I’ll be part of the lineup for Profane Illuminations, a day of talks at NYU organized by Mark Pilkington of Strange Attractor Press. I’ll present my talk “Music from Elsewhere,” discussing and playing music attributed to fairies, trowies, banshees, aliens, spirits, and angels; as well as music from alchemists, occultists, Cathars, cryptographers, secret societies, and […]
Entries Tagged as '*Music'
Profane Illuminations
April 21st, 2019 · 2 Comments
Music from Elsewhere
March 31st, 2019 · Comments Off on Music from Elsewhere
My talk on anomalous music, “Music from Elsewhere,” was recorded by Morbid Anatomy, and is now available on their Patreon site, here. I’ll be doing another talk, with different music, April 27 at NYU, as part of the Profane Illuminations series organized by Strange Attractor Books.
Let’s Not Leave the House Anymore
February 3rd, 2019 · 3 Comments
A cheerful little song about antisociality. I often performed it in the ’90s, with Carol Benner playing a lively pizzicato obbligato on viola.
Grout
January 13th, 2019 · Comments Off on Grout
Another piece from my student days: a jaunty march for nine instruments, or some combination thereof, made up of ostinati. I performed it a few times back then, especially as a string quartet. Here’s the title page, flute part, and oboe part:
Salvo
January 9th, 2019 · Comments Off on Salvo
This piece for violin and piano, in a slightly different form, originally served as the overture for “Harlequin and His Master Wed,” the second half of Bill Irwin’s show The Harlequin Studies, produced by the Signature Theater in 2003. I eliminated the drum part, and came up with a shorter title.
Babbo Natale
December 9th, 2018 · 2 Comments
Here, for the holidays, is a song about the many sterling qualities of Santa Claus. It’s also the only song I’ve written in Italian. It begins: Babbo Natale pranza in letto. Babbo Natale balla sul tetto. Babbo Natale evita le frotte. Babbo Natale viaggia di notte. Santa Claus eats in bed. Santa Claus dances on […]
Squall
November 25th, 2018 · Comments Off on Squall
Another piece from my student days: a brief outburst for flute, ‘cello, and piano four hands. I was 17 at the time.
Trio
November 19th, 2018 · Comments Off on Trio
A short trio for flute, clarinet, and bassoon, with a few notes for offstage violin, just to confuse the audience. I wrote this when I was 17; it’s been recopied for legibility.
A Prayer
November 14th, 2018 · Comments Off on A Prayer
A setting for women’s voices of a brief prayer by Benjamin DeCasseres: Give me this day a corroding doubt and deliver me from single-mindedness and all faith that I may scan the Centre from each point on the marvellous Circle and scan each point on the Circle from the illusive Centre; and let not my […]
String Quartet 11: In Three Parts
November 4th, 2018 · Comments Off on String Quartet 11: In Three Parts
The eleventh string quartet is a revision of one I wrote back in 1988. It has three movements, each 59 measures long.