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I began writing a number of chamber music pieces in 2005. Most of these pieces premiered at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's Hellman Hall on November 5. My Neighbors Down the Hall was also performed December 2 at Old First Church as a part of the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra's "chamber ensemble concert.
If you'd like to access scores for these pieces, click here.
Photos by Joyce (click for larger images). Thanks to the musicians who helped out with the February and July readings who weren't part of the November concert (David Latulippe, Emmanuella Nikiforova, Emma Sheppard, and Kathy Baird).
Also many thanks for Alexis Alrich at the SF Conservatory, who helped with all of these pieces and encouraged me to keep writing better music!
Harry Bernstein, alto flute
Rachel Condry, bass clarinet
Alisa Rose and Claude Halter, violins
Charith Premawardhana, viola
Adahia MacAdam-Somer, cello
Yours truly, radio strings
His Italian Mistress
This was mostly written while in residence at the Djerassi Resident Artist Program in January 2005. Another resident artist shared his stories of his love affair with a beautiful Italian woman and the music write itself in a few short days.
Before 
After
The Conversation
For this concert I wanted to try my hand at "humanizing" two violins, with articulation and phrasing akin to the spoken word. There are two main themes in this violin duet, interspersed with "laughter," and at the end of the piece both themes are played simultaneously as a duologue. Alisa and Claude did an outstanding job with this performance!
My Neighbors Down the Hall
A year ago I was searching for a concept for a new piece of chamber music. Although I knew I wanted to include a bass clarinet and alto flute (influence of Rachel and Harry!), I wasn't sure what else I would use - via instrumentation or themes - to pull it all together for a interesting "story." While riding home on Muni one afternoon, fretting about where to find my new inspiration, I suddenly looked around and saw the remarkable collection of individuals on the bus. I realized that ideas were all around me, in the form of people I saw periodically in my neighborhood. A sextet was transformed into themes, including a skateboarder that appears in the first and final movements. The final movement overlays all the themes to create a "gossip." Much of this music was initially drafted while at the Djerassi Resident Artist Program in January 2005.
I. The Slacker
II. The Widow
III. An Angry Young Man
IV. The Poet
V. Gossip
Radio Strings
In researching the various textures of the string quartet, I realized that a synthesizer could subtly color a performance. My intention was to use the various timbres available synthetically ("radio strings")to augment the strings, as an audio backdrop. The circa 1940 Fada radio cabinet is from a radio repair shop on Irving street.
Subtle and Sublime
I had envisioned writing a piece that creates that "perfect moment." That is, one where the listener becomes inexorably drawn into the music with such impact that it takes the breath away in a fleeting moment and leaves the ear with an unspoken emotion, longing for more. Subtle and Sublime establishes its dissonant harmonic environment within eleven measures and its bittersweet message in only eight -- and then climaxes in less than four minutes.
Breathwork
This duet uses digitally modified breath and mouth sounds. The viola and cello use various cues from this "digital breath" as percussive support. Charith and Adahia were superb!
Candied Sonata
This is in sonata form, although time signatures and other key facets of this piece are obviously contemporary. I was fortunate to have this piece chosen among five others for a reading session by the Del Sol Quartet, sponsored by the American Composers Forum, on March 19, 2005. I made a number of changes to the score based upon their feedback, which made for a great closing piece in Hellman Hall. Photo on the left is from Hellman Hall; photo on the right is from the Del Sol Quartet reading. Many, many thanks to the ACF and the Del Sol Quartet: Kate Stenberg and Rick Shinozaki (violin), Charlton Lee (viola), and Monica Scott (cello).
The Blizzard
Dedicated to Elouise Graves (viola player in photo at far left), The Blizzard was written while I was a resident at Djerassi in June 2003. It was performed as a part of the 5C composer's collective by the Marigold String Quartet (Alisa Rose and Mahjinka Stebbins, violins; Emma Sheppard, viola; Shain Carrasco, cello). The second 5C concert was the following May.
I've provided clips of the first three movements...
I. Blinding (0.7 Mb)
II. Frigid Dark Night (1.0 Mb)
III. White Morning Glare (1.0 Mb)
IV. Modern Snow Life