Anna Rubin

for fixed media and Baroque oboe, modern oboe, or violin

ca. 5'30"

Stolen Gold, for amplified baroque oboe (or modern oboe or violin), live electronics, and digital audio is a one-movement piece. The digital audio portion was created in the Csound synthesis program and uses three classes of sounds – glissandi varying in character from subtle to long and sweeping, clouds of pointillistic sounds, and drones. The oboe weaves sinuous and melismatic melodies around these events as well as emulating some of the synthesized glissandi. Amplification of the live instrument allows it to blend with the digital audio. The harmonic language of the piece is freely atonal and based on a variety of invented modes. The oboe/violin and the synthesized sound alternate in prominence, continually shifting in whether one or the other is more dominant. At other times they seem to meld, only to suddenly deviate. The title has a two-fold personal meaning – at the time of first learning Csound, a complex Unix-based application, I struggled to find an expressive outlet through the rigors of its program language. Achieving compelling sounds felt like a triumph of both will and wilyness, as if I had stolen the treasure from a heartless machine.

The baroque oboe version of this piece has been recorded on Capstone Records (Debra Nagy) and the violin version has been recorded on Albany Records (Airi Yoshioka). The performer for the modern oboe version is Patricia Morehead. The piece has been performed many times including at the Ohio Composers of Electroacoustic Music Festival, Oberlin (2002), and the NYC International Fringe Festival (as music for Colette Searls’ puppet production, Basura, 2005). It has been featured at such festivals as the Festival de la Cité Lausanne, 2012, the Scotia Music Festival, Halifax, 2013, and as presented by "der/gelbe/klang" Ensemble, Munich (2024).

Click here to view the score and listen to the recording of the version for Baroque oboe.

Click here to view the score and listen to the recording of the version for modern oboe.

Click here to view the score and listen to the recording of the version for violin.

Click here to download performance materials.

Anna Rubin

for amplified cello and fixed media

ca. 10'54"

Beekeepers Caroline and Jeff Crooks are small-scale beekeepers in Maryland who graciously allowed me to record their stories about beekeeping – as well as their bees. Their recorded voices are blended with ambient and computer-generated sound and blended with live cello. This sonic ‘portrait’ takes the listener into the world of a backyard apiary, and is part of a series of pieces commissioned by cellist Madeleine Shapiro dealing with the environment. The cellist’s part is both lyrical and percussive, allowing the performer to explore a variety of textures and colors available on the instrument.

This piece has been performed at such venues as The Tank (NYC, 2011), Electroacousic Music Festival, Conservatory of Music of Brooklyn College (2013), SEAMUS Conference, Wesleyan University (2014), and the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival (2018).

Click here to view the score and listen to a recording by Michal Schmidt.

Click here to download performance materials.

Anna Rubin

for orchestra and optional fixed media/backing soundtrack

This orchestra piece was a winner of the National Orchestral Association competition and was  performed under the baton of Jorge Mester at Carnegie Hall in 1989. Textural variety is a strong feature of the piece with contrasting wind, string and brass passages. The mood of the piece is poignant and was inspired by the downfall of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. My dear friend, composer Violeta Dinescu, told me much about the repression of his regime and the great hopes of the Romanian people. But his downfall did not usher in the freedom and prosperity promised. The piece premiered at Carnegie Hall in 1993 under the direction of Jorge Mester.

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