Elegy and Dance for Chamber Ensemble (2004/6)

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Elegy and Dance for Chamber Ensemble was written, in many ways, for New York City itself.  There is no specific program to the piece, rather a description of two different moments in time.  The first part is a quasi-introduction. Imagine the city before dawn, overlooking the Hudson River as it drifts quietly into the Upper Bay beneath downtown Manhattan. The sounds can evoke the feeling of a sleeping city, the harbor’s slow activity, and a foreshadowing (or perhaps a memory) of an unbearable heaviness.

 

The second part is a dance to celebrate the city’s inextinguishable spirit. It is Manhattan during rush hour.  Everyone races by, each at his own speed, described by the polyphony of movement, of life.  Elegy and Dance for Chamber Ensemble was written for and performed by Speculum Musicae at the Miller Theater in New York City in 2004, with Jeffrey Milarsky conducting.  It was, subsequently revised in 2006.  

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in Just (2008)

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in Just is dedicated to Milton Babbitt and his daughter Betty Anne Duggan. It was written in memory of Babbitt’s wife Sylvia.  The Cummings poem was a favorite of the Babbitt family, and Betty Anne fondly recalled to me the story of her father reading it to her as a bedtime story.  Allan Kozinn of The New York Times called the piece “Directly expressive.”  The piece was first performed in 2008 by the Manhattan Sinfonietta with Tony Arnold, soprano and Jeffrey Milarsky, conductor.  

 

Liebeslied (2017)

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Liebeslied is dedicated to the memory of composer Jonathan Kramer.  The song is set to a poem by Rilke that was a favorite of Kramer’s.  The instrumentation includes a clarinet, Kramer’s instrument.  Music and time were lifelong preoccupations for Kramer, and in this piece, the music plays with the notion of time passing at varying rates

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Prelude for Tristan (2011)

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This small piece was written for the Sinopia Trio and dedicated to Tristan Murail.  The piece, a duet for vibraphone and marimba, pursues a continuing interest in rhythmic complexity.  While I never studied directly with Tristan, I have learned and continue to learn much from him and from his incredibly unique music.  For his guidance and support during my years as a student at Columbia, and for his distinct and distinguished musical voice I am extremely grateful.

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Salient Flourishes (2013)

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In 2013 I was serving as a Visiting Professor with the National University of Ireland.  I had gotten sober in 2011 and was alone, in a foreign country, struggling to write.  Jack Sutte reached out and asked me if I would contribute a new piece for his CD.  This little piece, for piccolo trumpet, combines set-theoretic, serial and diatonic/triadic elements, and pursues a continuing interest in rhythmic complexity.  I know it is a bitch to play, and Jack plays the hell out of it.  I want to thank you Jack, for helping me move towards fluidity and fluency at a very tender time. 

 

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Still Point (2018)

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Still Point was written for a compilation CD of former students of Fred Lerdahl. In addition to my normal compositional procedure which combines set-theoretic, serial and diatonic/triadic elements, the music incorporates many of Fred’s compositional and theoretical ideas.

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The title of the piece is taken from T.S. Eliot’s “Four Quartets” (Burnt Norton): “at the still point, there the dance is.”

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This piece is dedicated to Fred Lerdahl, with immense gratitude.

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The Joke (2022)

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When I was very young, I understudied for a bit part in a play directed by Mike Nichols.  Somehow, we remained friends.  Years later, when I was 16 years old, my father died suddenly. Mike was there, and walked me through my grief.  “Always look for the joke,” he suggested.  I had no idea what he meant by this, or what it could possibly have to do with my personal tragedy.  But it stuck with me my whole life, and continues to be some of the best advice I have ever received.  I still don’t know what it means.

 

I am immensely grateful to Augustus Arnone and the superb musicians of Collide-O-Scope Music for providing me the opportunity to write this piece for them

 

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Three Poems of Emily Dickinson (1997)

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Each of these three songs deals with the problem of instrumental ensemble in a different way.  The group is treated as a single instrument throughout the first song, which utilizes a uniform, chorale-like texture.  Only the voice part is rhythmically independent, and yet still moves through the same harmonic space as the other four instruments.   In the second song, each instrument gets to assert its independence.  The sonic effect is more linear as a result of allowing the instruments to be themselves.  The third song is a combination of these two textures.

 

The songs were written for Christine Schadeberg and Speculum Musicae.  

 

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