Commissioned by the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, for the Flux quartet
marcoadrianramos.com

Barro tejido para la muerte de Mario Lavista o Cuarteto II (2022)

"Breathing Sunlight" is about spending time with our loved ones, knowing that they'll leave us soon. Simple moments, like lying on the grass or in the sun, breathing - moments of conscious or unconscious stillness - feeling the amount of love we can feel in the time we have left. 

The piece is loosely based on the North Indian Classical Raga Bhimpalasi. Premiered by Johnny Gandelsman (violin) and Joshua Roman (cello) on Sept. 19, 2017 in Boonville, CA. Infinite thanks to the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy for Music for making this possible.

Breathing Sunlight (violin & cello)

This piece began from an impromptu trip to the New York Historical Society, where I encountered five breathtaking paintings. Thomas Cole’s lush painting style in the series, Course of Empire embodies American Romanticism. The paintings tell a dramatic tale that reminds us of the power that nature and humanity inflict on one another. Through his perspective of landscape, Cole takes us on a journey of the birth and inevitable destruction of a civilization. This piece focuses on The Savage State, which is the original title given to Cole’s first painting out of a five-part series. This painting depicts mankind’s first attempts at conquering the wilderness. 

In my interpretation, I focused on the power of nature. I worked to capture the majestic, and at times terrifying scenery. My goal was to evoke the elements of Romanticism in a way that pays tribute to Cole’s own style. I achieved this by using my own tonal language to bring the importance of the message to our current time period. The ideas of hubris and failed ambition dominate this series in addition to the credo that nature will always prevail.

Part I, From Thomas Cole's Course of Empire

The compositional process of No Spoilers was initiated at the request 
of a close guitarist friend. Having never written for the instrument, I was 
filled with trepidation at where to begin. After several attempts and a 
number of years since its request, the piece finally came to completion upon moving to Los Angeles in fall of 2017. My primary objective in writing it was to create a work that is idiomatic in the sense that it builds upon the standard repertoire while simultaneously diverging from it. The use of harmonics, scordatura, and other special techniques help to create this specific sound world that I sought. 
The title is a reference to preconceptions that we have on music, people, and life and the deliberate act of breaking those notions.

No Spoilers was premiered by Bokyung Byun on November 5, 2017 in Los Angeles.

No Spoilers

--- Rain Shadows ---

Composed by Natalie Moller, 2016
Written for Sophia Han

shadow I. dreaming in sand
shadow II. hollow trees
shadow III. fire and amber
shadow IV. the desert is a garden


a prayer
for California--your
drought-parched, cracking earth,
seared by wildfire and splintering in sunlight,
resilient; regrowing in the
wake of ash and bone-dust
of fallen trees


---------------------------

Premiere Recording:
Performed by Sophia Han
January 23rd, 2017
Florida State University

Rain Shadows

Psalm 8:4-5
"What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour."

Performed by Front Porch Ensemble
Karalyn Schubring - Piano
Benjamin Jackson - Violin
Matthew Wildman - Bassoon
Jacob Rogers - Percussion

Artwork by Samuel Evensen - www.samuelevensen.com/

A Little Lower Than the Angels

A Little Lower Than The Angels

Régulo Stabilito, University of Michigan Philharmonia Orchestra.

Portals (2017-18) for orchestra

When I look around myself for an idea, when I feel as though I have nothing to work with, when I feel as though I am nothing, when I've been made to feel that I am nothing, I look to the strong women that surround me for inspiration. Women's stories are tales of strength, perseverance, fire, and drive. And as the tides of history churn, gaining momentum, it's no longer dangerous to declare that now it's our turn--the women's turn.

The text for this piece is: "Hush now, baby. Don't say a word. Now it's time for the women's turn."

Don't say a word (2017) // Eighth Blackbird & Annika Socolofsky

marcoadrianramos.com
"This piece was conceived during the inaugural Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music Composition Workshop in 2017; I am very grateful to Gabriela Lena Frank, Johnny Gandelsman, and Joshua Roman for their part in its formation. The work unfolds in a series of lyrical episodes, ranging from the bittersweet to the almost mystical." 
-program note from first performance (Paul Hall, Juilliard Feb 2018)

Manami Mizumoto, violin
Aaron Wolff, 'cello

Unknown album (2/23/2018 10:06:10 AM)

Verónica o Serenata (2017)

"Night Nihilism" for 8 Violas was written for the "CoLab" concert at the University of Michigan 2018.

"Night Nihilism" for Eight Violas

For two microtonal keyboards (2019)
Duration: 7 minutes
Commissioned by the Ray-Kallay Duo (Vicki Ray & Aron Kallay)

Program note:
I wrote "hush" during a time when I wanted nothing more than a hug.  The uncannily saccharine sounds of the piece are meant to surround and envelop the listener as similar to how an infant might be swaddled when held in their mother’s arms.  The piece is scored for two microtonal pianos using alternate tuning systems reminiscent of a music box.  Over time, the tuning is further warped, creating a haunting and unearthly emotional affect.

Though lullabies are generally used to soothe a child to sleep, they are often even more meaningful for the mother who sings them, and the lyrical content of many historical lullabies is dark and lamentful.  "hush" tries to capture this duality, portraying the sweet, yet eerie nostalgia of childhood.

hush

Nina Shekhar

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Kristian Josifoski

Martin Max Schreiner, composer

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