For Violin and Piano
Sarah Nordlund Dennis: Violin
Chris Steele: Piano

Chakra

This string quartet explores the modulatory potential of the modern modes. This first movement moves from dorian to lydian and back.

String Quartet in Modes- Dorian

This string quartet explores the modulatory potential of the modern modes. The second movement modulates from Phrygian to Lydian and back.

String Quartet in Modes- Phrygian

works meant to depict, aurally and emotionally, the imagery of three paintings by the artist, Enrique Celaya.

El Otro Muelle

Three pieces designed to represent, symbolically and emotionally, three specific paintings by Enrique Martinez Celaya

The Sigh

Jacqueline Leary-Warsaw: Soprano
Adam Bowles: Piano


Dear Husband,
You wrote in your letter that you wished you was at home to get some apples to eat.
I know I wish you was here. If Christen would of brought you hear, you would of been here long ago.

I never eat an apple without thinking about you, and wish you had some. 
And when I set down to eat and think about you;
that you have nothing but meat and bread, and sometimes maybe not that,
it look to me sometimes like I can hardly stand it.

I would be willing to live on bread and water if I could just give you what I have to eat.
But I hope the day is not far distant when we can share...'till you return, which I pray won't be long.

I still and forever shall remain your true wife 'till death.


From Mary M. Epperly

The Epperly Letter

String Quartet No.4

String Quartet No.4, Movement I

Inspired by David Levinthal’s photography and esthetic, The Cold Comfort of Toys presents a musical look into the use of toys, dolls, and action figures to attempt to come to grips with aspects of the human psyche that are traumatic, uncomfortable, or emotionally exhausting. This piece, like these toys, is not innately any of those things, but seeks rather, to stylize their portrayal in a way that makes these aspects relatable, and capable of being endured.

The Cold Comfort of Toys

String Quartet #4-2

Throughout the centuries, sundials (a flat plate that marks the time of the day by the shadow of a "gnomon" which is cast onto it) have been used by civilizations to tell time. Unlike modern clocks and digital watches, in which every single second has its own momentary significance, telling time by sundial is more evolutionary. The seconds, and hours, melt into one another. It is perhaps for this reason that sundials have often been conceived not only as practical time pieces, but as works of art, metaphors, and creations that are inherent expressions of the personality of their creators. Etched in many sundials across the world, in Latin, English, German, and other languages are often found mottoes that reflect the thoughts of the sundial's creator. These mottoes can be fatalistic, humorous, transient, morbid, or serene, and almost always involve the subjects of time, the passing of the hours, life and its brevity, or metaphors involving shadows. Many times these mottoes feature some witticism, such as "I only count the sunny hours" (since a shadow must be present for a sundial to function). Other times, they can be revealingly existential ("We are but shadow"), and other times offer advice ("Use the hours, don't count them").

It is these statements of philosophy, etched in sundials throughout the centuries, that most interests me. I am currently composing a set of movements for piano trio (Piano, Violin, Cello) dedicated to the mottoes found on sundials, and their significance to me. The first movement, subtitled "Tempus Edax Rerum" ("Time devours things") is expansive and attempts a feeling of eternity, into which all seemingly fast moving workings of human beings are inevitably subsumed. For the second movement I am considering the phrase "Pereunt et Imputantur" ("They pass and are counted" referring to the hours of the day), and its implication of the way in which time can slip away, whether we observe it or not.

I look forward to continuing to work on this project. It represents a significant stylistic shift for me. I am endeavoring to make my music slower, less busy, less arbitrarily complex, and as always, more deeply meaningful. Contact me at mattssound at my hotmail address if you would like to discuss this further.

The Sundials

The Sundials: Pereunt et Imputantur

Violin: Pei-Ju Wu, Sarah Dennis,
Viola: Meridith Treastor
Cello: Laura Usiskin

String Quartet #4-3

Dig My Grave was orignially one of the nine "Angola Prison Spirituals" recorded at the maximum security prison facility in Louisiana, often called the "Alcatraz of the South." It has gone through many different variations since, including arrangements by Blue Grass Artists, Blues and Gospel Singers, and a brief appearance on the Andy Griffith Show. This arrangement attempts to synthesize these different interpretations, as well as stay true to the sentiment and tone of the original.

Dig My Grave

A musical journey allegorical of the immigration of Sicilian Americans from their native home of Sicily to the United States. Its about what they left behind, what they brought with them, and what they still long for.

Sicilia

Emotional, gentle, and occasionally disturbed. Matthew's music endeavors to make the inexplicable understood, or at least accepted. Classically trained, and academically educated, Matthew uses music to attempt to link the conceptual, intellectual, and abstract with the emotional, inspirational, and spiritual. Check back here for dates of live performances, recordings, hints, the meaning of life, and other things happening in the world of MsP's music.

Matthew Scott Phillips

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