- I Have Done With Phrases (2010)
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Sofia Kamayianni
for soprano, bass, portative, hand gong, and electronics
Dedicated to Tobias Schlierf and Effie Minakoulis
- Arithmosofia-Arithmoplixia (2003)
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Sofia Kamayianni
for one violin, three cellos, and two basses
In ancient times people discovered that the study of numbers and their relation between them could lead them to wisdom, to the knowledge of holy rules--the universal laws?--and to the growth of their mentality. ARITHMOSOFIA .
What are numbers for us today? An endless expression of quantity? What happened to their previous quality? It seems that we are living in a cataclysm among thousands crazy numbers, which “allow” us to communicate. ARITHMOPLIXIA.
So, this piece had the meaning to show the huge distance between the wisdom of "number" (arithmos-sofia) in ancient times and its devolution nowadays where you use it and you hear it everywhere and all the time in a crazy, absurd way. The exaggeration of the text in the second movement shows this frenetic reality.
The piece was selected in 2004 for the annual contemporary music workshops held in the Athens Megaron concert hall and organized by the Greek Composers' Union under the direction of Theodore Antoniou.
Click here to view the score (English).
Click here to view the score (Greek).
- Ano throsko ("Upward Gaze") (2009)
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Sofia Kamayianni
for string Orchestra and children's choir
ca. 5'30"
- Testimony of Witnesses (2008)
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Ruth Lomon
for flute, clarinet, oboe/english horn, bassoon, horn in F, timpani, percussion, harp, soprano, mezzo soprano, tenor, bass, baritone, violin, viola, cello, and bass
An oratorio for SATB chorus, SATB soloists, and chamber orchestra. There are 14 movements, any of which may be performed separately. The text for the oratorio is composed of poetry of victims and survivors of the Holocaust sung in six languages.
The first chorus, a Hebrew supplication from the 2nd century gives a historical perspective to the Testimony of Witnesses Oratorio. The baritone solo The Survivor tells of the guilt of the survivor. Mes Yeux describes poignantly the roundup of Jews in Paris where the poet lived. Lokomotywa is a child's poem about a wonderous train rushing through the countryside - but where is it going?
The following four sections are all poems of children who were in the Terezin concentration camp and the poems move from hope and will to live, to fear, and resignation. The first half of the oratorio concludes with the Sachs poem "We orphans, Oh world, we accuse you!"
After intermission the chorus Transport tells of forcing Jews into trains, children searching for their parents, arrival at the camp, as told in many voices. Poème Macabre describes the taunting and cruelty of a Kapo in a concentration camp. Gedale's Song speaks of hope for a new beginning in Israel 'where we shall be men among other men"
The last chorus Unite is a fragment of poem found in Terezin, a plea for a bright freedom.
- De Nacht: Lament for Malcolm X (1983)
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Anna Rubin
for soprano, violin, viola, violoncello, contrabass, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, and piano
- Red Mountain Note (2004)
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Patricia Ann Repar
flute/piccolo, B-flat clarinet, voice, violin, violoncello, contrabass, and tape
ca. 11'00"
Note to performers and listeners: written in celebration of my cousin Jerry Leon who made the last of his many adventures on earth while skiing in February of 2004.
Note to self: Find the Hawaiian chant secretly embedded on the ‘Ulalena’ CD; And on ‘The Master Chanters of Hawaii’ use “e ulu, e ulu, kini o ke akua” (Inspire us, inspire us, O gods).
Note to Jerry: whispers of other times and places
both mythic and real
souls and gypsies
long passed and yet to come
but I see you
bright, strong, and clear
like water
atop, within, above, and beyond
Red Mountain.
- Onyx (1991)
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Eleanor Hovda
for chamber orchestra
ca. 13'45"
This piece was commissioned by the Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra.
- Waveschart (1970)
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Eleanor Hovda
for flute, B-flat clarinet, percussion, piano, and bass
- Kana (1976)
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Lois V Vierk
fore three tenor voices and three bass voices, with conductor
Kana was my first piece for multiples of like-instruments or voices. Soon after writing this short piece I composed TUSK for 18 trombones, Go Guitars for 5 electric guitars, then works for multiple cellos, multiple trumpets, etc. While composing this piece I was a composition student at California Institute of the Arts, and I was also playing ryuteki flute in the Gagaku (Japanese Court Music) ensemble at UCLA. I was very familiar with a Gagaku piece called Etenraku. Kana takes as its starting point the sung version of the flute part of etenraku. The sung version, called shoga, is not performed, but can be thought of as a kind of solfeggio of gestures. The player is supposed to learn and memorize the shoga first, before playing the melody on the flute and before looking at notation. In Kana, I started with the shoga syllables to Etenraku and developed textures of sound organized into three short sections: glissandi, which move into a rhythmic middle section, and then close with sung and whispered glissandi incorporating short rhythmic patterns.
There are some real words in the score. The intentional words are names of two of the instruments in the Gagaku orchestra, namely Taiko (big drum) and Hichiriki (double reed wind instrument).
Recorded live in concert by singers from California Institute of the Arts, conducted by the composer, at the Second Second Story Series, produced by the Independent Composers Association, Los Angeles 1978.