Compositions
So(Not)a for Trumpet and Piano (2003) 8’
So(Not)a for Trumpet and Piano I.mp3
So(Not)a for Trumpet and Piano II.mp3
So(Not)a for Trumpet and Piano III.mp3
So(Not)a for Trumpet and Piano explores the trumpet in several different contexts and styles. The harmony and rhythm of the piece are strongly influenced by jazz, yet the work draws its structure and compositional strategies more from the classical world.
Movement I explores the lyrical side of the trumpet, and displays its ability to move smoothly though a melodic line with large intervallic leaps. The melody is loosely derived from a twelve-tone row, while the piano accompaniment is largely based on a series of harmonically stretched and extended dominant chords. The trumpet line in Movement II is based on an improvisation of mine, and was conceived in one through-recorded take. I characterize it as Clifford Brown meets funk. Movement III displays a lyrical, yet static, trumpet melody over two harmonic motives, and features a jazz waltz as its middle section.
Beyond Romance (We’re On Our Own Now) (2006) 25’
Beyond Romance (We’re On Our Own Now) is a song cycle for soprano, tenor, and piano (Benjamin Bierman, music; Earl Shuman, lyrics). The piece explores the emotional lives of a couple in the middle stage of their married life. They reminisce about their early lives together: how they met, their courtship, their first apartment, and having children. As the children leave home, however, their relationship undergoes severe stresses, including infidelity. How these issues are dealt with is the dramatic undercurrent of this story.
The work is eclectic, merging an art song sensibility with jazz, Latin jazz, and musical theater. This version has piano accompaniment. The creators are hoping to expand the work into a theatrical piece.
Four Preludes for Violin Solo (2000) 11’
Four Preludes for Violin Solo 1.mp3
Four Preludes for Violin Solo 2.mp3
Four Preludes for Violin Solo 3.mp3
Four Preludes for Violin Solo 4.mp3
In Four Preludes for Violin Solo, melodic motives are presented, and the full themes gradually take shape as outgrowths of these smaller melodic cells. The first prelude melody was originally drawn from a twelve-tone row, but quickly transformed. The initial theme of the second prelude draws its inspiration from the Charanga tradition of Cuban dance music, which prominently features violins. I have always enjoyed their montuno-like role. The second theme is influenced by Karen Carpenter, and her lovely, wistful melodic sensibility. The third prelude is built around a regularly repeating descending motive, and most of the melodic content is developed from it. The fourth prelude is a perpetual motion flurry of chromaticism with a hard-bop intensity.
Some Takes On the Blues (2005) 5’
Some Takes On the Blues is just me at home having some fun with the blues. I overdubbed a number of mouth-percussion parts, laid several trumpet tracks, and even threw in some of my blues guitar playing. For good measure, my son, Manny, joined in on udu during the trumpet solo. Take a listen – it’s kind of a kick! It was created to be performed by CD playback.
Q Express
The sound sources for Q Express (an electro-acoustic work) were collected during a subway ride from Brooklyn to Manhattan. The sounds were recorded inside the cars, between the cars, and in the stations. Some sounds appear as recorded, while others have been manipulated by methods such as time-expansion, transposition, and filtering.
The piece can be performed as is (CD playback), and I also perform it with an improvised trumpet component. In this form, the role of the trumpet is not as soloist, but rather as another sound-participant in the overall texture. Besides always having been fascinated by the subway’s various rhythms, noises, and hums, the stream of humanity that flies by in all of the windows as I stand on the platform also regularly fuels my imagination. This is where the trumpet fits in, as one small piece in the social jumble of this particular train ride.
Proximities (2002) 6’
Proximities is primarily concerned with group dynamics: how the various instruments of the ensemble work within their own confines, as well as how they interact with the rest of the group. Instrumentalists have an opportunity to exhibit virtuosity, yet while these virtuostic displays illuminate the ensemble’s technique, they primarily function as points of view. The interaction of these points of view is perhaps best explained through an analogy with a family or a group of close friends: at times they communicate freely and easily in respectful harmony, while at other times they speak over each other, having no interest in what each other has to say. It is interesting to note that though there is little agreement on a point of view, the resultant cacophony is strong and beautiful, and has taken on a life of its own.
Here are a few of my compositions. Please see my News! page to hear The Poem That Nobody Hears, from a recent commission. If you are interested in performing any of my works, or in commissioning a work, please click here to send me a note.
