My Compositions

Completed works listed chronologically:

1. Fantasia for solo cello in C minor, written Sept. - Oct. 1996.

2. Arrangement of Bach's Ricercare à 6 from A Musical Offering, written Jul. 1997. For brass octet.

3. Character Piece for String Quintet, written Oct. 1997.

4. Poéme, written Dec. 1997. A short piano piece using twelve-tone serialism.

5. Sonata for Unaccompanied Violin, written Mar. 1998 - Mar. 1999.

6. Piano Sonatina, written Oct. 1998 - Mar. 1999.

7. 4 Disturbing Songs, written Mar. 1999. Poems from Tim Burton's book, "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Tales."

8. Les Nymphéas, written Jul. 1999 - Mar. 2001. A work after Claude Monet's Water Lilies series. Originally for 24 solo strings, but suggestion from composition professors has narrowed that down to string sextet and piano.

9. String Quartet, written Mar. - Oct. 2001. My first large-scale dodecaphonic work. Uses 5 tone rows, which have structural function. The structure is basically a large sonata form, with interpolated slow movement and scherzo. The five rows, in prime normal transposition, are:
   

   Row 1:

   A

   C#

   D

   F#

   G

   B

   D#

   A#

   G#

   E

   F

   C

   Row 2:

   B

   F#

   A

   C#

   D

   Bb

   Ab

   F

   E

   C

   Eb

   G

   Row 3:

   B

   F#

   A

   C#

   D

   Bb

   Ab

   C

   F

   G

   D#

   E

   Row 4:

   C

   D

   Eb

   F

   Bb

   A

   G

   F#

   C#

   B

   G#

   E

   Row 5:

   A

   B

   C

   E

   F

   G

   C#

   D

   Ab

   Eb

   Gb

   Bb

10. Super flumina Babylonis, written Nov. - Dec. 2002. A motet in strict 16th-century style, on the text of Psalm 137:1. Written for six voices, it is in three rough sections. The first section is a double point of imitation, which is restated in paraphrase in the third section (which sets the text "dum recordaremur Sion"; "while we remembered Zion" (get it?)). The middle section is in familiar (homophonic) style.

11. Variations on a Theme by Hugo Distler, written Dec. 2002. For string quartet, uses a theme from an organ work by Distler.

12. French Overture in D minor, written Mar. 2003. For two oboes, bassoon, strings and continuo. Kind of short, and didn't really turn out the way I envisioned, but it was written under a class deadline. I'll eventually get around to revising it to bring it more into line with my initial plans.

13. Fugue in F minor, written May 2003. For piano. Based stylistically on the 24 Preludes and Fugues, op. 87, by Dmitri Shostakovich. The subject is an adaptation of a Jewish folk-tune I ran across. At some point, I'd eventually like to use this, along with some other piano sketches I have lying around, as a kernel for a set of 24 preludes and fugues through all the keys.

14. Missa L'Homme armé, written Feb. - May 2003. A five-voice Latin mass in strict 16th-century style, using the famous 15th-century French tune known as L'homme armé as a cantus firmus. It also draws from the motet Super flumina Babylonis listed above for polyphonic parody/paraphrase material.

Arrangements and orchestrations:

• Orchestration of Prelude in E major, Op. 11, No. 4 by Alexander Scriabin, written Oct. 1997. Written for Orchestration class.
• Arrangements of Prelude in E major, Op. 15, No. 3 and Prelude in B major, Op. 16, No. 1 by Alexander Scriabin, written Nov. 1998. For solo harp.

Juvenalia and class assignments:

• Symphony in C minor, written 1994-95. My dad loves this thing. I've long since disowned it. Four movements, painfully tonal, and formally clumsy. There are some interesting harmonic moments, though, and the last movement could actually be salvaged and turned into something worthwhile.
• Andante and allegro for Horn and Piano in E minor, written Sept.-Oct. 1995. A horrible, horrible piece of music. I think I threw it away after it was performed once.
• Flute solo in E minor, written Jan. 1996. The assignment was to write a piece using only melody. I'm not sure if I still have the score. Written for Intro to Composition.
• Rhythm piece, written Feb. 1996. A piece for piano using only rhythm. Randomly and gradually builds a 12-tone aggregate in a specified rhythm. Also written for Intro to Composition.
• Untethered, for piano, written Mar. 1996. A piece using only harmony. Also written for Intro to Composition.
• Titled, for wind quintet, written Apr. 1996. Uses a five-note serial row using all four transformations, but only at five different transpositions. Also written for Intro to Composition.
• Variations on a Chorale, for wind quintet and piano, written Apr.-May 1996. A set of four variations on a chorale harmonization that I had penned in a freshman theory class. Quite nice, actually. Each variation explores some coloristic something. The first variation uses various articulations and trills. Variation II is pointillistic. There's some interesting polymodality going on in Variation III. Variation IV explores supertertian chords and stretto. Final project for Intro to Composition.