Alluvion - Program Notes
In Alluvion, I set out to explore the way the ebb and 				flow of sounds, like tides or waves, can carry a kind of 				aural sediment with them in each rhythmic cycle.  As 				this piece washes towards and then away from the 					listener, it gradually deposits thickening layers of 					character and meaning, like the slow accumulation of 				sand on the shore. As it progresses, the piece builds 				upon and tumbles over itself, then rolls over and 					withdraws back into the main body again. In the end, 				the waves of the music recede peacefully and calmly, 				leaving behind a sedimentary memory.

Awards, Honors, Performances:

-Overall Young Artists Prize and First Place in Young Artists Division in Third Millennium Ensemble Composers' Competition, 2015

-Third Place in The Eighth Annual Robert Avalon International Competition for Composers, sponsored by the Foundation for Modern Music, 2014

-Selected as only piece to represent New York State by Music Teachers of North America (MTNA) in Eastern Division competition (New England and Mid-Atlantic states), 2014

-Selected for performance on CJSR-FM Radio (Canada) "Avant-garde & Beyond" show, Dr. Piotr Grella-Mozejko, host, airdate 8 October 2015

-Selected for performance on "Classical Music Discoveries" podcast, airdate June 2015



Alluvion, for clarinet, violin, and double bass (7:29)

Ambivalent - Program Notes
To be ambivalent has a bad reputation in contemporary thinking. Ambivalence is a basic quality that everybody has but that nobody likes to admit.  We are for the most part creatures of judgment. We feel most at ease when we have certainty. We prefer our knowledge and our feelings to be undeniably rock solid, because we believe that only then can we move forward in life with confidence. 

But the opposite of that kind of sureness, ambivalence, is just as important even if it is less easily understood. Ambivalence is an attitude fed by competing inputs that influence our overall evaluation of a situation or person in opposite directions. It can be, as Steven Sondheim wrote, "the sand in the oyster that isn't the pearl."
  
When composing, I frequently have ambivalent feelings about the direction and quality of what I am trying to do. The music I hear in my head competes with what I hear when I play it out loud, leading me to wonder which one works better, or if either are any good in the first place.  It is as if I travel forward, thinking I know where I want to take my piece, only to arrive at a crossroad, which becomes a detour combined with a roundabout that puts me further from where I thought I wanted to go.
  
Composing Ambivalent was no different. There was plenty of sand in the oyster - still is. Normally, I would try to 'fix' a piece, to give it the certainty of sound and logic that music composition seems to demand. This time, though, I tried to see if I could keep competing ideas and emotions in the piece to give it more depth. For instance, the upbeat liveliness of the piece is made richer if it is played with a simultaneous undercurrent of sadness. I am not trying to make the music be ironic -  that is, to say one thing but mean another. I am trying to use this piece of music to hold two competing emotions together at the same time. I am trying to figure out if music can be, in a positive and meaningful way, ambivalent. 

Awards, Honors, Performances:

-Honorable Mention in The Other Composition Competition, sponsored by the Frost School of Music/The Other Ensemble, 2015

-Selected for performance at the Long Island Composers Alliance  "Music By and For Students" Concert,
Hofstra University, May 2015

-Selected for performance by the JACK Quartet at Mannes College/New School of Music, April 2015


Ambivalent, for string quartet (3:11)

Anamnesis - Program Notes
Anamnesis, from Platonic philosophy, is the recollection of events from an earlier existence. 
In this piece, I set out to conjure the passing of the once sharp, now aging mind of my grandfather, who is poignantly aware of a memory loss that cannot be determined precisely. His crisp and incisive way of thinking, which had been so invigorating for him, has now become a grief-stricken struggle to try to recall lost memories. Music he once sang by heart now seems to decay as fast as he can recall the notes, as if the act of remembering causes him to forget. 
In my piece, musical lines appear and reappear, but decompose while being repeated. In the end, the music fades to a tentative probing, to emulate how he now seems afraid to try to remember for fear of forgetting. 

Awards, Honors, Performances:

-Second Place in the 2015 Concert Festival International Competition, and given World Premiere at Symphony Space, New York, April 2015

-Honorable Mention, Ninth Annual Robert Avalon International Competition for Composers, 2015


Anamnesis, for solo piano (6:24)

Trench Coat - Program Notes
So much in a young person's life is bathed in light. Clear, reassuring light that makes life understandable. But where there is light, there are frequently shadows. The shadows shape the light and define its limits.  Not necessarily threatening or creepy, shadows nevertheless make it hard to see or understand what they cloak.  In order to understand what they contain, one has to patiently peer into them, until one's eyes and mind adjust. It can be a lonely process. 
I wrote this piece to accompany me while I privately investigate what the shadows contain and conceal.

Awards, Honors, Performances:

-First Prize in Senior Division and $1,000 Scholarship in the Violettes 2nd Annual Composition Competition, 2015

-Honorable Mention in the 17th Annual NYSSMA Young Composers Honors Competition, 2015

-Selected for performance on "Classical Music Discoveries" podcast, airdate June 2015, #1159

-Selected for performance at Mannes College/The New School of Music Composers Concert, 2014


Trench Coat, for string trio (2:45)

J. S. Bach - Partita No. 2 in D-minor - Sarabande - Antonia Bentel, violin

A. Dvorak - Slavonic Dance No. 1 in G-minor (arr. Kreisler) - Antonia Bentel, violin

W. A. Mozart - Concerto No. 5 in A-major - Antonia Bentel, violin

Yes Please No Thank You, for Flute, Violin, Viola and Cello

In my music, I strive to compose pieces that are spare but warm, and as elemental as the brightening line of the horizon at daybreak. I get immense inspiration from natural processes and rhythms, such as tidal ebb and flow, wind-whipped forest canopies, and organic growth and decay. There, for me, music can be heard.

Antonia Bentel

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