Completed June 5, 2021

Commissioned by Dr. Wendy Case

Cities can mean vastly different things for different people. Glimmering masses of glass, steel, and concrete, such urban centers often see some of the world’s richest occupying the same spaces as the poorest. For some, city streets might represent glamor, thrill, and culture; for others, they are a grim and unforgiving purgatory. I would always feel a touch of the surreal as I took walks through the various metropolitan centers I had lived in, passing soiled back alleys near gaudy concert halls, parched soup kitchens set against ostentatious skyscrapers. Somehow, it felt as though these worlds should not be able to coincide. 

Doppelgänger Streets draws its inspiration from China Miéville’s smoky noir, The City and the City. Ostensibly a murder mystery, the novel explores a peculiar world in which two different cities quite literally occupy the same physical space, unable (or perhaps unwilling) to perceive one another. The idiosyncratic setting and intoxicating prose left a strong impression, stylishly evoking the paradoxical dualities of urban environments. 

To explore these themes, I wanted violin and electronics to feel dimly related yet foreign to one another, occasionally intertwining with analogous gestures. The violin plays searchingly through chiaroscuro soundscapes, drifting in and out of focus as it explores fragments of a melody. Halfway through the piece, crackling glitches begin to break up the sound, suggesting sights of things that should have remained unseen. Eventually, the violin manages to realize its ruminative melody, bringing a touch of warmth to a world otherwise coldly aloof. 

This piece would not have been possible without the dedication of Dr. Wendy Case, whose humor, kindness, and enthusiasm made her a wonderful collaborator to work with.

Doppelgänger Streets, for violin and electronics

Premiered by Dither in Princeton, NJ on February 8th, 2022.

No Heroes (2022) for electric guitar quartet

Set based on Arduino and 2 mixers using no-input mixing techniques. Mastering and slight post-processing done in Logic.

Mixer improv 2/11/22

Other Pines, II. The Former Pines Of Villa Ada

Train Dreams - for piano and electronics

Amphitheater was commissioned by Copland House for its CULTIVATE 2024 emerging composers’ institute. It was premiered by the Music from Copland House ensemble (Moran Katz, clarinet; Pala Garcia, violin; Alexis Pia Gerlach, cello; and Margaret Kampmeier, piano) on June 11, 2024 at Elebash Hall, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. CULTIVATE 2024 fellowships and commissions were funded by the Amphion Foundation, ArtsWestchester, ASCAP Foundation, BMI Foundation, Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, Friends of Copland House, Jandon Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, NewMusicUSA, and New York State Council on the Arts.

Amphitheater (2024) for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano

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Thanks for listening :)


Tracklist:
1.) It Remained Flat and Sure - M. Sage, Zander Raymond, Gianni Andreatta (Album: Seymour)
2.) The Poppies, the Wild Mustard, the Blue-Eyed Grass - Mary Lattimore, Walt McClements (Album: Rain on the Road)
3.) Praha - Sarah Davachi (Album: Qualities Of Bodies Permanent)
4.) 60° 53' 9" N, 101° 53' 40" E - OWWL (Album: Dark Places)
5.) Where We've Been - Phi-Psonics (Album: Octava)
6.) Space 8 - Nala Sinephro (Album: Space 1.8)
7.) Small Hours - John Martyn (Album: One World)
8.) Shared Reality (Live in Ojai) - Nate Mercereau (Album: Ojai Orange Grove Concert (Live in Ojai))
9.) Me Khosk Unim - Sayat-Nova, XVIIIème Siècle - Haig Sarikouyoumdjian (Album: Armenie - Haig Sarikouyoumdjian, l’art du duduk)
10.) Peninsula - John Beltran (Album: The Peninsula)
11.) Niwe Wenka - African Children’s Choir (Album: Just as I Am)
12.) The Mechanical Bull at Our Lady of the Valley - Old Saw (Album: Country Tropics)
13.) Danny Boy - John Scofield (Album: John Scofield)
14.) Home - A Song For You, Nolan (Album: Home)
15.) Peace - Leo Raynon II (Album: Forgive the White Man)
16.) Bridge over Troubled Water - Aretha Franklin (Album: Soul Queen)

Good Textures 01

we walk in the sun in hundreds (2022) for orchestra [READING EXCERPT]

"Rajzok II" for piano and orchestra
I. Remegö felületek (trembling surfaces)
II. Testek és ányékok (bodies and shadows) 5:10
III. Mániákus körök és vonalak (manic circles and lines) 9:55
Márton Illés - piano 
Bayerische Staatsphilharmonie Bamberger Symphoniker/Jonathan Nott

"Rajzok II" for piano and orchestra (2011)

Words, vocals & vocal mix Mariam Zohra D : Myrh @myrhyum @tariqa-kali @myrhyummy
Sonic structures & audiable fragments Lars Björk: @larbjo

...then you thought it was in the making [a Myrh & Larbjo collab]

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Will Paquin - Chandelier (G Mills Remix) - Official Remix

Tom Morrison (b. 1992) is a composer. His music has been performed in Germany, Thailand, China, Australia, Canada, and across the United States. Morrison is a graduate of the University of Montana (BM) and The Juilliard School (MM), where he studied with Christopher Rouse. He has studied at Freie Universität Berlin and has held residence at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute. Among other awards, Morrison was the winner of the 2016 Thailand International Composition Festival Competition judged by Mark Adamo, Aaron Jay Kernis, and John Corigliano. He has written for and worked with an array of groups, including the Aizuri Quartet, Sō Percussion, and the String Orchestra of the Rockies, among others. He currently lives in Princeton, New Jersey and is a Naumberg Ph.D. Fellow at Princeton University.

tom-morrison.com