- Desiderata (1984)
-
Ruth Lomon
for oboe, marimba, and optional bowed chimeca. 13'00"
DESIDERATA was commissioned for the 1984 Canadian Contemporary Music Festival, a part of the Ontario bicentennial celebrations. DESIDERATA was composed for Patricia Morehead (oboe) and Beverly Johnston (marimba). The piece may be performed as a duo for oboe and marimba, or as a trio with an optional third part for bowed chime or double bass. The Canadian premiere in May, 1984 was performed as a trio with the composer playing the bowed chime.
- Janus Quartet (1983)
-
Ruth Lomon
for string quartet
ca. 18'30"
The Janus Quartet was composed during a stay at the MacDowell colony in Peterborough, N.H. I was there during the months of November and December in 1983. As I started to work on the quartet the snow began to fall -- it was a very straight snowfall -- not a trace of wind. The windows of my studio looked out on stands of firs and slender birches. The opening of this quartet tries to capture that serenity. The theme is shared between the two violins; the viola and cello are playing a D harmonic with the viola playing the note a quarter tone higher. You probably won't experience this as another tone but as a beat or pulsing of the note. This section is titled ''when the snow is falling." There follows a lively melodic and rhythmic development which closes at midpoint in the piece with a section reflecting the quarter-tone pedal point of the opening and leading into a recapitulation of what I'll call the ''snow'' theme, this time with the theme dispersed through the four instruments. This recapitulation leads into the second section of the quartet titled ''Remembrance of things passed." You may hear an echo of Schumann, a short phrase from Barber's Adagio for Strings, perhaps too short to pick it out but these echoes set the mood of this section. A quote from Beethoven's 15th quartet heightens the drama and leads into a climax coming to rest on a calm, cantabile close. The cellist closes with a theme which has been used as an accompaniement to the little fragments of Schumann and Barber. It is a quote from a setting of Blake's poem INJUNCTION which I composed in 1962.
The Angel that presided o'er my birth said
"little creature born of joy and mirth
Go love without the help of anything on earth".
Composed for the Janus String Quartet during a residency at the MacDowell Colony.
- Weaving(s) (2009)
-
Ruth Lomon
for clarinet/bass clarinet, cello, vibraphone/tomtoms, and piano
Weaving(s):
MizmazeWarp and WeftNavajo: Weaving the YeiPenelope's Web"Mizmaze" is an intricate network of pathways enclosed by hedges or plantations. "Hehath walked the whole labyrinth and mizmaze of his life." (Beza)''Warp and Weft'' has two textures running through this movement to create amusical "warp and weft." The pizzicato of the 'cello throughout the movement isintertwined 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 theNavajo.''Penelope's Web'' is a proverbial expression for anything which is perpetually doingand never done. While Ulysses was off fighting the wars Penelope wove her tapestryevery day and undid the work every evening to keep her suitors at bay. She held off theirproposals by saying that she would not make a commitment to any of them until she hadfinished 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 thicktexture with the 4 instruments, and thinning to long solo passages with tremolo chordaltreatments in the vibraphone and piano solos.
- A Fantasy Journey into the Mind of a Machine (1985)
-
Ruth Lomon
for soprano and alto saxophone
ca.14'30"
For soprano and alto saxophone with extended techniques. Settings of six poems drawn from the first book created by the Racter computer program. Fantasy Journey was commissioned for the University of Kansas Opus Three ‘Women in Music’ conference. Fantasy Journey was choreographed by Peggy Brightman and has also been performed as a theatre piece. The songs may be sung in any order and may be programmed individually.
- Imprints (1987)
-
Ruth Lomon
for piano and four percussion
IMPRINTS returns to Ms. Lomon's interest in native American Ceremonials. As a participant in a peyote ceremony she was inspired by the vocal extemporizing of each participant, the intensity of declamation and rhythms of gourd and water drums accompanying each singer. The ceremony acted as a catalyst for the areas of feeling she wished to express. The declamatory role of the piano in "House of Storms" is an aspect of this, as are the propelling percussion rhythms. "Song to Pull Down the Clouds" opens with a prayer addressed to the thunderbird of pollen and carried into the wind-swollen sky. Ruth Lomon, composer and resident scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center, Brandeis University, has created a body of work which reflects her long-standing love of the Southwest.
- The Talisman (1989)
-
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 lead 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.
The performers in this recording are currently unknown.
- Shadowing (1995)
-
Ruth Lomon
for piano quartet
ca. 13'45"
"Wolves can move very softly. The sound they make is in the manner of Los Angelos Timidos, the shyest angels. First they fall back and shadow the creature they're curious about. Then, all of a sudden, they appear ahead of the creature peeking half-face with one golden eye from behind a tree. Abrupt the wolf turns and vanishes in a blur of white ruff and plumed tail, only to backtrack and pop up behind the stranger again. That is shadowing".
from "Women Who Run With Wolves", Clarissa Pinkola Estes, author
The performers in this recording are currently unknown.
- Songs of Remembrance (1996)
-
Ruth Lomon
for soprano, mezzo soprano, tenor and baritone accompanied by oboe/english horn and piano
ca. 1 hr 00'45"
Settings of poetry written by Holocaust victims and survivors. Composed in 1996 as a Fellow of the Bunting Institute/Harvard.
Poems in French, German and English. 10 songs.
Click here to view the recording at New World Records.
- Tributary (2000)
-
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
- Solstice (1978)
-
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)
-
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)
-
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.
- Diptych for Woodwind Quintet (1983)
-
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.
- Metamorphosis (1984)
-
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.
- Two Seaming... (1998)
-
Jane Rigler
for two flutes, or solo flute and playback
The ambiguity of the piece begins with the title. I wrote this piece with the Inuit women’s
vocal games in mind, where two women face each other so closely that the mouth
cavity of one is the resonator for the other. While using a frying pan or other such
device to help resonate their vocalizations, each begin to breathe, sing and vocalize
gestures into the other’s face. This spectacular game ends when the first person begins
to laugh, she, then, becoming the loser of the game.
This flute piece was written for two female flutists. When performed in public, the
intention of this piece is that neither the audience, and perhaps neither the interpreters,
really know who is playing or singing what, being that the timbres and tones match so
well between the voices and flutes. The improvised sections evoke the game: who will
play next? Who will have the last word? Although, in this game, there are no losers.
Ideally, the flutists should also face each other and play the music memorized, but this
is not required. Have fun. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Click here to listen to the piece. (SoundCloud)
Click here for Jane Rigler's website.
- Dreaming Fire, Tasting Rain
-
Anna Rubin
for flute, B-flat clarinet, violin, viola, cello, and piano
ca. 10'30"
- De Nacht: Lament for Malcolm X (1983)
-
Anna Rubin
for soprano, violin, viola, violoncello, contrabass, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, and piano
- Viola a Tre
-
Anna Rubin
for three violas
- Flames Rising and Falling to the Sea (1988)
-
Anna Rubin
for string quartet
Flames Rising from the Sea (1988) for string quartet is a one-movement work emphasizing melismatic and florid writing in a hereophonic texture. The note D perfumes the piece anchoring the atonal language of the piece.