Influenced by the neo-classic period of the early 20th century Chimera Dances, scored for woodwind quartet, contains many of the features found in this period such as polytonality, an emphasis on counterpoint, and abrupt tempo changes. The dances, usually a waltz or a rag-time, change character often, much like the body of the Chimera - an imaginary monster who is a combination of mismatched animal parts.
8 1/2 x 11 booklet, score and parts
$25.95 Paper; $17.95 Digital
Catalogue No. 04012
Crosswinds was composed by Jason Thorpe Buchanan during the Fall of 2005. This duet for Flute and Clarinet was composed in a pandiatonic style. The quasi-functional harmonies are implied through the thin textures of the piece, enhanced by the contrasting colors provided by the two woodwinds. The work is almost entirely through composed, with the exception of the sparse return of the opening theme.
Five Bagatelles for horn & marimba by Jason Thorpe Buchanan were written in Fall 2008. These five movements each emphasize a different musical element and their construction is loosely based on the geometric subtitles, Circles, Squares, Dots, Lines, and Triangles. These figures are sometimes represented intervallically, rhythmically, structurally or graphically, with much of the pitch and rhythmic material being generated based on the shape and its designated musical element.
Written in 2007, 'Five Bagatelles' is a set of miniatures paying homage to five different 20th-Century composers.
Mvt. I - Fugue (Homage to Benjamin Britten)
A gentle piano cadenza opens the work as themes from each movement are heard. As the piano fades, the homage to Britten begins with the entrance of a lilting fugue subject in the violin. The ensemble develops this subject in imitation before coming to rest during a short, reflective, chorale.
Mvt. II - Ostinato Pizzicato (Homage to Bela Bartok)
In this movement the piano plays repetitive ostinato figures, while the two string instruments are pitted against one another: the violin plays double-stopped chords, while the cello plays pizzicato.
Mvt. III - Romanze (Homage to Aaron Copland)
The central pillar in this piece, this wistful Romanze references the intimacy and lyricism inherent in many of Copland's works. Initially the violin and cello each play alone with the piano, but by the end all three instruments come together to sing the reflective melody of a slow folk-tune.
Mvt. IV - Rondo: Cadenza (Homage to Henri Dutilleux)
This movement's flourishing gestures and dark chorales make reference to Dutilleux's colorful, post-impressionistic, style. Standing opposite the second movement, here the cello plays lyrical lines and chords, while the violin plays pizzicato.
Mvt. V - Chorale (Homage to György Ligeti)
This movement aims to explore unconventional textural realms. Using layered scales and extended techniques to obfuscate the natural timbral independence of the instruments, a six-note motive in the
piano gradually evolves until the final chorale, when all three players join together before ebbing away slowly into silence.
- D.T.
13'00" duration
$29.95 Paper score and parts, $19.95 Digital
Catalogue No. 07003
Written in 2008, Floating Amidst... is a chamber work based on a set of paintings by visual artist Leticia Luevanos. In these watercolor paintings, Leticia uses deep, vivid, colors and flowing, curving, lines to abstractly represent jellyfish floating in the ocean. The music aims to convey the deep colors and imagery of her work, and each movement represents a different painting. Throughout the first movement the dipping glissandos of the clarinets mimic the first painting's gentle curves, while the dark cello lines portray the ominous black found at the bottom of the painting. Meanwhile, a gently ebbing iso-rhythm in the cello represents cascading waves which come in and out of focus throughout the movement. As the movement ends, ethereal crotales float away somewhere in the distance. In the second movement, sounds of the wind and the waves slowly come into focus until a gentle trumpet melody enters. The lyrical section which follows represents the soft blue colors seen in the jellyfish of the second painting. As these colors melt into the background of the ocean's landscape, only a foreboding, profound, crimson remains, and the final chorale explores the depth of this crimson which bleeds slowly through the water.
Movement I: A pink glow
Movement II: Soft grey, gentle blue, dark crimson
10'00" duration
$39.95 Paper score and parts, $27.95 Digital
Catalogue No. 07006
The Gods of Pegăna (A Suite from the Tone Poem for Nine Musicians; Mov. I-VII, X) by Jason Thorpe Buchanan is based on a 1905 fantasy/ alternative creation novel of the same title by Irish author Lord Dunsany that proposes: "There are in Pegăna Mung and Sish and Kib (the gods of death, time and life), and the maker of all small gods, who is MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI, who made the gods and hath thereafter rested. And none may pray to MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI but only the gods whom he hath made... Because he was weary after the making of the gods, and because of the drumming of Skarl, did he grow drowsy and fall asleep... But at the last will MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI forget to rest, and will destroy the gods whom he hath made... And there shall be only MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI. But, when at the last the arm of Skarl shall cease to beat his drum, silence shall startle Pegăna like thunder in a cave, and MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI shall cease to rest...." This suite for nine musicians encompasses the first eight of thirty-two chapters, and is the first installment of a larger tone poem for chamber orchestra.