An Album For String Sextet; fourth movement. Recorded in concert Sunday 3 March 2023. World premiere. The West End String Quartet, with guest artists Nadya Potemkina, viola, and Alex Waterman, cello.

An Album for String Sextet. #5, "Spotted Pony" arranged as a rondo

An Album for String Sextet. #4, Pulse Music

An Album For String Sextet; third movement. Recorded in concert Sunday 3 March 2023. World premiere. The West End String Quartet, with guest artists Nadya Potemkina, viola, and Alex Waterman, cello.

An Album for String Sextet. #3, Braided Variations

An Album For String Sextet; second movement. Recorded in concert Sunday 3 March 2023. World premiere. The West End String Quartet, with guest artists Nadya Potemkina, viola, and Alex Waterman, cello.

An Album for String Sextet. #2, Scherzo, with Intermezzo

An Album For String Sextet; first movement. Recorded in concert Sunday 3 March 2023. World premiere. The West End String Quartet, with guest artists Nadya Potemkina, viola, and Alex Waterman, cello.

An Album for String Sextet. #1, Sonata

Bristow, George (1825 - 1898) Andante Et Polonaise

This recording is of the second performance of this piece, in Crowell Concert Hall at Wesleyan University. This little piece is excerpted from a larger work entitled "Fall in New England," commissioned by the Hop River Chamber Players. After an introduction that plays with a motive derived from the tune, one hears the well-known composition of Hans Nägeli, with five variations.

Introduction and Variations on "Blest be the tie that binds"

The finale of my quartet in memory of Bill Wasch is based on "Morning" by Amos Pilsbury, #163t in The Sacred Harp. The variations begin close to the theme but get quite far from it. The four subjects of the concluding quadruple fugue consist of the tune itself divided into four equal parts.

A String Quartet For William Wasch 3: Variations and Fugue on "Morning" by Amos Pilsbury

This second movement is in a modified sonata allegro form, and introduces a dance-like tune based on the letters in his complete name, William Karl Wasch, Senior. There is an extended development section that spins out a post-minimalist passage in ways I hope are both surprising and pleasing.

A String Quartet For William Wasch 2: Allegro moderato

This bit of spun-out heterophony speaks for itself.

A String Quartet For William Wasch 1: A Wistful Introduction

This is a collage of randomly chosen passages from tunes in The Sacred Harp that contain the word "heaven" or "heavenly" in the title. I recorded this piece in 1994; this is the first public performance. Crowell Concert Hall, October 29, 2023. This work concluded a concert in tribute to William Wasch. The instrument was in the back of the hall, and the sounds wafted over the heads of the audience.

The Enchantment Of Heavenly Love, for solo celeste. NB performer

The bass line and basic progression of the final Chaconne are derived from a litany in the Orthodox Church, the text of which is ‘Lord, have mercy.’ It is a prayer for Aymeric’s repose. The contrapuntal density of the piece is a reflection of the many complexities of his life.

Aymeric Partita #7: Chaconne

The Badinage is quite literally a joke; in the score it is marked ‘vif et facétieux,’ ‘fast and jocular.’ (Yes, I know ‘facétieux’ has other meanings.) This movement and the Rondeau are my tributes to Aymeric’s wit and considerable charm.

Aymeric Partita #6: Badinage, Vif Et Facetieux

The Rondeau en cinq (in five-eight time; note the French spelling) is a gentle, wistful return to the seriousness of the opening movements. This movement and the Badinage are my tributes to Aymeric’s considerable charm and his wit.

Aymeric Partita #5: Rondeau En Cinq

The exuberance of the first Bourrée is a welcome change after the seriousness of the first two movements — but then the second Bourrée erupts into an almost violent lament.

Aymeric Partita #4: Bourrées I And II

The Courante is slow, the tempo of the French court dance. As it says in the score, it ‘. . . should be very pale, a ghost of courante, as it were.’ The ghostly effect is enhanced by the use of leather mutes. (Thanks to Alex Waterman for this excellent suggestion, as well as his indispensable assistance in editing this, and all of my string quartets.)

Aymeric Partita #3: Courante

Like many Frenchmen, Aymeric had a glorious, elaborate name — Aymeric François Esprit Dupré la Tour. Using an 18th century system that converts the letters of the alphabet into musical pitches, I derived from his complete name the following series: 
A D F E D B C F D A G C A B E E Eb B D B F D G B D E E A F A G D
and the attendant probability distribution; 5 As, 5 Bs, 2 Cs, etc. The long series became the subject of the Fugue; the probability distribution determines the chords of the Prelude and the Courante; and so on. As the various movements progress, the series and the probabilities fade into the background, and eventually disappear . . .

Aymeric Partita #2: Fugue

Aymeric Partita #1: Prelude

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New tracks tagged #American classical