Schizoid

Composer's Note:

Schizoid was written at the request of Keith Aleo and Shannon Wood, principal percussionist and timpanist respectively of the Florida Philharmonic. However, the orchestra sadly folded and the work never saw the light of day. Thankfully these fine musicians are contributing quite successfully to the percussion world. I am very fortunate that two of my former students, each enjoying fine professional careers halfway around the world from one another, agreed to take on this demanding work both in its musical scope and with its non-stop technical requirements. Mayumi Hama and Christopher Froh came to Ann Arbor, rehearsed for three days, presented the work in a public performance and the next day provided this recording. Given the music and the joyous personalities of the performers, when a session “take” went askew, absolute chaos with zany banter and laughter in a fun mixture of Nihon and English would bubble over, which was pure joy to experience in the booth.

The motivic materials have their roots in scenes from my opera, Twelve Years a Slave. This is also the case in the work, Dreams From a Bayou Long Ago But Not Forgotten, composed for percussionist, Payton MacDonald and flutist, Jessica Johnson’s duo ensemble, Verederos, and appears on their EQ05 CD. I am pleased that each duo work is quite distinct from the other, yet both have clear traces that connect to each other and back to the source.