Ruth Lomon

for flute, TAB flute, B-flat clarinet, piano, violoncello, and vibraphone

1. Mizmaze

2. Warp and Weft

3. Navajo: Weaving the Yei

4. Penelope’s Web

Mizmaze is an intricate network of pathways enclosed by hedges or plantations. Warp and Weft has two textures running through the movement to create a musical ‘warp and weft’. The pizzicato of the cello throughout the movement is intertwined with the melodic lines of the other instruments. Navajo: Weaving the Yei refers to the Navajo rugs that have the figures of the Yei, Navajo deities, woven into the rugs. You will hear references to songs of the Navajo and some chants. Penelope’s Web is a proverbial expression for work which is ongoing but never completed. The myth gave me a frame for the changing textures of this movement, building a thick texture with all the instruments and thinning to long solo flute passages accompanied by vibraphone tremolo chords.

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Ruth Lomon

for flute, B-flat clarinet/bass clarinet, bassoon, trumpets in C, trombone/bass trombone, solo soprano, and SATB chorus

Songs from a Requiem are inserts in the setting of a Requiem Mass which Ruth Lomon composed in 1977 and dedicated to the memory of her sister. The Mass proper is set for chorus (SATB) accompanied by trumpets and trombones. The songs, settings of poems she wrote between 1970 and 1972, are orchestrated for soprano, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, and bassoon. The version for soprano with piano accompaniment was written in 1982.

The premiere of the entire Requiem took place in Boston, February 22, 1997, performed by Choro Allegro under the direction of David Hodgkins.

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Ruth Lomon

for clarinet/bass clarinet, cello, vibraphone/tomtoms, and piano

Weaving(s):

1. Mizmaze

2. Warp and Weft

3. Navajo: Weaving the Yei

4. Penelope's Web

Mizmaze is an intricate network of pathways enclosed by hedges or plantations. "He hath walked the whole labyrinth and mizmaze of his life." (Beza) Warp and Weft has two textures running through this movement to create a musical "warp and weft." The pizzicato of the cello throughout the movement is intertwined with the melodic lines of the other instruments. Navajo: Weaving the Yei refers to the Navajo rugs that have the figures of the Yei, Navajo deities, woven into the rugs. You will hear references to some songs of the

Navajo. Penelope's Web is a proverbial expression for anything which is perpetually doing and never done. While Ulysses was off fighting the wars Penelope wove her tapestry every day and undid the work every evening to keep her suitors at bay. She held off their proposals by saying that she would not make a commitment to any of them until she had finished weaving the funereal robe for Laertes, her father-in-law.

The myth gave me a frame for the changing textures of this movement, building a thick texture with the four instruments, and thinning to long solo passages with tremolo chordal treatments in the vibraphone and piano solos.

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Ruth Lomon

for two clarinets, violin, viola,  and live electronics

ca. 12'00"

Scored for two clarinets, violin, viola, 'cello and synthesizer, The Talisman was commissioned by Boston based Dinosaur Annex in 1989 with the proviso that one component should be live electronics. The seven sounds created with computer and Opcode Librarian and played from the synthesizer have a symbiotic relationship with the live instruments. The electronic sounds I wanted to use dictated the way I wrote for the live instrument and conversely, the qualities I wanted from the instruments led my search for a balanced electronic counterpart. The Talisman was written for my daughter who was nursing a terminally ill child. You will hear inflections of 'hush little baby...' in the rocking motion of the strings and in the viola which plays a full quote at the end of the piece.

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Ruth Lomon

for woodwind quintet (flute, oboe, B-flat clarinet, horn in F, bassoon)

ca. 12'45"

Diptych was composed in 1983 while Ruth Lomon was a fellow at the MacDowell Art Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. It is a work for woodwind quintet in two distinctive movements which also share common structural elements. The first section is dominated by a melodic line which threads through the instruments. In both halves of the Diptych there are episodes composed of trios for flute, oboe and clarinet. In the first trio the clarinet melody develops over a motoric rhythmic element, whereas the trio of the second part closes the movement with a haunting and improvisatory ending. Diptych was composed for the Lyricum Ensemble (Massachusetts), and has been performed by numerous woodwind quintets including the Ars Nova (New York), Venti Da Camera (Bowling Green University OH), The Ariel Quintet (Boston MA), The Theophilus Quintet and New Mexico Woodwind Quintet (both of Albuquerque NM). In 1993 Diptych was a finalist for Symposium VII for New Woodwind Quintet Music at The University of Georgia and was performed by The Metro Wind Quintet of St. Louis, MO.

Click here to view the score and listen to a recording.