SONATA for bass trombone and piano

Meditations on War and Peace

Composed for voice, clarinet, and piano, the music is set to the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, William Butler Yeats, and Morgan Alexander (with the composer's collaboration on the lyric of the song Chalk of Time). 1. Chalk of Time 2. We Start in the Sun 3. War 4. Peace 5. The Second Coming  

FOUR IMAGES FOR PIANO

Contrasting pieces using a serial row with permutations

WIND QUINTET

Mvts 1 and 2, 12-tone used freely at times, Mvt 3 based on whole-tone interval; Revised edition (1996) of this work available.

Resonancia

Resonancia (resonance) was written in the summer of 2003 for the Nuova Musica International New Music Festival held in Senigallia, Italy where it received its premiere. Since that time the work has been presented in other parts of Europe by several pianists and received its US premiere in April of 2005 with pianist Cristina Valdes. The title of the work refers to the abundance of overtones that are produced by the repeated gestures heard during the first part of the work. These dense textures are contrasted by sparser material heard in the second section, which includes muting and plucking of the strings inside the piano as well as more conventional playing. As with much of my music the counterpoint between register, density, timbre, and pacing are important aesthetic concerns as is the exploration of the point where silence begins and sounds end and vice versa.

NIMBUS

Nimbus, premiered by Matthew Krejci on a Music Now concert in Sacramento, CA in October, 2002, is a short piece for solo flute written at the request of Perspectives of New Music for their festschrift in honor of Martin Boykan’s seventieth birthday. While no attempt was made to make any specific allusions to Marty’s music, the piece does capture some of the intensely lyrical qualities of it as well as, I would hope, the flexibility and elegance of phrasing found in the music of my primary teacher. After behaving in a characteristic manner for most of the piece, the flute engages in a quasi impersonation of a violin in a ten measure passage near the end. Following this, at the very end, it reverts to typical flute-like behavior in an explicit and whimsical reference to the beginning of the second half of the piece.  

LOVE OR MONEY

Singspiel in one act and thirteen scenes.  For singer/actors.  Ranges are as follows: 5 Sopranos, 4 Mezzo sopranos, 1 Alto, 4 Tenors, 3 Baritones, 2 Bass.  Ranges are approximate and can be changed if necessary. Actors/Singers may duplicate roles within a production. Plot Summary:  Diane Forest is an artistically successful author who makes a deal with Mephistopheles to become financially successful.

Deux Plaisanteries

1. Roll Jordan Roll; 2. Dangdut

 

Roll Jordan Roll’ (movement one) is a series of genre variations on the African-American spiritual of the same name. The melody was transcribed from a 78rpm recording of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, and in turn, this appeared on the 1962 Folkways LP entitled An Introduction to Gospel Song.

Sonata for Violin and Piano