Rakitina, Weilerstein & Tchaikovsky

Rees Roberts - Organ

This recording was made in Auer Hall (pictured) at Indiana University on the Maidee H. and Jackson A. Seward Organ - C. B. Fisk, Op. 135

Empyrean Windows (2021)

Piano - Jack Allen

“Cogitation”, for solo piano, was written as an etude meant to develop left hand independence/mobility, polyrhythmic displacement, and articulation. The title, cogitation, refers to a type of deep thinking, but instead of a peaceful meditation, these thoughts begin to race and morph into something of a rumination. Ideas repeat themselves in and out of order as uncompleted fragments which whiz by almost illegibly. A sense of order is created, but from this begins another devolution into cognitive chaos.

Cogitation (2022)

Sebastian Sarre - Trumpet
Aislin Carpenter -  Trumpet
Sydney Ballensky - Horn
Megan Martin - Trombone
Erich Corfman - Bass Trombone

Kinetic Course (2022)

This is the recording of the world premiere of Trevor Zavac's "Convulsions" by the 2022 Brevard Music Center Orchestra under the direction of Keith Lockhart at 3:00 pm on July 31st, 2022 in Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium at the Brevard Music Center in Brevard, North Carolina. 

“Convulsions” was written at the Brevard Music Center Summer Composition Institute in 2021 and was selected the winner of the student orchestra readings that year. It was subsequently revised and edited.

“Convulsions” is an experiment in counterintuitive movement. The mind and the body both react to these involuntary contractions: the rhythm, or the convulsing body, rarely moves as expected, jolting without warning as it plows a way ahead against the will of its host. Meanwhile, the melody, or the convulsing mind, races frantically as anxiety and panic ensue. Even when the body seems stable, the mind is paralyzed by fear. The moments of stability serve less as a repose and more as a moment deprived of air, anticipating, begging for the next rhythmic spasm that might allow for a gasp. Convulsions are excruciating, but not nearly as painful as the moment of dread between them.

Posted with permission from the Brevard Music Center

Convulsions (2022)

Jodi Dunn - Violin
Andre Richter - Horn
Ting-Ting Yang - Piano

This is a performance of "Fringe" took place at the Indiana University Student Composition Recital on November 3, 2022 in Auer Hall. 

"Fringe" was written at the 2022 Brevard Music Center Composition Institute where it received its premiere.

“Fringe” (2022), for horn trio, is inspired by the unraveling of a fabric that ensues after a loose thread is pulled. The music, like fabric, is tightly woven and very compact, but with time, it disintegrates as the pattern is pulled apart and it slips and snags.

Fringe (2022)

Premiered 10/8/2023 - Auer Hall at Indiana University
Piano: Jack Allen
Sound: William Heilbraun, Luca Robadey

This is a work in a collection of "Thoughts" for solo piano. Each thought, beginning with "c" and ending with "tion," reflects a different type of thought process. "Contemplation" examines how an idea changes as it is mulled over in the brain, becoming more exciting and elaborate as it is pondered.

Contemplation (2023)

Premiered 10/8/2023 - Auer Hall at Indiana University

Speaker: Sy Anderson
Flute: Lilah Senibaldi 
Oboe: Hanna Noughani 
Clarinet: Paige Stafford 
Bass Clarinet: Renae Dishman 
Bassoon: Jacob Auchman 
Horn: Andre Richter 
Trumpet: Barton Sopata 
Trombone: Robert Cardon-Wake 
Tuba: Daniel Cox 
Percussion 1: Mihail Babus 
Percussion 2: Braedon Bomgardner 
Piano: Josh Catanzaro 
Violin I: Will Mayhew 
Violin II: Arthur Trælnes 
Viola: Maeve Whelan 
Cello: Thea Dardanis 
Double Bass: River Makinney
Conductor: Jae Hwan Lee
Audio Engineer: William Heilbraun

          “The Butterfly” is an experiment in sonic/literary meaning. It is our inclination as humans to assign meaning to an abstract idea that we find somehow emotionally engaging, but, especially in music, there is often no greater meaning. It is merely something to which we may have an emotional response, but nothing more. The arts exist on a scale of most to least abstract: Architecture and textiles are almost completely abstract, while poetry and prose are not so at all. This is because, in the language arts, the express goal is to convey meaning. Every word in itself carries a connotation that is contextualized by accompanying text. Even the writers of nonsense, such as Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear, invent words and phrases in order to enhance a nonsensical meaning, but a meaning, not to mention a narrative, nonetheless. There are also those who write poetry from a string of completely made up sounds that convey absolutely no meaning beyond that contained in the tone of its delivery—the use of verbal, conversational sound to achieve the abstract.
        “The Butterfly," however, employs aurally pleasing sentence clauses tied together using poetic devices (juxtaposition, alliteration, personification, etc.) and negative capability in order to create complex imagery that completely lacks any conceivable narrative or greater meaning. That means there are no metaphors, symbolism, allegory, allusion, or moral—just images aided by sound flashing before an audience. Inevitably, each individual listener will independently contextualize the words, creating a story that is completely different not only from that of the other listeners, but also the composer. 
        This is done in one of three ways: constructing a nonsensical, meaningless poem and then writing music to enhance it (text painting); composing music and then constructing a poem to enhance it (what I call “music painting”); and taking the clauses of already existing lines and stacking them on top of one another to create new ideas. Just as words can have different connotations, the musical motives employed throughout the piece can denote different ideas or images depending on the text that accompanies it. 
        So the audience finds itself with a paradox: The greater meaning of this work is that this work has no greater meaning. 

The Butterfly (2023)

In a Holt of Giant Hatpins (2025) was premiered by Thornton Edge under the direction of Donald Crockett with soloist Alessia Jensen on Tuesday, April 15th 2025 at 7:30 pm in Newman Recital Hall at the University of Southern California.

Thornton Edge:
Soprano: Alessia Jensen
Flute/Piccolo: Luke Blancas
Oboe: Gibson Mahnke
Clarinet: Harrison Chiang
Bassoon: Christopher Lee
Horn: Daniel Halstead
Percussion 1: Marcos Salgado
Percussion 2: Marcos Rivera
Harp: Zoe O'Shaughnessy
Piano: Benjamin Beckman
Violin I: Laura Gamboa
Violin II: Maya Irizarry-Lambright
Viola: Nico Valencia
Cello: Ella Kaale
Bass: Julien Henry
Conductor: Donald Crockett
Audiovisual: Alex Melzer (recording.LA)

Program Notes:
Music is perhaps the most abstract art form, which has confused and upset audiences for centuries.

Composers have thought up a good many ways to combat this, from Beethoven who denotes mood and character, to the overtly programmatic music meant to literally represent a narrative. What these have in common is the use of concrete art forms (such as text), which are used to guide the listener and give the music direction.

This begs the question: if text can be used as the narrative basis to make an abstract piece less abstract, can music be utilized as a springboard to employ a concrete art form in an abstract manner? “In a Holt of Giant Hatpins” uses music to justify text. With the exception of the first line, all of the text was written either after the music or in conjunction with the music. This means that any resulting narrative (if one exists) is dictated solely by the demands and development of the music. In this particular approach to “music painting”, the text makes semantic sense. The words, at least to me, reflect the music. The beauty of the text is rooted primarily in the sound of each word or stanza as it relates to the words and stanzas on either side of it. The result is a fantastical experience, exploring a world as unique and sprawling as the music.

“In a Holt of Giant Hatpins” is about nothing in particular. Any meaning extrapolated from the text or the music has equal origins in the mind of the listener.

In a Holt of Giant Hatpins (2024)

Jane Pankhurst - Clarinet
Maya Irizarry-Lambright - Violin
Nico Valencia - Viola
Evangeliya Delizonas - Piano
Ben Beckman - Conductor

Each word in the title of this work, In the Banks of Posy’s Delection, throws the clause deeper into a pleasing chaos. “In” seems to contextualize “banks” to mean “an establishment specializing in the management and safekeeping of money” as opposed to “the land bordering a waterway”. Similarly, the lack of an article before “Posy” leaves us to wonder if “Posy” is a person, a flower, or a legendary idea. And “delection”—to the extent that it is even a word—could refer to either something delectable or some that is unelected. Is this “delection” an entity of Miss Posy’s past which has been buried next to a river? Is it where a particularly important flower has invested its political dissatisfaction? I like to think all of its denotations exist at once, perpetually clarifying and mystifying each other.

Musically, this idea is explored through the use of a synthetic scale and its alternation/superimposition with its compliment. The musical ideas are arranged and rearranged next to one another in every conceivable manner, mimicking this exercise in finding (or assuming) meaning through contextualization. The music, like the sentence, can mean not only anything, but everything and nothing simultaneously.

In the Banks of Posy's Delection (2025)

Composer, hornist, and wordist whose works blend narratives with the abstract to explore the complexity, beauty, and humor of the illogical.

Empyrean Windows (2021)

Trevor Zavac

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