Sampler

For flute, viola and harp
Composed in 2014
Commissioned and premiered by Musical Chairs Ensemble
Live recording

Cycle

"On and On and" is inspired by the writings of John Muir and written for the San Diego-based choir, Sacra/Profana. It was premiered at the September 2014 Carlsbad Music Festival (which I curate), and below are my notes written at the time of the premiere.

released 05 May 2015 
Matt McBane, composer 
Krishan Oberoi, conductor 
Sacra/Profana, performer 
Chris Hobson, engineer 

Album cover photo: 
"The Yosemite Valley, From The Mariposa Trail, Yosemite, California" 
1878-1881 
Carleton E. Watkins

Notes:
Last summer I took a road trip that started with surfing in Baja California and continued with camping in the Sierras near Mt. Whitney and on into Yosemite. This trip came at the end of an extended period in Brooklyn (where I live), during which I was starting to feel particularly disconnected from the rhythms and cycles of nature. As I settled into the rhythm of camping every day, I thought about the text for the piece I was going to write for the choral group Sacra/Profana upon my return. I wanted to use something that dealt with the cycles of nature and fit into the musical ideas I was thinking about with interlocking patterns for the singers. 

After a few dead ends (reading tide charts?), while in Yosemite I encountered quotes by John Muir on signs throughout the park. Prior to this, I was familiar with Muir as a naturalist, but had not paid attention to his writings. When reading them I was taken aback by how poetic they were. 

At a particularly stunning viewpoint to at the entrance of Yosemite Valley, there was a sign with the following Muir text: 

"This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on seas and continents and islands, each in its turns, as the round earth rolls." 

Reading this, I knew Muir's writings were what I was looking for. So, I searched his books for the right text, and saw that more than once when referring to the eternal cycles of nature, he used the phrase "on and on." In that, I found my text (and my title), just the two words "on" and "and." 

In "On and On and" the singers build up patterns first using only the word "on," then completing the patterns with the gradual addition of the word "and." As the piece ends the patterns break down removing the word "on," leaving only the word "and." 

-MM 
||: on and :||

On and On and

Performed by Build
From the album Place
Available on New Amsterdam Records

Maintain

within 
for solo piano
written by Matt McBane
performed by Vicky Chow 

within

Groundswell - Single Edit

Well
live premiere performance
4/18/2017 at Princeton Sound Kitchen
Build:
Matt McBane, violin and composition
Andrea Lee, cello
Mike Cassedy, piano and synth
Benjamin Campbell, bass
Adam D. Gold, drums
with:
Karlie Bruce, voice

Well - live - Build feat. Karlie Bruce

Waiting Room end

It's Alright

#2 from "4 Pieces for Violin and Piano"
Alexi Kinney, violin
Hilda Huang, piano
recording of premiere at Mondavi Center at UC Davis
January 14, 2012 

Fleet

Bearthoven premiere 'Submerge'
Princeton Sound Kitchen 5/8/2018
For:
Keyboards: Piano, Moog Slim Phatty
Bass Guitar
Percussion: flower pots, cymbals, floor tom

Submerge

Swelter 3

Swelter 1

2x4 movement 1

2x4 movement 2

2x4 movement 3

2x4 interlude

2x4 movement 4

Ride

2002
Duration: 5 min.
Fl, S. Sax, T. Sax, Tuba, Pno, 3 Vlns, Vc.
Commissioned by the Bang on a Can Summer Institute, premiered 7/2002 at MassMOCA conducted by Brad Lubman

Granular Memory

2012
commissioned by and performed by:
Chatham Baroque
for baroque violin, viola da gamba and theorbo



Slink

2012
commissioned and premiered by:
Musical Chairs Ensemble
cello, guitar, bass and drums

Contain

Matt McBane: Composer
www.mattmcbane.com

Also check out my band Build's sc page for more of my music:
www.soundcloud.com/buildbuildbuild

mattmcbane

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