Anna Rubin

Dreaming Fire, Tasting Rain (1995-96, rev. 2024)

Tags: Rubinchambermezzo sopranopianosoprano

Anna Rubin

5 instrument version for flute (piccolo), clarinet in Bb (bass clarinet), violin, cello, and piano

6 instrument version for flute (piccolo), clarinet in Bb (bass clarinet), violin, cello, piano, and percussion (vibraphone)

ca. 10'30"

Dreaming Fire, tasting Rain was originally written while I was working on my Ph.D at Princeton University. The Nash Ensemble of London premiered the work at Princeton. The 6 instrument version includes percussion and is intended for performance by the Ruckus Ensemble at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. The images of fire and rain translated into a variety of musical textures – sometimes serene and sometimes jagged and thorny. In the opening, heterophonic or layered melodies surge and then subside. A middle section begins with the lonely sound of the piccolo against spiky cello pizzicati and then builds to a driving pulsed rhythm, intensified with percussion. The music then eases into a lyrical cello melody against a background of rolling piano chords and flute and violin countermelodies.

The 5 instrument version has been performed at Oberlin College Conservatory, the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and the Heidelberg College Festival of Women.

The 6 instrument version of the piece premieres in 2024 at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Click here to view the score and listen to a recording for 5 instruments.

Click here to view the score and listen to a recording for 6 instruments.

Tags: Rubinchamberbass clarinetclarinet in Bbflutepercussionpianopiccoloviolinvioloncello

Silk and Steel (2010, rev. 2019, 2022)

Anna Rubin

for alto saxophone and harp

ca. 8'44"

Silk and Steel was commissioned in 2010 by the duo Pictures on Silence, comprised of Jacqueline Pollauf, harp and Noah Getz, alto saxophone. The opening section is very romantic, featuring melismatic alto sax melodies over intricate harp accompaniment. A more whimsical rhythmic section follows where figures are tossed back and forth between the instruments. This leads into more dramatic material emphasizing extreme ranges between the instruments and a rocking low figure in the harp. Eventually the piece makes its way back to a reprise of the opening material. While exploiting a variety of textures between the two instruments, I explore various quasi-tonal harmonic structures and scales, sliding from suggestions of whole tone collections to Middle Eastern and atonal scales.

Silk and Steel premiered Jan. 19, 2010 at the American University in Washington, DC (Jaqueline Pollauf, harp and Noah Getz, alto sax). It was also performed on at Catholic University in Washington, DC (Nov. 12, 2010), Lilypad, Boston (Apr. 19, 2011), and University of Maryland, Baltimore County (Oct. 26, 2018).

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

A version was composed for flute and piano in 2019, based on the original version written for alto saxophone and harp.

Silk and Steel for flute and harp (2022) evokes qualities of both the delicacy and power that the flute and harp can project. The piece is also a version of the original work for alto sax and harp.

Tags: Rubinchamberalto saxophonefluteharppiano

Dudele (2022)

Anna Rubin

for mezzo soprano and piano

ca. 5'05"

The text of Dudele is attributed to Reb Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev (1740–1809) who was a prominent Chasidic rabbi in what is present- day Ukraine. The Chasidic sect of Judaism emphasizes joy, music, and mystical union with God. Dudeleh is a beloved Yiddish poem. Yiddish is strongly related to medieval German with a great deal of Hebrew, and spoken widely by Eastern European Jews and now in Chasidic communities throughout the world as well as by secular Jews. Du is the familiar form of ‘you’ and Dudele is an affectionate intensification of the pronoun, that would be used with a beloved spouse, child or friend – here it affirms the Reb’s intense connection to God.

I set the poem/prayer with a Klezmer feel. While most of the piece is in 4/4, there are interludes using a rhythm of 3+3+2 which is heard in the doina, a Rumanian dance form with possible Middle Eastern roots, often heard in Klezmer music.

Dudele is part of a larger composition originally scored for SATB choir, harp, organ and percussion called Hallelujah. This version of Dudele was premiered at the Piano on the Rocks Festival, Sedona in 2023, on the same day that Hallelujah premiered in Schermbeck, Germany.

Sonja Bruzauskas, mezzo soprano

Sandrine Erdely-Sayo, piano

Click here to watch a performance of the piece.

For the Love of Bees for solo piano (2010, rev. 2019)

Tags: Rubinchambermezzo sopranopiano

Anna Rubin

for solo piano

For the Love of Bees is a six-part suite. It was originally composed for Dr. Margaret Lucia in a solo piano version with four parts in 2010. I expanded the piece in 2019 at the request of the director of the Piano on the Rocks Festival, Sandrine Erdely-Sayo as well as adding a spoken narrative in another version. The idea for the piece was generated by my growing awareness of honeybee hive die-offs because of Colony Collapse Disorder. As I learned more about this problem, including interviewing bee specialists at the US Department of Agriculture, I also learned more about bees’ social behavior, other bee species, and their critical role as pollinators.

For each section, I used some of the striking characteristics of bees as a 'natural' metaphor along with a particular pianistic technical challenge in the tradition of the etude. In turn, each section explores a particular compositional/harmonic issue. In various sections, I was also responding to the piano compositions of Debussy, Chopin, Bartok, Messaien, and the great Cuban jazz pianist, Chucho Valdés.

"Swarms" uses rapidly iterated clusters of 3-7 notes — a sort of ‘megatrill’ — in a variety of textures in a free atonal musical language. "Sting" is based on rapidly executed lines in step-wise motion contrasted with 'stinging' dyads and rapid ostinati; the perfect 4th is the core interval. “Honey Queen” is based on slow 6-9 note sustained chords with combinations of 2nds, 4ths, 7ths, all in a protracted sense of unresolved stasis. “Myth of the Assassin Bees” is a fast-pulsed and syncopated exploration of virtuosic cross-hand technique with jazz-influenced chords. “Solitary” is a romantic and lyrical exercise in chromatic quasi-tonal harmony. "Ode to Bees and Their Keepers" takes the symmetry of the hive as a metaphor for expanding and contracting figures. It begins at the center of the instrument. These figures expand outward, contract and move variously through the range of the keyboard until the entire range of the instrument is sounding. This last section incorporates echoes of earlier sections — the megatrills of "Swarms," lush chords of “Honey Queen” and “Solitary,” and cross-hand technique of “Myth of the Assassin Bees.”

This piece was premiered by Dr. Margaret Lucia in 2010 at both the University of Maryland Baltimore County and Heidelberg College. She has performed this at multiple conferences and festivals including the International Alliance for Women in Music Conference (Flagstaff, 2011); College Music Society Symposium, Cambridge (2013); Pennsylvania Women Composers Festival (2014); Conservatorio Teresa Berganza (part of their Semana Cultural, 2017); Conservatorio Adolfo Salazar, Madrid (2017); Conservatori Superior de Musica de les Illes Balears, Palma Majorca (2017); Universidad de Salamanca, Festival Internacional de Primavera (2017); Centro Cultural de Nicholás Samerón (2017); Sala Manuel De Falla, Conservatorio Real de Madrid (2019); Auditorio de Galicia - Santiago de Compostela (2017); and Wunderkammer - Villa Bernasconi, Cernobbio (2019). Sections of the piece have also been performed in Baltimore at the Baltimore Composers Forum (2018) by Bonghee Lee.

For the Love of Bees (2010, rev. 2019)

Tags: Rubinsolopiano

Anna Rubin

for narrator and piano

ca. 21'58"

For the Love of Bees is a six-part suite. It was originally composed for Dr. Margaret Lucia in a solo piano version with four parts in 2010. I expanded the piece in 2019 at the request of the director of the Piano on the Rocks Festival, Sandrine Erdely-Sayo as well as adding a spoken narrative. The idea for the piece was generated by my growing awareness of honeybee hive die-offs because of Colony Collapse Disorder. As I learned more about this problem, including interviewing bee specialists at the US Department of Agriculture, I also learned more about bees’ social behavior, other bee species, and their critical role as pollinators.

"Swarms" uses rapidly iterated clusters of 3-7 notes — a sort of ‘megatrill’ — in a variety of textures in a free atonal musical language. "Sting" is based on rapidly executed lines in step-wise motion contrasted with 'stinging' dyads and rapid ostinati; the perfect 4th is the core interval. “Honey Queen” is based on slow 6-9 note sustained chords with combinations of 2nds, 4ths, 7ths, all in a protracted sense of unresolved stasis. “Myth of the Assassin Bees” is a fast-pulsed and syncopated exploration of virtuosic cross-hand technique with jazz-influenced chords. “Solitary” is a romantic and lyrical exercise in chromatic quasi-tonal harmony. "Ode to Bees and Their Keepers" takes the symmetry of the hive as a metaphor for expanding and contracting figures. It begins at the center of the instrument. These figures expand outward, contract and move variously through the range of the keyboard until the entire range of the instrument is sounding. This last section incorporates echoes of earlier sections — the megatrills of "Swarms," lush chords of “Honey Queen” and “Solitary," and cross-hand technique of “Myth of the Assassin Bees.”

This version of the piece premiered at the Piano on the Rocks Festival in 2019. Other performances of the complete suite have occurred at the University of the Andes (2020) and at the Richmond Library in Philadelphia under the sponsorship of Drexel University and the library, which has an active beehive. Sections of the piece have also been performed in Baltimore (Baltimore Composers Forum) and the Philadelphia Ethical Society.

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

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

Tags: Rubinchambersolonarratorpiano

Remembering (1988)

Anna Rubin

for mezzo soprano, piano, and fixed media

ca. 14'56"

Remembering is a lyrical and evocative meditation on the horrors of World War II. It is in three major sections. The two outer sections are accompanied by electronic sounds. The first part is dominated by word fragments which are gradually revealed to be names of concentration camps and other sites of horror. The middle section is without electronic sounds and is a setting of the Jewish prayer for the dead, the Kaddish and is in the original Hebrew. The last section again features a collage of vocal sounds as a background for the soloist and brings a gentle resolution to the work.

The work has been recorded on NEUMA Records with the late Judith Kellock, mezzo soprano, and Karl Paulnack.It has been performed many times including performances at the SEAMUS Festival of Electroacoustic Music (1996), Oberlin College (2000), University of Maryland Baltimore County (2010), and the Piano on the Rocks Festival, Sedona (2021).

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

Tags: Rubinchambermezzo sopranopiano

Chiaroscuro (2016)

Anna Rubin

for concert wind ensemble

ca. 9'28"

Chiaroscuro was commissioned by Dr. Brian Kaufman, director of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Wind Ensemble in 2016. The term 'chiaroscuro' is a term used in painting to refer to the dramatic treatment of light and shade. I exploit the many colors of wind, brass, percussion and piano to contrast and blend with each other. The piano in particular adds a brilliant coloristic component. The piece is highly rhythmic and builds to a rollicking climax where the full power of the brass section holds sway. The surprise ending is gentle, highlighting the upper winds.

The piece is recorded on Albany Records entitled Filtering, published in 2020.

Tags: Rubinwind ensemblealto saxophonebaritone saxophonebass clarinetbass trombonebassoonclarinet in Bbdouble basseuphoniumflutehorn in Foboepercussionpianopiccolotenor saxophonetrombonetrumpettuba

Ludwig Dreams of Igor (2021)

Anna Rubin

for solo piano

ca. 2'00"

This short piece is part of the ‘Diabelli Recomposed’ project conceived by Claudia Bigos. Fifty worldwide composers participated in composing variations on the famous tune made famous by Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations. Furore Verlag (Germany) has published this piece in “Diabelli Recomposed,” Edition 10413.

Ludwig Dreams of Igor is a whimsical smash-up of well-known fragments of Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps with the opening tune of the Diabelli Variations. The famous bi-tonalism of Le Sacre pervades the variation while melodic fragments of each composer are intertwined. The shared love of bombast cements their true brotherhood.

The piece premiered as part of a grand performance of all fifty pieces at the Hanover Music Academy in 2023.

Click here to watch a performance (YouTube; go to 2:12:23).

De Nacht: Lament for Malcolm X (1983)

Tags: Rubinsolopiano

Anna Rubin

for soprano, flute, oboe, Bb clarinet, bassoon, horn in F, piano, violin, viola, violoncello, and contrabass

De Nacht was written while I was studying in Amsterdam with Ton de Leeuw in 1983. I composed it for a competion run by the Delta Ensemble and was awarded first prize. I assembled the text, which is an impressionistic collage drawn from several sources including Near Eastern mythology and Malcolm’s X’s own life. Words from several languages are used. I was very influenced by the mythological works of Joseph Campbell and his concept of the hero’s journey. The piece is in two broad sections. Melodic fragments are set against fast, pizzicato and staccato accompanimental figures in the first part. It builds to a dramatic climax and is followed by a serene closing section which is a setting of a Hawaaian creation song.

At a time when the earth was hot,

At a time when the heavens turned about,

At a time when the sun was darkened to cause the moon to shine,

The slime, the source of the earth, the source of the night, that made the night,

Intense darkness! The deep darkness, the darkness of the sun, darkness of the night, the night gives birth.

The piece premiered at The Icebreaker (Het Ijsbreker), Amsterdam, in 1983 was performed several times after by the ensemble.

Tags: Rubinchamberbassoonclarinet in Bbcontrabassflutehorn in Foboepianosopranoviolaviolinvioloncello

Honeybee Works (2010)

Anna Rubin

for solo piano

ca. 3'00"

Honeybee Works (2010) is the name of as suite of four piano etudes, and was commissioned by Dr. Margaret Lucia of Shippensburg University and premiered for the 2010 Earth Day Music Festival there. I used some of the striking characteristics of bees as a 'natural' metaphor for each section along with both a particular technical challenge and formal harmonic/compositional issue, in the manner of the traditional etude. "Swarms" uses rapidly iterated clusters of 3-7 notes as both melody and harmony. “Honey” is based on 6-9 note sustained chords with combinations of 2nds, 4ths, 7ths. "Sting" is based on rapidly executed lines in step-wise motion contrasted with 'stinging' dyads and rapid ostinati; the perfect 4th is the core interval. "Comb," which takes the beautiful symmetry of the hive as a metaphor for expanding and contracting figures, begins at the center of the instrument. These rocking figures expand outward, contract and move variously through the range of the keyboard until the entire range of the instrument is sounding.

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