Sinfonia for Guitar Solo
This is a symphonic piece written for guitar solo.
There comes a time for the composer where all the periphery melts away, leaving just the music, itself solid, well crafted…unrestrained from deadlines. There is a serenity to life when such flotsam as the fussing about performances, the recordings and the reviews, are of little concern. With such serenity one can afford to revisit the arch of it all. This Sinfonia for Guitar Solo is such a review.
There are people to whom I never expressed my appreciation for how they enriched my life. In the more youthful years I suppose I thought the exuberance was enough. Now, not so much. Each movement of this work is dedicated to such a person; each movement my effort to write music that captures these spirits as I perceived them. This Sinfonia is my expression of gratitude, my expression of respect through the careful craft they deserve.
The first movement, the Allegro, is dedicated to Charles Percy Monroe. It is written within the framework of the Rondo - Sonata form. The second movement is a Theme and Variations dedicated to the writer Breece Pancake. The Largo, still in progress, is a Chaconne constructed with Spectral techniques and dedicated to T. Michael Miller. And the Finale, a Fugue and the only movement with a subtitle (A Joyful Noise), is dedicated to Serge De Gastyne, Guy Geller and their mother Louise Norman Geller. Keeping with my Symbolist Tendencies, the music of each movement directly resonates the dedication. The How of That would require too extensive an explanation to be offered here. Perhaps there’ll be an opportunity at some juncture down the road.
Charlestown
for solo guitar
(from the Sinfonia for Guitar Solo)
Dedicated to Breece D’J Pancake, this piece for solo guitar is an elaborate theme and variations of an old American melody by the same name. I love these tunes: their melodic lines and rhythmic gestures have been honed by generations of performing. I've written it before - these tunes have strength. Most were meant to be sung, and perhaps that's why a string instrument makes for the best arrangement: the human touch is a direct contact with the production of the sound.
The form of a theme and variations is always a welcomed challenge. As to the reason I enjoy writing these pieces for guitar, it is in the instrument's limits. It permits one voice, yes, but not more than two or three continuously; One cannot stray too far afield, a temptation I would definitely entertain if writing this series for piano solo. Duration: 5'.
Victor Main
The performer on the excerpt and recording is Victor Main, whose participation - as a former student of mine who went on to study guitar at the Mannes School of Music - has made this a very satisfying collaboration. Please do visit Victor's webpage at <www.victormainguitar.yolasite.com>.
Passione
for guitar and organ/electronic recording, or as a work for guitar solo
This work has its beginnings in the Alleluia for a-capella STAB chorus. That piece, as successful as it is for unaccompanied choir, kept singing to my imagination, kept insisting there was more breadth to be drawn out. What I was hearing, though, was not more notes, but sonic blocks, planes of sound that merged and emerged in a constant shifting. And these blocks were not to be emotionally neutral. They would retain the emotional content realized by the notes and other details of the original composition.
The solution was found in the spectral technique of composition begun by the French in the 1970's and championed by composers like Gerard Grisey and Tristan Murail. I found that, with the sympathetic notes generated from the initial chords, the technique allowed the sonic blocks to echo any intention found in the original composition. For this duet I choose the organ as the vehicle for the spectral element because of the purity of its harmonics. Ultimately, the spectral element will be realized by a chamber string ensemble.
The score for the piece contains the guitar part and also a CD of the organ part, thus giving the guitarist a performance option. The piece is also available as the solo guitar alone, without electronics.
Duration: 6'.
Benjamin Christie is the performer on the excerpt.
Knickerbocker Suite
for guitar and violin…
The piece is dedicated to Steven R. Saunders, who commissioned the work for Knickerbocker Artists U.S.A. The piece commemorates the unveiling of Glenna Goodacres's Vietnam Women's Memorial. The reception for Ms. Goodacre was just one of the many memorable evenings spent at Steve's Perry House Galleries.
The work was premiered that evening, Dr. Kenneth Sarch, violin, and Mr. Eric Ulreich performing. The first and third sections of the work are constructed from intense development of short motivic statements taken from two traditional melodies sung in the Virginia highlands. The middle section is a rumination upon a traditional hymn. I remember at the time this was written being under the spell of Papa Haydn, being fascinated by his use of indigenous material, especially in his Symphony 103. His tightly woven motivic kernels and endless variation continue to enthrall me. Duration: 9'.