: Tom Wiebe

"This piece is dynamite!" - Joseph Schwantner to me in 1989
"Oh, I remember that quartet very well. Good piece." - Milton Babbitt to me in 1990

Fuser

This miniature work for small orchestra was designed to immediately precede Haydn's "La Reine" Symphony #85 in B-flat without any need for stage changes (same exact ensemble). It was written as a little opener for a 2007 Florida Orchestra program entitled "With A French Twist". This inspired me to play on that phrase, and to put a "twist" on a well known work in the repertory having to do with the French.

"An American In Paris" by George Gershwin was my model for this work. There are no quotes or allusions to his music, however the programmatic idea he employed is vaguely played upon and -- appropriately enough -- twisted just about 180 degrees!

My title is in French because Gershwin's in in English. In the same vein, my piece depicts a Frenchman in New York, whereas his is an American in Paris.

The real twists are in the treatment. My Frenchman's experience of the streets of NYC is a bit more hectic and frenetic than his American's carefree trek through the streets of Paris. His car horns toot merrily, mine are two aggressive slams on the steering wheel each time.

Also, Gershwin's American gets homesick in the middle of his work as depicted by that bluesy theme on the trumpet. My Parisian becomes homesick for France as depicted by a French impressionistic kind of theme on the solo flute in the center of my little piece.

There's one final twist at the respective ends: mine fades out leaving the flute in the remote distance; his glories in that trumpet theme. If unbridled patriotism finally wins out in Gershwin's American, did my Frenchman decide to leave France behind for the Big Apple? 
.... let the listener decide!

Un Français à New York

This is the second movement of a seven movement suite I wrote in 1984 (I was 16 - 17 at the time of composition). I enjoyed the challenge of composing these pieces strictly in each of the seven church modes. This one is in A Phrygian, which means it utilizes the A minor scale with a B-flat (a flat second scale degree).  As a rhapsody, it became the flashy, moody item of the suite and was always the one I had most requests to play. It was also the only movement of the suite to receive a public premiere by another pianist (1989 in Rochester, NY). This one features a broad Rachmaninoff-influenced lyric theme with rapid accompaniment, and also afforded me the chance to tinker with motivic development and novel figurations in a free-formed sort of way.  This recording is of me at the piano in 1985.

Rhapsody in the Phrygian Mode

Brother Wind is the third movement of my seven movement piano suite entitled "Canticle Odes". This work is a collection of impression pieces on the elements featured in St. Francis' great "Canticle of Brother Sun". Brother Wind is a Humoresque which evokes the wind by it's restless musical motion and tonality. It is busy and skittish and ends in mid-air -- like a draft of wind -- with an upward motif that permeates the entire piece. This was the last movement I composed for the suite. It was finished on October 4th, 2000 - the Feast of St. Francis. I then made an orchestral arrangement of it in 2007 for the Florida Orchestra, which I called "FrateVento" (Italian for "brother wind"). Also on this SoundCloud roster of my works, you will find
A) "FrateVento" as performed by the Edmonton Symphony under Maestro William Eddins.
B) A WMA of the scherzo fifth movement of my Canticle Odes: Brother Fire 
Enjoy!

Brother Wind (Humoresque)

This was a little art song I composed as a teenager: a setting of this little poem "Awaken" by Sally Bingham. It was recorded in 1985. 
Singer: Linda Swears (yes, the music education author)
Pianist: John Paul Russo (me)

Awaken

This work is a setting of two e.e. cummings poems for an odd ensemble: Soprano, French Horn and Harp. It begins with a French Horn introduction and, after the two song settings, ends with a vocalise followed by a vocal reprise of the French Horn introduction to give the piece closure. I composed this in 1988 under Dr. Warren Benson during my senior year at the Eastman School of Music. It was a welcome exercise in thru-composition after the set-theory hyper-modern rigors of FUSER - my string quartet of 1987. This performance was recorded at Indiana University in 1990, featuring the wonderful talents of Eileen Strempel (soprano), Michael Galbraith (French Horn) and Kanako Yagi (harp). It was conducted by Karen Kamensek. Poems follow >>>

POEMS:

#1:

The moon is hiding in
her hair.
The
lily
of heaven
full of all dreams,
draws down.

cover her briefness in singing
close her with the intricate faint birds
by daisies and twilights
Deepen her,

Recite
upon her
flesh
the rain’s

pearls singly-whispering.

---------- [pause] ----------

#2:

Is there a flower (whom
i meet anywhere)
able to be and seem
so quite softly as your hair

what bird has perfect fear
(of suddenly me) like these
first deepest rare
quite who are your eyes

(shall any dream
come a more millionth mile
shyly to its doom
than you will smile)

[poems used with permission from the publisher]

Lyric Serenade

I am an American Capuchin Franciscan friar who was born and raised in the Philadelphia area and am currently living in Rome, Italy. I work in the General Secretariat of our order as the English Language Secretary. I am also a composer and a writer. I studied piano and composition during my elementary and high school years, and received a Bachelor of Music in Composition from the Eastman School of Music in 1989. I studied there with Samuel Adler, Claude Baker, Warren Benson, David Liptak and Pulitzer Prize winner Joseph Schwantner. After graduating from Eastman, I was invited to attend the Advanced Composer's Seminar at the Aspen Music Festival, Aspen CO, in the summer of 1989. There I studied with Earl Kim, Earl Brown, George Tsontakis, Jacob Druckman and William Bolcom. I then pursued my MM (Masters of Music) in Composition at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University in 1989-1991, studying with Frederick Fox, until I switched gears and embraced the religious life. I joined the Capuchin Franciscans in 1991, and have been a brother in this religious order ever since - composing here and there all the while, and serving God by living within a Gospel fraternity and serving others -- especially the poor. It's a beautiful life of prayer, simplicity and service. For my musical work, I received several national and regional awards during my student years, including the Herbert Zipper Prize from the J.D. Rockefeller Foundation (1985), the Edward DiGeneva Award (1985), the Bernard & Rose Sernoffsky Prize (1989), two ASCAP student composer awards (1987, 1988) and a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters (1988).

John Paul Russo, OFM Cap.

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