Bruce Klepper | Composer

The Chef
September 2021
Duration: 2:50
Photo of John-Marc Ventimiglia 
Cover art, recitation, kitchen recordings and sound library: John-Marc Ventimiglia 
The Chef is a tribute to my wonderful friend John-Marc Ventimiglia.  A gifted musician, artist, chef extraordinaire, food coneseur...one of the most creative and intelligent people you will ever meet.
For saxaphones, woodwinds, xylophone, marimba, Shun chef knife, scanpans, sheetpans, gas burner igniter, oven rack, wire whisk, vitamix blender, spice grinder, stainless mixing bowls, fried egg and percussion

The Chef

The Dogs
October 2021
Duration: 2:30
Photos, dog recordings and bios on dogs: Heidi Schnicker 
Cover art design and sound library creation: John -Marc Ventimiglia
For woodwinds, woodsticks, marimba, xylophone, dog recordings and percussion

A special tribute to all our furry friends who make our lives so wonderful! 
Here is a bio of each dog, based on the cover art, starting in the upper left corner, in clockwise order:

Ellie is our five year old shihpoo, who is an eight pound bundle of fluff and love.  She likes playing with her ball and her red hedgehog, as well as taking long walks/hikes, especially when it's not too hot and she knows she can "swim" in a stream. Ellie is quite the vocalist, especially when she's excited about something, or feels the need to inform us of impending danger. 

Callahan or Cal, our granddog, is a nine month old, very spirited Bernese Mountain Dog.  He loves sticks, and his toys, and it's very interesting watching him try to figure out the world such as when he decided to bark incessantly at the grill, or when he came to our house the first time and didn't want to come in the door.

Lucky, the one-eyed dachshund, belonging to our friends, was the life of the party and happily partook of anything appetizing within his reach, including a friend's rum and coke!  Lucky hated it when his pawrents (or us when they were out of town) would leave, and would howl mournfully and incessantly when left home alone in his kennel.

Angel, our dear, sweet, shihpoo passed the Rainbow Bridge 3 years ago.  In spite of having numerous health ailments, including diabetes that resulted in cataracts that had to be removed to restore her sight, as well as twice daily insulin shots, she maintained her wonderful disposition and love of taking long walks for her entire 16-plus years with us.

Jax, our pug who crossed the Rainbow Bridge last November, was one of the nicest dogs, but had a few odd habits.  Jax enjoyed spending time in the great outdoors, where he would sit staring at the sky for hours looking for airplanes, then madly "chasing" and barking at them when they appeared. The only thing Jax didn't like was the mailboxes; he would bark like crazy every time we drove over to get the mail.

The Dogs

The Cave
Part of the Playlist Mystic Places https://soundcloud.com/bruce-klepper-1/sets/mystic-places
December 2021
Duration: 3:55
Photo of the Waitomo Caves
For strings, flute, bass flute, piano, cloud chamber blowls, percussion, field recordings from the Waitomo Caves and other virtual instruments.
The limestone caves at Waitomo in New Zealand are a series of long passage tunnels eroded by water across aeons. The ‘Voice of The Spirit’ Cave is driven by the infrasonic pulsing of a distant subterranean river system which produces the deep vibrating voice at the cave entrance and creates nodes of vibrations within the large cave called the Cathedral. The Waitomo Caves, with it's mysterious stalactites and stalagmites, are renowned for their glowworms that light up the cave ceilings.  Glow worms are fascinating creatures, they only live up to 2 weeks after coming out their cocoons and are eventually devoured by their young.

The Cave

The Summit
Part of the Playlist Mystic Places https://soundcloud.com/bruce-klepper-1/sets/mystic-places
December 2021
Duration: 3:00
Photo of Sgurr na Lapaich
For strings, piano, harp, english horn, flute, tubular bells, field recordings from the wind across the summit of Sgurr na Lapaich and other virtual instruments.
Sgurr na Lapaich is a mountain in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. The mountain reaches a height of 1,150 metres (3,773 feet).  There is no higher ground to the north of it in Great Britain.

The Summit

The Ice Lagoon
Part of the Playlist Mystic Places https://soundcloud.com/bruce-klepper-1/sets/mystic-places
January 2022
Duration: 3:45
Photo of the Jökulsárlón Galcier Lagoon by Dominique Payannet
For harp, classical guitar, marimba, Bansuri flute, field recordings from the Jökulsárlón Galcier Lagoon, percussion and other virtual instruments.
The Jökulsárlón Galcier Lagoon is a large glacial lake in the southern part of Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland, that developed into a lake after the glacier started receding from the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.  The ice cap, a vast dome of ice, rises to a height of 3,000 ft (910 m).  The icebergs that calve from the glacier edge move towards the river mouth and get entrenched at the bottom. The movement of the icebergs fluctuates with the tide currents, as well as being affected by wind.  These icebergs are seen in two shades: milky white and bright blue, which depends on the air trapped within the ice and is an interplay of light and ice crystals.

The Ice Lagoon

The Swamp
Part of the Playlist Mystic Places https://soundcloud.com/bruce-klepper-1/sets/mystic-places
January 2022
Duration 3:00
Photo of a swamp in Madagascar at sunset
For bamboo flute, duduk, clarinets, marimba, digeridoo, field recordings from swamps and marshes in Africa and percussion

The Swamp

In a Dialogue with Gravity and Matisse's Gardens - Minor Swing
Listen in the Playlist: https://soundcloud.com/bruce-klepper-1/sets/in-a-dialogue-with-gravity-and
Based on Minor Swing the 1937 piece by Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli
Duration: 2:10
Danse Etoile Ballet (www.danseetoile.org) premiers two contemporary ballets June 3-4. Inspired by the relationships architects and dancers share with gravity, “In A Dialogue with Gravity” explores the connection between architecture, dance, and its people. In the second act, “Matisse’s Gardens,” the forms, colors, and space of Matisse’s famed cutouts forms the foundation for this contemporary ballet.
Cover design by Maire-Jose Payannet
For strings, piano, accordion and percussion

In a Dialogue with Gravity and Matisse's Gardens - Minor Swing

In a Dialogue with Gravity and Matisse's Gardens – Dark Eyes
Listen in the Playlist: https://soundcloud.com/bruce-klepper-1/sets/in-a-dialogue-with-gravity-and
Based on a Gypsy melody which became very successful in Europe in the 1920's and 1930's.
Duration: 2:15
Danse Etoile Ballet (www.danseetoile.org) premiers two contemporary ballets June 3-4. Inspired by the relationships architects and dancers share with gravity, “In A Dialogue with Gravity” explores the connection between architecture, dance, and its people. In the second act, “Matisse’s Gardens,” the forms, colors, and space of Matisse’s famed cutouts forms the foundation for this contemporary ballet.
Cover design by Maire-Jose Payannet
For strings, accordion, saxes. piano, basson and percussion

In a Dialogue with Gravity and Matisse's Gardens – Dark Eyes

In a Dialogue with Gravity and Matisse's Gardens – Boléro  
Listen in the Playlist: https://soundcloud.com/bruce-klepper-1/sets/in-a-dialogue-with-gravity-and
Based on Marice Ravel’s "Boléro" 
Duration: 3:15 
Danse Etoile Ballet (www.danseetoile.org) premiers two contemporary ballets June 3-4.  “In A Dialogue with Gravity” explores the parallel between modern architecture, movement and the need to push and defy gravity.  “Matisse’s Gardens” brings to life the bold color and forms that Henri Matisse first explored in his collages and drawings.
Matisse first visited Morocco in the winter of 1912.  Matisse found Morocco so different and exotic that he ended up making numerous sketches, drawings, and paintings of it, or more precisely, of what he saw in it.  Matisse was quite struck by the people’s physiognomy and colorful garments, the architecture, the daily outdoor scenes, and routines… and it shows in most of his works from this period (1912-1913).  This music for the ballet, using ethnic instruments and percussion, reflects on this time of Matisse's life in Morocco.
Cover design by Maire-Jose Payannet 
For strings, ethnic instruments. harp, marimba, timpani and percussion

In a Dialogue with Gravity and Matisse's Gardens – Boléro

In a Dialogue with Gravity and Matisse's Gardens – Valse Pour Matisse
Listen in the Playlist: soundcloud.com/bruce-klepper-1/sets/in-a-dialogue-with-gravity-and
Duration: 2:15
Danse Etoile Ballet (www.danseetoile.org) premiers two contemporary ballets June 3-4. Inspired by the relationships architects and dancers share with gravity, “In A Dialogue with Gravity” explores the connection between architecture, dance, and its people. In the second act, “Matisse’s Gardens,” the forms, colors, and space of Matisse’s famed cutouts forms the foundation for this contemporary ballet.
Cover design by Maire-Jose Payannet
For strings, accordion, clarinet, celeste, harp, virtual instrument and percussion

In a Dialogue with Gravity and Matisse's Gardens – Valse Pour Matisse

The Ornichoir - Dawn feat. The Duck and the Dove 
April 2022
Duration: 2:40
Orni, from Greek means bird
Special credit to John-Marc Ventimiglia who created the bird sound library(20 different bird songs used as short melodies) and gave a voice to the Duck and Dove which are used as the main melodic instruments.
Cover art: John-Marc Ventimiglia 
For the voice of the Duck, voice of the Dove, the bird choir, vibraphone, marimba, harp, bass clarinet, violin, handbells and percussion

The Ornichoir - Dawn feat. The Duck and the Dove

The Ornichoir - Dusk
May 2022
Duration: 2:50
Orni, from Greek means bird 
Special credit to John-Marc Ventimiglia who created the bird sound library or Omnichoir.  
The Omnichoir is made up of 12 birds with 25 unique bird sounds.  In composing the piece, the birds, some with 3-4 semitones, are used as short percussion sounds or as short melodies.  
Cover art design: John-Marc Ventimiglia 
For the bird choir, Bansuri, Monceno Bassflute, Bass Quenacho, marimba, wood blocks, bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet and percussion

The Ornichoir - Dusk

Cosmic Winds
May 2022
Duration: 3:10
Listen to the Cosmic Soundscapes Playlist: https://soundcloud.com/bruce-klepper-1/sets/cosmic-soundscapes
Cosmic Wind is a powerful cosmic force that can push interstellar dust clouds of low density into intergalactic space.  As the cosmic winds start to push the clouds, they start to separate and start looking like taffy being pulled apart. 
For Strings, Cloud Chamber Bowls, Autoharp, Vibraphone, Tubular bells, 
Timpani, virtual instruments, field recordings and percussion.

Cosmic Winds

The Crab Nebula
June 2022
Duration: 3:00
Listen to the Cosmic Soundscapes Playlist: https://soundcloud.com/bruce-klepper-1/sets/cosmic-soundscapes
The Crab Nebula is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula in the constellation of Taurus. A supernova remnant is the structure resulting from the explosion of a star.  The bright light from the supernova explosion that formed the Crab Nebula was observed by Chinese, Japanese, and Arab astronomers in 1054 A.D. The light has since faded and the Crab Nebula is no longer visible without a telescope.  The name comes from William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, who observed the object in 1842 using a 36-inch telescope.  Lord Rosse named the nebula the "Crab" in 1844 because its tentacle-like structure resembled the legs of the crustacean.
For strings, woodwinds, harp, celesta, Vibraphone, field recordings, virtual instruments and percussion.

The Crab Nebula

The Grand Spiral Galaxy
June 2022
Duration: 2:30
Listen to the Cosmic Soundscapes Playlist: https://soundcloud.com/bruce-klepper-1/sets/cosmic-soundscapes
Special thanks to John-Marc Ventimiglia @john-marc-ventimiglia for the tinkling star bells
This image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope released May 30, 2022 features the Grand Design Spiral, NGC 3631, located approximately 53 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major. The “arms” of grand design spirals appear to wind around and into the galaxy’s nucleus.  A grand design galaxy’s spiral arms stretch clearly across the galaxy through many radians and may be seen over a considerable proportion of the galaxy’s radius.  Close inspection of the grand spiral arms reveals dark dust lanes and bright star-forming regions along the inner part of the spiral arms. 
For strings, flutes, celesta, field recordings, virtual instruments and percussion.

The Grand Spiral Galaxy

The Wizard of Oz – The Munchkins
July 2022
Duration: 2:00
Part of the Playlist, The Wizard of Oz: https://soundcloud.com/bruce-klepper-1/sets/the-wizard-of-oz-music-for
Loosely based on Harold Arlen's music for the Wizard of Oz 
Painting by Marie-Jose Payannet
Music for Danse Etoile Ballet (www.danseetoile.org) who will be performing The Wizard of Oz January 2023 in Colorado.
For strings, clarinets, marimba, xylophone and percussion 
From the Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum: While Dorothy stood looking eagerly at the strange and beautiful sights, she noticed coming toward her a group of the queerest people she had ever seen. They were not as big as the grown folk she had always been used to; but neither were they very small. In fact, they seemed about as tall as Dorothy.... They wore round hats that rose to a small point a foot above their heads, with little bells around the brims that tinkled sweetly as they moved. The hats of the men were blue; the little woman’s hat was white, and she wore a white gown that hung in pleats from her shoulders....The men were dressed in blue, of the same shade as their hats, and wore well-polished boots with a deep roll of blue at the tops....“You are welcome, most noble Sorceress, to the land of the Munchkins"

The Wizard Of Oz - The Munchkins

The Wizard of Oz – Council With The 3 Munchkins
July 2022
Duration: 2:00
Part of the Playlist, The Wizard of Oz: https://soundcloud.com/bruce-klepper-1/sets/the-wizard-of-oz-music-for
Inspired by Harold Arlen's music for the Wizard of Oz 
Painting by Marie-Jose Payannet
Music for Danse Etoile Ballet (www.danseetoile.org) who will be performing The Wizard of Oz January 2023 in Colorado.
For strings, woodwinds, marimba, xylophone and percussion 
Dorothy meets the 3 munchkins and receives their advise on finding The Wizard of Oz.
From the Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum: “At the East, not far from here,” said one, “there is a great desert, and none could live to cross it.” “It is the same at the South,” said another, “for I have been there and seen it. The South is the country of the Quadlings.” “I am told,” said the third man, “that it is the same at the West. And that country, where the Winkies live, is ruled by the Wicked Witch of the West, who would make you her slave if you passed her way.” . . . The three Munchkins bowed low to her and wished her a pleasant journey, after which they walked away through the trees.

The Wizard Of Oz - Council With The 3 Munchkins

The Wizard of Oz – The Tin Woodman
August 2022
Duration: 2:00
Part of the Playlist, The Wizard of Oz: https://soundcloud.com/bruce-klepper-1/sets/the-wizard-of-oz-music-for
Loosely based on Harold Arlen's music for the Wizard of Oz 
Painting by Marie-Jose Payannet
“Tin Man” sound library by John-Marc Ventimiglia @john-marc-ventimiglia
Music for Danse Etoile Ballet (www.danseetoile.org) who will be performing The Wizard of Oz January 2023 in Colorado.
For strings, marimba, xylophone, bassoons, “Tin Man” sound library and percussion 
From the Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum:
Just then another groan reached their ears, and the sound seemed to come from behind them. They turned and walked through the forest a few steps, when Dorothy discovered something shining in a ray of sunshine that fell between the trees. She ran to the place and then stopped short, with a little cry of surprise. One of the big trees had been partly chopped through, and standing beside it, with an uplifted axe in his hands, was a man made entirely of tin. His head and arms and legs were jointed upon his body, but he stood perfectly motionless, as if he could not stir at all. Dorothy looked at him in amazement . . . “Did you groan?” asked Dorothy. “Yes,” answered the tin man, “I did. I’ve been groaning for more than a year, and no one has ever heard me before or come to help me.” “What can I do for you?” she inquired softly, for she was moved by the sad voice in which the man spoke. “Get an oil-can and oil my joints,” he answered. “They are rusted so badly that I cannot move them at all .  . . “I shall ask Oz for a heart,” said the Tin Woodman; “for brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world.”

The Wizard Of Oz - The Tin Woodman

The Wizard of Oz – Toto
August 2022
Duration: 1:30
Part of the Playlist, The Wizard of Oz: soundcloud.com/bruce-klepper-1/sets/the-wizard-of-oz-music-for
Featuring Ellie, our Shihpoo, who will be appearing as Toto in the upcoming ballet.
Painting by Marie-Jose Payannet
“Toto” sound library by John-Marc Ventimiglia @john-marc-ventimiglia
Music for Danse Etoile Ballet (www.danseetoile.org) who will be performing The Wizard of Oz January 2023 in Colorado.
For strings, marimba, xylophone, bassoons, “Toto” sound library and percussion 
From the Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum:
Toto barked sharply and made a snap at the tin legs, which hurt his teeth. . . It was Toto that made Dorothy laugh, and saved her from growing as gray as her other surroundings. Toto was not gray; he was a little black dog, with long silky hair and small black eyes that twinkled merrily on either side of his funny, wee nose. Toto played all day long, and Dorothy played with him, and loved him dearly.

The Wizard Of Oz - Toto

The Wizard of Oz – The Queen of the Field Mice
September 2022
Duration: 2:00
Part of the Playlist, The Wizard of Oz: soundcloud.com/bruce-klepper-1/sets/the-wizard-of-oz-music-for
Painting by Marie-Jose Payannet
The Field Mice sound library by John-Marc Ventimiglia @john-marc-ventimiglia
Music for Danse Etoile Ballet (www.danseetoile.org) who will be performing The Wizard of Oz January 2023 in Colorado.
For strings, flutes, clarinets, marimba, xylophone, Field Mice sound library and percussion 
From the Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum:
“Why, I am a Queen—the Queen of all the Field Mice!” . . . . They came from all directions, and there were thousands of them: big mice and little mice and middle-sized mice; and each one brought a piece of string in his mouth. [The lion had fallen asleep in a field of poppies, The Tin Man built a log wagon and the mice harnessed to the wagon, helped to pull the lion from the poppy field saving his life].

The Wizard Of Oz - The Queen Of The Field Mice

“ ….There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light 
   gets in … “

Sorry, I cannot read or send private messages. Try to contact me on Ig: pativio. Thanks

Bruce Klepper | Composer

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