- ReWeavings (2010)
-
Ruth Lomon
for flute, TAB flute, B-flat clarinet, piano, violoncello, and vibraphone
1. Mizmaze
2. Warp and Weft
3. Navajo: Weaving the Yei
4. Penelope’s Web
Mizmaze is an intricate network of pathways enclosed by hedges or plantations. Warp and Weft has two textures running through the movement to create a musical ‘warp and weft’. The pizzicato of the cello throughout the movement is intertwined 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 songs of the Navajo and some chants. Penelope’s Web is a proverbial expression for work which is ongoing but never completed. The myth gave me a frame for the changing textures of this movement, building a thick texture with all the instruments and thinning to long solo flute passages accompanied by vibraphone tremolo chords.
- Iatiku (1983)
-
Ruth Lomon
for bass clarinet, harp, vibraphone/marimba, harpsichord, and piano
ca. 14'45"
Iatiku was composed in New Mexico during the summer of 1983. The word "iatiku" means "bringing to life" in the dialect of the Acoma Indians. It is also the name given to CHANGING WOMAN, the god personifying the earth and the changing seasons. Iatiku is composed for bass clarinet, marimba, vibraphone, harp, harpsichord, and piano, a blend of instruments which fascinates me. The composition opens with the indication ''Mysterious.'' The timbres produced by the unusual combination of instruments heightens the quality of mystery. You will hear the bass clarinet, harp, and vibraphone in passages of bent tones. These tones have quarter tone fluctuations which color the notes dramatically. There are "inside the piano" passages, thrumming sounds produced with a mallet on the lower strings, some banshee, eerie sounds, plucked and strummed strings which interplay with the harp. The listener may note a section called "the elements" which starts with the mounting tension of a catastrophic storm, and leads to a tightly-organized rhythmic accelerando. In the closing section of the piece there is a duet between bass clarinet and vibraphone called "rituals'' inspired by an Indian ritual dance, which has an intricate rhythmic pattern coupled with a melodic recurrence of the tritone.
Iatiku was the MMTA Commissioned work for 1983-84. (Massachusetts Music Teachers Association, affiliated with the Music Teachers National Association, Inc.) Commissioning funds were made possible in part by a grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts. (Meet the Composer Grant)
Click here to view the score and listen to a recording.
- Weaving(s) (2009)
-
Ruth Lomon
for clarinet/bass clarinet, cello, vibraphone/tomtoms, and piano
Weaving(s):
1. Mizmaze
2. Warp and Weft
3. Navajo: Weaving the Yei
4. Penelope's Web
Mizmaze is an intricate network of pathways enclosed by hedges or plantations. "He hath walked the whole labyrinth and mizmaze of his life." (Beza) Warp and Weft has two textures running through this movement to create a musical "warp and weft." The pizzicato of the cello throughout the movement is intertwined 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 the
Navajo. Penelope's Web is a proverbial expression for anything which is perpetually doing and never done. While Ulysses was off fighting the wars Penelope wove her tapestry every day and undid the work every evening to keep her suitors at bay. She held off their proposals by saying that she would not make a commitment to any of them until she had finished 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 thick texture with the four instruments, and thinning to long solo passages with tremolo chordal treatments in the vibraphone and piano solos.
- Dialogue for Harpsichord and Vibraphone (1964)
-
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.
- (out) (in) . . . the OPEN (1992)
-
Patricia Ann Repar
for flute, oboe, alto saxophone, vibraphone, violoncello
ca. 10'15"
(out)(in)...the OPEN is written in honor of the legendary jazz singer/songwriter Billie Holiday. On the liner notes of Billie's 1956 recording The Essential Billie Holliday–Carnegie Hall Concert, Gilbert Millstein wrote that "Billie was the victim of a world which really could not have cared much less–either for her or for any artist whose talent might be grudgingly acknowledged or eagerly exploited, but who made society uncomfortable or uneasy." Billie's way of singing defiantly exposed herself and her listeners–an experience they yearned for and resented all at the same time. As a way of highlighting Billie's courage to be open, to say it and sing it how it is (not how we might want to hear it), (out)(in)...the OPEN is structured entirely around breath sounds. It is hoped that concentration on breath, by both performers and audience, will evoke some of this vulnerability that Billie and her listeners longed to experience.
- The Mystical Moon (2010)
-
Rahilia Hasanova
for orchestra
ca. 10'00"
- The solitary voice (1979, rev. 2008)
-
Rahilia Hasanova
for orchestra
ca. 12'00"
Everything in Life is Vibration (Albert Einstein). Everything has its own unique vibration, frequency, and sound. It means everything has a unique voice that is an expression of its vibrations and frequencies. Everything...snowflakes, crystals, flowers, take on their shapes according to their particular vibrations and responding to multiple vibrations, sounds, and voices of the universe. The universe is a choir of the myriad of voices. Each voice has to find the shape and expression to resonate with the universe. Each voice, if it is out of the connection with the choir of voices of the universe, is the solitary voice.
The Solitary Voice was premiered by the symphony orchestra of University of Maryland Baltimore County on November 22, 2015. Conductor: E.Michael Richards
Click here to listen to the recording.
- Javidi-Dastgah (2001)
-
Rahilia Hasanova
for flute, bass clarinet, percussion, chorus
ca. 60'00"
- I Hear (2010)
-
Rahilia Hasanova
for choir and chamber orchestra
ca. 7'00"
This music was inspired by a poem by Jamila Asgar:
The snow is painting white on gray,
The sky brings angels out to pray;
The snow is painting white on brown,
The sky is gently falling down.
I hear the whispers in the play,
I hear the sweetest ever sound,
As sky is falling gently down,
The snow brings angels' prayers today.
- If Tigers Were Clouds (1994)
-
Eleanor Hovda
for B-flat clarinet, marimba, temple blocks, vibraphone, and piano
ca. 15'15"
...then reverberating, they would create all songs.
For Zeitgeist, developed during Music in Motion Project