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I've been writing "classical" music ever since high
school and have completed or made substantial beginnings on hundreds of pieces
for everything from pieces for solo instruments through chamber ensembles of
both traditional and odd-ball composition all the way up to medium-length works
for large orchestra. A sizable number of these pieces were never completed
or have been withdrawn from circulation because I don't feel they were
successful works. The ones listed here are, for the most part, works which
I actively circulate and make available for public performances and/or
recordings. There are a handful of withdrawn pieces listed here,
but those are only because they bear some relationship to some other work which is
in active circulation.
Composition, for me, is a never-ending process. I am
almost always tinkering with pieces and, especially prior to a premiere, it
is not uncommon for me to do extensive revisions on a nominally finished piece.
To reflect this, I list each composition in a separate table showing all
the major revisions which the work has undergone, showing composition
dates, durations and various comments about each. If the heading of the table is
highlighted as a link, you can read a program
note for the piece by clicking on it.
|
Three Psalms for Two Choirs (withdrawn)
|
Psalm 120 (version #1)
includes first 12-tone passage |
SSAATTBB Choir |
5:00 |
3/75 |
| Psalm 113 (version #1) |
SSSSATB Choir |
4:00 |
5/75 |
Psalm 130 (version #1)
first use of 1/4-tones and clusters |
SSAATTBB Choir |
6:00 |
7/75 |
| Three Psalms for Two Choirs |
| |
1. Psalm 120
2. Psalm 113
3. Psalm 130 |
2 SSAATTBB Choirs w/SSSSAATTBB Soli
|
15:00 |
1/76 |
| Three Psalms for Two Choirs |
2 SSAATTBB Choirs or Soli; Org; Chimes (opt) |
15:00 |
9/77-10/77 |
|
Departure
|
Like a Sick Eagle
An attempt at systematic use of 1/4 tones. This later became
incorporated into the song cycle Departure with only minor
revisions. |
Sop & 2 Fl |
5:30 |
10/1/76 |
| Departure (Song Cycle on Poems of John Keats) |
| |
1. Lines
2. Were I of Ample Strength(text from "To
Haydon")
3. The Dove
4. Interlude(text from ""On ------")
Quotes Bach "Erbarme Dich" (from St.Matthew Passion)
5. Like a Sick Eagle(text from "Sonnet on Seeing the
Elgin Marbles")
6. To Sleep
Quotes last movement of Scriabin Piano Sonata #1 |
Fl, Fl/Alto Fl, Cl, Bari, Pno
Cl, Sop
Sop, Bari, Picc, Fl, Pno
Sop, 2 Fl, Cl, Pno
Sop, 2 Fl
Bari, Fl, Cl, Pno, Off-Stage Bells |
24:00 |
12/76-1/77. Add'l work done 2/77-3/77. Final completion
date 3/15/77. |
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Metamorphosis
|
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Metamorphosis (Concertino for Jazz Trio and
Orchestra) (version #1 for small orchestra)
The piece was in my head around 5/77 and actually composed
9/77-10/77. It was originally written for a chamber orchestra concert
Penn Composers Guild was mounting. The concert never happened and the
piece was never performed. A brief fragment of it was read (but not
taped) by a group at Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts under
Theodore Antoniou. The work was subsequently revised for large
orchestra, q.v., below. This reworks some of the ideas of a much earlier
piece for rock band (The Rape of Persephone) and is dedicated to
Jimi Paradis and Rusty d'Addio who participated in the original
improvisation on which that piece was based.
|
Pno, Bass Gtr, Drums; 2/2/0/1; 2/2/2/0; 5 Perc;
Strings; Org (opt) |
15:00 |
5/77-10/77 |
| Metamorphosis (Concerto for Jazz Trio and Orchestra) (version
#2 for large orchestra) |
Solo Jazz Trio (Pno, Bass Gtr, Drums) & Orch
(4/0/4/2, 4/4/3/1, 5; Org; Strings) |
15:00 |
9/78 |
Metamorphosis (version #3 for normal orchestra)
I had actually been making such notes off and on since 12/94
when Joel Suben started talking about wanting to record this work. |
Solo Jazz Trio (Pno, Bass Gtr, Drums) & Orch
(3/3/3/3, 4/3/3/1, 5; Strings) |
15:00 |
8/96-9/96 |
|
Quintus Obscurus
|
| Quintus Obscurus (version #1) |
Bass Fl/Fl, Vla, 2 Perc |
11:00 |
11/11-12/8/77 |
Quintus Obscurus (version #2)
Biggest change is breaking celeste part out for a separate
player and a concommitant filling out of that part. |
Bass Fl/Fl, Vla, Celeste, 2 Perc |
11:00 |
5/78 |
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Residual
Entropy
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Residual Entropy
For the members of Musica Gratis (who disbanded before the
premiere occurred). Some very complicated poly-rhythms and the writing's
not always idiomatic but this is lots of fun. If Brahms and Carter
co-wrote a piece, it might be something like this! Only the first two
movements were performed at the premiere and for that occasion, they
went under the title Two Portraits.
|
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1. Adagio espressivo; animato
2. Nocturne
3. Allegro furioso; Molto Adagio; Appassionata |
Fl, Ob, Vln, Cello, Pno
|
19:00 |
5/78 & 9/15-12/16/78 |
|
Three Christmas Carols
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Three Christmas Carols
Dedicated to Tracey Linden and a Christmas present for her.
Three rather silly arrangements which are kind of fun, nonetheless. |
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1. O Come, All Ye Faithful
2. The First Noel
3. Joy to the World |
SATB
SSATBB
SATB |
12:00 |
12/19/78 |
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Dichotomies
|
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Dichotomies
My first prize-winner (Brookline Library Music Association),
mercilessly assaulted by a performer who couldn't be bothered to do much
more than sight-read a piece that was absurdly difficult even with
practice.
|
Vla |
14:00 |
2/7/79-3/24/79 |
| Dichotomies (extensive rewrite) |
Vla |
14:00 |
late 1982 |
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Processional
|
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Processional
An absurdly difficult rhythmic exercise that was my first
piece to deal with the properties of all-combinatorial rows.
|
Hn & Cello |
3:30 |
4/79 |
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Come Sopra
|
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Come Sopra
This and Processional were part of a projected series
of short pieces for each possible duo and the composite trio available
from oboe, horn and cello (that arose from being friends with three
roommates at NEC who played those instruments). Absolutely no work or
thought (as nearly as I can recall) was done on the oboe+horn duo or the
oboe-horn-cello trio that would have completed the series.
|
Ob & Cello |
6:15 |
4/6/79-5/13/79 |
|
Les Voyageurs
|
| Les Voyageurs |
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1. Adagio sostenuto; Andante
2. Allegro giusto
3. Misterioso framentate; Andantino scherzevole
4. Allegro appassionato
5. Adagio sostenuto; Andante; Largamente con moto |
Hn & 3 Cello
|
17:00 |
11/4-12/16/79 |
| Les Voyageurs (many revisions of details (same
movements)) |
Hn & 3 Cello |
17:00 |
8/17-9/7/82 |
| Les Voyageurs (more revisions (same movements)) |
Hn & 3 Cello |
17:00 |
1990 |
| Les Voyageurs (extensive revisions (same
movements)) |
Hn & 3 Cello |
17:00 |
9/91 |
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Der Letze Glasperlenspieler (withdrawn)
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Der Letze Glasperlenspieler (oder die
Erbschaft des Magister Ludi) (poems by Hesse)
An eighth song, a setting of most of the poem actually
entitled "Der letze Glasperlenspieler" was planned but not
completed. I had some tentative plans to score the accompaniment for Cl/BsCl,
Vln, Cello, Harp and Pno but aside from some notes in my working copy of
the score, this arrangement was never made. As was all too common with
my work from this immediate period, my obsession with trying to use all
sorts of "modern" performance techniques to articulate
multiple levels of twelve-tone derivation resulted in a virtually
unplayable piano part.
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1. Zu einer Toccata von Bach (t.1)
2. Stufen (t.1)
3. Doch heimlich dursten wir...
4. Zu einer toccata von Bach (t.2)
5. Klage
6. Stufen (t.2)
7. Der letze Glasperlenspieler(from "Beim lessin in einem
alten Philosophen") |
Bass-baritone & Pno
|
17:00 |
2/5-3/4/80 |
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Concertino
|
| Composition for Two Harps |
2 Harps |
-- |
spring, 1980 |
| Composition for Two Pianos |
2 Pianos |
-- |
spring, 1980 |
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Septet
Having evolved a rather abstract pitch construct in early 1980
(3/6-5/12/80), I attepmted to realize it as a piece for two harps. When
problems of scoring and registral balance came about, I abandoned this
realization and started a fairly different one for two pianos. Again, I
was dissatisfied with the results and began a third realization (for a
mixed septet) which I liked but which was put aside when school let out
for the summer and financial problems began to nag at me. When I was at
the Bennington Composers' Workshop in July, 1980, and a string quartet
was made available to me, I somewhat reluctantly returned to the same
pitch structure which was now becoming something of an obsession and
finally turned it into a completed work (Quintetino, q.v.,
below). In the Fall, I again picked up the septet sketches and began to
continue them, changing the name to Septetino (the "ino's"
in this and the still later Concertino are all allusions to the
heavy influcence Martino's music had on the piece(s)). When Arthur
Berger made some suggestions about the piece which necessitated the
addition of more instruments, I added a cello, horn and celeste and
finished the piece as Nonetino (q.v., below). It was only when I
made a clean copy of the piece that the name Concertino was
added. The two harps, two pianos and septet version of the piece are all
referred to in my paper "Some Thoughts on Pitch Choice
Criteria."
|
Fl/Picc, Cl/Bass Cl, Vln, Cello, Cb, Harp, Perc (Mar/Xylo/Vib/Glock),
Pno |
-- |
spring, 1980 |
Concertino (Dedicated to Donald Martino at 50)
Originally called Nonetino |
| |
1. Pesante; Allegro giusto; Adagio molto; Allegro
2. Allegro ruvido; Adagio
3. Presto con bravura;Allegro moderato;Adagio sostenuto |
Fl/Picc, Eb Cl/Bb Cl/Bass Cl, Hn; Vln, Cello, Bass; 1
(Opt 2) Perc (Mar/Xylo/Vib/Glock), Harp, Pno/Celeste
|
11:00 |
9/20-11/5/80 |
| Concertino (Many minor revisions. Same movements as above.) |
Fl/Picc, Eb Cl/Bb Cl/Bass Cl, Hn; Vln,
Cello, Bass; 1 (Opt 2) Perc (Mar/Xylo/Vib/Glock), Harp, Pno/Celeste |
11:00 |
1991 |
|
Quintetino
|
| Quintetino |
Str Qt & Pno |
8:30 |
July 1-14, 1980 |
| Quintetino (fairly extensive revisions) |
Str Qt & Pno |
8:30 |
Sept, 1981 |
| Quintetino (minor revisions) |
Str Qt & Pno |
8:30 |
Fall, 1991 |
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Tri-tetra-hexa (withdrawn)
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Tri-tetra-hexa (Dissolutions I)
Cranked out very quickly at Bennington Composers' Workshop
after hearing Harvey Sollberger play a performance of his Metimpsychosis
(spelling?). He also helped a lot with fingerings and such on the
extensive extended techniques I was using. Hence, the piece is dedicated
to him. The arrangement for cello was necessitated by our not having a
violinist available for the conference performance. It loses some of the
registral associations but in many respects balances (and hence, sounds)
better than the violin version. Cellists also seem to be a little less
reluctant to do some of the "bang-on-the-body" stuff that the
score calls for than are violinists.
|
Amp.Fl & Perc vs. Vln (or Cello) & Perc |
5:30 |
7/15-21/80 |
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Double Helix
(Dissolutions II)
|
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Double Helix (Dissolutions II)
Somewhat later, it was dedicated "For Arthur Berger at
70". This was originally written specifically to be read by the NEC
Symphony. I actually believed it was a sight-reading piece! Only the
first 100 or so bars was copied in time for the reading. This piece is
related to Dissolutions I (Tri-tetra-hexa) only in general
transitional procedures and the idea of different group's characters
gradually changing from one into the other.
|
3/3/3/3; 6/3/3/1; 5-9 Perc; Pno; Strings |
10:00 |
11/7-12/21/80 |
| Double Helix (much rescoring & some
recomposition) |
3/3/3/3; 6/3/3/1; Timp, 4 Perc; Pno; Strings |
10:00 |
8/17-9/7/82 |
| Double Helix (some revisions) |
3/3/3/3; 6/3/3/1; Timp, 4 Perc; Pno; Strings |
10:00 |
throughout 1991 |
| Double Helix (extensive revisions in prep for
1994 recording) |
3/3/3/3; 6/3/3/1; Timp, 4 Perc; Pno; Strings |
10:00 |
Summer 1992 |
| Double Helix (a few more revisions during &
after recording) |
3/3/3/3; 6/3/3/1; Timp, 4 Perc; Pno; Strings |
10:00 |
Dec, 1994 |
|
Alle Tode
|
Alle Tode (Song Cycle on Poems of Hermann Hesse)
For Michelle Disco. Written for her graduate recital, her
accompanist refused to learn much of it with the result that they gave a
half-hearted (Michelle singing her heart out (as always) and Terry
poking rather randomly at the keyboard) of Numbers 1, 2, 3 & 8.
Michelle and Jeff Farrington gave the premiere of the whole piece the
following fall. This piece, by the way, was the first in which I used
computer programs (Dan Starr's TTSL) to do extensive pre-compositional
analysis of my materials. As a curiousity, I noticed while looking at a
copy of Der letze Glasperlenspieler in August of 1996 that
although this piece and that have nothing in common in terms of
materials, there are interesting formal correspondances between the two
that I'm pretty sure were not conciously in my mind while composing Alle
Tode. |
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1. Uber die Felder
2. Bei Nacht
3. Die Kindheit
4. Schicksal
5. Angst in der Nacht
6. [piano interlude]
7. Alle Tode
8. Uber die Felder (reprise) |
High Soprano & Pno
|
20:00 |
1/9-5/15/81 |
| Alle Tode (many minor revisions (same movements
as above)) |
|
20:00 |
1982-1983 |
|
String Quartet #2
|
| String Quartet #2 |
Str Qt |
14:00 |
9/28/81-12/7/81 |
| String Quartet #2 (extensive revisions) |
Str Qt |
14:00 |
8/17-9/7/82 |
|
Chamber Concerto
|
Chamber Concerto
Started as a tape piece but the ideas grew increasingly
instrumental. Still, it was not until I was already making the clean
copy that I completely discarded the notion of a tape version. Various
obsessions with the FORTRAN aspect of the work interrupted the
composition a couple of times. The exact dates I was working on it were:
1/28-2/15/82, 3/9-28/82, 4/24-29/82. Minor revisions were made while
making the clean copy (5/16-30/82). This, by the way was the first (and
one of the few) pieces of mine to make use of time points. |
Picc/Fl; Cl/Bass Cl; Ob/EngHn; Bsn/CBsn; Vln; Vla;
Cello; Bass; Pno; Perc (Mar/Vib) |
16:30 |
1/28-4/29/82 |
| Chamber Concerto (extensive revisions) |
Picc/Fl; Cl/Bass Cl; Ob/EngHn; Bsn/CBsn; Vln; Vla;
Cello; Bass; Pno; Perc (Mar/Vib) |
16:30 |
8/17-9/7/82 |
| Chamber Concerto (still further revisions) |
Picc/Fl; Cl/Bass Cl; Ob/EngHn; Bsn/CBsn; Vln; Vla;
Cello; Bass; Pno; Perc (Mar/Vib) |
16:30 |
6/93 |
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Skid Row (withdrawn)
|
Skid Row
An exploration of timepoints and self-deriving sets. The notes
and most of the "scoring" were done in the indicated time
frame but the computer realization sat undone for quite a while. The
piece was untitled for quite a while. One sketch page is title "Matricity,"
and "Paradieso" was also tossed around for a while. I didn't
decide on "Skid Row" until I was doing the tape realization
the final fall. The title is a (bad) pun on the fact that the piece's
row is highly degenerate. |
Tape |
8:30 |
4/13-20/82 |
| Skid Row (incomplete tape realization) |
Tape |
-- |
10/10-30/82 |
| Skid Row (completed tape realization) |
Tape |
9:20 |
10/15-12/30/83 |
|
Toccata
|
Toccata
Cranked out fairly quickly for a recital by Louise Mundinger. |
Org |
9:30 |
11/1-18/82 |
|
Four Frames
|
Four Frames (incomplete)
This is only vaguely related to an earlier (unfinished)
percussion quartet called Douzet. The title Four Frames
was not added until the work's completion. |
4 Perc |
-- |
11/29-12/7/82 |
| Four Frames (completed) |
4 Perc (I: 4 SnDr, 4 Cym, Glock; II: 4 Tams, 4 TmplBlk,
Xylo; III: Vib, Mar; IV: Bongoes, Vib) |
10:00 |
2/6-12/83 |
| Four Frames (many minor revisions) |
|
10:00 |
1992 |
|
Circonspection
|
Circonspection
A setting of Verlaine's poem cranked out in two very brief
sessions. |
Sop & Cl |
8:00 |
12/18-20/82 & 1/20-22/83 |
|
Clarinet
Quartet
|
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Clarinet Quartet (title not added until
later (see below))
Things were going well on this piece (which I'd actually been
carrying around in my head since the previous spring) when I hit a wall
that I couldn't get past. I put the work aside and continued it later.
|
Cl, Vln, Cello, Pno |
-- |
9/7-10/10/82 |
|
Clarinet Quartet (Montage)
Finally able to get past the stumbling block mentioned above,
I rapidly finished this piece in three relatively brief sessions
(3/14-25/83, 4/5-9/83 and 4/17/83). The last several pages flowed
through me as if I was just a scribe. Interestingly, my earliest
thoughts on this piece (dating back to the spring of 1982) included a
very clear idea about how the piece would end. The ending that flowed
through me on 4/17/83 wasn't even close to that one. The subtitle
"Montage" was rarely used...it occurs on a couple of works
lists I typed up and I think it might have been on one or two concert
programs but I never really liked it and eventually stopped using it
altogether.
|
Cl, Vln, Cello, Pno |
20:00 |
3/14-4/17/83 |
| Clarinet Quartet (minor revisions) |
Cl, Vln, Cello, Pno |
20:00 |
5/85 |
|
Variations
|
Variations
Most work done 8/17-24/83 but there were several false starts.
The manuscript gives fairly detailed information on what was composed
when. |
Fl, Ob, Cl, Bsn |
9:30 |
8/17-24/83 |
| Variations (extensive revisions) |
Fl, Ob, Cl, Bsn |
9:30 |
6/6/85 |
|
Premonitions
|
|
Premonitions
My first piece based on an all-partition array. Some sketches
also call this piece Identity Crisis because of the way the
harmonies keep rearranging themselves in response to the contrapuntal
lines of the piece. The preliminary studies for the piece (ultimately
rejected) were done 9/11-10/4/83. Precompositional plans for this
version were done 10/4-10/20. The composition took place 10/20-11/13 and
touch-up revisions were made 11/13-11/18/83.
|
Pno |
9:30 |
9/14-11/18/83 |
| Premonitions (some revisions) |
Pno |
9:30 |
11/89 |
| Premonitions (additional revisions) |
Pno |
9:30 |
mid-Aug to Sep, 1991 |
|
Echoes
|
|
Echoes (text Hopkins:"The Leaden Echo &
The Golden Echo")
Based on the circle-of-fifths transformation of the
all-partition array from Premonitions. First draft of part 1 of
the piece was 11/26-28/83. Did a different mapping of the poem onto the
array 11/28-12/6 and completed the composition 12/7-12/18/83. Revisions
were made off and on throughout 1/84. Regarding the tape realization,
many test runs were made in July and early August, 1984. Most of the
"real" work was done in Sept. & October of 1984. BTW: The
'Full Score' only exists in MS, the clean copy is a simplified piano
score although the piece was never intended to be performed with piano.
|
Sop & Tape |
12:37 |
11/26-12/18/83 |
|
Two Sonnets
|
| The Windhover (precompositional sketches) |
Sop & Pno |
|
1/15/84 |
| The Windhover (sketch of 1st 8 lines only) |
Sop & Pno |
|
1/27-28/85 |
|
Two Sonnets (texts by Hopkins)
Worked on #1 7/30, 8/12, 8/13, 8/16 and 8/17/86. Worked on #2
12/5/86, 1/4/87, 12/31/87 and 1/2/88. Many revisions were made to both
songs in January 1988. A few minor touchups were made during rehearsals
for the Sept/Oct, 1988 premiere. Obviously, these were exceedingly dry
and uncreative years for me.
|
| |
1. The Windhover
2. The Sea and the Skylark
In 1985, I was working on a "setting" of this poem
for computer processed speech but it was never completed. This rather
traditional setting of the text is completely unrelated to the earlier
endeavor.
|
Sop & Pno
|
9:00 |
7/30/86-1/2/88 |
|
Masques III
|
Masques
All-partition array done 3/8-12/84. Rejected draft of first
2/3 of piece 3/12-3/19/83. Recomposition of this and composition of
conclusion 3/19-21/84. Made minor revisions in April, 1984. |
Ob or Bass Ob |
7:00 |
3/8-21/84 |
| Masques I (revision) |
Ob or Bass Ob |
7:00 |
Feb, 1985 |
| Masques II |
Fl |
8:00 |
June, 1986 |
| Masques III |
Cl or Bass Cl |
8:00 |
July, 1986 |
|
A Memory of Evening
|
A Memory of Evening
Each song is based on minor variations of the all-partition
array used by Masques. |
| |
1. Memory(text by John Clare)
2. Evening(text by William Blake)
minor revisions while copying the score in July, 1989 |
Mezzo & Pno
|
10:00 |
5/14-18/89
6/11-15/89 |
|
The Little Prince
|
The Little Prince for Dancers and Stage Puppets
The first installment of a dance adaptation of the Saint-Exupery
story of the same name. I'm developing this in conjunction with
Puppe'n'Dance...a theater company started my dear friend Loretta Fois
and her husband Roberto |
Violin, Cello & Pno
|
30:00 |
Spring/Summer, 2005 |
|
