SOLO
BETHANY TOCCATA
Instrumentation: organ
Duration: 4.5’
Program Note: Bethany Toccata was commissioned by organist Stephen Baker—music director of Bethany Lutheran Church in Spencer, Iowa—in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.
Premiere: 2017, Spencer, IA (Stephen Baker, organ)
(Recording unavailable)
Quatre Études de Fromage
Instrumentation: piano
Duration: 10’
Program Note: In my formative years, the Primus album “Sailing the Seas of Cheese” had a tremendous impact on me. These four piano studies focus on various tonal, rhythmic, and motivic elements found in songs from that 1991 recording. Quatre Études de Fromage was written for Matthew McCright and premiered in 2010.
Premiere: 2010, New York, NY (Matthew McCright, piano)
Matthew McCright, piano
DANCE PRELUDES
Instrumentation: piano
Duration: 9.5’
Program Note: Like many children, I took a few years of piano lessons. And like many an adult, I now regret not taking them for a longer period of time, developing a strong technique on which I could now rely when composing music. I find the piano to be the most daunting of all instruments for which to compose. It is, perhaps, ironic that I feel confident writing for an instrument that I’ve never once picked up, such as a cello, but when it comes to writing for the piano, I feel completely at sea. These preludes have afforded me an opportunity to confront my keyboard reservations head-on, so that I might finally create works for piano that I myself would enjoy playing—had I the skill to do so.
Premiere: 2007, Minneapolis, MN (Matthew McCright, piano)
Aller Guten Dinge Sind Drei!
Instrumentation: carillon
Duration: 5’
Program Note: Aller guten Dinge sind Drei! was written in response to a call for carillon scores. I had never written for carillon before, and wanted to make this first piece a study in writing for the instrument. I chose to compose in a way that emphasized one basic musical element — the interval of a third (“all good things come in threes”).
Aller guten Dinge sind Drei! was chosen as the Winning Composition of the 2007 Iowa State University Carillon Composition Competition.
Premiere: 2006, Ames, IA (Tin-Shi Tam, carillonneur)
(Recording unavailable)
FIVE PRELUDES FOR GUITAR
Instrumentation: guitar
Duration: 16.5’
Program Note: Five Preludes for Guitar began as a single piece for guitar (the fifth of these five preludes). Written in 2004, it was premiered by Jon Dotson on the University of Texas Wet Ink concert series. Jon is an accomplished classical guitarist, and upon hearing his interpretation of my work, I was inspired to compose four additional preludes. Working directly with Jon stretched my understanding of the classical guitar, and enabled me to better write for such a unique instrument.
Premiere: 2005, Austin, TX (Jonathan Dotson, guitar)
Jonathan Dotson, guitar