Great work! truly beautiful composition 👍😄

Hi Robert, usually not so much a fan of brass, but this one is full of surprises and for my ears very experimental

Loved the way you developed the different lines

Beautiful as usual, what an awesome combination of brass sounds you got here. Great work!!

A frantic darting through a cityscape is the image this conjures up. Lovely sound.

Great and great fun.The music really evokes a scene of frenetic urban life. On hearing he rapid flurries of notes on the horns at the start [and towards the ending] the start of the sixties TV series, Batman, came into my mind!

Surreal but nice

Play on Spotify

The Quiet Fool

Trials Of Jötunheim

Inside Out

some colours can never be seen
some shades of blue and green
can't unsee what i've seen
can't undo what has been

but it's a long time living and working
loving in monochrome
part of me says look closer now
at the periphery
any old town is good enough
for me to call home
doesn't matter where you lay your head
if in dreams you roam

some words should never be said
some shades of yellow and red
can't get back what has fled
can't flee from what you dread

there are ways, means, things you can do
if you ever wanna get anywhere
better be sure it's where you want
cos you could be forever stranded there
some of these men will lie 
some of these women ain't what they claim to be
try to keep yourself free
try to keep yourself free

in dreams we roam
in dreams we roam

but it's a long time living and working
loving in monochrome
part of me says look closer now
at the periphery
any old town is good enough
for me to call home
try to keep yourself free
try to keep yourself free
try to keep yourself free
try to keep yourself free

Monochrome

Another little excerpt of a project I'm currently working on. I really like how this one is flowing...

In The Shadow Of The Shade - Excerpt

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 - IV. Still Vamping

My take on the seasons: winter, spring, summer and autumn in that order. The 'Summer' segment features a quotation from "Jupiter" by Gustav Holst.

Background image by alandsmann on Pixabay: https://bit.ly/3SiQg39

Year in a Day

The Angel Awakens

Written: 2020
Duration: 4'
Instrumentation: brass quintet (2 B-flat trumpets [Harmon and straight mutes required], horn [mute required], trombone, tuba or bass trombone)
Commissioned by the Atlantic Brass Quintet
World Premiere (Live): Atlantic Brass Quintet, Mostly Modern Festival, Filene Ladd Concert Hall, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, USA
For More Info: https://robertpaterson.com/dash
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BXoJYkY_A4
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: https://www.billholabmusic.com/composers/robert-paterson/robert-paterson-works/
Online Perusal Score: https://issuu.com/robertpaterson/docs/paterson_dash__score-perusal_

PROGRAM NOTE
"Dash" is inspired by common meanings of the word ‘dash’: to travel or run somewhere in a great hurry, or to hurl an object with great force, often with destructive effect. I was also inspired by other meanings, such as adding a dash of something to something else, for example, adding a dash of salt or pepper. A dash is also a type of punctuation mark. There are em dashes—like these—as well as en dashes, used to indicate spans of time or ranges of numbers, like 20–21, or hyphens, which denote compound adjectives, like well-known brass quintet. An underscore, which emphasize words, phrases, or sentences, can also look like a dash. In music notation, a dash is called a tenuto, and is used to indicate emphasis when placed under or over notes. Of course, in this piece, I had to include plenty of tenutos. "Dash" was was commissioned by the Atlantic Brass Quintet.

Dash (for Brass Quintet)

There's a spark in the dark
A rhythm released from its toil at last tonight
The light is so stark
Is it the torch or a heavenly gleam that's so bright?

Well maybe it’s right
The blood in my mouth and over my hands is only mine
And maybe the light 
Is just the stars and the moon that won't align

St. Peter, he hid the keys tonight
And I know, I know

The city lights won't gleam for me
Not a star in the sky will shine for me
And I won't see you
I can see you up high, though I clipped your wings
You can't drag me up with pulleys or strings
But you won't, if you could

I think of you
By the lake that night, your shadow's cast was so bright
And I curse myself
And the folly of man when I took your hand too tight

And the serpent has a bed for me
And I know, I know

That I'm the villain in my own story
A beast in chains who doesn't find glory
And it's what I deserve
I see the mare tonight with the blood in its fur
Black eyes bulged out and then it turns to her
And I can't look away

The hour is soon to come
I see the veil stretched thin
I think of your rosy lips
And your alabaster skin

The waves break sudden and I'm under them
They drag me down and pull at my skin
And then I see them
All of the souls that I've thrown to waste
The bitter sting of their lives debased
I can't close my eyes
I see you again among the fading lights
In the faces of them on those cold dark nights
And I cannot breath
Maybe I'll see you again in my next life
Or maybe it's you holding up the knife
And then all is dark

Maybe there's no god's design
Maybe there's no god's design
Maybe there's no god's design
Maybe there's no god's design

The Light

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.

Dash (for Brass Quintet)

Robert Paterson Composer

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