Category: New Works

Night and Day and in Between is a work in five movements for Alto Saxophone and Piano. The work was written with the student performer in mind. Each movement reflects a specific mood at a particular point of the day.

At the same time, each movement has its particular challenge to the performer. In movement one, Night Song, the challenge is to keep a smooth and consistent melodic line despite the preponderance of wide intervals. In Bright Awakening, the emphasis is on articulation. Lazy Afternoon challenges the performer to master music in the jazz idiom. Second Wind is a fingering workout while Drifting into Night features smooth sustained lines involving a fair amount of breath control.

A perusal score and part is available by request. You can hear sound samples below:

Forcefields is a three movement work for horn quartet.The first movement, Energetic, is quite forceful in nature, and as the title implies, quite energetic. In the second movement, Buoyant ,the four horns seem to float lyrically through time in constant flowing strands. The final movement, Forceful , is once again full of energy, and is quite turbulent as well.

A full set of parts is available by request. Below you can sample the sound files:

I am delighted to introduce you to you my Harping to a Song for Soprano and Piano. The piece is comprised of two settings of Marianne Moore’s magical poetry. In the first setting, A Jelly-Fish expands and contracts and is very   elusive. In the second setting, The Harp You Play So Well , young David plays the harp to sooth King Saul’s troubled soul. Great care and attention to detail went into these settings which  I believe bring a whole new dimension to Moore’s poetry. Do consider these two song setting for yours or your student’s next recital. A complimentary perusal score is available by request. Do take a moment to listen to the two attached sound samples.

This series of four songs are settings of poems by the early 20th century poet, Sara Teasdale. Being that Teasdale’s texts are lyrical in nature, the music is essentially lyrical as well, and highly nuanced.

The four poems I chose were:

1. The Crystal Gazer: Here, while gazing into a crystal ball, the poet views various images of the past, present and future.
2. There Will Come Soft Rains: This poem, written during World War I, tells of birds and other creatures living carefree and oblivious to the tragedies of war.
3. Wood Song: The poet, broken hearted, takes solace in the three notes of a wood thrush.
4. The Answer: In the final setting, the poet speaks proudly of her life; both its joys and sorrows. She dismisses those who pity her after she has died.

A perusal score and set of parts are available by request.

The sound files of the four songs appear below:

There Will Come Soft Rains

Desert Tableaux is comprised of four ‘sound portraits’ for flute choir. The first, ‘View of the Catalinas’, portrays the Catalina Mountain range as viewed from the Tucson Valley. My intention was to create a shimmering effect by way of a variety timbres, textures and other musical elements.

‘After a Summer Rain’ is a gentle, playful dance movement. As the title of the third movement suggests, ‘Desert Spirits’ is dark and mysterious in nature with a special emphasis on the piccolo and lower flutes.

The work concludes with the joyous ‘Dance of the Pollinators’. Here the music makes use of odd meter and is replete with a dazzling display of rhythmic interactions.

Below you will find the sound files for each movement. A complimentary score and set of parts is available by request.

Focal Points is comprised of five brief movements. Each movement is centered around a traditional musical form or technique.

The opening movement, ‘After the W.TC ‘, is patterned after the opening prelude from Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier. Movement two, ‘Whims,’ is inspired by the musical character pieces of the 19th century. 

The romantic period is also the source of inspiration for the third movement, ‘Song Without Words’. This movement is overtly melodic with hints here and there of Schubert or Mendelssohn perhaps. The ‘toccata ‘’’,another baroque form, is the source behind the fourth movement as well as the mirror canon, which is the works final movement.

The piece, with its references to traditional forms and techniques and its moderate degree of difficult, is geared towards the undergraduate college level performer.

A complementary Score is available by request. Here are the midi files of the piece:

Palos Verdes is a 10 minute piece for oboe, and two bassoons. A palo verde is a native tree common in the desert southwest. In approaching this work, I was intrigued by the interplay of the single oboe and double bassoons, as opposed to the other way around. As the piece progressed, I was discovering new and interesting triangular configurations. The work is structured as a set of variations punctuated by a smattering of solo interludes. You will also find below a link to the midi recording. A complementary score is available by request. Thanks for considering my music!

My Soundpath for flute, violin and cello is now available. The piece, which is around 10 minutes in duration, is a kind of journey in sound with the flute basically in the drivers seat. After a calm, lyrical introduction, the work soon veers  off into  more energetic territory . As the piece proceeds, the music winds in and out of these lyrical and rhythmic passages as well as into a few solo flute interludes. A PDF score, and set of parts is available on request.

Below you will also find a link to the midi realization.