I am not sure how I would cope with a challenge the proscribed how I could write a piece. You do a great job on this! Would have been interesting to have a comparator piece of the same thing sans "restrictions"

Beautiful piano work and always Amazing voices in your music. Great piece Robert as usual!!

Very cool. I'm totally hooked to that piano part!

Sweet ecstaticity! It's an exquisite duo. The creators of CAPTCHA couldn't possibly have planned for this!

The last word that is sung really makes this movement.

(C) 1999 This is a redo of a Track I wrote around 1985. All instruments are real except I programed the drums.
Guitar, Bass And Vocals by Robert Grigg.
A song about heartache and loss. We've all been through it!

Feelin' Bad

With A Little Bit Of Luck

Suite of choral movements from A New Eaarth for orchestra, chorus and narrator. This version for chorus and piano.

Publisher: Bill Holab Music:
http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=1837

View Score:
https://issuu.com/robertpaterson/docs/paterson_choral_suite_from_a_new_ea

For more information:
https://robertpaterson.com/choral-suite-from-a-new-eaarthh
http://robertpaterson.com/a-new-eaarth

PROGRAM NOTE
Although I have lived in cities most of my life, I do not think of myself as a city person and have always felt more connected to the outdoors rather than to asphalt and tall buildings. Many of my works are inspired by nature, and I am deeply concerned about environmental issues, particularly climate change.

Of the many excellent books on the environment, one of the best and the one that moves me most is Eaarth by Bill McKibben, a famed author, educator and environmentalist. McKibben’s assertion is that we have waited too long, and that massive climate change is not only unavoidable, but already underway. He states that we may as well call this new planet Eaarth, because it is still recognizable, but fundamentally different. I feel strongly that he is correct, and wanted to express this in a musical way. A work for orchestra, chorus and narrator seemed like the ideal vehicle for reflecting on this critical issue.

Choral Suite from A New Eaarth consists of the four choral movements from A New Eaarth for orchestra, but with piano rather than orchestra. I designed these movements so they could be performed as a stand-alone suite, and in fact, for the purpose of rehearsals, I composed the choir and piano versions first, and then orchestrated them so they could be integrated into the whole orchestral work.

The suite includes texts by Wendell Berry, James Joyce, Percy Bysshe Shelley and William Wordsworth. The poems, at least as part of the entire orchestral version, allude to the four ancient classical elements—earth, air, fire and water—a theme that permeates many of my other works.

A New Eaarth was commissioned by the Vermont Youth Orchestra Association through a Music Alive! residency grant from New Music USA and the League of American Orchestras.

Eternal Reflections

Choral Suite from A New Eaarth - IV. There Was A Time (William Wordsworth)

A piano arrangement of 'Song of the Ancients' from the Nier OST (2010). Featuring the voice of Emi Evans. Originally composed by Keiichi Okabe.

Part of the debut EP Tabula Rasa:
https://swiftredvox.bandcamp.com/album/tabula-rasa

Lyrics:
Kuwata tsunowo vralai
Tzuriji pforaalekai
Kwondzuvai undovartu wronduwail
Tjortetei jeghi hiartro

Jinnata ivelichpfulei
Deftyoma sorepiyamei
Schidiyako alefni fatalliliya
Nic'hpisha unhoreselye

Utrashain aforenje kurasol
Towari hatasei mic'hatasei tsufrallai
Utrashain aforenje kurasol
Towari hatasei mic'hatasei tsufrallai ilja
Ullilya kojijichatjukaijai-wa nyame tetsumekri setsumekri linganmai
Ulreri manja huteharraku-mu hanich lahadachfei lahadachfei shindulhwo

The Timeworn Reverie - Nier Cover (Song of the Ancients)

Clarified

Maybe you should focus on what is good already,
instead of keeping to run so unsteady.
Feel the warm embrace,
smile is on your face.
Listen to the sound,
joyful solid ground.

Less is more and a bit of everything
could make your life be just fulfilled.
Open your heart and just let it shine,
maybe you already clarified.

Less is more, bit of everything
could make your life be fulfilled.
               
There is no aim to achieve,
nothing to let go or to leave.
Accept the difference,
no stuck in weird circles.
No decision to make,
let´s just have a little break.            

Less is more and a bit of everything
could make your life be just fulfilled.
Find a little space for every bit in your heart, 
let it shine, you already clarified.

New Country

Clarified

Home Is Where The Sun Belongs

Duration: ca. 16'
Instrumentation: mezzo-soprano and piano
Performed by American Modern Ensemble: Blythe Gaissert, mezzo-soprano; Blair McMillen, piano

World Premiere: American Modern Ensemble, Blythe Gaissert, mezzo-soprano, Blair McMillen, piano, Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, New York, NY, USA, April 26, 2018.

Publisher: Bill Holab Music

View Score: https://issuu.com/robertpaterson/docs/paterson_captcha__score-mezzo-sopra

Buy Sheet Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=2782

For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/captcha-mezzo-soprano-version

Also available as a version for baritone and piano.

PROGRAM NOTES
CAPTCHA originated with an assignment I was given as a participant in the American Opera Projects (AOP) Composers & The Voice program. Throughout the year, we wrote a variety of arias and songs and were given various "challenges." Some of the challenges included using no more than four lines of text, using found text, using prose, and also trying to avoid the passagio (a term used in classical singing to describe where different voice ranges cross over, for example, where the chest voice and head voice cross). I neglected to incorporate any of the challenges into previous pieces, and I only had one song or aria left, so I had to incorporate all of the remaining challenges into a single piece.

For found text, I decided to use CAPTCHA texts. The term CAPTCHA (for Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart) was coined in 2000 by scientists at Carnegie Mellon University. A CAPTCHA is a program that protects websites against bots by generating and grading tests that only humans can pass. For example, humans can read distorted text presented as a graphic, but current computer programs cannot. To find interesting words and phrases, I spent many tedious hours in front of my computer loading CAPTCHA texts. Actually, what I ended using are reCAPTCHA texts, which are derived from a free version of CAPTCHA that uses combinations of real words from scanned books that need human confirmation and gibberish text.

I initially wrote one song entitled CAPTCHA for baritone and piano, but later decided to compose an entire song cycle that incorporates the original song. Each songs uses a few key words (the few that are actually real words and phrases) as a springboard. I attempt to phonetically interpret the other words and phrases that don’t make sense, infusing emotion where none exists. Ultimately, my goal is to create an emotionally moving experience, despite the nonsensical nature of the words.

CAPTCHA (Version For Mezzo-Soprano And Piano) - V. Secretary Metadon

Infinite Midlife Crisis

Last Exit

The tale of a slow bus journey to work one morning when I wasn't feeling very good about my job at the time in particular and life in general. With hindsight, I was having a bit of a panic attack. These women on the bus just didn't stop talking shite all the way and I just couldn't 'tune out' in the panic. Everything was winding me up. Every spot of rain, every sneeze, every cough. I like the tune and sound of the guitar more than the lyrics.

Michael Murray's Album

726 (The Falling)

A song for my daughter and my son

Remixed June 23

SINK OR SWIM

take all the time
you need
to get by

you know that sometimes
just breathe
it’s alright…

take all those books
and throw them away
you know every rule
was meant to be overruled someday….

till you see that way you won’t feel that way
till you feel that way you won’t be that way

you know there are some fools
stealing cues
what to do, what to choose

when it comes down to you
make your to do
got nothing to lose...

take all all those lists
and hurl them away
crossing some lines
was meant to be overlooked someday…
until you see that way you won’t feel that way
until you feel that way you won’t be that way…  
until you jump right in
you won’t sink or swim

oh yeah…
til you jump right in
oh yeah…
gotta jump right in…

take all those charts
and chuck them away…
cos being the odd one out
was always gonna pay some day…

until you see that way you won’t feel that way
until you feel that way you won’t be that way…  
until you jump right in
you won’t sink or swim

take all the space 
that you need
to fly….

don’t worry about me
I’ll be here
watching the sky…

take all those books
and hurl them away
you know every rule
was meant to be overturned someday….

until you see that way you won’t feel that way
until you feel that way you won’t be that way…  

until you jump right in
you won’t sink or swim

Sink Or Swim

Marionettenspieler

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.

CAPTCHA (Version For Mezzo-Soprano And Piano) - V. Secretary Metadon

Robert Paterson Composer

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