These are imaginary pieces for vocal ensemble. They are microtonally remixed chants from Ensemble Organum and Chanticleer. Some are sweet sounding. Some are not. Some are really really not.

Rex Obit

Gloria In Excelsis Deo

O Salutaris Hostia

This is a an analysis and re/desynthesis of an unrelated track into a pulse train limited by whole numbers.

Chant Of The Holy Bitcrusher

This is a work inspired by the strange historical relationship of music, religion, and astronomy. In this work, I use the placement of the celestial bodies on the horizon to create chordal structures. I also worked in harmonic rules from a 1489 text which specifies the proportional relationships of music and the cosmos. I alternate between the two of them to modulate between the cosmic and human worlds.

Agnus Dei

This is a glitch hurdy gurdy made from samples and loops run through various imagined machines

Hell's Hurdy Gurdy

This is a wandering Aria/Hymn for sine waves.

Aria

This is one of a set of piece for viol I am writing based on old consort or organum pieces.  This is for 8 viols with a lot of bow power and absolutely no grace.  It's a tall order for courtly instruments maybe.

Lachrymae Brusque (Flow My Teares)

Ebbinge

Kyrie For Accordion

photocredit: Paria Canyon Utah from http://fallout.wikia.com

Red Canyon

Aria is a movement for choir of nervous aliens who try to play a lost fragment attributed to Saint-Saëns.  Considering how they have never heard this music, each creature reads a guideline from a different historical period to inform its use of vibrato and phrasing.

In Some Observations Concerning Baroque and Modern Vibrato,  Frederick Kent Gable outlines some kinds of differences in vibrato that these aliens may have come by: “The ‘plaine note' begins thinly and softly, thickens, and becomes louder in the middle, perhaps including a slight ‘natural’ vibrato, and then terminates as it began. The ‘waived note; begins as the ‘plaine note,’ but as it becomes louder in the middle it smoothly and noticeably wavers in pitch and continues wavering until it ends. The ‘trillo note,’ or normal trill, begins the same and then precisely alternates between a definite upper pitch and the main note, while slightly accelerating and dying away.” The result is an amalgamation of different unisons within a hint of the 19th century.  Thank you to Justine Aronson, Nave	Graham, Josh Graham, Jeff	Stern, Hope Wilk, Sonya Belaya, Soo Yeon Lyuh, Kate Outterbridge, Lena Vidulich, Kieran Welch, and Nick Photinos.

Aria for Soprano, Haegeum, Piccolo,  2 Violins, Viola, Cello, Percussion, Piano, and Harp

This is a sound meditation for as many voices as possible 
and was Commssioned/Workshopped/Performed by Ghost Ensemble.  It is based on the Theravada Buddhist chant Karaṇīyamettā Sutta.  In 40 phrases, this chant describes the qualities of loving kindness, outlines how to develop it in the self, and ends with a wish for all beings to be at ease.    

Wishing: In gladness and in safety: May all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be[...] May all beings be at ease!
Let none deceive another, Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will, Wish harm upon another.

So with a boundless heart, Should one cherish all living beings;
Radiating kindness over the entire world: Spreading upwards to the skies,
And downwards to the depths; Outwards and unbounded,
Freed from hatred and ill-will.*

We sing together to radiate kindness in every direction.   

*English translated from the Pali by The Amaravati Sangha.

Karaniyametta Sutta: 40 verses to aid in the development of loving kindness

A work for Orchestra to be heard while watching F. W. Murnau’s Faust(starting at 17:43).  Premiered by Occasional Symphony at "Occasional Symphony presents Occasional Symphony Presents: Murnau's FAUST (1926)".  Use this link for syncing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gawCYequfQg&index=5&list=WL&t=1092s

Occasional Symphony: Mephisto (to be heard w/ Murnau's Faust @17:43)

Kristina Wolfe: Record of Ancient Mirrors
MATA Commission
Live from MATA Festival 2017
The Kitchen, NY
April 29, 2017

NOVUS NY
Doug Balliett, viola da gamba solo
Scott Jarrett, conductor

kristinamwolfe

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