Pandemic Waltz #1

We Wish You A Very Merry Christmas

4 Dances -1 March

Across The Field

This beautiful fantasia on Silent Night has been compared to the petals of a flower slowly opening, gradually reassembling a deconstructed, and fragmented “Silent Night”.  The colorful use of pitched percussion over shimmering chords built from fragments of the melody paints a sonic portrait of flickering candle light, reflecting off of the faces of children and families as they gather for a Christmas Eve candlelight service.

CandleGlow


In the 1800’s a drunken conductor was run over by a train late one night near the town of Moonville, Ohio.  Over the next few years, there were many reports of a ghostly “bobbing lantern” and the legend of the Ghost of  Moonville Tunnel sprung up.  There are in fact, documented cases of very strange goings on involving death and mayhem!  During the depression, Moonville was abandoned, but to this day people swear that the bobbing lantern can still be seen.  This large scale symphonic poem in the grand tradition of Richard Strauss presents “ghostly” challenges to the orchestra as well!  After I finished the work, I was informed that it was “too difficult” and the work went unperformed.  Since all of my work is written with a specific performance in mind, I had never been able to enter any competitions (they usually want unperformed works).  My prize winning entry in the Lancaster Festival International Composition Contest was heralded by the Columbus Dispatch as a “welcome addition to the Symphonic Repertoire, ready to take it’s rightful place beside “The Sorcerers Apprentice” and “Night on Bald Mountain”. This is my most frequently performed orchestral work.

The Ghost of Moonville Tunnel

Serenade for Mozart -3 Andante con expressivo

Serenade for Mozart -4 Scherzo

Serenade for Mozart -5 Finale

Perfect for any concert for Young People, WorldWaltz is a set of variations on the song “Everyone Knows the World is Round” from my opera Cristobal.  Each variation is in the folk music style of a different country or culture including: Spanish, African, Korean, Native American, Russian and many others.  

Sorry for the noisy recording!  


WorldWaltz

Remembrance 3

Remembrance 2

Remembrance 1

The Prairie is based on impressions of the family homestead in Michell County Kansas. The movements are played without pause. The first movement "Dawn", tries to capture the endless expanse that even though at first glance everything looks the same, the closer you look, the more you realize that within the endless repetition is constant change and spectacular beauty. and, occasional storms! The second movement, "Dust" is full of swirling dust demons and the horror of the great dust bowl of the 1930's. Finally, the homestead where my Grandmother and mother were born is named "Sunflower". The old stone house built in the 1880's served as the community post office. My Grandmother, Bertha Cooke Tice went to college in the early 1900's to study music and piano, and then traveled from homestead to homestead to teach piano lessons in a horse and buggy! The sonata is dedicated to her memory.

scottmichal

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