Experimenting with FM synthesis and self generating forms.

Algorhythmic Improvisation 49

Tucson Gate .MP3

Composition for two pianos in which the entire range of the instrument is used, exploring its timbral, percussive possibilities, playing inside the piano including harmonics (and microtones) and other non-conventional pianistic sounds.

The Piano Is A Machine (composition with sounds for two pianos) complete version

Up to transposition, there are 250 ways that an interval can transition to another interval without any note repeated (all notes within the chromatic scale).  The basic material here is a cycle of intervals that survey all 250 transitions.   Constant variations within the dimensions of timbre and articulation, though they might at first seem to work distractions away from the harmonic idea, actually mitigate exhaustion of the ear and so keep fresh the perception of all the intervals, and the intervals between intervals.

Every Bridge, for nine instruments

Banned Contribution 2024 - 02 - 26

THIS AUDIO RECORDING IS ARCHIVAL AND UNPUBLISHED. 

World premiere performed live on August 18, 2022 by Timothy McAllister (alto saxophone) and the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra.

Scores - Recordings

For Wadada Leo Smith (Adagio)

Inuksuit, for Piano and Celesta

Concertino for Vibraphone, Marimba, and Orchestra

Recorded live in concert by the Seattle Modern Orchestra, 12 March 2025.
Luke Fitzpatrick, violin; Christine Lee, cello; Bonnie Whiting, vibraphone; Cristina Valdés, piano; Julia Tai, conductor

Program Note:
Toccata “au fil de la plume” for violin, violoncello, vibraphone, and piano, was composed at the invitation of the University of Washington School of Music and the Seattle Modern Orchestra for a special concert celebrating the70th birthday of composer and long-time professor of composition Joël-François Durand. Joël was my primary composition teacher and the chair of my doctoral committee at the UW. There can be no question that his ideas and music have had a strong, lasting influence on my own. While the music I write doesn’t often on the surface
seem to sound much like Joël’s, on a deeper level in the musical structure and in the manipulation of music material, the influence may be consistently discerned. Because it honors Joël’s importance to me and my great admiration for his music, in this piece I leaned on these elements in a more clearly salient way. 

The expression “au fil de la plume” was one I encountered in Joël’s book "Joël-François Durand in the Mirrorland" (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2005). Many of the ideas therein had been shared with me previously in lessons, and so their appearance and consolidation in the book has meant that I return to this it fairly regularly, and in fact did so just before starting on this Toccata. This expression in French means “along the line of the pen,” referring to writing one’s ideas down just as they come, from the imagination straight to the paper. This is a critical topic in Joël’s book: pre-compositional planning versus allowing the imagination to flow unfettered, whether to be considered in terms of balance, or indeed in terms of collisions and clashes. 

The foundation for this composition lies in the cello part, which is lifted straight from my composition for unaccompanied double bass, Lyric Étude No. 17 (2021). On top of this piece, I have layered on counterpoint in the other instruments. Some of this was planned in advance and executed strictly, some was interpolated against the base material freely and quasi improvisationally.

95 Swanwick 250427 [250427]

Keith Eisenbrey