program notes
Sechseläuten (2009) For wind ensemble
Sechseläuten literally means “six (bell) ringing,” and I took this title from an annual festival held in Zürich. It’s a festival led by the city’s guilds, and originates in a medieval practice. In the winter, the guildsmen worked until dark, but with the longer days of summer approaching, starting with the Vernal Equinox they would work only until the 6 o’clock church bells rang—thereby signaling the end of the workday, and the beginning of socializing (in the post-winter, still available daylight). Traditionally each spring the city still celebrates this festival. There’s a children’s parade, and a parade with the Zünfte (guilds) all turned out in their fancy garb, and this all culminates in the destruction of the Böögg—the burning of winter in effigy. In modern times, the Böögg, a sort of evil snowman (and cognate of the Bogeyman), is constructed of white cotton, his head filled with fireworks. The time it takes for his head to explode into fire signals (Punxsutawney Phil-like) how much longer before winter is gone, and what sort of summer approaches.
the night copies me in all its stars (2000) For orchestra
Comprising a single movement, the night copies me in all its stars for orchestra is an expansion of ideas found in one movement of my song cycle for pianist and computer-assisted piano, black narcissus, and was written for a reading by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. This piece is, just as the seven movements of black narcissus are, a working out of ideas taken from Schubert’s lied “Der Doppelgänger” and the German Romantic idea of this shadow image of each of us. Each movement of the earlier piano work, black narcissus, has as its title a fragment of poetry. The particular fragment also used here is an English translation of a couple of lines from Federico Garcia Lorca’s “Cancion del naranjo seco.” The word here translated as “copies” has been rendered “mimics” as well as “mocks” in some English versions of the Lorca original.... There are few true musical mirrors in this work, though many distorted ones....
silt and shine (2012) Miniature for solo viola
Silt and shine is the third work in a series of pieces exploring Richard Wagner's prelude to Das Rheingold, and serves as a study for the fourth work in the series (an as yet untitled piece for laptop ensemble).
errours, fault, sinnes, folies (2012) For violin and piano
For Eric KM Clark and Vicki Ray. Errours, faults, sinnes, folies makes use of two melancholic lute dances by John Dowland, and also takes its title from the lyrics to one of his many dolorous songs. A transformed melodic fragment from Dowland’s Melancholy Galliard drives the pitch material for the entire piece, and is most prominent in the violin’s opening angular lines. The basic rhythm of the galliard dance also influences some of the piece’s rhythmic material. In addition, a brief embellished quote from Dowland’s biggest hit, his Lachrimae pavane (1596) juts this slow and stately dance surprisingly into the midst of a syncopated “modern” ostinato.
errours, faults, sinnes, folies (2012) For oboe, violin, violoncello, and piano
Errours, faults, sinnes, folies makes use of two melancholic lute dances by John Dowland, and also takes its title from the lyrics to one of his many dolorous songs. A transformed melodic fragment from Dowland’s Melancholy Galliard drives the pitch material for the entire piece, and is most prominent in the violin’s opening angular lines. The basic rhythm of the galliard dance also influences some of the piece’s rhythmic material. In addition, a brief embellished quote from Dowland’s biggest hit, his Lachrimae pavane (1596) juts this slow and stately dance surprisingly into the midst of a syncopated “modern” ostinato.
s a n d m a n (2012) For chromatic didgeridoo and stompbox
Commissioned by performer/instrument builder Erik Nugent, s a n d m a n is for Erik’s latest instrument, the Nu, a chromatic, keyed didgeridoo. With power chords created by having the player singing in perfect intervals above the played note, and rapid repeated-note riffs, s a n d m a n betrays its heavy metal origins. With the title I was thinking of Neil Gaiman’s comic, and the seething anger of an imprisoned godlike being who is the weaver of dreams.
I feel open to... (2011) For violin, piano (toy piano), and percussion
I feel open to… is an experiment in the interactions between music and text. Poet Denise Duhamel wrote a 1001-line poem, Mille et un sentiments, a list poem with the lines all beginning with the words “I feel.” I feel open to... is a setting of 78 lines taken from the section of Duhamel’s poem beginning with line 401. This section discusses the process of writing itself, the difficulties of writing, of starting out, the frustrations of searching for the spark that will set off creation, and the problems of translation. The lines of this section begin with the words “I feel open to.”
I wrote I feel open to... specifically for the three players of the California E.A.R. Unit. Each player is asked to speak lines while playing. Many of the speech rhythms are free, but where they begin and end is almost always controlled. Mostly the players speak as individuals, but there are places where they must speak in the rhythms being played by someone else in the ensemble, or in which they must speak in sync with another speaker. There are a few atypical instruments and playing techniques involved in the piece—the violinist must tune the G string down to a very loose D, and also plays the instrument as a ukulele at one point. The percussionist is equipped with prayer bowls, coffee cans, and a duck call, and the pianist doubles on toy piano.
glint in river's bed (2010) For flute, clarinet violin, viola, contrabass, percussion, piano/toy piano, narrator and electronics
Glint in river’s bed grew out of Frank O’Hara’s poem, “Why I Am Not a Painter,” a poem that compares another O’Hara work (“Oranges: Twelve Pastorals”) with a painting by Michael Goldberg (SARDINES). The work breaks into two parts: the first part is scored for flute, clarinet, percussion (crotales and suspended cymbal), piano (doubling on toy piano), violin, viola, and contrabass. During the final chord of this section the second section of the piece should be triggered (scored for electronics and narrator). The electronics may be fixed (a “tape” part) or they may be created live by a laptop quartet. About 30 seconds into the electronics a narrator delivers “Why I Am Not a Painter” (or another suitable text). My title is a reference to (and all the materials for the electronics are derived from) the opening of Wagner’s Das Rheingold.
stn [adversary] (2009) For solo violin
Scored for solo violin, stn [adversary] was commissioned by the Montecito Summer Music Festival for Ken Aiso in honor of Israeli violin virtuoso, Ivry Gitlis. It is a compositional etude of sorts, focusing on multiple stops, especially those that include close intervals (usually minor 2nds). The commission entailed that the new work should be a variation in some manner on the slow movement of Bach’s Concerto in E Major for violin. A very brief and somewhat distorted quote of that work makes an appearance as do references to Paganini’s first Caprice (Op. 1, No. 1 in E Major) and Tartini’s “The Devil’s Trill” Sonata. The stn of the Hebrew Bible is simply an adversary, one who opposes. He asks Yahweh’s permission to oppose Job; he does not lead a revolt against Yahweh. Nevertheless, tradition (especially Christian tradition) transformed this opponent into Satan, “the devil.” There’s also a long tradition of connecting the violin and things devilish (Tartini’s sonata and Paganini’s supposed Faustian pact being two among many such connections), so I liked the idea of writing a violin solo connected, not so much with the devil, but with the stn—the one who opposes.
dusted [gamma] (2008) For solo marimba
A third piece working with the same core materials: the first is an intermediate-level marimba study, and the second is a work for marimba, three percussionists, and contrabass. I built dusted [gamma] from materials extracted from these two works, and it was composed for marimbist Laura Jordan.
...to an unnamed beneficiary (2008) For clarinet, trumpet, and celesta
…to an unnamed beneficiary was composed for The Questions Project, organized by James and David Bohn to mark the 100th anniversary year of Charles Ives’ The Unanswered Question as well as the 50th year since John Cage had delivered his lecture “Communication” (composed predominantly of questions) at Darmstadt. This new work reinterprets the distinctions among the layers of the Ives work, separating the players in space, tempo, and kind of material; the work responds both to the Ives and to an earlier Ivesian response by György Kurtág.
Nothing hidden that will not be revealed (2007) For piano
Nothing hidden that will not be revealed was commissioned by pianist Vicki Ray. Vicki asked for a work related in some way to Buddhist themes, and I began by choosing a saying from the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas: “Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you. For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed.” I felt that this Jesus speaks in koans that could have just as easily been voiced by the Buddha (Compare this statement to “Look within: thou art Buddha” or “Mindfulness is the substance of a Buddha,” for instance). Much of the musical material I began with comes from the strangely otherworldly preface to the Prophetiae Sibyllarum by Lassus (there is also one brief quote from this preface). Like my use of a Gnostic saying to voice a Buddhist theme, Lassus has his decidedly pre-Christian sibyls voice Christian themes. This is a piece about the sounds behind the sounds being actuated by the player’s hands on the keys. Every sound is connected to other sounds, resonances, ghosts, and sympathetic vibrations, and requires the pianist to make a lot of use of silently depressed keys, and of the sostenuto pedal, in order to allow specific notes to ring. The work also contains several “extended” playing techniques, including harmonics, muted notes, various kinds of pizzicato and strummed notes, percussive sounds, and some simple preparations, including using chains and a length of tape in a couple of passages.
wndhm (2006) For clarinet, (accordion,) percussion, violin, and viola or violoncello
This work for a small chamber ensemble exists in versions for several different instrumentations and grew out of a piano piece commissioned by my good friend Benjamin Binder (wndhm (1785)). The starting point for both piano and chamber works was Daniel Read’s “Windham,” an 18th-century hymn included in B.F. White’s The Sacred Harp. Most of this new work was derived from Read’s hymn—mostly by subtracting notes from it.
candlepin· bowling· deadwood (2005) For flute, clarinet (bass cl.), violoncello, piano, and drum set
‘Deadwood’ is by definition useless material, but in the game of candlepin bowling the lanes are not swept between rolls. Therefore, the fallen pins (or ‘deadwood’) can be used strategically to clear additional pins—the useless is made useful. How that plays out in the piece is hard to fix, but: the work’s form doesn’t make sense; rock-influenced material pops up unexpectedly; the climax seems misplaced; and it’s really the wrong material that recurs, yet, hopefully, the overall piece coheres.
chapman's homer (2005) For solo violin
This two-section work for solo violin requires the retuning of the lowest string of the instrument, from its usual G, to a rather flabby E flat. I wrote the piece over the course of a couple of afternoons in Chapman Studio at the MacDowell Colony in May 2005. The title came first from a melding of Keats’ poetic reference to George Chapman’s translation of Homer’s Odyssey and the studio where I was working at the time. As I repeated this phrase in my mind I realized that “Chapman's homer” could just as easily refer to baseball: “Red Sox Beat Yanks 5-4 / On Chapman's Homer.” Since I felt the conclusion of the piece had a decidedly American sound, and since I was working in a studio previously inhabited by many luminaries of the American musical world, I felt it right to make that punning reference.
wndhm (1785) (2005) For solo piano
The work wndhm (1785) is two short movements for piano commissioned by my friend, pianist Benjamin Binder. The starting point for these two brief pieces was Daniel Read’s hymn “Windham,” an 18th-century piece included in B.F. White’s The Sacred Harp. When I began the piece, I had in mind John Cage’s Apartment House 1776, sections of which Cage composed by subtracting notes from various 18th-century American hymns.
stone guest (2003) 19 miniatures in open form for 2 violins and 2 trombones
This set of miniatures, stone guest, is a book of fanfares in open form scored for two trombones and two trumpets. The seed material for stone guest came from the Commendatore’s announcement in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Special thanks to the Centro Studi Ligure and the Bogliasco Foundation for their support April-May 2003 that allowed me to write stone guest while working in a small studio on a quiet Apennine hillside overlooking the clear azure of the Mediterranean Sea.
Abschrift von unbekannter Hand (2002, rev. 2004) For solo violoncello
Bach’s solo suites for violoncello do not exist in autograph; instead, four 18th-century copies provide the text for these works. The earliest of these is a copy by Anna Magdalena — the fourth is a copy by an unknown hand. Abschrift von unbekannter Hand quotes no music, but within it melodies appear, develop, and then again disappear.
celluloid night (2000) For guitar quartet
Five short movements compose celluloid night, which exists as a set of responses to various films noirs and romans noirs, especially to single moments or impressions left by a handful from the two genres. I found great glee in “researching” my subject—studiously reading all of the Chandler and Hammett novels, and McCoy’s They Shoot Horses, Don’t They and so forth, as well as watching many, many films (Polanski’s Chinatown, Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, and, of course, Double Indemnity and Murder, My Sweet were particularly important. The actual soundtracks of the films didn’t interest me, nor do I expect the listener to envision synesthetically some particular noir moment. In the end, celluloid night exists not as fragments of a new and bungled film-collage score, but as Kinderszenen (from my childhood of last spring): a set of misremembered stills--moments dark through the lens of memory.
outskirts [tupelo, mississippi. march 1936.] (1999) For string quartet and marimba
Scored for the standard string quartet and a five-octave marimba, outskirts [tupelo, mississippi. march 1936.] was composed during Winter 1999 and completed in March in Princeton, New Jersey. The title refers to a handful of photographs from a series of black and white photos taken by Walker Evans for the Farm Bureau during the Depression years. It was composed for the Ives String Quartet with Nancy Zeltsman, marimba.
mystery [passion play] [micro-opera 1] (2011) For solo soprano
40s noir film (probably starring Robert Mitchum [micro opera 2] (2011) For soprano and percussion
The Spanish Prisoner [micro-opera 3] (2011) For solo voice and crotales
The micro-operas are tiny works for solo soprano, some with simple accompaniment (in some cases to be played by the singer), others a cappella. These are part of an ongoing series; each opera is under three minutes long, and is an attempt at presenting a complete story in miniature, while using texts derived completely from spam emails. Each opera is a stand-alone work, though they may be performed in combinations as well, or, preferably, interwoven between other, longer works on a program of other vocal works.
Komm süsser Tod (2001) For SSAATBB chorus a cappella
Komm süsser Tod is based upon the aria of the same title by J. S. Bach, BWV 478. The pitches and pitch contour of the descending lines for the first two full lines of text are quotes from the Bach. In addition, all of the text for this work is drawn from lines set in Bach’s aria. It was commissioned and premiered by Harry Johansen and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Chamber Singers.
[upon] glint in river’s bed (2013) For horn, violin and laptop quartet
Written for Martin Herman and the CSULB Laptop Ensemble.
Étude pour les pédales (contraption #4) (2012) Miniature for two-channel tape (source sounds from the pedals of a Fazioli grand piano)
With hints of wind and water, all of the sounds of this study originate in three short piano samples. Pedal sounds generated almost all of the work.
contraption #3 (7 rue Lagrange, Paris) (2012) For two-channel tape (source sounds from industrial machinery, faulty computer equipment, and Cavalli)
Walking around a neighborhood in Paris, I discovered the Librairie Jules Verne. When I was asked to write a piece related to “steampunk” ideas, I remembered this store and imagined it the front for a secret society dating back to Verne’s lifetime. Underneath the bookstore, I could see scientists at work, and futuristic machinery throbbing.
die Tiefen des Rheins (2010) Miniature for two-channel tape and companion piece to glint in river's bed
Editing the live recording of my piece glint in river’s bed in two different editing programs generated these overdriven sounds. I extracted this miniature from this happy accident giving it the title die Tiefen des Rheins, since both works draw on the opening of Wagner’s music drama Das Rheingold.
contraption #2 (2010) Miniature for two-channel tape
Exhalations form the basis of contraption #2, its long notes sounding through singing and through melodica.
Kaija calling (2010) Miniature for two-channel tape
Kaija calling finds its source material in recordings of several professional auctioneers, a child’s toy, and overtone singing.
Musical Contraption #1 (2007) For two-channel tape
Miniature tape piece (source sounds include my own overtone singing and Schubert's Symphony No. 8 "Unfinished.")
Type I error [111306-011107] (2007) For two-channel tape
The sounds for this work for two-channel tape all trace their source to EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) recordings. EVP believers find evidence of the dead communicating to the living through noisy electronic devices. Scientists classify apophenia (finding patterns where none exist) as a Type I error. Psychologists variously label such actions as psychosis, or creativity.
a foreign sound to your ear (what else can you show me?) (2006) For two-channel tape
A foreign sound to your ear (what else can you show me?) is for two-channel tape with source sounds from Bob Dylan’s 1965 “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” and was created for an installation as part of the Weisman Art Museum’s exhibit, “Bob Dylan’s American Journey, 1956-1966.” It was installed in that exhibit in conjunction with the 2007 Spark Festival at the University of Minnesota. In this reimagining of the Dylan, organ, drums and electric guitar take over the original’s bare acoustic space, and a single harmonica chord flowers into a new sound world.
...calling (2006) Miniature for stereo tape (sources sounds from auctioneer recordings)
Bells, calling auctioneers, and overtone singing.
program note by Henry Cowell [Beta] (2006) Miniature for stereo tape
A few years before his death, composer Henry Cowell recorded several of his early piano works and provided a brief set of audio notes for each--including a few words concerning his encore piece What’s This. I give Cowell the last word in this “beta” version of a longer tape piece.
pipers' noise (2006) For one or more snare drum(s) and stereo tape
Scored for snare drum(s) and stereo tape, pipers’ noise draws all its sounds from solo bagpipes or from pipe band recordings. Written in March 2006, it was composed to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the University of Georgia's Performing Arts Center.
morgenstreich (2001, rev. 2003) For flute, clarinet, harp, amplified piano, string quartet, and stereo electronics
C. G. Jung was fascinated by the carnival celebrations of his home city, Basle. He was thrilled by the revelers’ donning of elaborately painted masks, in order to drop their everyday masks, their personae. Basle’s Fasnacht celebrations begin in the pitch black of a late February night. At the sounding of 4 o’clock from the church bells, at this “stroke of morning,” all the lights of the city are also struck. Then the parade begins with handheld lights lit, bands of piccolos and drums, clubs of people joined together for various reasons, ensembles of brass players intentionally playing as loudly as possible (and out of tune as well), and people wearing huge elaborate masks that they began painting the year before -- all these groups begin the parade. They march right out in the darkness, displaying at this one time of year, according to Jung, their true selves ordinarily so carefully hidden.
Sechseläuten (2009) For wind ensemble
Sechseläuten literally means “six (bell) ringing,” and I took this title from an annual festival held in Zürich. It’s a festival led by the city’s guilds, and originates in a medieval practice. In the winter, the guildsmen worked until dark, but with the longer days of summer approaching, starting with the Vernal Equinox they would work only until the 6 o’clock church bells rang—thereby signaling the end of the workday, and the beginning of socializing (in the post-winter, still available daylight). Traditionally each spring the city still celebrates this festival. There’s a children’s parade, and a parade with the Zünfte (guilds) all turned out in their fancy garb, and this all culminates in the destruction of the Böögg—the burning of winter in effigy. In modern times, the Böögg, a sort of evil snowman (and cognate of the Bogeyman), is constructed of white cotton, his head filled with fireworks. The time it takes for his head to explode into fire signals (Punxsutawney Phil-like) how much longer before winter is gone, and what sort of summer approaches.
the night copies me in all its stars (2000) For orchestra
Comprising a single movement, the night copies me in all its stars for orchestra is an expansion of ideas found in one movement of my song cycle for pianist and computer-assisted piano, black narcissus, and was written for a reading by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. This piece is, just as the seven movements of black narcissus are, a working out of ideas taken from Schubert’s lied “Der Doppelgänger” and the German Romantic idea of this shadow image of each of us. Each movement of the earlier piano work, black narcissus, has as its title a fragment of poetry. The particular fragment also used here is an English translation of a couple of lines from Federico Garcia Lorca’s “Cancion del naranjo seco.” The word here translated as “copies” has been rendered “mimics” as well as “mocks” in some English versions of the Lorca original.... There are few true musical mirrors in this work, though many distorted ones....
silt and shine (2012) Miniature for solo viola
Silt and shine is the third work in a series of pieces exploring Richard Wagner's prelude to Das Rheingold, and serves as a study for the fourth work in the series (an as yet untitled piece for laptop ensemble).
errours, fault, sinnes, folies (2012) For violin and piano
For Eric KM Clark and Vicki Ray. Errours, faults, sinnes, folies makes use of two melancholic lute dances by John Dowland, and also takes its title from the lyrics to one of his many dolorous songs. A transformed melodic fragment from Dowland’s Melancholy Galliard drives the pitch material for the entire piece, and is most prominent in the violin’s opening angular lines. The basic rhythm of the galliard dance also influences some of the piece’s rhythmic material. In addition, a brief embellished quote from Dowland’s biggest hit, his Lachrimae pavane (1596) juts this slow and stately dance surprisingly into the midst of a syncopated “modern” ostinato.
errours, faults, sinnes, folies (2012) For oboe, violin, violoncello, and piano
Errours, faults, sinnes, folies makes use of two melancholic lute dances by John Dowland, and also takes its title from the lyrics to one of his many dolorous songs. A transformed melodic fragment from Dowland’s Melancholy Galliard drives the pitch material for the entire piece, and is most prominent in the violin’s opening angular lines. The basic rhythm of the galliard dance also influences some of the piece’s rhythmic material. In addition, a brief embellished quote from Dowland’s biggest hit, his Lachrimae pavane (1596) juts this slow and stately dance surprisingly into the midst of a syncopated “modern” ostinato.
s a n d m a n (2012) For chromatic didgeridoo and stompbox
Commissioned by performer/instrument builder Erik Nugent, s a n d m a n is for Erik’s latest instrument, the Nu, a chromatic, keyed didgeridoo. With power chords created by having the player singing in perfect intervals above the played note, and rapid repeated-note riffs, s a n d m a n betrays its heavy metal origins. With the title I was thinking of Neil Gaiman’s comic, and the seething anger of an imprisoned godlike being who is the weaver of dreams.
I feel open to... (2011) For violin, piano (toy piano), and percussion
I feel open to… is an experiment in the interactions between music and text. Poet Denise Duhamel wrote a 1001-line poem, Mille et un sentiments, a list poem with the lines all beginning with the words “I feel.” I feel open to... is a setting of 78 lines taken from the section of Duhamel’s poem beginning with line 401. This section discusses the process of writing itself, the difficulties of writing, of starting out, the frustrations of searching for the spark that will set off creation, and the problems of translation. The lines of this section begin with the words “I feel open to.”
I wrote I feel open to... specifically for the three players of the California E.A.R. Unit. Each player is asked to speak lines while playing. Many of the speech rhythms are free, but where they begin and end is almost always controlled. Mostly the players speak as individuals, but there are places where they must speak in the rhythms being played by someone else in the ensemble, or in which they must speak in sync with another speaker. There are a few atypical instruments and playing techniques involved in the piece—the violinist must tune the G string down to a very loose D, and also plays the instrument as a ukulele at one point. The percussionist is equipped with prayer bowls, coffee cans, and a duck call, and the pianist doubles on toy piano.
glint in river's bed (2010) For flute, clarinet violin, viola, contrabass, percussion, piano/toy piano, narrator and electronics
Glint in river’s bed grew out of Frank O’Hara’s poem, “Why I Am Not a Painter,” a poem that compares another O’Hara work (“Oranges: Twelve Pastorals”) with a painting by Michael Goldberg (SARDINES). The work breaks into two parts: the first part is scored for flute, clarinet, percussion (crotales and suspended cymbal), piano (doubling on toy piano), violin, viola, and contrabass. During the final chord of this section the second section of the piece should be triggered (scored for electronics and narrator). The electronics may be fixed (a “tape” part) or they may be created live by a laptop quartet. About 30 seconds into the electronics a narrator delivers “Why I Am Not a Painter” (or another suitable text). My title is a reference to (and all the materials for the electronics are derived from) the opening of Wagner’s Das Rheingold.
stn [adversary] (2009) For solo violin
Scored for solo violin, stn [adversary] was commissioned by the Montecito Summer Music Festival for Ken Aiso in honor of Israeli violin virtuoso, Ivry Gitlis. It is a compositional etude of sorts, focusing on multiple stops, especially those that include close intervals (usually minor 2nds). The commission entailed that the new work should be a variation in some manner on the slow movement of Bach’s Concerto in E Major for violin. A very brief and somewhat distorted quote of that work makes an appearance as do references to Paganini’s first Caprice (Op. 1, No. 1 in E Major) and Tartini’s “The Devil’s Trill” Sonata. The stn of the Hebrew Bible is simply an adversary, one who opposes. He asks Yahweh’s permission to oppose Job; he does not lead a revolt against Yahweh. Nevertheless, tradition (especially Christian tradition) transformed this opponent into Satan, “the devil.” There’s also a long tradition of connecting the violin and things devilish (Tartini’s sonata and Paganini’s supposed Faustian pact being two among many such connections), so I liked the idea of writing a violin solo connected, not so much with the devil, but with the stn—the one who opposes.
dusted [gamma] (2008) For solo marimba
A third piece working with the same core materials: the first is an intermediate-level marimba study, and the second is a work for marimba, three percussionists, and contrabass. I built dusted [gamma] from materials extracted from these two works, and it was composed for marimbist Laura Jordan.
...to an unnamed beneficiary (2008) For clarinet, trumpet, and celesta
…to an unnamed beneficiary was composed for The Questions Project, organized by James and David Bohn to mark the 100th anniversary year of Charles Ives’ The Unanswered Question as well as the 50th year since John Cage had delivered his lecture “Communication” (composed predominantly of questions) at Darmstadt. This new work reinterprets the distinctions among the layers of the Ives work, separating the players in space, tempo, and kind of material; the work responds both to the Ives and to an earlier Ivesian response by György Kurtág.
Nothing hidden that will not be revealed (2007) For piano
Nothing hidden that will not be revealed was commissioned by pianist Vicki Ray. Vicki asked for a work related in some way to Buddhist themes, and I began by choosing a saying from the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas: “Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you. For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed.” I felt that this Jesus speaks in koans that could have just as easily been voiced by the Buddha (Compare this statement to “Look within: thou art Buddha” or “Mindfulness is the substance of a Buddha,” for instance). Much of the musical material I began with comes from the strangely otherworldly preface to the Prophetiae Sibyllarum by Lassus (there is also one brief quote from this preface). Like my use of a Gnostic saying to voice a Buddhist theme, Lassus has his decidedly pre-Christian sibyls voice Christian themes. This is a piece about the sounds behind the sounds being actuated by the player’s hands on the keys. Every sound is connected to other sounds, resonances, ghosts, and sympathetic vibrations, and requires the pianist to make a lot of use of silently depressed keys, and of the sostenuto pedal, in order to allow specific notes to ring. The work also contains several “extended” playing techniques, including harmonics, muted notes, various kinds of pizzicato and strummed notes, percussive sounds, and some simple preparations, including using chains and a length of tape in a couple of passages.
wndhm (2006) For clarinet, (accordion,) percussion, violin, and viola or violoncello
This work for a small chamber ensemble exists in versions for several different instrumentations and grew out of a piano piece commissioned by my good friend Benjamin Binder (wndhm (1785)). The starting point for both piano and chamber works was Daniel Read’s “Windham,” an 18th-century hymn included in B.F. White’s The Sacred Harp. Most of this new work was derived from Read’s hymn—mostly by subtracting notes from it.
candlepin· bowling· deadwood (2005) For flute, clarinet (bass cl.), violoncello, piano, and drum set
‘Deadwood’ is by definition useless material, but in the game of candlepin bowling the lanes are not swept between rolls. Therefore, the fallen pins (or ‘deadwood’) can be used strategically to clear additional pins—the useless is made useful. How that plays out in the piece is hard to fix, but: the work’s form doesn’t make sense; rock-influenced material pops up unexpectedly; the climax seems misplaced; and it’s really the wrong material that recurs, yet, hopefully, the overall piece coheres.
chapman's homer (2005) For solo violin
This two-section work for solo violin requires the retuning of the lowest string of the instrument, from its usual G, to a rather flabby E flat. I wrote the piece over the course of a couple of afternoons in Chapman Studio at the MacDowell Colony in May 2005. The title came first from a melding of Keats’ poetic reference to George Chapman’s translation of Homer’s Odyssey and the studio where I was working at the time. As I repeated this phrase in my mind I realized that “Chapman's homer” could just as easily refer to baseball: “Red Sox Beat Yanks 5-4 / On Chapman's Homer.” Since I felt the conclusion of the piece had a decidedly American sound, and since I was working in a studio previously inhabited by many luminaries of the American musical world, I felt it right to make that punning reference.
wndhm (1785) (2005) For solo piano
The work wndhm (1785) is two short movements for piano commissioned by my friend, pianist Benjamin Binder. The starting point for these two brief pieces was Daniel Read’s hymn “Windham,” an 18th-century piece included in B.F. White’s The Sacred Harp. When I began the piece, I had in mind John Cage’s Apartment House 1776, sections of which Cage composed by subtracting notes from various 18th-century American hymns.
stone guest (2003) 19 miniatures in open form for 2 violins and 2 trombones
This set of miniatures, stone guest, is a book of fanfares in open form scored for two trombones and two trumpets. The seed material for stone guest came from the Commendatore’s announcement in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Special thanks to the Centro Studi Ligure and the Bogliasco Foundation for their support April-May 2003 that allowed me to write stone guest while working in a small studio on a quiet Apennine hillside overlooking the clear azure of the Mediterranean Sea.
Abschrift von unbekannter Hand (2002, rev. 2004) For solo violoncello
Bach’s solo suites for violoncello do not exist in autograph; instead, four 18th-century copies provide the text for these works. The earliest of these is a copy by Anna Magdalena — the fourth is a copy by an unknown hand. Abschrift von unbekannter Hand quotes no music, but within it melodies appear, develop, and then again disappear.
celluloid night (2000) For guitar quartet
Five short movements compose celluloid night, which exists as a set of responses to various films noirs and romans noirs, especially to single moments or impressions left by a handful from the two genres. I found great glee in “researching” my subject—studiously reading all of the Chandler and Hammett novels, and McCoy’s They Shoot Horses, Don’t They and so forth, as well as watching many, many films (Polanski’s Chinatown, Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, and, of course, Double Indemnity and Murder, My Sweet were particularly important. The actual soundtracks of the films didn’t interest me, nor do I expect the listener to envision synesthetically some particular noir moment. In the end, celluloid night exists not as fragments of a new and bungled film-collage score, but as Kinderszenen (from my childhood of last spring): a set of misremembered stills--moments dark through the lens of memory.
outskirts [tupelo, mississippi. march 1936.] (1999) For string quartet and marimba
Scored for the standard string quartet and a five-octave marimba, outskirts [tupelo, mississippi. march 1936.] was composed during Winter 1999 and completed in March in Princeton, New Jersey. The title refers to a handful of photographs from a series of black and white photos taken by Walker Evans for the Farm Bureau during the Depression years. It was composed for the Ives String Quartet with Nancy Zeltsman, marimba.
mystery [passion play] [micro-opera 1] (2011) For solo soprano
40s noir film (probably starring Robert Mitchum [micro opera 2] (2011) For soprano and percussion
The Spanish Prisoner [micro-opera 3] (2011) For solo voice and crotales
The micro-operas are tiny works for solo soprano, some with simple accompaniment (in some cases to be played by the singer), others a cappella. These are part of an ongoing series; each opera is under three minutes long, and is an attempt at presenting a complete story in miniature, while using texts derived completely from spam emails. Each opera is a stand-alone work, though they may be performed in combinations as well, or, preferably, interwoven between other, longer works on a program of other vocal works.
Komm süsser Tod (2001) For SSAATBB chorus a cappella
Komm süsser Tod is based upon the aria of the same title by J. S. Bach, BWV 478. The pitches and pitch contour of the descending lines for the first two full lines of text are quotes from the Bach. In addition, all of the text for this work is drawn from lines set in Bach’s aria. It was commissioned and premiered by Harry Johansen and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Chamber Singers.
[upon] glint in river’s bed (2013) For horn, violin and laptop quartet
Written for Martin Herman and the CSULB Laptop Ensemble.
Étude pour les pédales (contraption #4) (2012) Miniature for two-channel tape (source sounds from the pedals of a Fazioli grand piano)
With hints of wind and water, all of the sounds of this study originate in three short piano samples. Pedal sounds generated almost all of the work.
contraption #3 (7 rue Lagrange, Paris) (2012) For two-channel tape (source sounds from industrial machinery, faulty computer equipment, and Cavalli)
Walking around a neighborhood in Paris, I discovered the Librairie Jules Verne. When I was asked to write a piece related to “steampunk” ideas, I remembered this store and imagined it the front for a secret society dating back to Verne’s lifetime. Underneath the bookstore, I could see scientists at work, and futuristic machinery throbbing.
die Tiefen des Rheins (2010) Miniature for two-channel tape and companion piece to glint in river's bed
Editing the live recording of my piece glint in river’s bed in two different editing programs generated these overdriven sounds. I extracted this miniature from this happy accident giving it the title die Tiefen des Rheins, since both works draw on the opening of Wagner’s music drama Das Rheingold.
contraption #2 (2010) Miniature for two-channel tape
Exhalations form the basis of contraption #2, its long notes sounding through singing and through melodica.
Kaija calling (2010) Miniature for two-channel tape
Kaija calling finds its source material in recordings of several professional auctioneers, a child’s toy, and overtone singing.
Musical Contraption #1 (2007) For two-channel tape
Miniature tape piece (source sounds include my own overtone singing and Schubert's Symphony No. 8 "Unfinished.")
Type I error [111306-011107] (2007) For two-channel tape
The sounds for this work for two-channel tape all trace their source to EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) recordings. EVP believers find evidence of the dead communicating to the living through noisy electronic devices. Scientists classify apophenia (finding patterns where none exist) as a Type I error. Psychologists variously label such actions as psychosis, or creativity.
a foreign sound to your ear (what else can you show me?) (2006) For two-channel tape
A foreign sound to your ear (what else can you show me?) is for two-channel tape with source sounds from Bob Dylan’s 1965 “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” and was created for an installation as part of the Weisman Art Museum’s exhibit, “Bob Dylan’s American Journey, 1956-1966.” It was installed in that exhibit in conjunction with the 2007 Spark Festival at the University of Minnesota. In this reimagining of the Dylan, organ, drums and electric guitar take over the original’s bare acoustic space, and a single harmonica chord flowers into a new sound world.
...calling (2006) Miniature for stereo tape (sources sounds from auctioneer recordings)
Bells, calling auctioneers, and overtone singing.
program note by Henry Cowell [Beta] (2006) Miniature for stereo tape
A few years before his death, composer Henry Cowell recorded several of his early piano works and provided a brief set of audio notes for each--including a few words concerning his encore piece What’s This. I give Cowell the last word in this “beta” version of a longer tape piece.
pipers' noise (2006) For one or more snare drum(s) and stereo tape
Scored for snare drum(s) and stereo tape, pipers’ noise draws all its sounds from solo bagpipes or from pipe band recordings. Written in March 2006, it was composed to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the University of Georgia's Performing Arts Center.
morgenstreich (2001, rev. 2003) For flute, clarinet, harp, amplified piano, string quartet, and stereo electronics
C. G. Jung was fascinated by the carnival celebrations of his home city, Basle. He was thrilled by the revelers’ donning of elaborately painted masks, in order to drop their everyday masks, their personae. Basle’s Fasnacht celebrations begin in the pitch black of a late February night. At the sounding of 4 o’clock from the church bells, at this “stroke of morning,” all the lights of the city are also struck. Then the parade begins with handheld lights lit, bands of piccolos and drums, clubs of people joined together for various reasons, ensembles of brass players intentionally playing as loudly as possible (and out of tune as well), and people wearing huge elaborate masks that they began painting the year before -- all these groups begin the parade. They march right out in the darkness, displaying at this one time of year, according to Jung, their true selves ordinarily so carefully hidden.
