Inspired by this Japanese fantasy picture and the idea to create a chillout track ideal for meditation and to relax to. This track uses a variety of synths and asian instruments.

Picture courtesy of c K Newman on Flickr.com

Saka's Serenity

The aim for Not Long Now was to emulate the transition from spring into summer. It's a strange wee experimental piece that I've used in my final year composition portfolio at uni and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!

Not Long Now

Recorded by Hal Grossman on Interlochen Public Radio, on In Studio A

Written for Dennis Kim, and premiered in Hong Kong at a private gathering, 2019.

Hal Grossman/Interlochen Public Radio

FAINGOLD - For Mom and Dad (When Our Home is Gone), for solo violin - 2019

Respiri, for solo flute, is a work that explores the performance of shaping air through, around, and outside of the instrument. The inspiration comes from my ongoing search of providing space for my own voice and the voices of the unheard, underserved, and underrepresented. The work centers around the idea of finding one’s voice and influence while deflecting oppressive energies and systemic obstacles. Throughout the piece, the flutist utilizes meditative and energized breathing as a way of coping and neutralizing these forces. Emerging out of the spiraling texture is a weaken solo, wading in and out of focus, continuing to search for its identity and presence.
          This piece is reflective of all who continue to discover who they are, fight for their visibility, and strengthen their mindfulness.  

​

Written for flutist, Maeve McGonical. 
Performance by: Paula Gudmundson
Website: paulagudmundson.com

​

Respiri For Solo Flute

winter wheat is inspired by the beautiful season of fall. Molly and I both have a love for fall. It’s complexity as a season, along with the way we both experience it made it the perfect subject of this project.  As we collaborated on the direction of the piece, I inquired about Molly’s unique experiences with synesthesia, and how that affects her ideas and opinions of the season. Because of this unique challenge each section contains a different focal point. 
flow represents the colors, warmth, and spices of fall. Much like falling leaves, the tones display an array of oranges and yellows that blend through the counterpoint of the slow lyrical lines. 
hallowed eve focuses on the minor second, a pair that can be quite dissonant and dark, much like Halloween.  The rhythmic complexity and conversation between the two instruments builds the dark, fun, and mysterious side of this cold season. 
winter wheat wraps up the piece with ideas of renewal and rebirth. Although many view fall as a time for death and sleep for the winter months approaching, this movement argues that like winter wheat, life springs from fall with hope sprouting out of the brisk, cool earth.

Winter Wheat

Autumn

Autumn Sky

Buy on Bandcamp

Madeleine Cococlas - Autumn Sky

the whole recording of parasomnias is available at https://kourliandski.bandcamp.com

песня из спектакля веры мартынов "парасомнии"
текст - станислав львовский
музыка - дмитрий курляндский
голос - татьяна перевалова

парасомнии. плещут холодные волны

Performed by Jeff and Karen Savage on Fazioli pianos.
Dark Energy was composed on commission from the Washington State Music Teachers Association and is dedicated to Jeffrey and Karen Savage, the husband and wife team that comprises the award-winning piano duo “88 Squared.” Jeff and Karen are colleagues of mine at Washington State University, superb pianists, and dear friends.
The title refers to the phenomenon in astrophysics and celestial mechanics that is required to explain the expansion of the universe, but which is otherwise totally mysterious and currently opaque to direct observation.
From http://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy/ (accessed 4/19/2012)
“More is unknown than is known. We know how much dark energy there is because we know how it affects the Universe's expansion. Other than that, it is a complete mystery. But it is an important mystery. It turns out that roughly 70% of the Universe is dark energy. Dark matter makes up about 25%. The rest—everything on Earth, everything ever observed with all of our instruments, all normal matter—adds up to less than 5% of the Universe….One explanation for dark energy is that it is a property of space. Albert Einstein was the first person to realize that empty space is not nothing. Space has amazing properties, many of which are just beginning to be understood. The first property that Einstein discovered is that it is possible for more space to come into existence. Then one version of Einstein's gravity theory, the version that contains a cosmological constant, makes a second prediction: “empty space” can possess its own energy…. Another explanation for how space acquires energy comes from the quantum theory of matter. In this theory, “empty space” is actually full of temporary (“virtual”) particles that continually form and then disappear…. Another explanation for dark energy is that it is a new kind of dynamical energy fluid or field, something that fills all of space but something whose effect on the expansion of the Universe is the opposite of that of matter and normal energy.”


Dark Energy for two pianos (2012)

This is the second movement of my dissertation piece, The Freedom Train. The overall piece poses the question, how far have we come from the Harlem Renaissance to now? Our the lives of many people better, worse, or the same? This was inspired by the emotional events of Trayvon Martin in Florida. The poetry is by Reuben Jackson and I wish to sincerely thank him for allowing me to set this beautiful text.

Trayvon Martin

Latrobe

Performance: American Wild Ensemble
Ann Marie Wilcox-Daehn, mezzo-soprano
Emlyn Johnson, flute
Bill Kalinkos, clarinet
Sarah Peters, violin
Daniel Ketter, cello
Megan Arns, percussion

PROGRAM NOTES: “Livid Loneliness of Fear” for Mezzo Soprano, Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Percussion was commissioned by the Music in the American Wild Ensemble as part of their series entitled “The American Aviatrix.” Being a long-time resident of Kansas myself, I chose to celebrate the famous American aviation pioneer and Kansas native, Amelia Earhart. When I first learned that in addition to being a record-breaking aviator and outspoken advocate for women’s rights, she was also an avid lover and writer of poetry, it was clear that my composition celebrating her pioneering legacy would have to include her words. Her poem “Courage,” which was published the year of her first transatlantic flight in 1928, is extraordinary and I was immediately drawn to her vivid imagery and powerful poetic voice. My setting is guided by this imagery as well as the strong formal aspects of the poem. In addition, during my research into Amelia Earhart I found it endearing that her family and friends always called her by her initials, so I thought it fitting to prominently incorporate these pitches in structurally important moments.

COURAGE - Amelia Earhart (1897-1937)

Courage is the price that Life exacts
for granting peace.
The soul that knows it not
Knows no release 
from little things:

Knows not the livid loneliness of fear,
Nor mountain heights where bitter joy 
can hear
The sound of wings.

How can life grant us boon of living,
compensate
For gray dull ugliness and pregnant hate
Unless we dare

The soul's dominion? Each time we
make a choice, we pay
With courage to behold the resistless day,
And count it fair. 

First published in Survey Graphic magazine on July 1, 1928 in an article by Marion Perkins entitled “Who is Amelia Earhart?”

Livid Loneliness of Fear for Mezzo-Soprano and Chamber Ensemble

Lindsay Greene, originally from southern California, started music lessons at a young age and has continued to develop her passion and skills. She is an avid learner of music, world traveler, and is currently composing and teaching music.

Winter Wheat

Lindsay Greene

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