This piece was inspired by the woodblock prints of Ando Hiroshige. Visit the Beyond the Notes multimedia guide to Setsugekka to learn more about the art and music.

Samantha Bennett, Violin
Wesley Chu, Piano

Watercolors
I. An April Mood - listen to mp3
II. Autumnal Fantasy - listen to mp3
III. Sun and Rocks - listen to mp3
IV. Glory of Spring - listen to mp3

This piece was inspired by the paintings of Charles Burchfield. See my blog for more about the piece and the paintings that inspired it. Watercolors was winner of the 2011 New England Conservatory Honors Ensemble Competition.

Visit the Beyond the Notes multimedia guide to Watercolors to learn more about the art and music.

Andra Winds

Ridge Davis, Flute
Martha Kleiner, Oboe
Christopher Mothersole, Clarinet
Lauren Hunt, Horn
Sean Maree, Bassoon

Triptych
I - listen to mp3
II - listen to mp3
III - listen to mp3

This piece was composed for guitarist Devin Ulibarri. Visit the Beyond the Notes multimedia guide to Triptych to learn more about the music's inspirations from art.

Into nowhere
I - listen to mp3
II - listen to mp3
III - listen to mp3

"I had nothing but to walk into nowhere and the wide sunset space with the star." - Georgia O'Keeffe

I used first movement as the score to my video The Faraway Nearby: Georgia O'Keeffe and the New Mexico Landscape.

Trees
I. Eucalyptus - listen to mp3
II. Redwood - listen to mp3
III. Curly Willow - listen to mp3

This is an arrangement of a work for two oboes with harpsichord, originally scored for six-part flute choir (four C flutes with alto and bass). It was written last summer for the San Francisco State University Flute Choir, who premiered the first movement in August 2009 as part of a program of music by American composers.

Duet
I - listen to mp3
II - listen to mp3
III - listen to mp3

A set of playful, virtuosic duets for flute and bassoon.

Nine Muses

For flute
Euterpe (the delightful one)
Muse of music and lyric poetry
Thalia (the blossoming one)
Muse of comedy and bucolic poetry
Melpomene (the chanting one)
Muse of tragedy

For harp
Calliope (the beautiful of speech)
Chief of the Muses and Muse of epic poetry
Polyhymnia (the singer of many hymns)
Muse of sacred song, oratory, lyrics, singing, and rhetoric
Terpsichore (the dancing one)
Muse of choral song and dance

For violin
Clio (the glorious one)
Muse of history
Erato (the amorous one)
Muse of love or erotic poetry, lyrics, and marriage songs
Urania (the celestial one)
Muse of astronomy

(Total duration: ca. 13.5 mins)

Three sets of miniatures for solo instruments inspired by the Greek Muses. Read the program note.

The Course of Empire
I. The Savage State - listen to mp3
II. The Pastoral State - listen to mp3
III. Consummation - listen to mp3
IV. Destruction - listen to mp3
V. Desolation - listen to mp3

A string quartet inspired by Thomas Cole's cycle of paintings by the same name. Visit the Beyond the Notes multimedia guide to The Course of Empire to learn more about the art and music.

The Promise - listen to mp3

I chose the combination of trumpet and string quartet for a lush semi-orchestral feeling, reminiscent of the string and brass-oriented textures in an early Baroque orchestra. The first section features call-and-answer echoes between the trumpet and the violins, one of which plays offstage (a reference to Monteverdi). Each of the instruments stay primarily within their low and middle ranges for a warm, centered timbre.

The exact meaning of the piece is intended to be open-ended, but it is a general expression of hope and determination; a promise that one makes to others, and to oneself.

Time-Lapse - listen to mp3 - view pdf score

The concept of this work is essentially in the title: it's meant to give the sense of a length of time (hours, days or years) passing in a condensed period.