I have been writing music on and off since the mid 1970s. I've been through any number of changes of style, sometimes guided more by adherence to a certain philosophy than by my own head and heart. You will not find those compositions here. Instead, I have tried to include a representative sampling of what I can do, given a wide variety of context. Lately I have begun to question the validity of musical composition isolated from improvisation, but that doesn't mean I'm declaring myself a member of any sort of artistic movement. It's just a matter of where I find inspiration, and where my artistic impulses can find a useful and appropriate outlet.
These are all MIDI files, by the way. It's easier for me at the present time, and some of them were meant to be that way to begin with anyway.
- Click on the title to hear each work. -
THREE FANFARES
Fanfare on a Theme of Arnold Schoenberg
Fanfare for a New Millenium
Canonic Fanfare
*****
*****
TWO CANONS ON POEMS BY EMILY DICKENSON
For two-part treble chorus, flute, and cello
No. 1
No. 2
*****
GNOMES & CHIMERAS
A series of compositions in General MIDI format for internet listening
*WHAT THE ALCHEMIST SAID*
Sometimes the simplest words have the most complex meanings.
*GAUTHIER'S SHADOW*
This piece was inspired by my love of the French Lutenists of the seventeenth century, and by an experience I had late one night while practicing the organ in an empty church many years ago. As I finished playing a work by a particular 17th century composer I feel an affinity for, I became aware that I was not alone - there was the strongest presence of some one nearby listening. Later, as I left the building, I distinctly heard the same music coming from the nave.
*HAMBURG BOOGIE - WOOGIE*
This piece was inspired by Telemann's Canonical Sonatas for two flutes and by Fats Waller's "Alligator Crawl."
*KLINGSOR'S LAST SUMMER*
After a short story by Hermann Hesse - "Art is the comtemplation of the world in a state of grace."
*COURTLY DANCES OF BYZANTIUM*
"The organic body sang together;
dialects of the world sprang in Byzantium;
back they rang to sing in Byzantium;
the streets repeat the sound of the Throne."
- Charles Williams, in "The Vision of the Empire."
*****
INCIDENTAL MUSIC FOR SHAKESPEARE
These were written for student productions at Grace and St. Peter's School in the late 1990s. The performers were children ages 10 & 11, so the vocal lines were kept within their capabilities. There are intentional echoes of various folk songs familiar to the children.
Blow, Blow Thou Wint'ry Wind
It Was A Lover And His Lass
O Mistress Mine
A Tiny Boy
Come Sweet Death
MUSIC FOR FOUR, parts 1 & 2
[part one is a different version of "Canonic Fanfare" above]
Get your own Free Home Page