This piece was commissioned by the Ayla Quartet and performed in March of 2021.

Sertraline Daydream

This percussion quartet combines standard percussion instruments like marimba and vibraphone with the sounds of objects like paper, a take-out container, a wire music stand, and tuned glass bottles. The title came to me from rock-climber Emily Harrington, who repeated "slow is smooth, smooth is fast" like a mantra during her record-setting climb of El Capitan. This phrase struck me as oddly musical and I wanted to capture a sense that within any larger sweep of time, there are an infinity of instants being articulated. In the quartet, sudden tempo changes in are often smoothed over with complex rhythms; polymetric mutterings in different instruments coalesce as their timbres blur together. I hope the quartet captures something of the slipperiness of time.

percussion: Jonathan Collazo, Gabriel Costache, John Ferrari, Daniel Matei
conductor: Scott Allen Miller
recording and sound engineering: Jacob Sachs-Mishalanie
Recorded at LeFrak Concert Hall, Queens College, CUNY. Special thanks to George Katehis and Jeff Nichols.

(NYT article on Emily Harrington: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/09/sports/emily-harrington-free-climb-yosemite.html )

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast (2022) for percussion quartet

13 VICES - Irresponsible Science  (extract) 
Jennifer Walshe (vocals), Red Note Ensemble: Jackie Shave (violin), Max Baillie (viola), Robert Irvine (cello)

"Irresponsible Science" - 13 Vices (extract)

13 VICES
(collaboration with Jennifer Walshe)

Jennifer Walshe (vocals) Red Note Ensemble - Jackie Shave (violin), Max Baillie (viola), Robert Irvine (cello) and improvisers - Paul Dunmall (sax), Paul Rogers (doublebass), Mark Sanders (perc), Brian Irvine (conductor)

"You" - 13 Vices (extract)

Most poems go unread (2016)
performed by the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble conducted by Tim Weiss on June 29th, 2016 at the Aspen Music Festival and School

for septet: flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, viola, cello

Tim Weiss, conductor
Raoul Cho, flute
Juan Gabriel Olivares, clarinet
Tengku Irfan, piano
Hannah Weaver, Percussion
Soohee Min, violin
Andrew Stock, viola
Richard Narroway, cello

Score: https://issuu.com/edmundscottmiller/docs/miller_-most_poems-_11x14_full_scor

Program Note:
Written for the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble in 2016, Most poems is a concise work that employs rich sonorities and complex textures. As a short opening statement is repeated and extended, the listener is able to examine the idea ever more closely, like viewing a sculpture through numerous snapshots. The fractured glimpses grow longer as new musical layers appear, eventually disintegrating and giving way to a lush conclusion. The title of the work refers to the unfathomable amount of beauty that surrounds us every day, which most of us never notice, and none of us can appreciate in its entirety. But if we look and listen in earnest, perhaps we can embody some of that poetry and reflect it back into the world.

Most poems go unread (ACE, live 2016)

A short excerpt comprising the end of the third madrigal ('io'), a segue into Jacques Arcadelt's 'Possa io morir', and a dissolve into the fourth madrigal ('alloro').

Recorded in rehearsal at Voix Nouvelles, Royaumont, September 2016; premiere of the complete work takes place on 1st April 2017 at Wigmore Hall, London.

James Weeks: Libro di fiammelle e ombre (2017)- excerpt

Performed by Charles Rudig at CUNY Graduate Center Spring 2018. Pure data and Objects.

FRACTIO PANIS III/V

Prospector

Midwest Five

Jack Quartet. 2019. String Quartet, Transducers, Sine Waves, Objects

Three Chords [2019]

A seasonal exploration

Co-created by Annie Beliveau and Steven Lewis

Thank you to Mariah Carey!

December 24, 2020

All I Want for Christmas Is 7/8 of You

CREDITS

june 27th, 2020 @ online premiere (San Francisco CA)

performed by Del Sol String Quartet

This work was created under the aegis of the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music and premiered by Del Sol String Quartet in San Francisco, CA on June 27, 2020.

A CHAIR After NICERON 1638 [2019-20 ::: for Del Sol String Quartet]

Scott Allen Miller is a composer, educator, and bassist in New York, NY. His visceral music is concerned with memory, thought, and the passage of time, expressed through unconventional performance techniques, evocative microtonal harmonies, and a constantly-evolving approach to timbre and melody. Whether writing instrumental or vocal music for forces large or small, a primary concern is to establish a sound world unique to each composition. Miller has recently been commissioned by the Baltimore Classical Guitar Society, Western Connecticut Youth Orchestra, Occasional Symphony, Nebula Ensemble, and Omnibus Ensemble. 

Miller currently studies with Jason Eckardt as a Ph.D. student at The CUNY Graduate Center. He graduated from the Peabody Conservatory in 2015 where he studied with Kevin Puts, earning Master of Music degrees in composition and music theory pedagogy. Previously, Miller studied composition and double bass at SUNY Fredonia where he received a Bachelor of Music degree through his work with bassist Harry Jacobson and composers Robert Deemer, Karl Boelter, and Sean Doyle. As a Composition Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival and School in 2016, Miller had the privilege of studying with Christopher Theofanidis and Stephen Hartke, as well as participating in masterclasses and brief lessons with Kaija Saariaho, Ted Hearne, Sean Shepherd, Donald Crocket, and Timo Andres. Other summer programs include the Atlantic Music Festival (2018) and the Charlotte New Music Festival (2013). Additional teachers with whom Miller has taken lessons and participated in masterclasses include Nils Vigeland, Amy Beth Kirsten, David Ludwig, Christopher Dobrian, Pierre Jalbert, Richard Danielpour, Zhou Long, George Tsontakis, Christopher Rouse, Michael Hersch, Daron Hagon, Paul Colman, Marc Mellits, and Lansing McLoskey. Recent awards include the 2015 Macht Orchestral Composition Competition for Pillars, erased and the 2013 Ethos Laureate Prize for his chamber opera Randall’s Leaf. Miller was a Finalist in the 2016 BMI Student Composers Awards and received an Honorable Mention from the 2016 Minnesota Composer’s Institute. 

Miller has taught music theory, form and analysis, ear training, and composition at the Peabody Preparatory, Carroll Community College, and as a private tutor. He is currently an Adjunct Lecturer at CUNY College of Staten Island where he teaches musicianship, harmony, and counterpoint.

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast (2022) for percussion quartet

Scott Allen Miller

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