Category: Solo

Sonata for Violoncello Solo, “Three Maxims of Delphi” (2022)

Each movement of this substantial work, commissioned by Juan Aguilera Cerezo, takes inspiration from one of the three famous pieces of wisdom inscribed on the portico of the Temple of Delphi: “Gnothi seauton” (Know thyself), “Meden agan” (Nothing in excess), and “Eggua para d’ate” (A pledge brings ruin). Each of these statements forms a starting point for musical reflection—the first movement’s intense polyphony emphasizes emotional honesty and self-awareness, not only in the music itself, but also in highlighting the vulnerability of the performer; the second describes a world that while full of emotion, is elegantly circumscribed and refined; the third, a Passacaglia, “pledges” itself to follow a repeating pattern, and struggles to hold itself together amidst increasingly intense musical consequences

Six Morning Miniatures for Piano (2022)

I wrote these little pieces in a series of mornings as a way to start the day. Each briefly explores a little musical world, almost in a naive way.

Morning-Miniatures-set

Piano Sonata no. 2 in B minor, “Winter Sonata” (2019)

The “Winter” in this piece is heard in the two outer movements, begun about a year apart during the holidays in snowy New England. The first movement’s slow introduction embodies the cool austerity of winter with sharp clear octaves and dotted rhythms. The ensuing allegro turns these rhythms into something jagged and aggressive until a lilting lyrical theme takes over, evocative of the warmth of home and family. Material from the introduction returns throughout the allegro. The final movement, while more flowing and improvisatory, is based largely based on music from the first movement.

The second movement was written during my summer at home in New England, and it reflects the warm geniality of the place. It is an extended, passionate song, at times echoing the symphonic slow movements of Beethoven and Mahler.

Piano-Sonata-no-2-in-B-minor-Complete-score

Sonata e Fantasia for solo flute (2018)

Sonata e fantasia was written at the request of the flautist Linda Jenkins, whose expressive, elegant, and virtuosic playing made this a pleasure to write. In the Classical repertoire, pieces for a single monophonic instrument are quite rare. Although there are some for the quasi-polyphonic violin and cello, there is no precedent for Classical sonata form applied in solo flute repertoire (CPE Bach’s Flute Sonata in a minor actually uses binary form!). This Classical sonata form is the “Sonata” part of the title; the “fantasia” part represents the dominant affect of the piece, especially the character of the beginning, with its freely spun-out arpeggios and melancholy melodic figures. In combining these “sonata” and “fantasia” elements I tried to create a play between freedom and order, expression and balance. Compound melody and registeral shifts suggest multiple contrapuntal voices within the flute’s monophonic line. This, combined with the frequent fast arpeggios, serves to better define the underlying Classical harmony, and shape the overall sonata form.

Sonata e fantasia for solo flute - Full Score

Praeludium für Orgel (2017)

I wrote this organ prelude while learning German in Munich during the summer of 2017.  Although the organ was an instrument I had been studying for several years, this was my first composition for the instrument. I drew on the rich German tradition of organ composition especially that of Buxtehude. The structure is similar to his Preludia – sectional. The first section draws on the baroque French overture affekt, with its typical scales and dotted rhythms, to which I add overlapping suspensions. This is followed by a freely played recitative and a solemn fugue in the parallel minor. There is no return to the loud pomposity of the opening; the final section is quiet and lyrical – a brief  minuet for manuals alone. The ending, with its delicate imitations, should seem to evaporate into silence.

Praeludium für Orgel - Full Score

Variations on an Original Theme in D Major for Piano (2015)

Tema — Andante e rubato
Var. 1 — Allegro
Var. 2 — Quasi tempo I ma un poco meno mosso
Var. 3 — Allegro
Var. 4 — Adagio
Var. 5 — Vivace
Var. 6 — Grave
Var. 7 — Allegro – Tempo I

This piece was commissioned by fellow Front Music School student Joanna Gonzalez. There is a strange union of peace with ecstasy, contentment with wonder, in the great variations of classical composers (Bach’s Goldberg Variations, or Beethoven’s late variation movements, or Rzewski’s The People United, for example). Continuously retracing the same patterns in ever new ways, the music traces a winding, mysterious path, coming full circle to conclude where it began, but transformed.

This smaller piece captures hints of that great art. The initial theme is more suggestion than melody, a haunting outline of possibilities to come. The first five variations draw heavily on Bach’s counterpoint and figuration, while the sixth occupies a different expressive world, full of sadness and doubt. This is answered by the alternatively triumphant and playful seventh variation. The piece concludes new version of the theme: what was previously suggested is now fully realized.

Variations for Piano in D major

Piano Sonata No. 1 in A flat Major Op. 4 (2013)

I. Allegro piacevole
II. Adagio
III. Allegro piacevole

My first piano sonata was completed in the winter of early 2013 for my friend at the University of Chicago, Nathan Harris. The piece is suffused with a kind of warm, tender lyricism. This is the first piece I wrote where I thought more of motives and phrases and less of themes or melodies. The first and last movements are both marked “Allegro piacevole,” fast and pleasantly. While the first movement is more boisterous and dramatic, the last is more like a rustic dance alla Beethoven. The lyrical slow movement, with its long arching melodies, is characterized by tender yearning and melancholy.

Piano Sonata no 1 in Ab