WORKS FOR OTHER SOLO INSTRUMENTS
Some were written originally for dance, but all are intended as concert repertoire.
Mythos, for harp (2024)
Split Suite, for cello (2022)
This was originally a score for a dance work with choreographer PeiJu Chien-Pott, for cellist Jeffrey Zeigler. PeiJu called her dance SPLIT, so I called the music Split Suite, even though it’s not a suite in the sense of being excerpts from a larger work. But calling a multi-movement solo cello piece a suite conjures its own associations, of course. This one is in three movements, about 9 minutes total. The first movement is quick and virtuosic, the second a bit (intentionally) disjointed through a collage structure, and the third slow and lyrical. (The third movement was originally intended to start the piece, but I moved things around once I saw PeiJu’s choreographic process.) A bit more detached than some of my other music until the last movement, but challenging and effective.
Façade, for flute (2021)
A 4-minute character study, Façade was originally written for dancing flutist and was choreographed by Zara Lawler. But there’s enough going on with just the notes that I think it’s better suited as a concert piece. Quarter-tonal and using a substantial “bag of tricks,” it’s playful with opportunities to show off velocity and color. Originally intended as the first of a set of short flute studies.
Link to purchase score: hard copy
Apostrophe, for clarinet (2020)
Another pandemic-era piece, this was premiered virtually by Gregory Oakes. This 5-minute piece tests the clarinetist’s tone control and endurance as it acts out a dialogue between two characters, each at different dynamic levels and sometimes switching rapidly between extremes. The end of the piece offers an opportunity for more extended lyricism in an emotionally charged line.
Twine, for viola (2015)
Written for solo viola and dancer as part of The Portrait Project with Periapsis Music and Dance, Twine originally involved intricate (and somewhat acrobatic) musician/dancer interaction with choreography by Manuel Vignoulle. As a concert piece, it evokes the same slinky, distorted characters through quarter-tonal intervals and meandering lines, with an animated (but still weird) middle section. About 6 minutes long.
Escape Velocity, for percussion (2015)
Escape Velocity began life as part of Periapsis Music and Dance’s The Portrait Project, which paired solo musicians with solo dancers for short works. This one, with choreography by Seán Curran, started with astronomical images but ended up, both in the dance and the music, evoking more of a ritualistic rite of passage. Musically, it alternates between slow, misterioso sections and fast ostinatos. About 7.5 minutes
Cantus firmus, for organ (2014)
My only organ piece to date is this 3-minute wedding present for my brother and his wife. Some thorny counterpoint, but otherwise pretty smooth sailing.
Acrostic, for viola (2012)
Written for violist Margaret Dyer, Acrostic was a structural and harmonic experiment, and as such creates a somewhat inscrutable experience. Just four minutes long and divided into small sections with a repeated head motive, it contains bursts of expressionistic emotion in a thorny, quarter-tonal language. More challenging than my later solo viola work, Twine.
Coda, for violin (2010)
A miniature (3-minute) virtuoso showpiece, its thorny quarter-tonal harmonies have somehow not deterred violinists from giving it a go. A bit daunting, but ultimately playful and very effective.