Monday, February 18, 2013

String orchestra

Dream Symphony (Symphony #3, 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.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

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.

Friday, February 8, 2013

Organ music

Elegy is an arrangement of the solo piano piece Sara (2002) made by Carson Cooman in 2005. It is published by CF Peters, Edition 68131a. This performance is by Carson.



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.