Music: J.S. Bach (Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht, BWV 211); Arranged by Robert Paterson
Libretto: Christian Friedrich Henrici (a.k.a. Picander); English Translation by David Cote
Duration: ca. 25'
Instrumentation: soprano, baritone, bass-baritone, flute, piano, 2 violins, viola, cello
Commissioned by Triphammer Arts Inc. with The Arts at Grace and Society for New Music
World Premiere Recording (Live Performance): American Modern Ensemble, featuring Cree Carrico, soprano; Steven Stull, baritone; David Neal, bass-baritone; Universal Preservation Hall (UPH), Saratoga Springs, NY, June 18-19, 2021
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: www.billholabmusic.com
For more information: robertpaterson.com/coffee-cantata/
Full Video: TBA
View Online Perusal Score: TBA
Buy Full Score: TBA

PROGRAM NOTE
More than just an English version of the German libretto by Christian Friedrich Henrici, this contemporary adaptation of J.S. Bach’s Coffee Cantata aims for a “fresh-brewed” vision of the father-daughter conflict over java. Despite references to SUVs, smartphones, and throuples, Cote’s new libretto retains the essential plot: a frustrated father tries to convince his coffee-chugging daughter to forsake the bean. When the father dangles marriage as a bargaining tool, they reach a decaffeinated détente. Paterson’s arrangement updates Bach's original Baroque ensemble to a similar, yet more contemporary classical instrumentation, consisting of flute, string quartet, and piano, and with the tenor and baritone roles switched to baritone and bass baritone, respectively. This instrumentation is also used for Cocoa Cantata.

Coffee Cantata - J.S. Bach (Arrangement) (For Three Singers and Chamber Ensemble) (World Premiere)

I Go Among Trees
Music by Robert Paterson
https://www.robertpaterson.com/
Duration: ca. 15'
Instrumentation: SATB choir (with divisis, SSAATTBB) and marimba (5-octaves)

For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/i-go-among-trees
Buy Sheet Music: https://billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?keyword=i%20go%20among&main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1

MOVEMENTS
I. I Go Among Trees (Wendell Berry)
II. March in New England (May Sarton)
III. The Kestrel (John Frederick Freeman)

Commissioned by the New Amsterdam Singers, Clara Longstreth, Music Director, in honor of the chorus’ 50th Anniversary and the 65th Birthday of Barbara Zucker-Pinchoff.

NEW AMSTERDAM SINGERS
Clara Longstreth, Music Director & Conductor https://www.nasingers.org/
Guest Artist: Makoto Nakura, Marimba http://makotonakura.com/

Audio Engineer: Dongsok Shin
Recorded at Broadway Presbyterian Church, New York, NY, USA, December 12, 2021

I. I Go Among Trees
by Wendell Berry 

I go among trees and sit still. 
All my stirring becomes quiet 
around me like circles on water. 
My tasks lie in their places 
where I left them, asleep like cattle. 

Then what is afraid of me comes 
and lives a while in my sight. 
What it fears in me leaves me, 
and the fear of me leaves it. 
It sings, and I hear its song. 

Then what I am afraid of comes. 
I live for a while in its sight. 
What I fear in it leaves it, 
and the fear of it leaves me. 
It sings, and I hear its song. 

After days of labor, 
mute in my consternations, 
I hear my song at last, 
and I sing it. As we sing, 
the day turns, the trees move. 

Copyright © 1998 by Wendell Berry, from A Timbered Choir. Reprinted by permission of Counterpoint Press.

I Go Among Trees - I. I Go Among Trees (Wendell Berry)

The Winds of Time for Wind Ensemble
Duration: 14'
Performers: Eastman Wind Ensemble, Mark Davis Scatterday, Conductor, Eastman School of Music, Kodak Theater, April 15, 2022
Publisher: https://www.billholabmusic.com/composers/robert-paterson/
Buy Score/Rent Parts: https://billholabmusic.com/product/the-winds-of-time/
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/
Watch Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4CRnLcpvBY
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4CRnLcpvBY

Commissioned by the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Mark Davis Scatterday, Conductor, and a consortium of wind ensembles in honor of the Eastman School of Music’s Centennial Anniversary. Consortium members include Carthage Wind Orchestra (Carthage College), CCM Wind Ensemble (University of Cincinnati), Eastman Wind Ensemble (Eastman School of Music), Nevada Wind Ensemble (University of Nevada, Reno), Symphonic Wind Ensemble (Northwestern University), TCNJ Wind Ensemble (The College of New Jersey), Wind Symphony (Ohio University), and the UNC Wind Ensemble (The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)

PROGRAM NOTE
The Winds of Time was inspired by the title and content of the poem of the same name by Tanzanian poet and novelist Euphrase Kezilahabi. I created musical elements from the various words, phrases and metaphors in his poem, especially those related to wind and water: watching the waves rising, falling, swelling, surging, and waves being driven by winds. The passage of time, inevitability, darkness, and the poem’s overall despair are represented throughout the ensemble with various bells, drums, winds, exotic instruments, and a few non-standard playing techniques.

Although this work is divided into three connected movements, Waves rising, falling, swelling, surging, Bending space/time, and Colossal chimes, fading light, it is more a rhapsody than narrative in structure. Various themes and motives gradually come into the foreground and recede into the background throughout the entire work, similar to how shells wash up on a shore and then become lost to the sand.

The Winds of Time was commissioned by the Eastman School of Music Wind Ensemble, Mark Davis Scatterday, Conductor, and a consortium of wind ensembles in honor of Eastman’s 100th anniversary.

The Winds Of Time for Wind Ensemble (World Premiere)

Deep Blue Ocean for two pianos
Duration: 12'
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=938
Online Perusal Score: https://issuu.com/robertpaterson/docs/deep_blue_ocean_-_fs-bound
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/deep-blue-ocean

PROGRAM NOTES
Although Deep Blue Ocean is not meant to be overtly programmatic, I thought it would be wonderful to explore the oceanic depths, so during a trip to the Gulf of Mexico I became a certified scuba diver. I was truly inspired, whether by the large rolling waves on the open sea, the delicate back and forth of beds of seaweed, the vibrant colors of fish clustering around cities of coral, or the beams of sunlight that cascade over the ocean’s surface.

I was also inspired by my four year old son Dylan: his name means ocean or god of the seas in Welsh; he is an Aquarius, which means the water bearer; he is an excellent swimmer, and he loves listening to a movement of one of my choral works entitled Infinite Oceans.

While writing this piece, I could not have known that the worst oil spill in U.S. history would occur just north of where I visited. The darker moments in this work are the result of this tragedy. It is in three connected movements: The Darkness Below, Sunbeams and Waterfalls, and Accents and Waves.

Deep Blue Ocean is written for Steven Gosling and Blair McMillen of the American Modern Ensemble and is dedicated to my son Dylan.

Powerhouse Pianists II

Deep Blue Ocean - III. Accents And Waves

Looney Tunes
Duration: 16'
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/looney-tunes
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=1428
Perusal Score: https://issuu.com/robertpaterson/docs/looney_tunes_-_fs_bound_perusal

Instrumentation: flute (doubling piccolo), alto saxophone (doubling baritone sax), violin, cello, electric guitar, electric bass guitar (not acoustic contrabass), percussion (drumset, bongos, xylophone, amplified Udu drum and misc. small instruments) and piano (doubling synthesizer). All players doubling misc. small percussion instruments, bird whistles and sound effects.

PROGRAM NOTES (SHORT VERSION FOR PROGRAMS)
(Long version: http://robertpaterson.com/looney-tunes)
In Looney Tunes, each movement uses a specific well-known cartoon character as a musical influence and point of departure. The first movement, Taz, is inspired by the Tasmanian Devil character and plays upon all of Taz’s traits with loud, dissonant outbursts, gyrating transitions, quiet, reflective sections and a few references to his attraction to music. The second movement, Foghorn Leghorn, is inspired by this character’s loud, vocal disposition. The ‘Foghorn’ part of his name makes me think of real foghorns, and a foghorn-like interval begins this low-sounding, baritone sax-heavy movement. The third movement, Tweety Bird, provides contrast with a somewhat high tessitura and includes prominent parts for piccolo, violin, xylophone and alto sax. Although the entire movement only abstractly references the animated Tweety, I try to make all of the high instruments sound bird-like from beginning to end. Two of my favorite cartoon characters of all time are the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, so it seemed appropriate to end the work with a fastRoad Runner movement. I have always been fascinated by the seemingly infinite array of ACME inventions the Coyote uses to try and capture the Road Runner, and the last movement reflects this and incorporates a number of exotic, gizmo-like sounds and instruments.

Guerilla New Music

Looney Tunes - II. Foghorn Leghorn

Duration: ca. 20'
Music by Robert Paterson • Lyrics by David Cote

Instrumentation: baritone and chamber ensemble (wind doubler [flute, B-flat clarinet, oboe], violin, cello, percussion, piano)
Performed by American Modern Ensemble, Jorell Williams, Baritone

Purchase Sheet Music: (Version for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble): http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=2778

Purchase Sheet Music: (Version for Baritone and Chamber Ensemble): http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=2777

For more information:
Version for Baritone and Chamber Ensemble: https://robertpaterson.com/in-real-life-ii-version-for-baritone-and-chamber-ensemble
Version for Baritone and Piano: https://robertpaterson.com/in-real-life-ii-version-for-baritone-and-piano

In Real Life I for soprano and chamber ensemble and soprano and piano also available. (In Real Life I consists of different songs than In Real Life II.)

PROGRAM NOTE
As a follow-up to our song cycle for soprano and chamber ensemble (or piano), Robert and I  agreed the concept of five characters looking for love online should have a male counterpart. Written for baritone and chamber ensemble, In Real Life II looks at five contemporary men clicking their way to second chances and romance. In “No Frog” we meet a prototypical player, a guy who fluffs his profile, but the truth keeps slipping out. The tone shifts with “Sola Fide,” in which a U.S. veteran of the war in Afghanistan explains the tattoo on his chest and the wounds inside. An older gentleman envisions one last fling in the irreverent “Die with Me.” In “Still Vamping,” a gay man muses on his start-and-stop romantic history. Finally, in “Nice-Plus,” an everyday guy reveals a hidden passion. In Real Life II was commissioned by American Modern Ensemble with funding from the Doctorow Family Foundation.

American Modern Ensemble: In Real Life

In Real Life II - II. Sola Vide

Duration: ca. 7'
World Premiere: Mostly Modern Orchestra, Mostly Modern Festival, Peter Bay, Conductor, Skidmore College, Arthur Zankel Music Center, Helen Filene Ladd Concert Hall, Saratoga Springs, NY, June 12, 2022.
Publisher - Bill Holab Music: https://www.billholabmusic.com/composers/robert-paterson/robert-paterson-works/
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZTC5McqtQk

PROGRAM NOTE
Overtures often come before operas or other large works. In this case, Slightly Comic Overture is a stand-alone piece—in the spirit of an overture—but more a free agent and not attached to anything else. It is my first orchestral work, and was inspired by the music of Leonard Bernstein and animated film composers such as Carl Stalling, and to a lesser extent, music by Aaron Copland, Béla Bartók, and Alfred Schnittke. Since I composed it when I was fairly young, I decided to revise it, with the hope that anything that I updated would only enhance or clarify everything and not change the nature of what I originally composed, or cause it to lose its youthful spirit. In this sense, Slightly Comic Overture is really a sort of hybrid: an intermingling of youthful exuberance with maturity, and a few colorful, more serious moments with others that are more humorous and playful. Slightly Comic Overture is dedicated to Peter Bay and the Mostly Modern Festival.

Slightly Comic Overture (for Orchestra)

Written: 2021-22
Duration: 20'
Video: https://youtu.be/X107ODtr54s
for SATB choir (3 choir members each playing a single crotale or Tingshas) and instrumental sextet (flute [doubling alto flute], clarinet, violin, cello, percussion [vibraphone, concert bass drum, four concert tom-toms, large tam-tam, medium suspended cymbal, medium and small triangles, Mark tree, medium and large wood blocks], and piano).
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: https://billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?cPath=103_137&main_page=product_info&products_id=4349
For More Information, Text, and Perusal Score: https://robertpaterson.com/listen

PROGRAM NOTE
Most people want to be heard and want to be loved, and we are usually better at talking than listening. We are often so immersed in ourselves that we not only forget to listen to others in a meaningful, effective way but also to the world around us. With that in mind, Listen is about listening to each other and the world around us more deeply, especially concerning our environment. In that sense, this piece could have been titled “Deep Listening,” but since this work is meant to be more a call to action than an alliteration of a musical concept, I felt that Listen was a more appropriate title. Listen uses a tapestry of quotes from various well-known sources, both ancient and contemporary, that are about or related to the environment. My main goal through this piece is to create a musical call to action, encourage listening, and help to raise awareness about our environment and the natural world around us.

Listen is scored for choir (3 members playing Tingshas or crotales) and chamber ensemble, consisting of a flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion, and piano, and was commissioned by and is dedicated to Ember, Deborah Simpkin King, music director, and conductor, in honor of their 25th anniversary.

Listen (for SATB Choir and Chamber Ensemble)

Written: 2021
Duration: ca. 5'
Instrumentation: solo five-octave marimba (four mallets)
Commissioned by Micheal Barnes
Performed by Michael Barnes (World Premiere)
Upcoming World Premiere: Recital, Michael Barnes, marimba, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, April 4, 2024.
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: https://billholabmusic.com/product/pyro/

PROGRAM NOTES
The word ‘pyro' has a few different meanings. It can denote fire, heat, or temperature, but the meaning that most inspired this piece comes from the word 'pyromaniac', which is used to describe someone who has a compulsion to set things on fire. In particular, I was most influenced by a by a surreal, somewhat grotesque artwork by David Lynch called Boy Lights Fire (2010), in which a boy holds a book of matches in his left hand and a lit match in his right hand, while someone (perhaps his mother) appears in the distance, arms stretched out, seemingly in shock. I imagined the boy lighting their house on fire, and the house gradually burning to the ground. Pyro was commissioned by Michael Barnes.

Pyro for Solo Marimba

Written: 2022-23
Duration: 30'
for piano trio (violin, cello, and piano) and orchestra (2-2-2-2 / 4-2-3-1 / 3 percussion, timpani, strings)
Commissioned by Neave Trio
World Premiere: Mostly Modern Orchestra with Neave Trio, JoAnn Falletta, conductor, Mostly Modern Festival, Arthur Zankel Music Center, Helen Filene Ladd Concert Hall, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, June 17, 2023.
Publisher: Bill Holab Music

As we live through a sixth mass extinction, it is not difficult to question whether we can act as good stewards of our earth. While I often feel a sense of despair — how could we have messed this up so badly? — my thoughts are often, perhaps irrationally, tempered by a sense of optimism. Maybe we can fix this, or at least that’s what I tell myself. Triple Concerto is essentially an exploration of these emotions. As a scenic point of departure, the entire work also uses three types of geographical regions as inspiration.

Triple Concerto is structured a bit differently than a traditional concerto. An introduction and three larger movements are interspersed with three small trio-centric movements that loosely function as either a prelude, interlude, or cadenza. These three smaller movements also exist as a stand-alone version for the piano trio that may be performed as a sort of “teaser” for the concerto on a chamber music concert.

The first movement, Introduction, loosely evokes a sunrise. Toward the end of the movement, bird song melodies from around the world are incorporated and performed by the winds. This leads to a movement entitled Chorale Prelude, focusing on the piano trio, leading to a joyful third movement, Bright Pastorale, filled with bright, sunlit bell-like chords and sounds reminiscent of birdsong. Moments of despair begin to appear as the movement progresses. The movement ends darkly, like an overcast sky before a storm. The fourth movement, Interlude, echoes the beginning, focusing on the trio once again and evoking a sense of longing, the sound of a more innocent time. Tundra, the fifth movement, is cold, dark, and bleak but with swaths of color. A sense of sadness and loneliness permeates this movement, at times represented by various mournful effects such as bent notes created by dipping tubular bells in water and glissandi in the strings and brass.

After the fifth movement, the trio performs a virtuosic Cadenza, full of grief and rage but with signs of hope. This leads to the final movement, entitled Summit. Ascending lines suggest climbing a mountain, both literally and figuratively. After a brief climax, eleven bell-like chords sound one after the other, symbolizing the chimes of the Doomsday Clock. The winds perform birdsong once again, perhaps of songbirds that may soon become endangered or even extinct. In a nod to Haydn’s Symphony No. 45 (his “Farewell Symphony”), the players leave the stage one by one until all that is left are the trio and conductor.

Triple Concerto was commissioned by the Neave Trio and premiered by the trio and Mostly Modern Orchestra, JoAnn Falletta, conductor, at Mostly Modern Festival in Saratoga Springs, NY.

– RP

Movements:
I. Introduction
II. Chorale Prelude
III. Bright Pastorale
IV. Interlude
V. Tundra
VI. Cadenza
VII. Summit

Triple Concerto, "Summit" for Piano Trio and Orchestra (World Premiere)

Soar for C Trumpet and Piano (2022)
Duration: ca. 9'
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcZNDWBRidI
For more information: https://robertpaterson.com/soar
To Purchase Sheet Music: https://billholabmusic.com/product/soar/

Recording: David Puchkoff, trumpet; Geoffrey Burleson, piano
Recording Producer/Engineer, Silas Brown
Additional Audio Editing: Ian Striedter

Commissioned by Lexie Signor
World Premiere:  Mostly Modern Festival, Lexie Signor, trumpet; Geoffrey Burleson, piano; Helen Filene Ladd Concert Hall, Arthur Zankel Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY, June 2023
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: https://billholabmusic.com/composers/robert-paterson/
For more information: https://robertpaterson.com/soar
Buy Sheet Music: https://billholabmusic.com/product/soar/

PROGRAM NOTE
Many composers associate orchestral instruments with animals to great effect, such as Prokofiev with Peter and the Wolf, Rimsky-Korsakov with Flight of the Bumblebee, Saint-Saëns with Carnival of the Animals, and perhaps most obsessively, Messiaen with birds from all over the world. In Soar, I associate the trumpet with an eagle, a bird that can fly as high as ten thousand feet and as fast as two hundred miles per hour. Like an eagle soaring above mountains, Soar requires the trumpet player to play fast and high, and both the trumpet and piano parts are, at times, quite virtuosic. In this sense, Soar is really meant as a show-off piece for expert trumpet players.

Soar for Trumpet and Piano

Written: 2005-06/2023-25 (In-Progress)
Duration: ca. 30'
for orchestra (3 (dbl Pic.), 3 (dbl Eng. Hn.), 3 (dbl Bass Cl.), 3 (dbl C-bsn.); 4,3,3,1; timp +3; hp; kybd (dbl celeste); strings)
Written for JoAnn Falletta and Mostly Modern Orchestra in honor of Mostly Modern Festival’s fifth season
For more information: https://robertpaterson.com/journey-of-a-dragonfly
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRSlunQRBm4&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Frobertpaterson.com%2F&source_ve_path=Mjg2NjY

PROGRAM NOTE (IN PROGRESS)
As a child, my parents vacationed at a summer cottage in Maine by a small lake. Often by myself, I would sit on a giant boulder and watch the lake and the wildlife for hours.

One day, a beautiful bright-winged dragonfly flew across the lake and hovered before me. I was startled and intrigued: its long, slender blue body glistened in the sunlight. Finally, it began to fly around the perimeter of the lake. It stopped every few minutes and hovered in place, almost as if waiting for me to follow it. I followed the dragonfly until sunset, imagining a world in which only the dragonfly existed, on its own terms, within its own world.

Years later, I hiked around the Niagara Gorge near Niagara Falls and explored Devil’s Hole Park. There is an opening on the side of a cliff called Devil’s Hole Cave. Interestingly, early Native Americans called it the Cave of the Evil Spirit and foretold subsequent disaster to anyone who dared enter the cave. The combination of the lake, the dragonfly, and Devil’s Hole Cave all came together and helped crystalize the idea for this work.

Journey of a Dragonfly begins as the sun rises; a foreboding darkness looms in the background, contrasting the Dragonfly’s graceful entrance into a world filled with the excitement of being alive. A gust of wind carries dandelion seeds skyward alongside butterflies and rainbow-colored wildflowers. Butterflies land on flowers before the Dragonfly ventures through a dark forest and emerges, only to be chased by five blackbirds. Weaving back and forth to try and escape, the Dragonfly flies into a narrow crevice as two of the blackbirds collide with trees. While still being chased, the three remaining birds retreat as the Dragonfly discovers a dark hole leading to a tunnel. The dragonfly speeds down the ghoulish tunnel and emerges at the end of the tunnel at the side of a cliff, hovering in place. It looks around in horror and sees a gigantic cavern and then Devil Town. After flying through Devil Town and witnessing tortured souls, a bomb factory, Attorney Alley, and the Devil’s Saloon, off in the distance, the Dragonfly sees Satan’s House on a hill and decides to explore. The Dragonfly enters the house and sees the Devil Child, the Devil Mother, and the Devil himself. Suddenly, the Devil Child catches the Dragonfly in a glass jar as the parents prepare dinner in the kitchen. The Dragonfly eventually manages to escape, only to be chased by the Devil Child and then by a group of hellish bats. After a chaotic chase, the Dragonfly finds the tunnel and speeds back toward the world above. Finally free, the Dragonfly finds a flat rock to rest. The tale concludes as the Dragonfly falls asleep, the sun sets by the lake, and the evening fades to black.

Journey of a Dragonfly was written for JoAnn Falletta and Mostly Modern Orchestra in honor of Mostly Modern Festival’s fifth season.

– RP

Journey of a Dragonfly for Orchestra (Part I)

New York Stories (Chamber Version) - Shallow Wishes
Music by Robert Paterson | Libretto by John de los Santos
Written: 2024
New York Stories Duration: ca. 60'
Instrumentation: soprano, baritone, and chamber ensemble (flute, oboe, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, viola, cello), or  soprano, baritone, and piano
Percussion Instruments Needed for Chamber Ensemble Version: small drum set (snare drum, bass drum, hi-hat, crash cymbal, ride cymbal) vibraphone, glockenspiel, bar chimes, temple blocks, medium wood block, high wood block, medium triangle, small triangle
Librettos for five scenes commissioned by Robert Paterson. Crossing The Hudson (lyrics and piano/vocal score) commissioned by the Five Boroughs Music Festival
World Premiere (Chamber Version): Mostly Modern Festival, Modern Vocal Projects, Skidmore College, Arthur Zankel Music Center, Saratoga Springs, NY, June 16, 2024.
Publisher: Bill Holab Music
Video Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbmEubaaDPFTmiymAlaPLl69TU_ffF2cd
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/new-york-stories

PROGRAM NOTE
New York Stories began as a song for soprano, baritone, and piano called Crossing The Hudson with text by Mark Campbell, which the Five Boroughs Music Festival commissioned. A few years later, David Cote wrote lyrics for a duet with the same instrumentation called Extraordinary as a concert ender for two song cycles we created: In Real Life I and In Real Life II. After these two pieces, I sensed a pattern emerging, or at least a potential project. Since both of these pieces take place in and contain texts by writers based in New York City, I thought it would be fun to ask four other talented New York City-based writers to write short libretti, with the only stipulation that each piece be inspired by or take place in the five boroughs. The other writers I chose for this project include Margot Connolly, Briana Elyse Hunter, John de los Santos, and Sokunthary Svay.

New York Stories - Shallow Wishes

New York Stories (Piano/vocal)
Music by Robert Paterson | Libretto by Briana Elyse Hunter
Written: 2024
New York Stories Duration: ca. 60'
Chamber Ensemble Version Instrumentation: soprano, baritone, and chamber ensemble (flute, oboe, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, viola, cello), or soprano, baritone, and piano
Percussion Instruments Needed for Chamber Ensemble Version: small drum set (snare drum, bass drum, hi-hat, crash cymbal, ride cymbal) vibraphone, glockenspiel, bar chimes, temple blocks, medium wood block, high wood block, medium triangle, small triangle
Librettos for five scenes commissioned by Robert Paterson. Crossing The Hudson (lyrics and piano/vocal score) commissioned by the Five Boroughs Music Festival
World Premiere (Piano/vocal Version): 
World Premiere (Chamber Version): Mostly Modern Festival, Modern Vocal Projects, Skidmore College, Arthur Zankel Music Center, Saratoga Springs, NY, June 16, 2024.
World Premiere (Piano/vocal Version): American Modern Ensemble, Opera America, Marc A. Scorca Hall, New York, NY, May 24, 2024.
Publisher: Bill Holab Music
Piano/vocal Version Video Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUOHtooUK6OjL8UP6SAsfZhKWhxYS3mKO&si=0c5BaBXoShH1zVvY
Chamber Version Video Playlist: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLb…AlaPLl69TU_ffF2cd
For More Information: robertpaterson.com/new-york-stories

New York Stories - Rules In Effect (Piano/vocal)

New York Stories (Piano/vocal)
Music by Robert Paterson | Libretto by David Cote
Written: 2024
New York Stories Duration: ca. 60'
Chamber Ensemble Version Instrumentation: soprano, baritone, and chamber ensemble (flute, oboe, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, viola, cello), or soprano, baritone, and piano
Percussion Instruments Needed for Chamber Ensemble Version: small drum set (snare drum, bass drum, hi-hat, crash cymbal, ride cymbal) vibraphone, glockenspiel, bar chimes, temple blocks, medium wood block, high wood block, medium triangle, small triangle
Librettos for five scenes commissioned by Robert Paterson. Crossing The Hudson (lyrics and piano/vocal score) commissioned by the Five Boroughs Music Festival
World Premiere (Piano/vocal Version): 
World Premiere (Chamber Version): Mostly Modern Festival, Modern Vocal Projects, Skidmore College, Arthur Zankel Music Center, Saratoga Springs, NY, June 16, 2024.
World Premiere (Piano/vocal Version): American Modern Ensemble, Opera America, Marc A. Scorca Hall, New York, NY, May 24, 2024.
Publisher: Bill Holab Music
Piano/vocal Version Video Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUOHtooUK6OjL8UP6SAsfZhKWhxYS3mKO&si=0c5BaBXoShH1zVvY
Chamber Version Video Playlist: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLb…AlaPLl69TU_ffF2cd
For More Information: robertpaterson.com/new-york-stories

New York Stories - Extraordinary (Piano/vocal)

New York Stories (Piano/vocal)
Music by Robert Paterson | Libretto by Sokunthary Svay
Written: 2024
New York Stories Duration: ca. 60'
Chamber Ensemble Version Instrumentation: soprano, baritone, and chamber ensemble (flute, oboe, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, viola, cello), or soprano, baritone, and piano
Percussion Instruments Needed for Chamber Ensemble Version: small drum set (snare drum, bass drum, hi-hat, crash cymbal, ride cymbal) vibraphone, glockenspiel, bar chimes, temple blocks, medium wood block, high wood block, medium triangle, small triangle
Librettos for five scenes commissioned by Robert Paterson. Crossing The Hudson (lyrics and piano/vocal score) commissioned by the Five Boroughs Music Festival
World Premiere (Piano/vocal Version): 
World Premiere (Chamber Version): Mostly Modern Festival, Modern Vocal Projects, Skidmore College, Arthur Zankel Music Center, Saratoga Springs, NY, June 16, 2024.
World Premiere (Piano/vocal Version): American Modern Ensemble, Opera America, Marc A. Scorca Hall, New York, NY, May 24, 2024.
Publisher: Bill Holab Music
Piano/vocal Version Video Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUOHtooUK6OjL8UP6SAsfZhKWhxYS3mKO&si=0c5BaBXoShH1zVvY
Chamber Version Video Playlist: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLb…AlaPLl69TU_ffF2cd
For More Information: robertpaterson.com/new-york-stories

New York Stories - River Park (Piano/vocal)

New York Stories (Piano/vocal)
Music by Robert Paterson | Libretto by John de Los Santos
Written: 2024
New York Stories Duration: ca. 60'
Chamber Ensemble Version Instrumentation: soprano, baritone, and chamber ensemble (flute, oboe, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, viola, cello), or soprano, baritone, and piano
Percussion Instruments Needed for Chamber Ensemble Version: small drum set (snare drum, bass drum, hi-hat, crash cymbal, ride cymbal) vibraphone, glockenspiel, bar chimes, temple blocks, medium wood block, high wood block, medium triangle, small triangle
Librettos for five scenes commissioned by Robert Paterson. Crossing The Hudson (lyrics and piano/vocal score) commissioned by the Five Boroughs Music Festival
World Premiere (Piano/vocal Version): 
World Premiere (Chamber Version): Mostly Modern Festival, Modern Vocal Projects, Skidmore College, Arthur Zankel Music Center, Saratoga Springs, NY, June 16, 2024.
World Premiere (Piano/vocal Version): American Modern Ensemble, Opera America, Marc A. Scorca Hall, New York, NY, May 24, 2024.
Publisher: Bill Holab Music
Piano/vocal Version Video Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUOHtooUK6OjL8UP6SAsfZhKWhxYS3mKO&si=0c5BaBXoShH1zVvY
Chamber Version Video Playlist: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLb…AlaPLl69TU_ffF2cd
For More Information: robertpaterson.com/new-york-stories

New York Stories - Shallow Wishes (Piano/vocal)

New York Stories (Piano/vocal)
Music by Robert Paterson | Libretto by Margot Connolly
Written: 2024
New York Stories Duration: ca. 60'
Chamber Ensemble Version Instrumentation: soprano, baritone, and chamber ensemble (flute, oboe, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, viola, cello), or soprano, baritone, and piano
Percussion Instruments Needed for Chamber Ensemble Version: small drum set (snare drum, bass drum, hi-hat, crash cymbal, ride cymbal) vibraphone, glockenspiel, bar chimes, temple blocks, medium wood block, high wood block, medium triangle, small triangle
Librettos for five scenes commissioned by Robert Paterson. Crossing The Hudson (lyrics and piano/vocal score) commissioned by the Five Boroughs Music Festival
World Premiere (Piano/vocal Version): 
World Premiere (Chamber Version): Mostly Modern Festival, Modern Vocal Projects, Skidmore College, Arthur Zankel Music Center, Saratoga Springs, NY, June 16, 2024.
World Premiere (Piano/vocal Version): American Modern Ensemble, Opera America, Marc A. Scorca Hall, New York, NY, May 24, 2024.
Publisher: Bill Holab Music
Piano/vocal Version Video Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUOHtooUK6OjL8UP6SAsfZhKWhxYS3mKO&si=0c5BaBXoShH1zVvY
Chamber Version Video Playlist: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLb…AlaPLl69TU_ffF2cd
For More Information: robertpaterson.com/new-york-stories

New York Stories - Original And Only (Piano/vocal)

That's Amore (World Premiere)
Introduction by John Beck
Composed by Harry Warren; Arranged by Robert Paterson, 1992
Duration: 6'
Instrumentation: keyboard percussion ensemble
Written For John Beck and the Eastman Percussion Ensemble
Premiere: Eastman Percussion Ensemble, John Beck, conductor; Robert Paterson, marimba soloist; Eastman School of Music, Kilbourn Hall, Rochester, NY, 1992

PROGRAM NOTE
I’ve always been a fan of Dean Martin’s songs. During my first few years of college, a disc that was always in my CD player was a CD of Dean Martin's Greatest Hits. It was interesting to me that some of his songs were orchestrated with marimbas and other non-standard percussion instruments. It seemed like a perfect fit to arrange That’s Amore for keyboard percussion ensemble. This work was originally written for and premiered by the Eastman Percussion Ensemble directed by John Beck.

That's Amore (Arrangement)

The Biographies of Solitude
Text by Irving Feldman
Written: 1990
Duration: 8'
Instrumentation: soprano, viola and cello
Text by Irving Feldman
Premiere: Composer’s Forum, Eastman School of Music, Kilbourn Hall, Rochester, NY, July 1, 1992.
For more information: https://robertpaterson.com/the-biographies-of-solitude

PROGRAM NOTE
When I was growing up in Buffalo, NY, my parents had a great collection poetry books. My father taught at the same university as Irving Feldman, and my parents had a few of his books of his poetry—some of them given as gifts from Feldman. The poem The Biographies of Solitude struck me as being a very good poem to set to music.

The Biographies of Solitude

Written: 1991-93
Duration: ca. 3'
Instrumentation: 4 1/3 octave marimba (six-mallets)
Premiere: various locations, Robert Paterson, marimba.
More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/three-postludes

PROGRAM NOTE
Postlude No. 1 was written at the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts & Sciences where I was in residence during the summer of 1991. I stayed in a cabin in the middle of the woods, approximately one mile away from any people. There was a cool, clear, spring-water brook running near my cabin, and a smooth, falling-water creek named Patterson Creek about a half mile away; I would visit these small streams every day. These calm memories, the beautiful mountains (this center is located in the Appalachian Mountains), the beautiful scenery and the generally friendly aura of Georgia I experienced are what influenced me to start writing these Postludes, specifically Postlude No. 1.

Postlude No. 1

Written: 1989
Duration: 15'
Instrumentation: alto sax (doubling Bar Chimes [Mark Tree] in Perc. 1 setup) and three percussionists (Percussion 1: 4 1/3 octave marimba, bar chimes (Mark Tree), log drum [A5], two brake drums [G5, A5], small Almglocken cowbell [G5], small Rosewood claves [E5], two computer floppy diskettes / Percussion 2: 4-octave bass marimba, two Goblet drums [Darbuka] [A4, C5], log drum [E5], two brake drums [E5, F5], medium Almglocken cowbell [E5], claves, two computer floppy diskettes / Percussion 3: concert bass drum, crotales [high octave], log drum, typing paper, brake drums [C5, D5], bell tree, cowbell, large African claves,  two computer floppy diskettes)
Premiere: Student Recital, Richard Wyman, saxophone, with David Carlisle, Robert Paterson, and Joseph Tompkins, percussion; Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY, April 15, 1989.
Publisher: Robert Paterson Music (ASCAP)
 
This work is currently unavailable.

PROGRAM NOTE
Machines are slowly overtaking mankind; they are beginning to possess a life of their own. Androids, humanoids, computers, four-wheel vehicles, and other machines are weaving their way into our lives in both obvious and subtle ways. People in developed societies depend on them for their lives. As hypothesized in many science fiction books and films, our massive expansion of technology will eventually create machines with free will: they will be able to think and feel and will have the power to ultimately destroy us. If too many are given the power of reasoning, they may decide that we need to be terminated; we are creatures with many flaws.

Humanus Ex Machina is a work about the hypothesized, eventual downfall and deterioration of humankind resulting from being overthrown by machines. The three percussionists represent the machines and play traditional percussion instruments and “found objects” such as computer floppy disks and brake drums. Humankind, represented by an alto saxophonist, senses that mankind is about to be wiped out by its creations and triumphs over them with the greatest weapon of all, the human mind.

Humanus Ex Machina

Written: 2024
Duration: 8'
for SATB choir (with occasional divisis, SSAATTBB) and handpan (D Kurd 10: D) A, B-flat, C, D, E, F, G, A, C)
Commissioned by Ember Choral Arts, Dr. Deborah Simpkin King, Founding Artistic Director, as Ember's first Composer in Residence
Premiere: Ember, Dr. Deborah Simpkin King, Founding Artistic Director, May 17, 2024, Actors’ Chapel, NYC; May 19, 2024, Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair, Montclair, NJ
Publisher: Bill Holab Music
For more information: https://robertpaterson.com/kama

PROGRAM NOTE
In contemporary literature, ‘kama’ is often used to connote erotic desire and emotional longing, but in ancient Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, this concept is more expansive and broadly refers to any desire, wish, passion, or pleasure, the enjoyment of art and beauty, and even more broadly, love and connection. Kama focuses on this ancient concept and these feelings, which are so essential to being human, while reflecting on how machines, no matter how complex, will ever truly feel and love the way we do and will never truly be able to feel what it is to be human. Kama is a musical call to action in a world where we are in danger of machines replacing us or pulling us further apart, but in which we will ultimately prevail.

Kama was commissioned by Ember Choral Arts, Dr. Deborah Simpkin King, Founding Artistic Director, as Ember's first Composer in Residence.

Kama for Choir and Handpan (World Premiere)

For SATB A Cappella Choir and Optional Projected Images
Duration: ca. 11'
Performed by Musica Sacra, Kent Tritle, conductor
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r5g_3kPjU4

To read more and see the graffiti images, visit this page: http://robertpaterson.com/graffiti-canons

Commissioned by Volti, Robert A. Geary, Artistic Director. The commissioning of this work by Volti was made possible by the support of the Ann Stookey Fund for New Music.

Publisher: Bill Holab Music

PROGRAM NOTES

Although I have based many choral works on settings of poems, I also enjoy setting unusual texts. In many ways. graffiti is ideal as a source of inspiration. It is unpretentious, extremely varied and can be found almost anywhere: under bridges, in alleyways, on the sides of vans, in subway stations, and even in bathroom stalls. It may be illegal or sanctioned, artistic, text based, aphoristic, philosophical or purely graphic. It can be humorous, innocent and childlike, or very serious and meant to provoke. Graffiti may be of our time or ancient. Certain cave paintings, for example, could be considered predecessors to modern graffiti. Through graffiti, gangs, tribes or individuals can hide behind anonymity; it is the voice of the voiceless.

In Graffiti Canons , I appropriate positive aphoristic sayings, sentences and phrases found in graffiti from various parts of the world. My goal is to create a musical tapestry that flows from one thought to the next and spans time and place, using canonic technique and chorale-like transitions.

Although I found many of the graffiti images online, others I use in this piece were obtained via a Graffiti Photo Contest that I posted online. Approximately eighty images were submitted, and viewers were allowed to vote for their favorites, which played a part in which images were chosen. A handful of the most inspirational photos were used for this piece. An optional slideshow containing these images may be shown during performances of this piece.

Graffiti Canons was commissioned by Volti, Robert Geary, Artistic Director. The commissioning of this work by Volti was made possible by the support of the Ann Stookey Fund for New Music (annstookeyfund.org).

– Robert Paterson

Graffiti Canons (For Choir)

Summer Songs (for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble)
Duration: ca. 24'

MOVEMENTS:
I. Summer Music (May Sarton)
II. The KIte (Anne Sexton)
III. Childhood (Sharan Strange)
IV. Moths (Jennifer O'Grady)
V. Summer Night, Riverside (Sara Teasdale)

Performers: American Modern Ensemble; Marnie Breckenridge, Soprano
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/summer-songs
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=2333
Online Perusal Score: https://issuu.com/robertpaterson/docs/paterson_summer_songs__score-chambe
Also available as a version for soprano and piano: https://robertpaterson.com/summer-songs-piano-vocal-version

PROGRAM NOTE
There is a seemingly endless supply of poems about summer. After writing Winter Songs for bass-baritone and chamber ensemble or piano, I realized that I had inadvertently only set poems by male poets, so I decided to restrict myself to female poets for this cycle. I am well-aware that this could emphasize a potential cliché: woman can be viewed as more "summery" and men more "wintery,” but more than anything, this is merely a way to offer a course correction, so to speak, or even a yin and yang, as well as a way to create a balance between these two works.

Summer Songs begins with a setting of Summer Music by May Sarton, a light, happy, playfully musical poem filled with allusions to nature. The second movement is a setting of The Kite by Anne Sexton, a poem about honoring and enjoying the moment, and the simple things in life such as flying kites with children. Childhood, the third movement, is a setting of a poem by Sharan Strange about children capturing fireflies. The fourth movement, Moths, is a setting of a poem by Jennifer O’Grady about moths, but relating to late night conversation on a front porch. The cycle ends with a setting of Summer Night, Riverside, by Sara Teasdale, a passionate, warm, optimistic poem that muses on the timelessness of summer.

Summer Songs was commissioned by The ASCAP Foundation via the Charles Kingsford Fund, for Marnie Breckenridge and the American Modern Ensemble. Special thanks to Marnie Breckenridge for her assistance in selecting the poems for this cycle.

Commissioned by The ASCAP Foundation via the Charles Kingsford Fund, for Marnie Breckenridge and the American Modern Ensemble

ARTISTS
Robert Paterson, Conductor
Marnie Breckenridge, soprano
Sato Moughalian, flute
Pascal Archer, clarinet
Matthew Ward, percussion
Geoffrey Burleson, piano
Esther Noh, violin
Dave Eggar, cello

The Four Seasons

Summer Songs - I. Summer Music (Text: May Sarton)

Written: 2012
Duration: 38'
Instrumentation: orchestra, SATB chorus and narrator
Performed by the American Modern Orchestra and Albany Pro Musica, Mostly Modern Festival, Kent Tritle, conductor, Larry Pine, Narrator. Special thanks to Jose Daniel Flores Caraballo for preparing the choir for this performance.
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/composers/robert-paterson/

Also Available: Choral Suite from A New Eaarth consisting of the choral movements from the orchestral work re-scored for SATB choir and piano. The choral suite may be performed as a stand-alone work.
For more information on this work: http://robertpaterson.com/a-new-eaarth. http://robertpaterson.com/choral-suite-from-a-new-eaarth

A New Eaarth for Orchestra, Chorus and Narrator

Written: 1988 | Duration: 8'
Instrumentation: 12 pairs of hands (twelve hand clappers)

Buy Sheet Music: https://www.steveweissmusic.com/product/voices-paterson/percussion-ensemble-sheet-music

PROGRAM NOTE
Voices was written to accompany six dancers performing a powerful work about the lives of teenagers. Two hand clappers (four hands) represent one dancer, and each of the six dancers choreographed their individual dance to their own clapping tracks, which start out together in unison but gradually become more intricate. The whole piece slowly and almost imperceptibly speeds up from beginning to end.

Voices for 12 Clappers (12 Pairs of Hands)

Written: 2018-19
Duration: ca. 25'
Commissioned by J.K. Billman
Premiere: Euclid Quartet, Mostly Modern Festival, Arthur Zankel Music Center, June 25, 2019
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com
For more info.: https://robertpaterson.com/string-quartet-no-2

PROGRAM NOTES
In some ways, String Quartet No. 2 is similar to my String Quartet No. 1: the five movements are stylistically diverse, I use a few snippets of pre-existing music, and the music, while idiomatic, is technically demanding. As with my first quartet, this work explores technical and aesthetic ideas I didn’t have a chance to explore in other works.

The first movement, Colored Fields, is inspired by abstract expressionist painters such as Mark Rothko, Kenneth Noland, and Barnett Newman, but also pointillist painters such as Georges Seurat and Paul Signac. There are textures that emerge and submerge using articulations that gradually shift from soft to loud, or short to long, and there are a few transitions that utilize a technique I call pitch phasing or phase modulation, as opposed to tempo phasing. In these transitions, two or more instruments gradually modulate (raise or lower) notes, motives, or phrases by gradual, very refined, microtonal, non-chromatic increments, settling on new pitch areas that directly reflect the previous areas, just modulated up or town. The movement ends softly with a virtual desaturation of the rhythmic material. I remove notes, one by one, until there’s nothing left.

The second movement, Rigor Mortis, is inspired by a comic strip by David Lynch that newspapers ran for many years. In this strip, Lynch sketched a stressed-out, pitch-black dog, looking very mean and almost buzzing with anger; it looked like it was about to explode. Every strip began with an accompanying paragraph that read, “The dog who is so angry he cannot move. He cannot eat. He cannot sleep. He can just barely growl. Bound so tightly with tension and anger, he approaches the state of rigor mortis.” This made me envision musicians playing with such ferocity and tension that the music seems to eventually cancel itself out, anger imploding in on itself.

The third movement, Dolente, is sad, lush, and mournful. The only request I had when writing this quartet was to incorporate a Norwegian fiddle tune or theme by Edvard Grieg, so I chose themes from Grieg’s String Quartet No. 1. The form of this movement mimics the form of a song by Edvard Grieg’s entitled Spillemaend (Minstrels, or Fiddlers). The poem that Grieg set in 1876 as the first of Six Ibsen Songs (Op. 25) is based on the Norwegian folktale of the fossegrim, a male water spirit who could teach the art of violin-playing, but often at the price of personal happiness. In some versions of the story, the poor violinist drowns in the end. Like the song, and echoing the second movement, this movement beginning with the protagonist’s longing, his desire for the beloved. Next, he encounters the fossegrim, who promises that becoming a master of music will allow the protagonist to become master of his beloved. In the final stanza, the protagonist becomes a master fiddler, but he is now a cursed, wandering musician deprived of earthly love, so he drowns himself.

The humorous fourth movement, Scherzando, capitalizes on effects that at times, often make the string players sound inebriated. I make use of copious glissandi and tempos that fluctuate between 3/4 and 6/8, giving a sense of unease.

The final movement, Collage, is similar to the first movement in that it is inspired by the visual arts, and specifically, collage painting and works by surrealists. Many themes from the first four movements are brought together in this odd-metered movement.

String Quartet No. 2 commissioned by J. K. Billman and is written for and dedicated to the Euclid Quartet.

The Indianapolis Quartet: Robert Paterson - String Quartets 1-3

String Quartet No. 2 - III. Dolente

String Quartet No. 2 - II. Rigor Mortis

Written: 2018-19
Duration: ca. 25'
Instrumentation: string quartet
Commissioned by J.K. Billman and written for and dedicated to the Euclid Quartet
Premiere: Euclid Quartet, Mostly Modern Festival, Skidmore College, Arthur Zankel Music Center, Helen Filene Ladd Concert Hall, June 25, 2019.
Publisher: Bill Holab Music

BUY SHEET MUSIC
http://www.billholabmusic.com

FOR MORE INFO. AND PROGRAM NOTES:
https://robertpaterson.com/string-quartet-no-2

String Quartet No. 2 - I. Colored Fields

Suite for String Orchestra
Duration: 15'
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/suite-for-string-orchestra
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/composers/robert-paterson/
Purchase Sheet Music: http://billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=%22suite+for+string+orchestra%22

PROGRAM NOTE
Unlike some of my previous works, Suite for String Orchestra is not inspired by an over-arching programmatic theme. Although there are some technical and motivic relationships between some of the movements—particularly the first and fifth—the movements are generally unrelated and are meant to be noticeably distinct. It is in five short movements and is intentionally written in an “old-fashioned,” somewhat archaic style. I initially played around with the idea of titling this work Old-fashioned Suite or Old Time Suite, but there seems to be a sufficient sprinkling of “new fangled ideas” in this work to make these alternative titles seem inadequate.

The first movement, Allegro vivace, is written in a “mid-20th century American” style. My model for a few of the sections in this movement is the evocative, German phrase Sturm und Drang, which literally translated means “storm and stress.”

In the second movement, Trapped waltz, I imagine an ethereal, yet cognizant waltz floating above the stratosphere, looking for a place to rest, but hobbled and shackled by a pounding rock and roll drumset. I see this as a metaphor for the various dances throughout history that have come and gone but are continually vying for attention in contemporary culture. The movement fades out at the end, as if the waltz is eternally looking for a place to settle down. Admittedly, I was somewhat inspired by the collage works of Charles Ives.

The third movement, Nocturne, begins slowly and sadly, and I imagine the pulse in the beginning as similar to the gentle breathing of someone who is asleep. The middle of the movement is much more intense and violent, and the end is as soft and calm as the beginning. The first chair violin and the first chair violoncello have brief solos in this movement.

Although material from the middle of the fourth movement, Balinese scherzo, is derived from a Balinese scale, the beginning is somewhat chromatic and the ending is essentially based on the E-major scale. This movement is distinctive in that the orchestra is asked to play pizzicato almost the entire time.

The fifth movement, Finale: allegro moderato, is the movement that is most reminiscent of the first movement. The ending combines material from the beginning of both the first and fifth movements.

Suite For String Orchestra - IV. Balinese scherzo

Springs Songs (for Tenor and Chamber Ensemble)
Duration: ca. 20'

MOVEMENTS:
I. English Sparrows (Washington Square) (Edna St. Vincent Millay)
II. April 5, 1974 (Richard Wilbur)
III. Done With (Ann Stanford)
IV. The Widow’s Lament in Springtime (William Carlos Williams)
V. Spring Rain (Sara Teasdale)

Performers: American Modern Ensemble; Alok Kumar, Tenor
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/spring-songs
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/composers/robert-paterson/
Purchase Sheet Music: http://billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?keyword=spring%20songs%20-&main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1
Also available as a version for tenor and piano: https://robertpaterson.com/spring-songs


PROGRAM NOTE
Spring Songs for tenor and chamber ensemble or piano is my third song cycle celebrating the seasons. As with the first two, Winter Songs for bass-baritone and Summer Songs for soprano, this cycle contains settings of poems by various American poets.

Whereas both Winter Songs and Summer Songs end with scenes in New York City, Spring Songs begins with New York: a setting of English Sparrows (Washington Square) by Edna St. Vincent Millay, a poem about a scene that takes place in the morning in Greenwich Village, a neighborhood in New York City where Millay lived in the early 1900s. The second movement is a setting of April 5, 1974 by Richard Wilbur, a poem Wilbur wrote in honor of Robert Frost’s one-hundredth birthday, and I interpret as being about overcoming self-doubt through wisdom, and about understanding the change of seasons, but also a change of mind. The third movement, Done With by Ann Stanford, I interpret to be about death and rebirth. Stanford symbolizes this by a house being torn down and the ground paved over, the now suffocated plant life yearning to break through. The Widow’s Lament in Springtime, the fourth movement, is a setting of a poem by William Carlos Williams. I interpret this poem as a modernist, pastoral elegy that uses images of nature to lament the death of a loved one. The final movement, a setting of the poem Spring Rain by Sara Teasdale, is about a happy memory of a lover brought about by an evening thunderstorm.

Spring Songs was commissioned by Rick Teller for the American Modern Ensemble.

AME ARTISTS
Robert Paterson, Conductor
Alok Kumar, tenor
Grace Law, flute
Nuno Antunes, clarinet
Samuel Z. Solomon, percussion
Geoffrey Burleson, piano
Victoria Paterson, violin
Peter Sachon, cello

Spring Songs - II. April 5, 1974 (Text by Richard Wilbur)

​Duo for Flute and Marimba - Music by Robert Paterson
Duration 15'
Performers: Sato Moughalian, flute; Robert Paterson, marimba

Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=1209

For more information: https://robertpaterson.com/duo-for-flute-and-marimba-six-mallet-version

NOTE: this work is also available as a version for four-mallet marimba:
https://robertpaterson.com/duo-for-flute-and-marimba-four-mallet-version

PROGRAM NOTES
There were two particular goals I had while writing Duo for Flute and Marimba. I wanted to write a piece that was substantially longer than a usual five-minute, one-movement chamber piece, and I also wanted to write a work with a marimba part that uses six mallets for someone other than me. Ingrid, being one of my most courageous friends, offered to learn this difficult technique if I would write a piece for Kesatuan.

This duo is constructed in three contrasting movements. Although the two outer movements have more in common with each other than with the jazzy second movement, shared motives, melodic fragments, textures and rhythmic ideas permeate all three. The flutist has an opportunity to use an alto flute in the last movement, and the marimbist uses six mallets in the first movement and five mallets in the third. My general goal with this duo is to squeeze as much color, contrapuntal interplay and excitement out of this combination of instruments as possible.

The first movement, Allegro Misterioso, is meant to have a somewhat soothing quality, defined by lightly ornamented flute lines and ostinati in the marimba part. The structure of this movement is essentially a simple A, B, A’ form.

The jazz-influenced second movement, Playfully Seductive, is written for a friend I met during the summer of 1998 named Elyse, with whom my wife Victoria and I became good friends. Elyse not only has a beautiful singing voice but also happens to be a flutist. During one discussion, she told me that her father played the role of Tony in the first Broadway production of Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story. A few times, we had fun playing and singing through her West Side Story songbook. During this movement, I refer to West Side Story and also to Elyse, her bass-playing ex-boyfriend (now her husband), Victoria and even myself through thematic leitmotifs. The form of this movement is similar to the first, in that the introductory material is re-introduced near the end of the movement.

The third movement, Vivace, is similar to the first movement in that it also contains ornamented flute lines and marimba ostinati. Themes are borrowed and developed from the first two movements, and both the first and third movements contain flute cadenzas. The end of this movement provides an exciting conclusion to the entire three-movement work.

Six Mallet Marimba

Duo for Flute and Marimba - I. Allegro misterioso

Eternal Reflections for mixed a cappella choir
Duration ca. 14'
Mvt. III. Do not stand at my grave and weep, text by Mary E. Frye. Text in the public domain.
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=901
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/eternal-reflections

PROGRAM NOTE (LONG VERSION)
Eternal Reflections consists of settings of the poems A Song on the End of the World by Czeslaw Milosz, Life’s Tragedy by Paul Laurence Dunbar and Do not stand at my grave and weep by Mary E. Frye.

Milosz is a Nobel Prize-winning, Lithuanian and Polish-American poet, prose writer and translator, and is widely considered one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. After spending most of World War II in Nazi-occupied Warsaw working for underground presses, he emigrated to America and taught at the University of California at Berkeley for more than twenty years. I chose this poem partly because I knew this work would be premiered in Berkeley, where he lived for many years.

Paul Laurence Dunbar is America’s first prominent African-American poet and was a child of ex-slaves. Although he died at the relatively young age of 33, he produced a large body of work, including this poem and the lyrics for In Dahomey (1903), the first musical written and performed entirely by African-Americans to appear on Broadway. He was friends with many prominent figures of his day, including Wilbur and Orville Wright, Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington, and toward the end of his life he was honored with a ceremonial sword by President Theodore Roosevelt.

Mary E. Frye was a housewife and florist who became well-known because of her poem. According to an article in the London Times, “Frye had never written any poetry before 1932, when she and her husband had a young German Jewish girl, Margaret Schwarzkopf, staying with them. According to Frye, their guest had been concerned about her mother, who was ill in Germany, but she had been warned not to return home because of increasing anti-Semitic unrest. When her mother died, the heartbroken young woman told Frye that she never had the chance to ‘stand by my mother’s grave and shed a tear”.” Although many versions of this un-copyrighted poem exist, the version used in this setting is the one Frye claimed as definitive before she died.

Although the three poems are related thematically, there are a few other details that link them together. They are all by poets who lived in America, and both Dunbar and Frye were born in Dayton, Ohio. The poems by both Milosz and Frye are profoundly influenced by the tragedies of World War II, and both Milosz and Frye passed away in 2004. Finally, all three poems use musical and aural metaphors, which are particularly useful when setting poems for a choir. These movements may be performed individually or together as a three-movement work.

Eternal Reflections

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Eternal Reflections - III. Do not stand at my grave and weep

Komodo for Solo Marimba (Six-Mallets). Duration: ca. 7'.
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=900

For more information: https://robertpaterson.com/komodo

PROGRAM NOTES
Komodo is not only inspired by Komodo Dragons, the famous monster lizards that live on the island of Komodo, but also by the surrounding ocean which contains one of the world’s richest marine environments. Komodo begins and ends with sections that evoke the magnitude and ferocity of the Komodo Dragon while the middle section is calm and a little wavy, reminiscent of the placid ocean and colorful marine life found in these waters.

Sometimes I am inspired to write a new work by something as simple as a title, a phrase or even a single word. In this case, the word ‘Komodo’ made me think of the Italian word ‘modo’ which means mode. In its most common sense, a mode is a type of scale. Sections of this piece are made up of Westernized Balinese scale patterns and arpeggios that are transposed up or down in a somewhat "modal" fashion.

Aside from any sort of programmatic or technical inspiration, I wrote this flashy, six-mallet piece to show off the bottom end of my five-octave marimba and to have something fun to play.

Komodo (Solo Six-Mallet Marimba)

Winter Songs (for Bass-Baritone and Chamber Ensemble)
Duration: ca. 20'

MOVEMENTS:
I. Icicles filled the long window (Wallace Stevens)
II. Dark Day, Warm and Windy (A. R. Ammons)
III. The Snow Man (Wallace Stevens)
IV. Boy at The Window (Richard Wilbur)
V. Old Story (Robert Creeley)
VI. Neither Snow (Billy Collins)

Performers: American Modern Ensemble; David Neal, Bass-Baritone
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/winter-songs
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=1357
Online Perusal Score: https://issuu.com/robertpaterson/docs/winter_songs_perusal_score


PROGRAM NOTES
The idea for Winter Songs occurred to me after I wrote a short song based on the sixth poem from Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird by Wallace Stevens for a group composition project at Cornell University. The original idea was to have each student in the department set a different poem in this work, culminating in an evening long song cycle. There are many compelling settings ofThirteen Ways, so instead of trying to contribute yet another, I decided to compose a song cycle using winter-themed poems by a variety of poets. David Neal, the bass-baritone who sang my initial song, Icicles Filled the Long Window, liked the idea so much that he asked me for a complete cycle. I spent months collecting and reading as many poems about winter as I could find. Winter-themed poems seem to fall into two categories: those that are playful and fun, and those that are quite serious. I chose to set six serious poems, including another one by Wallace Stevens, and one each by Robert Creeley, Richard Wilbur, A.R. Ammons and Billy Collins.

Winter Songs was commissioned by David Neal and The Arts at Grace through the New York State Music Fund and was premiered by David Neal and the Society for New Music in April 2008.

ARTISTS:
Robert Paterson, Conductor
'David Neal, bass-baritone
Sato Moughalian, flute
Benjamin Fingland, clarinet
Matthew Ward, percussion
Blair McMillen, piano
Robin Zeh, violin
Robert Burkhart, cello

Winter Songs - IV. Boy at The Window (Text by Richard Wilbur)

American composer Robert Paterson is a true New Yorker—born and bred in Buffalo, he lived in Rochester and Ithaca for over ten years, in New York City for over twenty years, and now lives in Saratoga Springs, near the Adirondacks. Paterson’s colorful music embraces a wide variety of themes, everything from goddesses and online dating to mathematics and the environment. His music is filled with emotion and fierce rhythmic energy, marked by elegance, wit, and meticulous craftsmanship. Named Composer of The Year by the Classical Recording Foundation at Carnegie Hall, Paterson is the winner of the Alfred I. DuPont Award, and his opera Three Way won the Grammy® under Best Classical Producer of the Year. His music is often a Best of the Year pick on National Public Radio. His orchestral tone poem, Dark Mountains, regularly airs on NPR’s Performance Today. Three Way premiered with Nashville Opera, then BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), and across the United States. Minnesota Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, The Oratorio Society of New York, Buffalo Philharmonic, Albany Pro Musica, Albany Symphony, Musica Sacra, Austin Symphony, Vermont Symphony, and ensembles worldwide perform his works. Paterson gives masterclasses at the Curtis Institute of Music, New York University, the Aspen Music Festival, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and more. He is the Artistic Director and house composer for Mostly Modern Projects. Robert is a lifelong vegan and advocates for animals and the environment, celebrating the natural world with ground-breaking works such as his Triple Concerto, A New Eaarth, Listen, and I Go Among Trees.

Robert Paterson Composer

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