- Odyssey (1997)
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Ruth Lomon
for trumpet and orchestra
ca. 16'00"
Composing Odyssey was akin to starting an exciting adventure, a (life-affirming) voyage. The decision to call the trumpet concerto Odyssey came in part from my own inner odyssey in composing this piece, and also ideas which arose while reading about Nikos Kazantzakis' epic poem, The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel. Kazantzakis believes that man must structure his life and work on the "dark Abyss". Life has meaning only when it accepts and rises above the great negation of the Abyss. The two conflicting currents,seeking a synthesis, lead to creative play and affirmation of life.
1. Turning Point: A concerto is a great vehicle for metaphor, a tale with dialogues between our trumpet protagonist and the different sections of the orchestra. The prominent ascending fifths of the trumpet theme and its subsequent development createa broad and expansive mood. In the following movements the interval of the fifth or its inversion continues to be an important element of the trumpet solo.2. Dancing on the Abyss: The middle movement has a perilous and risk-defying dance for the trumpet. The opening theme for the contrabassoon, accompanied by an octave-leaping motif in the bassoon and double bass creates a stark, quirky nervous energy.3. Shifting Currents: An undulating pattern in the low strings ushers in the haunting blues-influenced trumpet theme accompanied by the shifting moods and rhythms of the orchestra.
The concerto was commissioned by the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra for the premiere performance by Charles Schlueter.
- Tributary (2000)
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Ruth Lomon
for three flutes
ca. 10'45"
A sunny, pastoral work composed in 2000. It was originally written to accompany the installation of a sound sculpture of three buoys constructed of phragmite grasses. It works well in concert halls as a flute trio and also as a spatial piece.
Tributary may be accompanied by a video film ‘What Water Tells Me’ created by installation artist, Mary Oestereicher Hamill.
Click here to view the score and listen to a recording.
- Awake! (2002)
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Ruth Lomon
for solo organ
Lively with colorful registration.
Composed in 2002 for Carson Cooman, organist.
- Sweet Sixteen (2003)
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Ruth Lomon
for solo flute
Sweet Sixteen was composed for flutist Nina Assimakopulos’ project ‘Contemporary Works for Solo Flute by American Women Composers’ in 2003. The Music for this project is literature-based; musical sounds and ideas expressed through a solo instrument. Sweet Sixteen is based on a poem by Vera Weislitzova, a poem about her 16th birthday in the Theresienstadt concentration camp.
The work is in two brief movements:
1. Behind the Wall
2. The Ball
The linked video recording was performed by Emily Hinz.
Click here to view the performance.
- Solstice (1978)
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Ruth Lomon
for brass quartet (two trumpets, trombone, bass trombone)
Composed to exorcise the magpies pecking the metal strips on the roof of my cottage at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, Taos.
- Equinox (1978)
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Ruth Lomon
for brass quartet (two trumpets in C, trombone, bass trombone)
Commissioned by Francis J. Cooke, Director of Music, Lexington Unitarian Church to accompany the first performance of the Requiem choruses.
- Celebrations: Nimbus and the Sun God (1978)
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Ruth Lomon
for two harps
This work for two harps was written in Taos, New Mexico, where Ruth Lomon was a fellow at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation. Its cross-cultural nature is evident tonally in the clusters of quarter-tone tunings as well as in the descriptive headings: Aura, Chants, Reflections of the Eye, A Haunt, Sun Dance, Thunderhead, and Rainbow Spectrum.
- Dialogue for Harpsichord and Vibraphone (1964)
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Ruth Lomon
for harpsichord and vibraphone
ca. 3'45"
Dialogue for Harpsichord and Vibraphone features the contrasting timbres of harpsichord and vibraphone: the light, clear brilliance of the harpsichord juxtaposed with the sustained undulating sonorities of the vibraphone. The rapid interplay of motifs is built on a modulating tempo which heightens the energy of the piece.
Click here to view the score and listen to the recording.
- Diptych for Woodwind Quintet (1983)
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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.
- Metamorphosis (1984)
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Ruth Lomon
for cello and piano
ca. 19'00"
1. The Source. A virtuosic movement for the cello in a spirited dialogue with the piano
2. Emergence. The cello has a dramatic soliloquy with encouragement from the piano.
3. Imago. ‘Tempo di tango’ opens the 3rd movement leading into a swift, vibrant duo that concludes with a recap of ‘tempo di tango’.
Commissioned for the Carnegie Recital Hall debut of Elizabeth Dolin.
Click here to view the score and listen to a recording.
- Ruth Lomon
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Ruth Lomon has had a prolific and distinguished composing career spanning five decades. Since 1998 she has been Resident Composer/Scholar at the Women’ s Studies Research Center, Brandeis University.
She has been honored with numerous awards and fellowships, and has over forty commissions and artistic collaborations to her credit. Among Lomon’s honors are grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, New Mexico Arts, the New England Foundation for the Arts, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, Yaddo Foundation, and MacDowell fellowships.
Her large works include concertos for piano, bassoon, trumpet, percussion, a Requiem Mass for chorus, brass, woodwinds and soprano, numerous song cycles, and an Oratorio.
While a fellow of the Bunting Institute, Harvard University (1995-96) she composed Songs of Remembrance, a song cycle in five languages on poems of the Holocaust. This hour length work was premiered at the John Knowles Paine Concert Hall and has had numerous performances including the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C., the Historical Museum Bremerhaven, Germany, the IAWM Congress in London, UK where she received the Miriam Gideon Composition award for this work. She has since expanded this work into an Oratorio Testimony of Witnesses for chorus, orchestra and vocal soloists.
In 2009 she was commissioned by the Professional Music Teachers of NM for Weaving(s) for clarinet, cello, vibraphone, and piano and has been commissioned by the Abiquiu Music Festival NM to create Reweaving(s) with a new “thread” for distinguished native flute artist, R. Carlos Nakai.
Links
The following are links to external websites, and will open in a new window:
Biography
Articles
Review of Soundings, for piano duet by John Diercks (pdf)
Review of Five Ceremonial Masks; for piano solo by Martin Goldray (pdf)
Review of Seven Portals of Vision: For Organ by David Shuler (pdf)