Nitrogen Boost

Cyber Love

Ascension

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This mixtape includes tracks from the likes of:
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Barry Can't Swim (https://soundcloud.com/barrycantswim)
Nox Vahn (https://soundcloud.com/noxvahn)
Marsh (https://soundcloud.com/marshmusician)
Simon Doty (https://soundcloud.com/simondoty)
Jody Barr (https://soundcloud.com/jodybarrmusic)
Jono Stephenson (https://soundcloud.com/jonostephensonmusic)
Mitch De Klein (https://soundcloud.com/mitchdeklein)
Parallel Voices (https://soundcloud.com/parallel-voices)
Maz (BR) (https://soundcloud.com/maz_project)
Antdot (https://soundcloud.com/antdotmusic)

Photo credit: mdzi (https://www.pexels.com/@mdzi-823741307/)

Mixtape #74

Look, Mom, I was just cited, can you believe?
In a journal several people will read,
But they picked up my paper, gave it a glance,
And now my name's in lights, by chance.

It's a tiny win in the grand design,
But in this world, it feels divine,
Who knew a footnote could feel so grand?
I'm walking on air, Mom, just like I planned!

Look, Mom, I made it, I'm on the map,
In the smallest font, but I'll take that clap,
Gonna print out this footnote, frame it high,
It's my biggest achievement, who knew I'd fly?

Look Dad, they tweeted my work, with 2 likes and share,
Sure, one was my friend, but I don't care,
My words are out there, floating in the feed,
In the wild world of hashtags, I've planted a seed.

It's my micro-viral moment, my 15 minutes of fame,
In a thread of knowledge, I've staked my name,
Who needs a headline when you've got a tweet?
It's a digital dance, and I've found my beat!

Look, Dad, I made it, I'm on the map,
In the smallest font, but I'll take that clap,
Gonna print out this footnote, frame it high,
It's my biggest achievement, who knew I'd fly?

Look at me, I made a breakthrough late last night,
But no one noticed, no headlines in sight,
Alone, proud and stunned, with the silence around,
I felt like a queen, with my crown unbound.

It's a quiet victory, just mine to keep,
In the still of the night, it runs so deep,
No fanfare needed, no crowds to cheer,
In the echo of my work, I hold it dear.

Step by step, these tiny wins align,
Each one a jewel in the crown I design,
Brick by brick, I'm building my throne,
From small victories, an empire grown.

I Made It

Composed between 2019 and 2021 for violist Charlotte Goode, Nevermore is a gothic suite based on three classic works by Edgar Allen Poe:
II. “Annabel Lee”:
“…this maiden she lived with no other thought than to love and be loved by me.”

The movement begins with the pure innocence of childhood love, only to be confounded in the frustration of losing the beloved Annabel Lee, presumably to the jealousy of the angels above who saw the lovers’ happiness and killed the beautiful girl in retribution.

Nonetheless, “neither the angels in Heaven above nor the demons down under the sea can ever dissever my soul from the soul of the beautiful Annabel Lee.”
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A “Gothic Suite” based on poems by Edgar Allen Poe, Nevermore was composed for violist Charlotte Goode between 2019 and 2021. The first movement is “Raven”: A man pines for his lost lover, Lenore; a raven arrives and says the one word, “Nevermore,” mocking the narrator’s sorrow. The viola line is both long-breathed and longing; some gestures from Liszt’s dark side permeate the piano. The dedicatee is also the performer here, and Goode and Hagino work perfectly together. There is a real sense of illness to “Annabel Lee”; perhaps the reverb in the recording could have been a little less here, though. The purity of the bond between Annabel Lee and her lover is the subject of the angels’ jealousy (an interesting concept in and of itself), and the angels kill Annabel Lee, but the connection between the lovers remains. Good’s tuning is perfect, her phrasing eloquent and heartfelt. The final movement is “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and six significant moments from Poe’s tale are depicted in wordless music. (Colin Clarke, Fanfare Magazine)

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Nevermore: II. Annabel Lee

Composed between 2019 and 2021 for violist Charlotte Goode, Nevermore is a gothic suite based on three classic works by Edgar Allen Poe:
I. “The Raven”:
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary… Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow, from my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore— For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore— Nameless here for evermore… Is there—is there balm in Gilead?—tell me—tell me, I implore! Quoth the Raven ‘Nevermore.’”
The Raven arrives and seems to mock our narrator’s sorrow—that of seeking after his long lost Lenore—and it drives him further mad with every answer from the Raven being “Nevermore.”
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A “Gothic Suite” based on poems by Edgar Allen Poe, Nevermore was composed for violist Charlotte Goode between 2019 and 2021. The first movement is “Raven”: A man pines for his lost lover, Lenore; a raven arrives and says the one word, “Nevermore,” mocking the narrator’s sorrow. The viola line is both long-breathed and longing; some gestures from Liszt’s dark side permeate the piano. The dedicatee is also the performer here, and Goode and Hagino work perfectly together. There is a real sense of illness to “Annabel Lee”; perhaps the reverb in the recording could have been a little less here, though. The purity of the bond between Annabel Lee and her lover is the subject of the angels’ jealousy (an interesting concept in and of itself), and the angels kill Annabel Lee, but the connection between the lovers remains. Good’s tuning is perfect, her phrasing eloquent and heartfelt. The final movement is “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and six significant moments from Poe’s tale are depicted in wordless music. (Colin Clarke, Fanfare Magazine)

Nevermore: I. The Raven

Composed between 2019 and 2021 for violist Charlotte Goode, Nevermore is a gothic suite based on three classic works by Edgar Allen Poe:
III. “The Tell-Tale Heart”:
Each section of Movement Three depicts a graphic moment from this harrowing tale:
Intro and A: “I loved the old man. He had never wronged me… I think it was his eye! Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold…”

B: “I undid the lantern cautiously…And this I did for seven long nights…but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye.”

C: “Upon the eighth night…a simple dim ray, like the thread of the spider…fell full upon the vulture eye. …for some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst.”

D: “I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done… He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more. I dismembered the corpse. I then took up three planks from the flooring of the chamber, and deposited all between the scantlings.”

E: “There entered three men, who introduced themselves…as officers of the police…It was a low, dull, quick sound… Why would they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides…”

F: “I foamed –I raved –I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. And still, the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled.”

G: “They were making a mockery of my horror!- this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer!… I admit the deed! –tear up the planks! here, here! –It is the beating of his hideous heart!”
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A “Gothic Suite” based on poems by Edgar Allen Poe, Nevermore was composed for violist Charlotte Goode between 2019 and 2021. The first movement is “Raven”: A man pines for his lost lover, Lenore; a raven arrives and says the one word, “Nevermore,” mocking the narrator’s sorrow. The viola line is both long-breathed and longing; some gestures from Liszt’s dark side permeate the piano. The dedicatee is also the performer here, and Goode and Hagino work perfectly together. There is a real sense of illness to “Annabel Lee”; perhaps the reverb in the recording could have been a little less here, though. The purity of the bond between Annabel Lee and her lover is the subject of the angels’ jealousy (an interesting concept in and of itself), and the angels kill Annabel Lee, but the connection between the lovers remains. Good’s tuning is perfect, her phrasing eloquent and heartfelt. The final movement is “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and six significant moments from Poe’s tale are depicted in wordless music. (Colin Clarke, Fanfare Magazine)

Nevermore: III. The Tell-Tale Heart

The aesthetic and metaphysical ideals that Japanese wabi-sabi encapsulates include simplicity, naturalness, and an acceptance of reality. This string quartet seeks to illustrate the overall nature of wabi-sabi.
At both the beginning of Movement 1, “Emergence,” and the ending of Movement 3, “Entropy,” notes are thought of as specks of Potentiality that are randomly evolving from or devolving to Nothingness. Movement 2, “Evolution,” at the center point of this universal journey, expresses a concerted effort of diverse elements to create structure and meaning.

The three movements carry the listener through the wabi-sabi experience in the following ways, as expressed by Leonard Koren in “Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets, & Philosophers.”
I. “Emergence”: “Wabi-sabi acknowledges that just as it is important to know when to make choices, it is also important to know when not to make choices: to let things be.”
II. “Evolution”: “…nothingness itself—instead of being empty space, as in the West—is alive with possibility. In metaphysical terms, wabi-sabi suggests that the universe is in constant motion toward or away from potential.”
III. “Entropy”: “…you must pay maximum attention to everything happening at this very moment: be here now.”

Ideally, every single performance should be different from the last and contain various elements of surprise to even the performers. The composer hopes that musicians will enjoy the challenge, the individual freedom, and unexpected moments ready to be discovered again and again in Wabi Sabi.

Wabi-Sabi: III. Entropy

“We See Through A Glass Darkly…” The Dark Glass Sinfonia for symphony orchestra was written in 2017. Built upon an integrated set of hexachordal formulae, it blends the concepts of free atonality with modal harmony. In doing so, it is meant to represent the enigmatic and ongoing, emotional flux of the Soul.

The Dark Glass Sinfonia (We See Through a Glass Darkly)

Sarah Wallin Huff has enjoyed her work as a composer for concert halls and soundtracks since 1993. Her original compositions have been performed throughout the States and abroad, including the Exeter Phoenix Auditorium in Devon, England; the Mosman Art Gallery in Sydney, Australia; the Zipper Hall in Los Angeles; and the National Opera Center in New York City. As a violinist, violist, and 6-string electric violinist, she has extensive experience playing with diverse ensembles, as well as performing on various recording projects, large and small.
- Multiple GMA medal award winner
- Second-place winner of the Charles Ives Award (The American Prize)
- "Her music positively buzzes with energy…There is no doubting that Sarah Wallin Huff has a distinctive voice that is well worth hearing..." (Fanfare Magazine)
- "Her music is quite complex and unusual and yet…very easy to absorb and appreciate. There’s a lot to take in here…" (Baby Sue)
- "Sarah’s music has a classy, understated sound, yet it is baroque and ornate" (Artist Rack)

Nevermore: I. The Raven

Sarah Wallin Huff

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