surfaces - 2022
Saxophone Quartet
Duration: 3’40”
This piece is inspired by the textural music of György Ligeti, particularly his Atmosphères. The underlying rhythmic changes produce a phasing effect as they clash with one another until aligning for only brief moments. The harmonies are nearly static, to allow the listener to focus on those textures, which happen just below the surface of the melody.
Performed by Ken Murphy
Premiered at The Lab at 1010 - Seattle Drum School Georgetown; Seattle, WA November 15, 2022
Video by David Klock
water in motion - 2021
Violin, Cello, Piano
Duration: ca. 6’
This work is a part of Navona Records’ Moto Finale, and was inspired by the Cache la Poudre River in Colorado. It is an imagining of the sounds of the canyon just outside the town of Fort Collins, over the course of a 24-hour period. The beginning of the piece is set in the middle of the night, and the morning starts breaking at 1:07”. The middle of the day, the busiest time in this particular canyon, begins at 2:16” and runs until the mid-afternoon at 3:03”. At 4:10”, the landscape returns to calm during the evening, as the original musical ideas come back in a new form.
Performed by : Trio Casals
Premiered: May 5, 2023 at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall
This recording was supported financially by the following people and organizations. A sincere and heart-felt ‘thank you’ goes out to each of them:
Anonymous
Anonymous
Anonymous
Anonymous
Anonymous
Anonymous
Terra Burch
Duncan Ramsay
Ilir Salihi
cowboy hat 1982 - 2021
Baritone & Piano
Duration: ca. 3’30”
This art song uses a poem of the same title by the incomparable Ken Arkind. It presents an obviously specific story, yet contains the heartbreakingly universal sentiment of “I love you. You made me what I am. You were not what I needed you to be, and I’m angry.”
Performed by: Christopher Puckett (voice) & Greg Simmons (piano)
Video by: Scott Stephen Hansen & David Klock
both/and - 2021
Marimba, Electric Guitar, Violin, Cello
Duration: ca. 13’30”
This work explores a non-linear emotional trajectory including futility, sorrow, acceptance, and transformation. The title refers to the common phenomenon of experiencing multiple emotions simultaneously. The rhythmic motives come from my own recitation of the following excerpts of Coleman Barks’ translation of “The Reed Flute’s Song” by the incomparable Rumi:
“Since I was cut from the reed bed I have made this crying sound. Anyone separated from someone he loves understands what I say:
Anyone pulled from a source longs to go back.
The reed flute is fire, not wind. Be that empty. Hear the love-fire tangles in the notes as bewilderment melts into wine.
The reed is a friend to all who want the fabric torn and drawn away. The reed is hurt and salve combining.
Intimacy and longing for intimacy, one song. A disastrous surrender and a fine love, together.”
better than copper - 2021
Brass Trio
Duration: ca. 3’20”
Trumpet, horn, and trombone equally share the limelight, and acrobatics, in this short but demanding piece. With constant variations on two themes, sonic benchmarks come in the form of intermittent homophonic phrases. The work inhabits three distinct harmonic worlds, moving from an octatonic scale to a novel modal scale, and finally a diatonic.
how far we’ve come - 2020
Flute, B-flat & bass clarinets, Violin, Cello, Electric Guitar
Duration: ca. 7’30”
This work draws on the rich tradition of protest songs throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. While there are no direct quotations in the piece, elements from six songs (John Coltrane’s Alabama, Woodie Guthrie’s This Land is Your Land, Marvin Gaye’s Mercy Mercy Me, Rage Against the Machine’s Killing in the Name, Kendrick Lamar’s Alright, Che Apalache’s The Dreamer) serve as motivic material throughout the piece. These songs have been used between the 1940s and present day to protest conditions including racism, economic injustice, climate change, immigration policy, and police brutality. The title is my own tongue-in-cheek way of pointing out the need for continual improvement and evolution at a collective level.
Quintet - 2019
Flute, Horn, Percussion, Piano, Violin, (recorded voice)
Duration: ca. 4’20”
This piece was written for The Neighborhood Arts Collective, which creates art directly inspired by the lives of individual people. It is essentially a theme and variations, where the piano introduces the original theme and each instrument changes it slightly throughout the piece. An in-depth explanation can be found here.
Resonations - 2018
Violin, Cello, Resonator Guitar
Duration: ca. 11’
This multi-movement work draws upon timbres and structures native to the Americas. It begins with a dance heavily influenced by both tango and classical guitar. The second movement introduces new melodic material that is shared equally among instruments. The final movement is an homage to 12 bar blues structure without attempting to recreate that venerable form.
tone poem - 2018
2 Altos, Tenor, Baritone, Percussion, String Ensemble, Resonator Guitar, (recorded voice)
Duration: ca. 4’
There are two diametrically opposed sections in this piece: the strings/percussion and the vocals/guitar. The strings’ dysfunctional chord progression and the percussion’s ostinato portray an abusive childhood. The vocals and guitar are based on a very stable 12 bar blues pattern, representative of a very tender relationship amongst siblings. This piece was written for The Neighborhood Arts Collective, and a more complete description can be found here.
Performed by:
Tucker MacDonald (tenor), Allie Merrill (alto), Danette Ver Woert (soprano), & David Klock (bass)
Header photo by David Klock