The second movement of my four-movement work for solo harpsichord. MIDI realization by Adam Grimes

In F-ish Thought: mvt. 2

Live recording
Orquesta Sinfónica Venezuela, Carlos Izcaray.

Palenkumbé - Overture - Demo

A setting of Wallace Stevens's "Disillusionment of Ten O'Clock"

Performed by Aaron Engebreth, baritone, and Alison d'Amato, piano

The houses are haunted   
By white night-gowns.   
None are green,
Or purple with green rings,   
Or green with yellow rings,   
Or yellow with blue rings.   
None of them are strange,   
With socks of lace
And beaded ceintures.
People are not going
To dream of baboons and periwinkles.   
Only, here and there, an old sailor,   
Drunk and asleep in his boots,   
Catches tigers
In red weather.

Disillusionment of Ten O'Clock

A short work written on the death of William Albright

Performed by Tom Schnauber, horn

30 Greatest Hits Disc 2

Call

Full title: "Der Baartli gaat a Gyger: A Quasi-Jazzish Glarner Tonlegendchen

Performed by Alan Huckleberry

High in the Glarner Alps, in Switzerland’s northeastern canton Glarus, lies the village of Braunwald.  Home to farmers and cowherds, the craggy peaks, dense forests, and open fields surrounding this mountain town are also home to a population of kindly but rather shy dwarves.  The most well-known among them is Baartli, a modest, friendly, and reluctantly adventurous creature whose greatest love the beautiful Swiss countryside. 
This solo piano work, a “tonlegendchen” with a bit of dwarfish swing, follows Baartli on one of his adventures as told by the native Glarner dwarf-chronicler Lorly Jenny.  Spring has come, the snow is melting, and Baartli is wandering among the fields and trees.  He meets a fellow dwarf who tells him that at the third hoot of the nightowl, all dwarves are invited to the dwarf-king’s castle for a ball.  When he hears the hoots, Baartli scrambles to get ready and makes his way to the high plateau on which the castle lies, joining a long procession of solemn and ceremoniously dressed dwarves entering the king’s stony home.  Once inside, the ceremony gives way to dancing, accompanied by a band of amateur musicians (most dwarves are herders by trade) who seem to have a very hard time staying together.  Joy is had by all; but Baartli and his companions know that, before the moon sets behind the peaks, they must all be home and in bed or suffer the worst of all consequences for any dwarf: the loss of his beard.  The moon sets, Baartli races home, and with a sigh of relief at having made it on time, bids us all good night: “guet Nacht mitenand.”

Der Baartli gaat a Gyger

Summer in Minnesota.  The sun is setting, the broad sky is clear, and the cool light of dusk promises a welcome respite from the day’s heat and humidity.  You step out into the stillness and stand, gazing at the orange-red horizon, thankful for the dimming light and approaching night.  And then they come.  Those insidious little creatures, those vile insects that define and destroy the season: the mosquitoes.  Only some at first, few enough to make you think that if you swat them away, you can still enjoy the evening air.  But then more come, and more, and even more.  They whine, you moan, they sting, you slap, they swarm, you flail.  Soon, your body a mass of swelling welts, you realize that the twilight peace you had hoped for when you left your house is a sham, an impossible illusion shattered by the piercing terror of those infernal exsanguinators.  Angry and itching, you run back inside and slam the door shut.

Performed by Tamara Thweatt, flute, and Hey-Seon Choi, piano

Those Infernal Exsanguinators

A setting of the three words "dona nobis pacem"  for choir SSAA.

Workshopped by Lorelei Ensemble

Dona Nobis Pacem

From the album "Death and Waltzes"

Released 2017 on the Quartz label (QTZ 2120).  Full CD and individual downloads can be found on Amazon and most other online outlets.

Death and Waltzes is a recording of music for string orchestra by German-American composer Tom Schnauber, performed by the dynamic and adventurous Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, Moscow, led by its redoubtable Music Director, Misha Rachlevsky.
The recording features nine works all linked by themes suggested in the CD’s title. Some of the works are single-movement “in memorium”-type pieces.  Three are in fond and sometimes aching memory of other musicians: the vivacious, witty, and brilliant violinist and conductor Henri Temianka; the gifted and underplayed composer Leroy Southers; and Schnauber's first musical "hero", J.S. Bach.  Another is in memory of the composer’s father, who died during the early stages of making this CD.
Of the remaining works, two are dances; mysterious and off-kilter waltzes of sorts, reflections of Schnauber’s Alpine heritage and two left feet. The other two are stories told in music whose narratives involve both dancing and dying.  They invoke experiences by the composer's fictional "alter ego", renowned musicologist Johannes von Märland (b.1890 [sic]). This character's adventures with zombies, jigs in fields of heather, and tunes lost in the woods have inspired the colors and forms of these textless works.

Nachwort: Die Harfe

German-American composer Tom Schnauber is a co-founder of the Boston-based arts organization WordSong, and a former co-president of Composers in Red Sneakers (Boston).  He has also studied French horn performance, ethnomusicology, and did a small stint in Hollywood scoring films no one will ever see.  A versatile composer, Schnauber enjoys writing for a variety of ensembles, including unaccompanied instruments, chamber ensembles, solo voice and vocal ensembles, string orchestra, and symphony orchestra.  He also writes for various theatrical and musical productions.  His music has been performed throughout the United States and Europe.  Schnauber’s CD Death and Waltzes, recorded by the Russian String Orchestra, was released on the Quartz label in 2017.

Those Infernal Exsanguinators

Tom Schnauber

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