It is Here!The long-awaited (by me, anyway) Country Stores of Vermont: A History and Guide is now available from The History Press. It's a really good book, with fantastic pictures (some of which you can see on my Facebook page). So click your way to a copy of my new book at Amazon.com today or your local bookstore! And in other news, Kalvos & Damian: In the House! is back with its first three shows, and more to come, including Art Jarvinen, Larry Austin, and the 60x60 Call-In Extravaganza that took place on July 19. Finally, there was a pretty good interview with me by David Ludwig, composer-in-residence of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. Finally, here are samples of my music engraving work you've been asking for.
More Quick NewsYes, I've composed just one piece so far -- smuttle for the 60x60 Project -- but have finished a new book for The History Press, A Guide to Vermont's Historic Country Stores. It will be published in September and I'll announce it here. I have finally updated my regular catalog with all the "We Are All Mozart" pieces, so if you're looking for scores, parts, demos and performances, get 'em there.
Quick News.Much as I would like to compose in 2008, the work left over after a concentrated 2007 is crushing, from house repair through a book on Vermont's independent country stores. That will be done in late April, which should see me back in the music realm and perhaps even updating my blog with a series about geography. My electroacoustic CD Bolt is delayed again due to, ahem, budgetary issues. My project now has its own domain (http://WeAreAllMozart.com/), which will fill out as more performances take place. See the calendar below. More when this book is done (with previews!)
WAAM is Over.The We Are All Mozart project ended at 10:30 on New Year's Eve with the composition of Horizons (Ocean) for wind quartet, string quartet, and piano. Since last updating this page, these WAAM pieces were finished: We're Running Out of Time (tenor pan and cello), An Fold-In Round (crab round for 14 parts), À Bout de Souffle (three oboes), Romance: Mondo-Mando (mandocello and piano), Vermont Chess Camp (camp theme glee), The Anvil of Cyltemnestra (voice, piano and anvil), Sequenza Nova (horn and piano harmonics), Nine Lessons from "Flatland" (a round book), Six Senses of Twilight (organ and electronics), Lunar Cascade in Serial Time (the last seven months for tenor guitar), At the Edge of Forever (clarinet and string quartet), Fanfare:Heat (orchestra), Anticipation & Stormtide (accordion), The Nine Rabbits of Valladolid (cello duo), A Partial Summer (cello duo), Meta-Dream Once and Meta-Dream Twice (violin), Evidently Skittles (children's duo of flute and piano), From the Mountains (organ), The Imagined Moons of Autumn (flute and piano), Morning in Nodar (double bass), Low Clouds and Evening Wind (piano), Candied Sweet Potatoes (vocal trio), Tangents (clavichord duo), Loss of Innocence (organ), Toccata: The Tides of Wales (organ), Lowing in Coventry (three low horns), Time's Arrow (clarinet), UpReach Over DownSlide (clarinet and string quartet), In My Room (acoustic/electric guitars), Scalar Rainbows (piano), In Search of the Seven Blue Stars (viola), Aisle Five (voice and percussion), She Who Saves (two natural horns and soprano), In Search of an Exit (piano), Cithara-Cantus Cantoris (jew's harp), Toccata & Tryptophan (tenor pan), Horizon (Ocean) (wind quartet, string quartet and piano), Events and Horizons (clarinet and string quartet), Thirteen Triple X (piano), O Vox Pop (bass clarinet and bassoon), Walking the Flat (alto sax), XLII: Adeste Hendecasyllabi (voice and piano), Vexation Blues (piano), Morning Steps (to Parnassus) (playback), In Search of the Lightness of Horizon (viola), Framing the Sum of Three (piano), Curious Crimson Glow (bass trombone), Counting Myself (cello duo), It's Mine, I Tell You! (piano duo), Strong to Save (piano), To the Secretary of Good Fortune (cello and guitar), Incanta (bass clarinet), 99 Events for the Found, the Made, and the Natural (performance pieces), and Voices in My Night (playback).
Where Have I Been?Busy. The We Are All Mozart project didn't fill the year -- which means I couldn't burn my "income bridges" and take the year to compose. The gear-shifting between composing and other work has been extreme and exhausting. My blog has suffered, but not the compositions. You can visit the WAAM page to explore the scores, demos and some which have already been performed, or you can visit the Big List and drop down to the bottom, where the WAAM pieces as well as others are available -- including several done during our residency at Binaural Media in Nodar, Portugal. Indeed, nearly 50 pieces have been composed since I last updated this home page ... and remember that you can download and perform this music, as performers worldwide have done since my music was first made available online in 1996.
What haven't I told you about since last time? These: Sultry Nights (sax and piano); filouria and felungia, (both for playback); the Orange Quartet (string quartet); Graffiti (A New Year's Celebration for Noah) (playback); Toccata: Delle Montagne Verdi (piano); Candles of Red Sky (theremin & performer's voice); I lift my heavy heart (voice, flute and guitar); coalescence (trumpet & organ); Lunar Cascade in Serial Time (five so far, January through May; performance pieces for tenor guitar); In het Donkere Bos (viola & bass clarinet); Pivot: The House of Cloves (4-track Midi); Moving to Lullaby (trombone & performer's voice); Come, come! (chorus SATB); Coarse Salt (soprano sax); Earth, Air, Water, Sleep (cello or vocalise & piano); Mountains of Spices (mezzo-soprano, violin, viola & piano); Delivery (piano 4-hands); Starry Night (piano); Running the Traction Line (cello & contrabass); What to Do, Farmer Gray? (4-mallet marimba); Return to Nineveh (extended voice); Centering (chorus SATB, with div.); Soundings (organ); Compound Refractions (flute); The Ideal (voice & piano); Turn Around, Bustle & Blaze (viola, horn, cello & piano); An Offering Borne Again (piano); Diese Welt ist so Schön (soprano, clarinet & vibraphone); Tuba Marcato (youth ensemble of 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, timpani); Three Tiny Prevarications (ukulele); New Granite (flute, bass clarinet, cello & piano); Full House Reset (piano trio); Hermit of the Furies (solo cello); Fortune in Her Eyes (piano 4-hands); For the Beauty of the Earth (solo violin); Three Songs for Manuela (playback); Pão: The Bread Song (string quartet); Future Remembrance and Future Remembrance (Remix) (playback); A Village on the Wind (playback); The Itch is Internal (cello duo); Détente (organ).
New Editions!In preparation for this January's Chamber Music America conference in New York, I've created new editions of dozens of pieces -- making minor changes and correcting old errors, but mostly cleaning up the scores for legibility. In the next few weeks, the new editions will be available for download or purchase and marked as a "New Edition!" in the catalog.
Lushness with Winter's Stealth and mystery with EventideIt's a challenge piece, written for a musician who wanted something to play right away. Well, maybe 'right away' was being optimistic, but if you want three minutes for cello and strings, ya gotta have this one. Download Winter's Stealth from my large ensemble catalog (even though it can be played by eight solo strings). There's also the very mysterious eight-movement Eventide for piccolo, E-flat clarinet and bassoon. Premiered (in part; whaddya want?) by the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble, it was very favorably reviewed. Get it!
New Scores Now AvailableMy catalog has been updated with the following new scores: Aurelia, for theremin and piano; Clouds of Endless Summer for violin, cello and piano; Yer Attention, Please for organ; Cígleránia for solo horn; In Winter, Not Still for eight strings; and the brand new Recalling Mississquoi Falls for 8 horns (more on that later after the premiere!). Enjoy! Please! They are all now in the catalog, along with listening versions.
Personal AnnouncementI'm pleased to announce my PhD in Border Studies was awarded by the Paideia Institute on Thursday, January 26, 2006. My project for this degree was the Báthory opera Erzsébet.
Ringtones!Oh yeah, it was time. I've created a batch of 42 ringtones from my own tunes. They're all under 30 seconds and in mp3 format -- more about how to convert them to your phone later, but for now you'll find the ringtones here I'll index them in the next few days, but you can guess the tunes from the number in the filename -- it's the same as my catalog number.
2006? Are you kidding?Why not start the year by running myself exhausted? Sure! So there are three new pieces you can download and perform, complete with demos. The first was written for Carson Cooman, Yer Attention, Please for pipe organ. Think you're heard everything for organ? Nope. Have some fun! And speaking of fun, you gotta have a Heldenhorn to play this one: Cígleránia for Czech horn player Petr Cígler. He's finishing his PhD, so maybe you'll play this before he does! And finally, there's a piece for Vermont's Bartholdy Ensemble. It's a lush piece for violin, cello and piano called Clouds of Endless Summer, which you can play with your ensemble. Yes, it's good! Try & have fun! For now, until I update the catalog, you're find them all in the Big List.
Oooooooooooo... Elusive ParallelsIt's ready to hear! Elusive Parallels (in Time) as played by the elegant duo from the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble, Steve Klimowski and Berta Frank. Described by one listener at November's performances as "Gothic Caligari." Now for sure you'll want to play it! Find it in the electronic music catalog. There are also two new pieces there, Aurelia, exquisite music for Theremin and piano, and In Winter, Not Still, 10 minutes of insecure indefiniteness about the weather for eight strings. They'll be in the catalog shortly; in the meantime, download scores and demo mp3s from the Big List.
The Game is Afoot!My 365-day commissioning project, "We Are All Mozart", is open. During the entire year of 2007, I will complete the composition of one piece of music every day. Every piece needs to be commissioned, so if you've ever thought of doing that, do it now!. The commissioning fees are modest, and you'll get the fantastic music I write -- as easy or as hard as you want it, for whatever instruments you'd like. Jump in right now, read the introductory info, and let me know what you'd like me to write for you. Am I nuts? You bet. Onward!
Newly Organized Catalog -- All MP3Real Networks finally blew it with impossible-to-afford schemes and intrusive software, and MP3.com blew it by removing all but three compositions per artist and finally reorganized and deleted all artist files. So as much work as it's been, the entire catalog has been moved right here to this server, in newly rendered MP3 files with original performances (including some never before heard) and lots of new demos created in Sonar.
How Did Fall Get Here So Quickly?No matter. It's been a good one so far. My string quartet L'Estampie du Chevalier was premiered in Ghent, as were my wedding piece Gardens (1996) and my 9/11 composition Fuliginous Quadrant (2001). But I've also been at work composing, including the fiendishly difficult Syrens of the Collective Unconscious for 1 to 3 pianists on 1 to 3 pianos. Are you up to it? Go get it! It's in the catalog now! I've also finished two more of my ongoing Permutrance series (VI and VII), but the scores aren't ready for you yet, and Loyalcat Motet, my entry in the Kalvos & Damian Komposer Kombat event. An organ piece is in the works (look for it soon!)
It's a Hot Summer! Tragic Estampie is ready.For me, anyway. Finished in August is the "noble and tragic" (thanks to Noah Creshevsky for that description) Estampie du Chevalier, a string quartet of which I'm very proud. You can grab the score from the Big List because it isn't in the catalog yet. There's also a Midi demo which should be replaced by its premiere come October! Keep in mind that you can download and perform any score as it becomes available. Don't be shy!
New Pieces I Haven't Mentioned...From March, Like to a Rose and Rose Quartz Crystal Radio, both for sax and percussion and commissioned by Non-Zero. ... From April, the electronic piece nysuca hanei, part of the VoxNovus 60x60 project and the ten-part orchestral work on Canary Islands environmental themes, Jameo y el Delfin Mareado, for the Tenerife Symphony ... From May, the newest update to Wedding Changes, now consisting of 45 variations for three flutes ... and from June, Elusive Parallels (in Time) for flute, bass clarinet, and playback for the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble, Syrenical for electronic playback, and Sweet Ovals for solo horn, written for and premiered by Lydia Busler-Blais. All this stuff is available in the catalog. And right now (this is July as I write this), I'm working on Syrens of the Collective Unconscious for one to three pianists on one to three pianos, being written for Michael Arnowitt, Dante Oei, and Samuel Vriezen.
Ionic Performer "Killer" VSTi! ... Ready for you!At last I've emulated the Ionic Performer synthesizers from 1973 as a VST instrument. You can see more of this instrument, hear samples and download the shareware VSTi (Windows only) with samples, patches, and other stuff: My Killer Synth Page
Memento Mori, for Noah Creshevsky ... Dedicated to an inspiring composerFor voice and electronics, this 8-minute piece is available in stereo or octophonic (eight monaural files), and it an intense swirl of voices. It's meant to be performed live, with the singer in the middle among the audience. Oh, yeah! Go to the vocal catalog to download the score and electronic files.
More Older PiecesNo scores yet, but performances of four of the 1972 Twelve Songs are up in the vocal catalog, as well as the 1976 performance work Cy-Gît for small ensemble. That one's in the performance art catalog, along with Echo (1985), for which I wish there were visuals, and Aurora Cagealis (1992), celebrating the life of John Cage. You can download that score, too.
By Still Waters: Lullaby, Plea, and Lament.One of the more difficult pieces to write was By Still Waters, in reflection on the massacre of children in Beslan. This vocalise, composed in October for the exquisite voice of Beth Griffith, is for voice and drone, and can be found in my vocal catalog.
Chill, Friends -- Icecut is ready!The Vermont Symphony Orchestra commissioned a 10-minute orchestral dance from me. What I didn't expect was to have 2 oboes, 1 bassoon, 1 trumpet, 2 horns, strings and no percussion! So the string-driven techno-ish dance Icecut is ready for performance this fall (from September 22 through October 4 in 11 performances here in Vermont). Come if you can! For now, you can grab the score and hear the performance. Fun!
Woo-Hoo! The Spicebush!Double-bassist P. Kellach Waddle did an explosive performance of Northsea Balletic Spicebush this spring -- and you can hear the Carbondale performance and download the score. Yes, do it!
Summer at the CastleI don't talk much on this page about my opera Erzsébet, but maybe I should! The Discovery Channel did a sequence here in Vermont and in Slovakia that included interviews with me as well as the rehearsal of a scene from the opera. For lots more about the topic, including some streaming video, please head for my Erzsébet website! And look for the Discovery Documentary "Poisonous Women" about female serial killers in late fall 2004.
We're Into It for 2004!New years have a hard time getting started, and this was no exception, particularly after a difficult and very cold winter. But some new pieces are now ready! The extraordinarily beautiful Shahmat for solo flute was commissioned by Su Lian Tan, but that doesn't mean you can't try it! And Jiri van der Kaay didn't know what he was in for when he requested Phylum Euphoria for euphonium and playback. Both pieces are so beautiful they'll make you cry, and hard enough that the performers will cry! I also created two studies for Jiri's piece, the Euphoria Studies. A really wonderful electronic piece you can also find is Manifold Warblers, something I really wanted to make. Warblers and the two Studies are in the electronic section of the catalog along with Phylum, which also joins Shahmat in the solo section. This just in: My piano piece Tïrkíinistrá has been selected by Kyle Gann for his Post-Classical Piano List
About Those Old Pieces...Jim Fulkerson and Hilary Jeffery just recorded my 1972 Construction "on nix rest... in china" for two trombones and playback. You can listen in the electronic section of the catalog. What masters they are!
Unrelated to Music: Vermont PhotosFolks have often asked for my photos. Here are a few for purchase and here are example candid photos if you want to hire me for a family gathering.
Selling LPs, Sheet Music, Publications, EquipmentI am selling my LPs, sheet music, publications, and equipment. The list will grow as I add items; just a matter of typing time! I have over 1,500 LPs and hundreds of scores and many years of music and electronics magazines, few of which I use anymore, plus camera, darkroom, and music equipment, and even some brand new hand-knit Irish sweaters. The scores will be of great use for students, and the LPs to collectors. I would sell this stuff on eBay, and maybe I will, but I'd rather offer it to folks who come to my site. Here is the latest list of materials for sale.
Old Stuff PostedI've transferred performances of some older pieces. The early (yeah, 1967 -- real early) Choral Metamorphosis on Effervescence can be heard, if you can bear it. The score's been up for a while, but the original recordings of Dr. Dollar's Magic Salad (1972) are curious (perform this! it's fun!). I performed my Song from Isaiah (1975) for voice and synth many years ago, and as soon as the score is prepped, you can, too. A much worse performance of a pretty good piece is my arrangement of Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence (1973); I went out of tune, and all the computers in the world don't help -- but you can fix this if you grab the score when it's ready. Three early songs are up for listening, in performances by a very young Linda Kay: Le Jardin, Psalm 137, (both 1968) and Orange, orange (1972). Yikes, a wretched (but fun to play, of course) recorder duet is Hülfe (1975). Oh, and here are some more: Tuba Sonata (1970), Withered (1971), Rando's Poetic License (1978), Incidental Music to "On the Verge" (1986), Not Vermont Hardware (1979), Bugs, and Cruise (both 1982). You'll have to find all these yourself, though. They're in the catalog, and on the big list.
Just Finished -- Spam and WaterJust finished is LiquidBirds, a lovely soundscape with video for 3 Theremins and voices, and this summer I premiered Spammung for extended voice and playback. The score and a sample video of LiquidBirds are ready (and you can get the DVD from me), and Spammung is up for listening both in playback-only tracks and my premiere performance.
New for Summer 2003 -- Skateboards and BassesLots more audio samples of scores are available, but there's bigger news. iskajtbrz is coming out on a Japanese CD this fall, but you can hear it here first!. Just finished is Northsea Balletic Spicebush, a rollickingly difficult piece for solo string bass. Commissioned by P. Kellach Waddle, we'll just doggone see how he takes it on! And why don't you take it on? It's in solo music section waiting for download.
New for 2003: Skateboards, Basses, Spam and WaterJust finished is LiquidBirds, a lovely soundscape with video for 3 Theremins and voices, and this summer I premiered Spammung for extended voice and playback. The score and a sample video of LiquidBirds are ready (and you can get the DVD from me), and Spammung is up for listening both in playback-only tracks and my premiere performance. Lots more audio samples of scores are available, but there's bigger news. iskajtbrz is coming out on a Japanese CD this fall, but you can hear it here first!. Just finished is Northsea Balletic Spicebush, a rollickingly difficult piece for solo string bass. Commissioned by P. Kellach Waddle, we'll just doggone see how he takes it on! And why don't you take it on? It's in solo music section waiting for download.
New in 2002: Tïrkíinistrá & Bales, Barrels, & ConesHere are fantastic & captivating pieces for the hot pianists out there: In the piano music section, find Tïrkíinistrá: Five Landscape Preludes for Piano. Premiered by Michael Arnowitt (for whom they were written) in Vermont and Amsterdam, these are kickers & killers, but glorious in the Chopinesque sense. Curious? Go get 'em! My musical statement about war & peace, Bales, Barrels, & Cones: Antebellum/Antibellum is for expert drummer (drumkit) and playback. Find this relentless 8-minute piece in the solo or electronic music sections. Written for Michael Manion, who can cut it!
New in 2001: Stores & MoresOkay, okay, I can write tonal stuff too. So who asked? Find Stores, nine film cues (in 17 minutes) for a documentary for chamber orchestra. It's in the large ensemble section, with MP3s for listening. Don't throw stones! I like these! Fun for the whole family -- if your family has two people, that is! In the chamber music for two instruments section, Zeven Mergpijpjes, seven small studies for violin and cello. Great to play, and commissioned by the marvelous Atelier voor Muziek en Ambacht in Utrecht. Go get 'em! They say it's impossible to play! Somebody prove them wrong! In the chamber music for four instruments section, VoxN, an hour-long accompaniment to William Hodgson's short story, "The Voice in the Night" ... play it! Tell me! Also, just restored, Construction "on nix rest ... in china" from 1972. There's the score in the electronic section, along with an mp3 file (contact me for the stereo version on CD, or either two stereo CDs or a CD of a Sonar 4-channel version). In the orchestral section, Mirrored Birds, a whopping half-hour flute concerto with lotsa drums. Also, two September 11 memorial pieces: In chamber music for three instruments, The Key of Locust for violin, viola or clarinet, and cello -- a tough piece in fast 7/8; and in chamber music for four instruments, Fuliginous Quadrant for violin, clarinet, cello, and piano, a considerably shorter and recomposed version of Locust.
Just for CECDiscussAn unedited soundwalk around my house the night the peepers arrived, April 12, 2002: Listen or Download (22.5MB).
Finally available: Binky and Llama Butter!The score to Binky Plays Marbles for viola and contrabass. This wonderful dancing nightmare piece was written for Pieter Smithuysen, but never made it into the sonic air. You can find it in Chamber Music. The score to Llama Butter for tuba and tape. This killer piece was written for and premiered by Mark Nelson. You can find it in Solo Music and Electronic Music. You can get the playback CD to perform with from me.
Recent new pieces
Performance ArtMany in the collection of performance pieces from 1970-1990 are prepared in the Performance Works index. |