Opus number: op. 95
Title: Caprice No. 8, “Wayfaring Stranger”
Instrumentation: trumpet
Commissioned: Carson Cooman
Date written: 2007
Length: four minutes
Premiere performance:
Program Notes: Caprice No. 8 for solo trumpet, Op. 95, was commissioned by Carson Cooman for his brother the trumpeter Colby Cooman. It is based on the folk hymn tune “Wayfaring Stranger” and is a short scherzo that quotes the hymn in its central section.
Read More...Opus number: op. 76
Title: Dark Orange Partita
Instrumentation: viola
Written for: Carol Rodland
Date written: 20???????
Length: seventeen minutes
Premiere performance: not yet performed
Program Notes: This piece was also rewritten for cello and harpsichord figured bass, op. 110.
Read More...Opus number: op. 75
Title: Caprice No. 7, Echo and Narcissus
Instrumentation: vibraphone/narrator
Text: Ovid
Commission: Nick Tolle
Dedication: Nick Tolle
Date written: June 2005
Length: eight minutes
Premiere performance: January 20, 2008, Larry Bell, narrator, Nick Tolle, vibraphone. NEC’s Williams Hall. (Boston premiere)
Subsequent performances: Nick Tolle, Amsterdam
Program Notes: Caprice No. 7, Echo and Narcissus, Op. 75, is written for solo vibraphone and narrator. The narrator part was originally designed to be spoken by the vibraphonist, but could effectively be performed by a separate speaker. The work was written for Nick Tolle in 2006 and is a continuation of my series of pieces for solo instrument titled Caprice. Caprice No. 7 was premiered in Amsterdam in the spring of 2007 by Nick Tolle and later performed in January of 2008 with the composer as narrator. The text was taken from Ovid and is the familiar story from Greek mythology of the transformation of Narcissus into a constellation.
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Title: Liturgical Suite
Commissioned: Carson Cooman and Richard Bunbury
Dedication: to Carson Cooman and Richard Bunbury
Instrumentation: solo organ
Date written: June 2004
Length: ca. 20 minutes
Premiere performance: March 6, 2005, St. Theresa of Avila Parish
Important subsequent performances:
Program notes: My “Liturgical Suite” for Organ, Op. 69 was completed in June of 2004 and was commissioned by and dedicated to two organists: Carson Cooman and Richard Bunbury. The work is in seven movements and is designed to be both a recital piece and a functional part of a church service.
The movements are: Processional, Fugue, Toccata, “Wayfaring Stranger,” Gigue, Pastorale, and Postlude. The whole work is a kind of arch form which frames the central variations on the religious folk song “I am a poor wayfaring stranger.” Some of these movements contain repeats that allow them to be extended as the occasion requires. In addition, each piece contains general registration recommendations that were graciously suggested by the commissioning organists.
Reviews: (performances) (recordings)
Excerpt: Litugical Suite (Coming soon!)
Read More...Opus number: 73
Title: Caprice No. 6
Instrumentation: clarinet
Date written: February 2005
Length: five minutes
Dedication: Megan Ankuda
Performances: Megan Ankuda, May 2, 2005, St. Cecilia’s Church, Boston, MA.
Program notes: Caprice No. 6, op. 73, was written in Febraury 2005 for my former student Megan Ankuka. This brief five-minute piece calls for the performer to interact with the audience by asking them to “Tap your feet,” “Snap your fingers,” and “Clap your hands.” (It will be useful for an addtional person to play a percussion instrument on these back beats to keep the pulse steady.) Although “Caprice” no. 6 is designed for a concert-music recital, the inspiration for it is drawn from the interactive world of rock and gospel music.
Read More...Title: Caprice No. 5
Instrumentation: alto saxophone
Date written: February 14, 2001
Length: four minutes
Dedication: Russell Peterson
Performances: Russell Peterson, September 25, 2002, Moorehead, MN.
Program notes: “Caprice no. 5” was completed on February 14, 2000, and was written especially for Russell Peterson. Peterson’s remarkable recording of my work “Mahler in Blue Light” inspired me to write a virtuosic solo piece that would further explore his command of the altissimo register.
As in the other works in this series of solo Cparices (for cello, flute, alto recorder, marimba) “Caprice No. 5” is non-programmatic and formallly experimental. This work not only explores the “whole” alto saxophone, it also in an improvisation on the twenty-nine possible four-note chords. Here the chords are linked by interval and played as a melodic cadenza. –Notes by the composer
Read More...Title: Caprice No. 4
Instrumentation: marimba
Date written: January 2001
Length: ca. five minutes
Dedication: Mike Williams
Performances: Mike Williams, the Boston Conservatory
Program notes: This work is a continuation of a series of short solo instrumental works that are experimental in nature. It was written for a large marimba whose contra “C” forms the lowest note of the last chord.
Read More...Title: Caprice No. 3 for alto recorder
Instrumentation: solo recorder
Date written: June 2000
Length: three minutes
Dedication: Daphna Mor
Performances: Daphna Mor, Trinity Church in New York City, December 10, 2001
Program notes: The Caprice for alto recorder was written on request for my former student Daphna Mor. In this piece I tried to capture the brilliance and the expressiveness that I have often heard in Daphna’s playing. The work is in two parts: the second part is much like the first part in inversion. The second part, however, brings the ironic playfulness of the work to a lyrical conclusion.
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Title: Caprice
Instrumentation: solo flute
Date written: summer 1999, Boston
Length: ca. four minutes
Commissioner and dedicatee: Liz Muir
Premiere performance: April 7 and 9, 2000, Andrea LaRose, flutist, Just in Time Composers and Players, The Boston Conservatory.
Program notes: “Caprice” for solo flute was written in May 1999 in exchange for an oil portrail by the composer’s friend Liz Muir. It can be heard as a very subtle two-part canon compressed into a single line. The title of the piece comes from the whimsical character of the piece–much like a flute being chased by its own shadow.
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