"Three Moon Songs" is a song cycle for Pierrot ensemble which sets a selection of translated poems from Albert Giraud's poetic cycle, "Pierrot lunaire: rondels bergamasques". The music attempts to evoke imagery commonly associated with the night and our moon: i.e., mystery, tranquility, and dreams.

I. The Moon Is a Laundress
II. The Moon's Violin
III. Brushing Off a Moonbeam

Premiered by the Lunar Ensemble: Danielle Buonaiuto (soprano), Gemma New (conductor)

Poems by Albert Giraud (1860 - 1929)

Painting: "Reflections on the Thames" 
Artist: John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836 - 1893)

Three Moon Songs

"Daydreams of a Blue Smile" is a light sonatina for solo piano. The composition aims to depict aspects of the bittersweet in life, especially with regards to loss and nostalgia.

Premiered by Katalin Lukács

Painting: "Portrait of the Artist's Wife" 
Artist: Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859 - 1937)

Daydreams of a Blue Smile

"La grue blessée" was originally conceived as a string quartet but found new life in a string orchestra arrangement created by conductor and composer, Maxim Samarov. The composition highlights the tragedy of juxtaposing a graceful elegance with the erosive degradation of time, injury, and illness. One may encounter such a tragedy within wounded cranes, herons, and other large wading birds whose movements are inseparably connected with gracefulness. 

A close family member of mine—someone who embodies such gracefulness—has battled against the ravaging effects of Multiple Sclerosis for many years. "La grue blessée" attempts to represent the beauty within the broken and the hope for joy and purpose amid life's many hardships.

Premiered by the New Orleans Chamber Orchestra, Maxim Samarov (conductor)

Water Color: "Cranes by the Water" 
Artist: Kubo Shunman (c.1757 – 1820)

La grue blessée

"In Dreams, I'm with My Missing Heart" is an art song for baritone and piano. The poem attempts to represent the agony of separation form one's love, the dashed hope of reunification, and the escape from reality into dreams...

Premiered by Jeremy Hue Williams (baritone) and Paula Fan (piano)

Poem by Ryan Harrison

Illustration: "The Forest" by Virginia Frances Sterrett (1900 - 1931)

In Dreams, I'm with My Missing Heart

"Rubies in the Tiger’s Eye" is a composition for Pierrot Ensemble plus viola. I discovered inspiration for the piece via several birding excursions through the Sarah P. Duke Gardens during the summer of 2018; most inspiringly, a period of four days in which I stumbled across a colorful bed of tiger lilies attracting an energetic charm of ruby-throated hummingbirds. 

"Rubies in the Tiger's Eye" attempts to represent the sights, sounds, and energy of these naturalistic encounters: e.g., the tranquility of dawn and dusk, the sparkling vivacity of hummingbirds, the cacophonous bird choruses, and the awe-inspiring sense of being immersed within nature and all of its grandeur. 

Premiered by members and friends of the Duke University Music Department. Verena Mösenbichler-Bryant (conductor)

Painting: "Irises in Monet's Garden"
Artist: Claude Monet (1840 - 1926)

Rubies in the Tiger's Eye

"Five Exercises for Viola" are a collection of short compositions which explore motivic development and variation, harmonic relationships, and form.

Violist: John Pickford Richards

Painting: "Swinging"
Artist: Wassily Kandinsky (1866 - 1944)

Five Exercises for Viola

"Demeure" attempts to musically represent a state of mind that is engrossed in profound contemplation and the inner life. The composition highlights the natural tension between the internal and external, especially during moments when one is called from their internal dwelling abode into the outer worlds in which they reside. 

Instrumentalists: Imani Winds

Painting: "The Sea of Ice"
Artist: Caspar David Friedrich (1774 - 1840)

Untitled Woodwind Quintet

Demeure

"For Vera" was inspired by 1950’s clinical footage depicting
manifestations of various mental disorders (Schizophrenia: simple-type deteriorated, National Film Board of Canada, 1951). The footage featured an interview of a gentle soul (Vera) suffering the debilitating effects of schizophrenia. "For Vera" hopes to honor her life and to represent a sort of beauty in the world that often goes overlooked and misunderstood.

Premiered by Horszowski Trio

Performance: https://youtu.be/63h-tjjVwXI?si=r_bDa-YozztLA6fv

Review: https://cvnc.org/horszowski-trio-featured-two-premieres-by-duke-colleagues/

Photograph by Ryan Harrison

For Vera

"Disconnected" was commissioned by Duke University's resident string quartet, Ciompi Quartet, in the summer of 2020. During this period, humanity was grappling with the dangers presented
by COVID19, a threat which prompted nations across the world to implement mass quarantines to combat the proliferation of the virus. These drastic measures eliminated the possibility for preforming ensembles to rehearse and perform within a normal in-person setting. Faced with such restrictions, Ciompi Quartet commissioned Duke University graduate composers to explore methods to compose engaging string quartets for remote performance which accounted for the proximity-based limitations resulting from quarantine efforts.

The exact meaning of the piece's title is flexible and may refer to different aspects of disconnection which humanity has faced not only through the isolation of the pandemic but also in other general contexts: i.e., a disconnection from nature, faith and trust, and ourselves.

Premiered by Ciompi Quartet

Performance: https://youtu.be/-xVfSjdZFCY?si=THKFoML-Okc_DgyN&t=405

Presser: https://ciompi.org/ciompi-at-duke/the-portfolio-project-2020/

Review: https://cvnc.org/portfolio-project-features-commissioned-works-by-duke-grad-students-with-ciompi-quartet/

Painting: "Birds on the Branches of a Tree"
Artist: Jan Van Kessel The Elder (1626 - 1679)

Disconnected

First published in 1845, "Les Cenelles" stands as the first anthology of poetry published by African Americans. The poets of Les Cenelles called New Orleans their birthplace and chose to symbolize the fruits of their labor—and the Créole cultural milieux which shaped them—with les cenelles, a type of mayhaw fruit native to southeastern regions of the United States. Young men would traverse the swampy, gator-infested waters of Louisiana to collect the fruit to present to their mothers, darlings, and other special women in their lives who would further boil and strain the mayhaws into scrumptious jellies. The poet’s offering of literary “fruits” to their sweethearts sought to preserve their culture via the exaltation of this courtly tradition. 

Each of the four songs of the "Les Cenelles" song cycle contains elements of blues, jazz, and opera, musical genres which played foundational roles in New Orleans’ artistic heritage. The bluesy/jazzy elements influence the entire gamut of the song cycle, from the embedding of twelve-bar blues progressions within each song, the usage of twangy syncopations and swinging rhythms, and through the emphasis on blue notes and other melodic frameworks characteristic of blues and jazz genres. Operatic influences are expressed through inflections of arias and recitative, two prominent and contrasting singing deliveries within the genre. 

Additionally, the song cycle hopes to proliferate a social message. Many of the poets of "Les Cenelles" played vital roles in contributing to the cultural and intellectual development of New Orleans. Armand Lanusse, the chief contributor and editor of "Les Cenelles", managed schools for black youths, hoping to ensure better futures of African Americans through education. Lanusse and the poets of "Les Cenelles" sought to expand the range of liberty, citizenship, and humanity not just for those within their time and place, but for all human beings across time through advocacy and publication. In a city, country, and world overwhelmed by brokenness and unrest, such a message of love and peace is sorely needed. (I Corinthians 13) 

Premiered by the New Orleans Chamber Orchestra. Maxim Samarov (conductor), Sakinah Davis (soprano), Ivan Griffin (bass-baritone)

Presser: https://music.duke.edu/news/ryan-harrisons-les-cenelles-premiered-new-orleans-chamber-orchestra

Performance: https://youtu.be/ONnW1rQOUsI?si=WE5sG-2RsaXraVYM

Painting: "The Banjo Lesson"
Artist: Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859 - 1937)

Ryan Harrison

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