Program Notes: Night Sky

Night Sky is an aural representation of the journey to night time.  The journey is from the perspective of the moon.  The opening chords signal the sunset where the moon breaks through the horizon to start its ascent in the sky.  This is followed by twilight, the time where the sunlight has almost faded and the mysteries of the night awaken.  The ostinato that rises out of the mysteriousness symbolizes the rise of the moon as it marches forward in its ascent of the sky.  The themes and motives that appear around the ostinato represent other aspects of the night-time sky such as stars, meteors and birds.  The piece ends with the moon reaching the apex of its journey in the night sky.

Program Notes: Age Of...

Age Of...
   for flute, soprano sax, horn and tuba
     I. Reflection
     II. Development
     III. Rebirth

Composed: Winter 1998
Premiere: 1998

Age Of... is my first mixed-ensemble piece.

Reflection - As the title suggests, this movement depicts an individual as they look back on their life.  The soloistic flute line depicts the thoughts of the individual.  The other three voices (soprano sax, horn and tuba) are designed to create a darker background to the somewhat “bright” Flute line.  These voices also represent the experiences and/or people whom the individual has encountered and been involved with in one way or another through out their life.

Development - This movement is technically more difficult than the first.  This movement is designed to show the individual’s growth and change period.  In the middle of this movement--measures 13 to 39--there is a conversation between the flute and tuba.  This conversation is between the left and right sides of the brain.  Within this conversation growth and change are born.  Meanwhile the soprano sax and horn keep a steady rhythm showing that even though times maybe turbulent, stability exists.

Rebirth - This is the fastest and most rhythmic movement.  The movement depicts a renewal of life.  In this movement the instruments play independent lines depicting the various new experiences and people that the individual will encounter.  While this final movement abruptly ends, it should be performed in a way in which the listener gets the sense that this is not the end of one’s life.  Instead it is only the beginning of a new life...

Program Notes: Incursion

Incursion
   for bass trombone

Composed: May 22-27, 2002
Premiere: June 21, 2002 - 8th Annual NOW Music Festival, Goat Hall, San Francisco

Incursion – (in•cûr’zhun; -shun) n 1 : a sudden hostile invasion : RAID 2 : an entering in or into (as an activity)

Incursion was composed in the summer of 2002 for bass trombonist, Richard Lee and was premiered at the 2002 NOW Music Festival in San Francisco. Since its premiere, Incursion has under gone a few revisions. The intent of the piece is to introduce various melodic lines and fragments that speak out of turn or interrupt each other. Compositional and technical aspects of this piece were developed during the time when I composed two large-scale pieces for the bass trombone: Concerto for Bass Trombone and Orchestra (2001), composed for Jeff Kurka, was read by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony in spring 2001 and Obscured Ruminations (2002), also for bass trombone and chamber orchestra. Obscured Ruminations has yet to be performed.

Program Notes: Lines in the Sand

Lines in the Sand
  for solo cello
     I. Jagged
     II. Blurred
     III. Final Line

Composed: April 2004
Premiere: April 15, 2005 – Doctoral Recital: Eugene, OR

This piece was originally composed for a reading session with Third Angle, a contemporary music ensemble based out of Portland, during Spring 2004. The title, Lines in the Sand, represents a metaphor for where I was both professionally and creatively in the time just before and during the compositional process.

I. Jagged – This movement is a recomposition of a collaboration with dancer/choreographer Dominique Chartrand from fall 2003 titled Disjunction. The title of this movement refers to the jagged feel of the opening motive which is developed and manipulated throughout the movement.

II. Blurred – This movement continues work that I have been doing to deconstruct time. The music is composed “out of time” in a similar vein to Witold Lutoslawski's work in the 1960s, specifically Trois Poemes d'Henri Michaux. Notes are at times presented in bursts and at other times as long tones. Extended techniques such as natural harmonics and the use of bow pressure is something that I picked up from Saariaho's work with the cello.

III. Final Line – I really wanted to compose a final movement that sounds more challenging than it is to play. During the compositional process I worked with composer/cellist Chris Thomas to realize my intent. Some of the inspiration for this piece comes from Kaija Saariaho's Spins and Spells for solo cello. The rest of the inspiration comes from insanity!

Program notes for 4-5

The title 4-5 is a reference to the intervals upon which the thematic material for the piece is built. This was the first piece I composed when I began working towards my doctorate in music composition at the University of Oregon. While composing this piece I experiment with the intervals and interval groups in the fourth to fifth prograssion. I combines the notes in various ways ultimately leading to the ppitch collection upon which the ostinato is built. Not being a piano player I was uncertain at time about what types of things are possible to play. At the same time I felt free try different things because I would not get caught up in my own limits had I been a pianist.

Until now this piece has fallen into the category of my music called “The Best Works Never Performed.” Unfortunately I have a couple of other pieces that fall into this category. Hopefully I can remedy that one day.