This composition for guitar and tenor recorder is about the destructiveness of war. The title comes from an Aztec poem about the conquest of Mexico. 

The piece begins with a slow unmetered recorder solo featuring glissandi and bent tones. The guitar enters in a slightly faster tempo on a quiet D-minor melody. The guitar gradually speeds up, then the recorder speeds up until both are in the same tempo. Both instruments gradually become more discordant and more in conflict, reaching a climax with crossed strings in the guitar and multiphonics in the recorder. At the end, an altered version of the recorder melody returns, this time supported by coloristic touches in the guitar. The piece ends quietly in the hope that beyond the songs of sorrow there may be new flowers for those wise enough to see them.

Nothing But Flowers And Songs Of Sorrow

This is an electronic composition that draws on ambient sounds and preexisting compositions and recordings to create a sonic self portrait.

Nothing But Flowers And Songs Of Sorrow

Lynn Gumert

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