Symphony #4

"Scare Quotes". In 2009 I was commissioned by the US Marine Chamber Orchestra to write an orchestra piece stealing Beethoven's 5th, for a children's concert. It's a five-minute piece named after something on the Weather Channel web page the day I finished it: Current Conditions. Beff finished a piece the same day, and her piece is called Winter Weather Advisory. There was a complicated script for the whole concert, and I showed up near the end wearing a blue wig. Is that awesome, or what?

It seemed that a five-minute piece for orchestra needed siblings, so I added three more, which the New England Philharmonic eventually commissioned. Because I am their composer in residence. Each of the other movements also takes its title from the Weather Channel page on the day I finished it. I. quotes two Brandenburg concerti, and also responds to Beff's challenge to feature melodica prominently. III. quotes the Urlicht movement of Mahler 2. IV. quotes both the first and last movements of Mozart 40.

I planned ahead for Double Shot to be 300 bars, and to take ten days to write by averaging 30 bars a day. It's 301 bars, and took ten days to write.

The movements can (and likely should) be performed alone. Scare Quotes is © by CF Peters.

For the sake of counting down. Symphony #3 is here. #2 is Ten of A Kind, on lots of streaming services, iTunes, etc. #1 will stay in the vaults for now, and probably forever.

Multiples of one instrument

Cell'Out (2009-10) is for four 'celli, and written for Rhonda Rider. She premiered the piece in Salem, New York with the members of the 'cello seminar she teaches there — in this recording, with eleven of them. This is my Edirol recording of the second movement. Did you notice that the recapitulation comes in inverted?



It Takes Nine to Funk (2006), an arrangement of Absofunkinlutely for nine clarinet-things, including contrabass and two bass — for the retirement of the two low clarinettists in the Marine Band, but not finished in time for them to play it. And no one has played it.

Martian Counterpoint (2000, 2002) for 23 clarinets and one percussionist. On Jay Niepoetter's prompting, I rewrote the final movement of Ten of a Kind for nothing but clarinets.

A Fanfare for Two Dozen Trombones, Whose Length Was Determined by the Amount of Space Remaining in my Brown Notebook (1978) for 24 trombones. Played by the NEC Trombone Ensemble while I was otherwise occupied singing in Mahler 2 with the BSO and Abbado. The two hanging-over notes were played by Pete Cirelli and Jeff Marsanskis, who had been on my case to write for the trombone ensemble.

String orchestra

Dream Symphony (2003). My first piece to used dreamed music, and it's the basis of the whole piece. The opening falls apart, as it did in a stress dream, and the rest of the piece deals with that. Another passage, starting around 7:00 of the first movement is also dreamed music, from a different dream. The best music is the last five minutes of the finale. © Peters Edition 68135.



Elegy (1980, 1982, 1984). Began as a string quartet bagatelle, was revised at the behest of Paul Lansky, who noticed correctly that the bagatelle was way too short, and arranged for string orchestra at the behest of Michael Pratt, so he could premiere it in Newark. This is that premiere, noise-reduced to within an inch of its life. Written in memory of my parents.

Pieces written in two hours or less

High Def (2009) was written for Gil Harel. It's a setting of what he said to me every time he saw me in the hallway at Brandeis: Hey, Davy! The initials of that are HD, hence the title High Def. The joke (it's always funnier when you explain a joke) is that it's a piano piece with obbligato voice. I wrote it between 9:45 and 11:15 one morning. The performers are Gil Harel and Alexander Lane.

Organ music

Elegy is an arrangement of the solo piano piece Sara (2002) made by Carson Cooman. It is published by CF Peters, Edition 68131a. This performance is by Alexander Lane.



Junctures (1978) is juvenilia, but is a real hoot. This is the premiere performance by Julie Soloway on the Aeolian-Skinner organ of the Church of the Advent in Boston, the hardware for which is was written.

Piano trios

Hyperblue (1991-93) commissioned by the Fromm Music Foundation for the Itzkoff-Shapiro-Rider trio. This is the recording of the premiere performance in March, 1993. In three movements without pause. Copyright © by CF Peters, Edition 67541. "A nontraditional piano trio of strong profile." — Richard Buell, Boston Globe.



Attitude Problem (1996) for the Triple Helix Trio. In three movements without pause. Copyright © by CF Peters, Edition 67776. I wrote about it for Current Musicology, and it looks like this. "It uses silences and sudden parameter shifts to delightfully droll effect." — David Cleary, 21st Century Music.




Inside Story (2005) for Curtis Macomber's festival in Vermont, with Norm Fischer, 'cello, and Jeanne Kierman, piano. In three movements with pause. Copyright © by CF Peters, Edition 68134. This performance is by Speculum Musicæ. "This is the news, and it's not pretty." — Alan Kozinn, NYT

Non-étude non-prélude piano music

Hotfingers (2012) for Nick Phillips. For an "American vernacular" project, and I am one of several composers writing for it. It's a funk that never quite turns into funk, a blues, and a bebop. The set is dedicated to Gene Caprioglio for what can only be described as the silliest of reasons.

These are runthroughs of the three movements by Nick in his studio.








Beezle Nose (2004) for Robert Ceely's retirement concert.

Sara (2004) Elegy in memoriam Sara Doniach.

Siren Song (1995) ostinato piece on Italian ambulance sirens. I dashed it off to have something to play to clear my head whenever an ambulance would pass by the American Academy in Rome. This is what they sound like. Note that my piece incorporates the Doppler shift by modulating down a half step (the smallest possible modulation increment available on the piano).



Crackling Fire (1990) for piano four hands. For Jim Goldsworthy and Sara Doniach.