Court Music 1
MP3
PDF
A bit delayed, but there it is: Week #1 of New Music Appetizer, my new weekly post of my works-in-progress.
First up is Court Music 1, my first draft of a 16th-century motet meant to serve as court background music for John Webster's play Duchess of Malfi. (Webster was a contemporary of Shakespeare.)
The play is going up February 12-15 at CUA's Hartke Theater, and is directed by Ryan Whinnem. Check it out!
More to come. Now... let the comments commence! (That means you.)
Showing posts with label audio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label audio. Show all posts
Friday, January 23, 2009
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Seven Deadly Sins Cabaret: A Preview
As a preview of things to come in the upcoming production of Doctor Faustus (Friday evening, Saturday afternoon and evening in the Callan), here are a few of the sound cues I've written.
Seven Deadly Sins Cabaret samples
(click to hear audio - without accompanying monologues, of course)
Sin 2: Covetousness (an acrobatic gymnastics routine)
Sin 4: Envy (ballet, quasi pas de deux)
Sin 6: Sloth (12-tone canon, sprechstimme voice not included)
Sin 7: Letchery (sultry night club act)
And there's more where that came from! See you Friday or Saturday.
Seven Deadly Sins Cabaret samples
(click to hear audio - without accompanying monologues, of course)
Sin 2: Covetousness (an acrobatic gymnastics routine)
Sin 4: Envy (ballet, quasi pas de deux)
Sin 6: Sloth (12-tone canon, sprechstimme voice not included)
Sin 7: Letchery (sultry night club act)
And there's more where that came from! See you Friday or Saturday.
Friday, February 29, 2008
To Be Franc
Hear It (MP3)
See It (Score)
As promised, here is another art song, again for soprano and piano. This was composed for an abandoned opera (my first!), which was originally going to be my masters thesis. The story is an adaptation of Mark Twain's comic play "Is He Dead?", which is now being produced for the first time ever, on Broadway -- the play, that is... not my unfinished opera.
Composed in a little under one week while I was rushing to complete my first attempt at a thesis, To Be Franc is a light, miniature view into the mindset of the opera's leading lady, Marie, as she explains her devotion to her love, Jean-Francios Millet (yes, the French painter). Millet has no money, but Marie frankly (or franc-ly - nothing better than a cheap pun on currency) doesn't mind.
Moments of note include the muddy major third accompaniment motive in the piano, the return of earlier material in the piano's upper register (final section), and the singer's awesome high B natural near the end. That's a difficult note, especially at such a serene, exposed moment!
...which brings me to my next point - acknowledging this second performance of my music by soprano Rachel Barham (AKA "The World's Greatest Diva Ever In The History Of The Universe"). Oh, and some amateur is plunking away at the piano behind her; sorry for that.
Comment if you see fit...
See It (Score)
As promised, here is another art song, again for soprano and piano. This was composed for an abandoned opera (my first!), which was originally going to be my masters thesis. The story is an adaptation of Mark Twain's comic play "Is He Dead?", which is now being produced for the first time ever, on Broadway -- the play, that is... not my unfinished opera.
Composed in a little under one week while I was rushing to complete my first attempt at a thesis, To Be Franc is a light, miniature view into the mindset of the opera's leading lady, Marie, as she explains her devotion to her love, Jean-Francios Millet (yes, the French painter). Millet has no money, but Marie frankly (or franc-ly - nothing better than a cheap pun on currency) doesn't mind.
Moments of note include the muddy major third accompaniment motive in the piano, the return of earlier material in the piano's upper register (final section), and the singer's awesome high B natural near the end. That's a difficult note, especially at such a serene, exposed moment!
...which brings me to my next point - acknowledging this second performance of my music by soprano Rachel Barham (AKA "The World's Greatest Diva Ever In The History Of The Universe"). Oh, and some amateur is plunking away at the piano behind her; sorry for that.
Comment if you see fit...
Friday, February 8, 2008
When People Are Soft
Hear It (MP3)
See It (Score)
This art song for soprano and piano was the first piece I completed as a masters student at CUA studying under Andrew Simpson. It was a bit of a struggle, taking me about four months of on-and-off work to complete.
Although it is rather simple in some ways, I mark this piece as one of the turning points in my composing career. Looking back, this piece is really quite tonal with just a few non-tonal elements inserted in places; however, this is the first time I ever really broke out of a diatonic added- or embellished-note tonality in any conscious, consistent way. Even the length (5½ minutes) was ambitious for me at the time, since most of my pieces were around three minutes.
Oh, and I must say thank you to Yufen Chou, pianist, and to Rachel Barham, AKA "The World's Greatest Diva Ever In The History Of The Universe," soprano. Composers would not survive without the support of performers who champion new music.
See It (Score)
This art song for soprano and piano was the first piece I completed as a masters student at CUA studying under Andrew Simpson. It was a bit of a struggle, taking me about four months of on-and-off work to complete.
Although it is rather simple in some ways, I mark this piece as one of the turning points in my composing career. Looking back, this piece is really quite tonal with just a few non-tonal elements inserted in places; however, this is the first time I ever really broke out of a diatonic added- or embellished-note tonality in any conscious, consistent way. Even the length (5½ minutes) was ambitious for me at the time, since most of my pieces were around three minutes.
Oh, and I must say thank you to Yufen Chou, pianist, and to Rachel Barham, AKA "The World's Greatest Diva Ever In The History Of The Universe," soprano. Composers would not survive without the support of performers who champion new music.
Monday, January 28, 2008
The Fall (Interlude) for orchestra
The Fall (Interlude) for orchestra
Hear It (MP3)
See It (Score)
This is my first original work for full orchestra. The majority of my output is vocal, solo, or chamber music, but hearing this selection from a chamber piece arranged for orchestra was very exciting.
The piece is an instrumental scene from my masters thesis, a one-act musical entitled The Eden Diaries. I intended a furious-paced tempo to match the scene's action (the biblical expulsion from Eden), but the work came out nicely for a reading with only one rehearsal.
Enjoy, and please comment on the orchestration (or, what you can hear of it), as that is the greatest challenge and the greatest fun when writing for a full orchestra.
(P.S. - To my subscribers, sorry for the failed post earlier with no links. I'm still new at this!)
Hear It (MP3)
See It (Score)
This is my first original work for full orchestra. The majority of my output is vocal, solo, or chamber music, but hearing this selection from a chamber piece arranged for orchestra was very exciting.
The piece is an instrumental scene from my masters thesis, a one-act musical entitled The Eden Diaries. I intended a furious-paced tempo to match the scene's action (the biblical expulsion from Eden), but the work came out nicely for a reading with only one rehearsal.
Enjoy, and please comment on the orchestration (or, what you can hear of it), as that is the greatest challenge and the greatest fun when writing for a full orchestra.
(P.S. - To my subscribers, sorry for the failed post earlier with no links. I'm still new at this!)
Monday, January 21, 2008
Auf Dix (A Test Run)
This is a (double-revised) test run of the audio link and podcast hosting functions of Blogger.
The file you are now able to listen to (hopefully) is a fugue, sort of. It was composed for my friend and fellow composer Jonathan, and is in a first draft. The audio was rendered using the Kontakt 2 sound library in Cubase Studio 4.
UPDATE: This new audio file is the same music, but actually mastered (roughly), so it plays at a higher (normal) volume and with a touch more bass. Enjoy, and let me know if it's any different
More discussion will follow. Thanks.
The file you are now able to listen to (hopefully) is a fugue, sort of. It was composed for my friend and fellow composer Jonathan, and is in a first draft. The audio was rendered using the Kontakt 2 sound library in Cubase Studio 4.
UPDATE: This new audio file is the same music, but actually mastered (roughly), so it plays at a higher (normal) volume and with a touch more bass. Enjoy, and let me know if it's any different
More discussion will follow. Thanks.
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