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No Agenda - For Piano - June 2020
A large chunk of my music has some programmatic idea or character in mind. This piece, however, was simply a piano work. There is a focus on the minor 9th, major 7th and their octave variants throughout the piece.
Natural “Disaster” - for Mezzo Soprano and Flute/Alto Flute - March 2020
Non clades est
Lectio est, Sapiens
Et nemo non prudentior est
I was tasked simply to write a duet for voice and flute to be performed by Laura Bowler and Ruth Morley. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the duo were intending on touring with Gaia being the theme for their performances. Thus came the idea for Natural “Disaster”. I wanted to focus on the term disaster. I never liked the phrase “natural disaster,” as it suggested that natural occurrences such as thunder storms, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes, etc. were somehow bad, when in fact, these are beautiful moments when the planet adjusts itself. Now I understand that “disaster” is referring to the damage these events bring to mankind and man-made structures, but that just led me to focus on Global Warming. With the melting of the ice caps, rising sea levels, and rising global temperatures, we are in an uphill battle and should things not improve it certainly will be a disaster for us. But Gaia will remain. New life will evolve with or without mankind. In the piece, there are two characters: The vocalist represents Gaia/Mother Nature and the Flute represents a dying phoenix. They begin with heavy breathing as if they are gasping for air. For a moment it appears that Gaia and the phoenix are suffering together, but it is revealed that Gaia is out of breath from laughing. Yes, the phoenix perishes, but shortly after, they are reborn. “It’s not a disaster,” Gaia says while laughing, “It’s selection,” and she continues on singing joyously with her newly evolved phoenix in unison.
The Finest of Sands - for Soprano Saxophone - March 2020 - Performance: Early Autumn 2020
“I’m fine” is one of the biggest lies we tell people. Be it depression, anger, frustration, etc. we often find it easier to keep these emotions bottled up. I for one am no exception to this. I have been told that screaming into a pillow can help releasing the negative energy, but I found it to be ineffective for me. I would scream into the pillow, but only a tiny yelp would come out. Thus came the inspiration for The Finest of Sands. The saxophone begins with weeping lines as it struggles to reach a scream. It never quite gets there and it slowly devolves into a dance. The frustration the saxophone feels still creeps into this dance with interjections growing in intensity until a full on scream is let out ending the dance. As if terrified or embarrassed by the scream, the saxophone reels back into the whiney mood from before only to end with the phrase that we know too well: “I’m fine.”
Stifled. OBSTINATE. Suppressed - for Flute/Piccolo, Trumpet, & Cello - October 2019
As part of a workshop with members of the London Sinfonietta, I was asked to write a trio for flute, trumpet, and cello. The piece consisted of three characters: One voice that is stifled, one that is suppressed, and the third that is unrelenting and obstinate. The flute opens the piece with a dream-like thought, taking its time to fully realize. The cello slowly plays below the flute a 6-note motif that symbolizes a goal that the flute aims to reach, but throughout the opening, the flute never quite lines up with this goal. The trumpet shortly enters and tries to undo everything the flute does. As the piece picks up, a battle between the Suppress and Stifled voices (the flute and the cello) and the obstinate force (the trumpet) ensues until the piece devolves into chaos.
As London Sinfonietta asked that composers participating in this workshop not to post a recording of the event, have a listen to the midi rendition.
From the Sun (a Work in Progress) - for String Quartet - 2019
This piece started off as a single-movement work about the sun that is growing into a multi-movement work about nature in general. From the Sun begins with a fanfare-like introduction from the upper strings, symbolizing the beams of sunlight shining through trees in the morning. They announce the entrance of the cello (the Sun), focusing on chord built on fourths. As the piece evolves, we explore the different experiences people have during their days across the world. On one side, the sun is rising on a beautiful day, on another, the sun has sparked danger. As mentioned above, this is a work in progress, but I wanted to share with you a mock-up of the first movement:
Five + Three - for Oboe & Bass Clarinet - 2014 - Jaclyn Skeweris (Oboe) & Rebecca Scholldorf (Bass Clarinet)
Originally meant to be a five-movement piece with three instruments (oboe, bass clarinet, and electronics), I decided to remove the electronics portion of the piece and leave the oboe and bass clarinet. This piece focuses on sets and the Forte Codes used to identify them. It's my first piece that has somewhat of a focus on set theory. A bit of math was applied to this piece: There are Five movements and a focus on a specific Pentachord throughout the last four movements. There are a set of Trichords that are focused on throughout. Five and Three make Eight. The piece focuses on the overtone series. Eight represents the Octachord that is formed from the first 16 partials of any overtone series. Hence the titles of the movements deal with the addends of Eight: (5+3), (8+0), (4+4). This idea takes place rhythmically in many places. Any significant numbers that go against this pattern are placed in parentheses. (Four) (Six). The 1st movement, “Zero”, focuses on one note (B-flat), and any of the partials of the overtone series that can be heard especially when the oboe and bass clarinet are playing together. The 2nd movement, “Three (Four) Five”, focuses on trichord, heard first in the oboe, and a tetrachord and pentachord heard in the bass clarinet. The Forte Code used to identify the tetrachord used is 4-4. Four + four = eight. At the end, there is a series of pentachord played melodically that are broken up with staccato leaps of a third (or four semitones.). The 3rd movement, “Five”, involves a recurring leap of a perfect fourth (or five semitones). The 4th movement, “Eight (Six)”, focuses on an octachord based on the first 16 partials of the harmonic series of the note E with some minor changes (a flatted 5th partial). An emphasis is made on the 6th partial, B. The 17th partial is F and is added to create a tritone or 6 semitones. The final movement, “Five + Three” breaks the octachord from the previous movement into a pentachord and a trichord.