Music on this page is available for order from Disegni Music.
Gnomic Concerto (2019)
For piano and ensemble, based on the gnomic (epigrammatic) poetry of William Blake. Written for Steve Beck. Premiere October 2021 by Steve Beck and the Playground Ensemble, directed by Charles Lee. Supported by Janeen Jones, Maryalice and David Jordan-Marsh, and a grant from Regis University.
Score/parts available for rental
An die Musik (2013)
For SATB choir and orchestra (piano reduction available), 4.5′
Arrangement of song by Franz Schubert on text by Franz von Schober
Commissioned by the Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra
A song in praise of music
Listen and order
Balance and Swing (2013)
For orchestra, 10′
Commissioned by the Boulder Symphony
A fantasy on American contradance music
Score/parts available for rental
In una voce grave e pericolosa (2006)
For orchestra, 10′
Commissioned by the Napa Valley Symphony Youth Orchestra
Score/parts available for rental
About the Music
In una voce grave e pericolosa (meaning “In a low and dangerous voice”) has four sections that follow a narrative trajectory of two successive crises followed by anguish and finally release. The harmonic material flows between the tonal and atonal, the consonant and the dissonant, reflecting my interest in writing music that evokes ambiguity and conflict as well as certainty and peace. In una voce… was composed for Ming Luke, Rachel Epley, and the Napa Valley Symphony Youth Orchestra, and it is gratefully dedicated to them.
Sand in the Machine (2007)
For wind ensemble, 9.5′
Commissioned by the University of California at Berkeley Wind Ensemble
Score/parts available for rental
About the Music
I wrote Sand in the Machine “In memoriam György Ligeti” to honor the great composer’s memory. His Lontano inspired some of the textures in my piece, as did his notion that composition could be like building a machine and then throwing sand into it. In this case, the “machine” is a slow-motion textural fugue.