My dear friends Joanne Chang and Tienni Chen are a piano duo of great accomplishment. Back in 2012 they asked me to compose something for them and I was happy to do so. This is the second and final movement.

Piano Four Hands 2. Final Foray(2012)

We live in irrational times so I wrote a piece to let you know how I feel about the craziness that currently grips America.

Frenetic Fusion (2021) Harpsichord and friends

It is a rainy Xmas day here in Connecticut and I got the idea this morning to compose a piece that had no melody. In the last fifty years a lot of important classical composers have written a good deal of music that had no melody. Very often it had no harmony or no meter too. So I sat down at my computer and opened my Finale app and, bit by bit, a piece started to take shape. Late in the process I was cognizant that my music had the same title as a Vincent Youmans tune from 1929 so I added some melodic references to his classic at the beginning and the end.

Without A Song (2021) MIDI/acoustic ensemble

A half century ago this sextet (2 clarinets, bassoon, 2 trumpets, and horn)was performed at the Donnell Library in midtown Manhattan. I corralled a group of fellow faculty members in the CCNY Music Department to do a rehearsal conducted by Fred Hauptman and off we went to the library. This was one of my earliest minimalist pieces and it still sounds pretty good after all this time, if I say so myself. The original inspiration for the work came from Stravinsky's Symphonies for Winds.

Wind Sextet (1971)

Late one night I created the ostinato figure for the left hand and spent a couple of hours with the raven adding a right hand.

The accompanying picture is a music form by Vladimir Fuka

Ostinato (2022)piano solo

When the one you love is far away you long for their company, yet they still reside in your heart. The gift of love is the most precious there is and for that one must be grateful at the end of every day. Sometimes your gift comes from half way around the world and you meet in the most surprising circumstances.

Aphrodite's Gift (2022) mixed ensemble

This track is a variant of composition I wrote back in 2015 for percussion ensemble called Rhythmism. I added a melodic track and this is the result.

Rhythmism. Nigeria. 2022

There is so much wonderful music for 8-part vocal ensembles that I figured one more piece wouldn't hurt. This is a song of farewell.

A Bientot (2022) vocal ensemble

A half century ago the 12-tone method of composition was all the rage, especially in academe and Viennese coffee houses. The system had been invented by Arnold Schoenberg back in the 1920s when Europe was just recovering from the devastation of The Great War and the Spanish Influenza. The compositional system lent itself very nicely to the global neurosis of a society that was struggling to find normalcy and a bit of happiness. I only write dodecaphonic music when I am struggling emotionally, so, like most Americans in 2018, I was seriously unsettled a great deal these days by the duality of truth, real and imagined. Sadly, five years later the political virus still thrives among us.

Sextet X2 for woodwind quintet and piano (2023)

You know how it is. I was showering and got an idea for a string piece with long sustained lines. This music uses triad based chords but is only tonal at the end when we cadence in a surprise key.

Long Ago And Far Away (2023) String Orchestra

This was originally an 8-bar musical fragment that I wrote for my theory students in 1967 on the blackboard. I made it into a real piece forty years later. This is my most popular work to date. Now I know how Ravel felt about Bolero.

I have a personal website you are welcome to visit if you dare:
www.stephenjablonsky.net

Child's Play (piano)2007

If you like serialized minimalism you may find this appealing. I wrote in February 2015 for wind quartet, string quartet, and piano.

I have a personal website you are welcome to visit if you dare:
www.stephenjablonsky.net

Petit Four Nonet I (2015)

I wrote this string orchestra arrangement as a birthday day gift for my beautiful Korean-born wife, Sophia. I did this in the same spirit as Wagner's Siegfried Idyll, only with less success. It was premiered by conductor Yoon Jae Lee and Ensemble 212 in Alice Tully Hall.

I have a personal website you are welcome to visit if you dare:
www.stephenjablonsky.net

Arirang (string orchestra)2005

Here is another rhythmic exercise from my All-Star-Rhythm & Pitch Book. This piece introduces the concept of changing meters by alternating between 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, and 5/4 time. Don't think too much about the title. I needed a really cool word that started with the letter G.

I have a personal website you are welcome to visit if you dare:
www.stephenjablonsky.net

Rhythms 3 - Geomancy (piano)2009

Another page from the All-Star Rhythm & Pitch Book that teaches the rhythms of the bossa nova from Brazil. You will notice that the opening section is an extended blues progression. I dedicate this to all the beautiful girls on beaches everywhere.

I have a personal website you are welcome to visit if you dare:
www.stephenjablonsky.net

Rhythms 3 - Ipanema (piano)2008

Here is a fun piece in 8/8 time which is triple meter with one short foot. The melody and harmony seem to be very tonal although they don't seem to go together. Well, that's modern music for you! Also, if you love parallel 5ths, you'll love the left hand.

I have a personal website you are welcome to visit if you dare:
www.stephenjablonsky.net

Rhythms 4 - Gone (piano)2009

Undoubtedly, this piece has roots in Varese's Ionization. Hopefully,  it shows you how entertaining music can be without melody or harmony.

I have a personal website you are welcome to visit if you dare:
www.stephenjablonsky.net

Rhythmism (percussion ensemble)2015

This page from The All-Star Rhythm & Pitch Book presents quarter note triplets that are often tied making life just that much harder for the hapless performer of modern music. This melodic material derives from the use of alternating non-tonal hexachords.

I have a personal website you are welcome to visit if you dare:
www.stephenjablonsky.net

Rhythms 3 - Duet (clarinet, bassoon)2017

I grew up in an environment that was virtually devoid of Asian people. In 1997 I separated from from my Jewish wife and a year later God, in her infinite wisdom, decided it was time for me to be immersed in Asian culture, so she sent me a beautiful Korean-born woman who has shared my bed and board for the past 18 years. I am now blessed with untold numbers of students and friends from the other side of the globe so I dedicate this pentatonic dreamscape to them.

I have a personal website you are welcome to visit if you dare:
www.stephenjablonsky.net

Asian Dream (flute, harp) 2014

Back when I was a graduate student at Harvard, studying with Leon Kirchner and Pierre Boulez, I tried to convince my dad that 12-tone music could be something worth listening to so I wrote him this piece. It wasn't much more popular than Schoenberg, but I kinda liked it. At least it's short!

I have a personal website you are welcome to visit if you dare:
www.stephenjablonsky.net

To Dad (piano) 1963, revised 2005

Having run out of words to describe how insane things are in our nation's capital I have turned to music to describe how things are going. As crazy as this piece is, it is still nicer and kinder than the devastation wrought by the current resident of the White House. The two different realities we are now experiencing is reflected in the bitonality of the quintal harmonies. The emotional imbalance we all feel is reflected in the 8/8 meter which is triple with one short leg. 
My friend Myron Gilbert did the drawing of The Great Leader.

I have a personal website you are welcome to visit if you dare:
www.stephenjablonsky.net

A Different America (Trump version) 2017

Almost every composer worth his salt has written music for beginning musicians. Most of the time it is impossible to write a masterpiece for rank beginners so we aim players with a bit of skill. Bartok's Mikrokosmos is fine example. So, here is my humble attempt. Movements  1, 3, and 4 employ the two-part texture so common in the suites of Bach but here the two hands are in two different keys. The second movement is an homage to Erik Satie and his Gymnopedie.

I have a personal website you are welcome to visit if you dare:
www.stephenjablonsky.net

A Simple Sonata (piano)2005

Listen carefully and you will understand how I felt for much of my early life. I'm feeling much better now. Thanks. I took the photo of Saks Fifth Avenue the day after they moved out of the Stamford Mall. It is the feeling of emptiness that prompted me to write Blue Piece.

I have a personal website you are welcome to visit if you dare:
www.stephenjablonsky.net

Blue Piece (piano) 1962, revised 2005

I started life in the Bronx and moved to Manhattan in 1945. This is my paean to The Big Apple. The painting is by Georgia O'Keeffe. She liked New York too.

I have a personal website you are welcome to visit if you dare:
www.stephenjablonsky.net

Gotham (piano) 1963

One of my most favorite films is Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. This is my homage to that extraordinary mind bending adventure. I try to capture Dave's feelings when he realizes he is all alone in deep space, lost somewhere in time. It was created with the sounds from my Korg O1/W in an early sequencing program known as Opcode's Vision.

I have a personal website you are welcome to visit if you dare:
www.stephenjablonsky.net

Dave's Lament (MIDI) 1992

Last night I got bitten once again by the composing bug so I went to my computer and opened Finale and wrote a measure of string quaret accompaniment. Three hours later the piece was in good enough shape that a mildly compulsive person could go to sleep knowing that it would be polished in the morning. So, here it is. Enjoy!

Alto Flute Quintet (2017)alto flute, string quartet

I don't know about you, but life in the Age of Cruelty is really starting to get to me. Truth and reason seem to have gone out the window and all that matters is the mad tweeting and rantings of an ignorant, orange man with bad hair. I sat down last night to write a new composition and this is what came out. I find it bittersweet. For me it captures the despair that is starting to pervade our great nation as millions of people anticipate losing their health insurance. Yes, that is insane. The lunatics are running the asylum.

Morceau triste (2017) string quartet

It was a lazy Saturday afternoon and that voice inside me said "why don't we write some music,", so I opened Finale and plunked down an idea that blossomed into this joyous little piece. May it brighten your day as it did mine. It is a bitonal homage to the first crocus of springtime and the emergence of my groundhogs.

Spring Round (2019) piano solo

Well, almost everyone else has either arranged or recorded this amazing tune, so why not me? I have tried to capture the bittersweet essence of the lyrics by ramping up the dissonance and chromaticism.

Danny Boy (2019) brass quintet

Today is Rosh Hashanah 5780 and I didn't go to synagogue being the failed Jew that I am. My grandmother would be very disappointed that I have not celebrated the traditions of my faith, but I celebrated at home and am grateful to God for all the gifts she has bestowed on me this past year. Best of all is the good health I have enjoyed. 

A quiet day at home is the perfect time to write some music. So here is the result of that effort. A Happy and Healthy New Year to all who happen upon these 54 measures of modern modal music.

My dear friend and colleague, Steve Wilson, shared with me that he would love to play this piece. Since he is a brilliant alto sax player I have revised the piece for him.

Another Year (2019) alto sax and piano

At the beginning of your composing career you are asked to hone your contrapuntal chops by imitating Bach inventions. Well, I am near the end of my career so I figured I'd try my hand at it once again. Instead of being tonal I employ a variety of pentatonic scales that seem to wrestle with each other and keep us off balance throughout.

Pent Up Invention (2019) keyboard

It is now two days to Election Day, or what passes for Election Day. Most of the intelligent, informed people I know are living in mortal fear of what will take place next week. Our president is a sociopathic liar who cannot afford to lose because he will be under indictment for tax fraud the minute he leaves the White House. So, by now we have a pretty good idea of the chaos he will foment to overturn the will of the voters who are sick and tired of his insanity and nastiness.

Yesterday something compelled me to begin composing a work for string orchestra that is entirely played pizzicato, almost as if the players are all percussionists beating out a warning of danger ahead.

Stephen Jablonsky

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