- Sajda (2006)
-
Rahilia Hasanova
for chamber orchestra, soprano, and tenor
ca. 35'00"
- Marseaya (1993)
-
Rahilia Hasanova
for flute, oboe, clarinet in Bb, bassoon, string quartet, piano, and chorus
ca. 15'35"
- Pirebedil (1996)
-
Rahilia Hasanova
for oboe, clarinet in Bb, bassoon, French horn, percussion, strings, piano, and voice
ca. 26'58"
Pirebedil is a name of a group of old ancient Azerbaijani carpets which are well known by its special authentic symbols. Each symbol represents a certain meaning that is a part of a large puzzle. Being aware about these meanings one can read the Pirebedil as a text. These amazing hand crafted carpets uncover forgotten stories and legends.
Pirebedil was commissioned and performed by New Ensemble, the Netherland in 1996.
Click here to listen to the recording.
- Lullaby of the Stars (2003, rev. 2015)
-
Rahilia Hasanova
for orchestra
ca. 7'00"
The golden-eyed stars, gently ightning the skies,
Sounding orchestra-like, attacking, breathing, and vibrating,
They're lullabying for the sleeping earth...
But as the morning star's awakening a down,
Conducting them to fade through nights and constellations,
The golden-eyed stars are vanishing and melting in the heavens...
The earth continues to sing for them her lullaby:
It's time to sleep for golden-eyed stars.
- Rahilia Hasanova
The first version of Lullaby of the Stars (Ulduzlarin Laylasi) was written for chamber orchestra in 2003 and premiered at the Organ and Chamber Music Hall in Baku, Azerbaijan in 2003.The second version of the Lullaby of the Stars (renewed for Symphony orchestra in 2015) was performed at the Nasimi festival of Art and Music on October 1, 2019 at the Center of Geydar Aliyev in Baku, Azerbaijan. Imadeddin Nasimi is the greatest Sufi poet, philosopher of 14 century well known by his revolutionary writings and progressive creation of mystic pantheistic doctrine.
Video is recorded by Azerbaijani TV Performers: Baku State Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Mustafa Mehmandarov Stage director: Aleksey Smirnov.
Click hear to listen to the recording.
- Yurt (2013)
-
Rahilia Hasanova
for orchestra
ca. 8'46"
- First Symphony (1976)
-
Rahilia Hasanova
for orchestra
ca. 21'00"
- Eos-Helios (2013)
-
Rahilia Hasanova
for orchestra
ca. 15'30"
Click here to listen to a YouTube recording of this piece.
- Ariadnemusic (1984)
-
Eleanor Hovda
for flute, clarinet in Bb, violin, viola, violoncello, piano, and percussion
ca. 14'42"
For the Boston Musica Viva, Richard Pittman, music director
Click here to view revised performance notes.
Click here to hear a recording by the Prism Players on the Eleanor Hovda Collection CD on Spotify.
- Ondes Doubles (1971)
-
Eleanor Hovda
for flute, viola, harp, and Ondes Martenot
- Cheetah (1992)
-
Eleanor Hovda
for flute, oboe, Bb clarinet, bassoon, viola, electric bass, percussion
Cheetah is written for Relache, and was completed on December 24, 1992. I have used the image of cheetahs for several reasons. I wanted to work with extremes of energy (from relaxed to intense-but-inward to most extroverted, flung energy). I also wanted to work with the idea of excavating sounds from the bone and sinew of acoustic instruments: the expansions of single pitches, either fingered or bowed, which can happen when extremes of breath control, additions of auxillary keys and alternative fingerings (winds) and larger spectra of bowing techniques and placements (strings) are used. Cheetahs are said to be the fastest animals on earth when they run, but their sprints are very short. The rest of the time they spend recovering from their runs or preparing for the next dash by scoping out the landscape with intense focus, from stationary positions or by prowling. I imagine an enormous amount of energy and motion in the stillness flowing from them during these periods of intense focus.
- Onyx (1991)
-
Eleanor Hovda
for chamber orchestra
ca. 13'45"
This piece was commissioned by the Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra.
This project was supported in part through funding from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Click here to view the score with composer's notes.
Click here to view the score with conductor's notes.
- Devil's Punchbowl (1993)
-
Lois V Vierk
for orchestra
ca. 11'30"
This piece was inspired by the twisted sandstone canyon in the southern California high desert in Angeles National Park called "Devil's Punchbowl". At this exquisite site you are always aware of both extreme beauty and also danger. Descending into the canyon the trail is rugged, rocky, and treacherous, and the heat is scorching. But rising up from the deep gorge are steep, magnificent mountains with their cold streams and sweet-smelling pine trees. The vistas are grand. Far in the distance, soft shapes and hues of the landscape melt into one another.
Devil's Punchbowl unfolds slowly. Musical materials are constantly developed, pushing the work forward from a relatively simple beginning to its dynamic and colorful climax. The piece opens with languorous brass slides downward. String phrases answer the brass, and woodwinds add color and wisps of melody. Gradually the strings begin their long ascending glissando, sweeping the woodwinds up to their highest register, ending the first section.
Immediately strings and low woodwinds enter with agitated multi-color, ever-changing trills and tremolos. Various instruments combine to form sinewy melodic shapes which creep slowly upward. Percussion becomes more pronounced. Brass adds rhythm and harmony. Each phrase builds on the one before as, little by little, the music becomes faster, louder, and rhythmically emphatic. Trombones and celli playing fortissimo glissandi in the lowest register propel the piece to its full orchestral climax. After the high energy of the climax the music returns briefly to the lyrical mood of the opening, ending gently.
Devil's Punchbowl was commissioned by the Bang On A Can Festival and the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra. The commissioning of this work was made possible by a grant from the Meet The Composer/Reader's Digest Commissioning Program, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund.
The recording of Devil's Punchbowl is of the premiere, given by Victoria Bond conducting the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra on March 21, 1994. They performed the piece beautifully.
Below are two versions of the score. First is the final version, incorporating several sets of edits to the orchestration made after the premiere and over subsequent years, and which is dated 2009. The major changes to orchestration, emphasizing an expanded role for trombones, etc., are marked above the staves of the score.
The second is the original score as used by Victoria Bond in 1994 (with numerous indications marked for my first set of edits).
Click here to view the revised score and listen to the recording.
Click here to view the original score and listen to the recording.
- Timberline (1991)
-
Lois V Vierk
for piano/synthesizer, flute, clarinet, bassoon, viola, contrabass, and percussion
ca. 16'14"
Hiking a trail to high altitudes takes you through an ever changing landscape. The dark closeness of the forest gradually gives way to increasing spaciousness. Light shimmers in as hints of the grandeur ahead draw you up the mountain. Arriving at the timberline and then at the mountain top gives you a spectacular view of the land below and the sky all around you.
This work is in two continuous sections. The first section begins with winds and strings in the mid range, playing held notes and slow glissandi. Simple grace notes are added. Little by little a dense texture is built as grace notes are transformed into ascending pentatonic scale passages in winds and strings. This is overlaid contrapuntally with a piano texture of ornate grace notes, tremolos and trills, gradually moving up over the full range of the keyboard. Cymbals roll at the climax.
The second section begins under the ringing cymbals with slow, open fifths in the lowest register of the winds and strings. The sounds are dark and languid, with many sliding tones. Very gradually more percussive sounds are added. Phrases are becoming shorter, notes are getting faster, shifting from whole notes to half notes to quarters. The piano begins a bright and rhythmic punctuation of the phrase, introducing 16th notes. The development of this rhythmic and harmonic figure gradually moves the piece to its climactic conclusion. Finally all the instruments combine to form one texture--dynamic, rhythmic, covering the entire instrumental range.
Timberline was commissioned for the Relâche Ensemble of Philadelphia by Kobrand, Inc., importer of Champagne Taittinger.
A CD recording was released on New World Records -- Lois V Vierk: Words Fail Me, New World 80766.
Recording is by the Relâche Ensemble of Philadelphia, conducted by Lloyd Shorter, from CD:
New World Records 80766 "Lois V Vierk: Words Fail Me"
Click here to view the CD on New World Records.
Click here to view the score and listen to the recording.