I have recently decided to make my most recent work for orchestra publicly available free of charge. Parts are currently available on a rental basis only, so please contact me if you have interest in performing the work. You can download the full perusal score, which has been encrypted so as to prevent redistribution or printing, here. The document access password is the work's full title, in retrograde (one word, lowercase).
Jason Thorpe Buchanan (b. 1986) is an American composer of contemporary concert music. His work draws from a broad variety of aesthetic genres and influences, and has been described by leading composers in the United States and Europe as "symphonic..." and "ambitious." He began his studies at age fourteen at the College of San Mateo, CA, later attending San José State University to receive Bachelor's degrees in composition and in music technology, where he was awarded the Outstanding Graduating Senior award (2008). He received his Master's degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he taught courses in composition and music theory from 2008-2010, and was presented the Outstanding Graduate Student award (2009-10) by both the Music Department and the College of Fine Arts. Since 2007, he has served as director and co-founder of the composer's consortium Melos Music, a dozen promising young composers living throughout the U.S.A. and abroad, as well as their annual New Music Concert series, record label and publishing house. He has studied composition with Virko Baley, Peter Michael Hamel, Jorge Grossmann, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Pablo Furman, Kevin Puts and Robert Aldridge, as well as conducting with maestro Takayoshi Suzuki.
Jason currently lives in Hamburg, Germany, where he has been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship (2010-11) at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater as a visiting scholar to study with Peter Michael Hamel, Manfred Stahnke, Georg Hajdu and Sascha Lemke while conducting research in regard to compositional process and aesthetics. In 2011 his Four Berlin Songs, for two singers and chamber ensemble, were performed for an audience of 400 grantees and staff at the Pan-European Fulbright conference in Berlin, Germany under the baton of Thomas Heuser, who commissioned the work. In 2010 his first work for large orchestra - The Gods of Pegăna, was read by the Brevard Music Center Orchestra under the baton of Ken Lam, and was later a finalist in the ASCAP Morton Gould competition (2011). In 2009 his first work for large ensemble written as an undergraduate - A Zarzuela & Other Lost Works was premiered by the Tad Wind Symphony in Tokyo for an audience of over 800, and recorded with a CD released on the Windstream label in Japan.
Additional awards he has received include the MPE International Sterling Achievement Award (2008), fellowships from the NEON Music Festival (2009) and the Brevard Institute of Music Festival (2009, 2010), the UNLV Cristina Valdés solo piano composition competition (2009) for the work Kãrttikeya, the MPE international composition competition (2009), and was composer and music supervisor for the winner of Best Feature at the Miami Beach International Animated Film Festival (2009). His upcoming projects include a cycle of virtuosic works for solo instruments, a sound collage/score for a documentary on Busking/street artists in Hamburg, and a Horn Concerto commissioned by Michael Walker. Upon returning from Germany in 2011, Jason will begin his studies as a Ph.D. candidate in composition at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. http://www.jasonthorpebuchanan.com
UPCOMING CONCERTS: Berlin, DE: Mar. 22, 2011 - Four Berlin Songs *World Premiere* Philadelphia, PA: Mar. 28, 2011 - Four Cionco Songs Essen, DE: May 1, 2011 - Six Shelley Songs San Francisco, CA: August 2011 - Melos MusicSecond Annual New Music Concert (for more details visit my personal website below)
The Gods of Pegăna (A Suite from the Tone Poem for Orchestra; Mov. I-VII, X) by Jason Thorpe Buchanan is based on a 1905 fantasy/alternative creation novel of the same name by Irish author Edward J.M.D. Plunkett (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."- from Ch. II-III
Orchestra 2(d1Alt)+Picc, 2+Cor, 2(d1Bass)+Es, 2+Contra, 4-2-3-1, Str, Hp, Pno, Timp., 3 Perc.
40 Page Score - 11x17 bound booklet; plus a full set of parts (rental only); 10-11'" duration
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.
Vasava (Lord of the Spheres) for Brass Ensemble by Jason Thorpe Buchanan was written between December 2008 and January 2009. After a trip to the Asian art museum in San Francisco, I was reminded of my interest in Indian culture and their systems of organization in music. This work largely incorporates the Indian desi-tala system of rhythmic cycles, which are treated relatively strictly throughout the entire work. Each of the 120 ancient talas have specific cultural, spiritual and emotional associations and are used for specific events and situations. While visiting the museum and reading some Hindu mythology, I became intrigued by the idea of writing a series of character pieces for various instrumentation based on Hindu deities. The title is Sanskrit, and its English translation is "Lord of the Spheres". This name is often used interchangeably with the more commonly known "Indra", the god of thunder, lightning and rain. The title Vasava is in reference to Indra's position as leader of Vasus, name for a group of Hindu (Vedic) gods. They are considered eight deities attendant on Indra, comprising day, dawn, fire, moon, pole star, sun, water, and wind. This work was commissioned by Takayoshi "Tad" Suzuki and the UNLV Brass Ensemble for a performance in May 2009.
Karttikeya (Study No. 1) for solo piano by Jason Thorpe Buchanan was written in December of 2008, and is the first in a
series of character pieces for solo piano based on Hindu deities. This work utilizes the Indian desi-tala system of rhythmic
cycles to generate rhythmic material. Each of the 120 ancient talas have specific cultural, spiritual and emotional associations and are used for specific events and situations. Karttikeya is evoked through talas chosen for having characteristics closely associated with his character. Karttikeya is a Hindu god of war and the eldest son of Shiva and Parvati. He is usually depicted with six faces and twelve arms, born to defeat the asura (demon) Taraka and restore order to the universe. In addition to talas chosen with characteristics to evoke the image of Karttikeya, there are several structural elements that specifically use the number twelve. This work utilizes the 12-tone system, with a total of 12 permutations of the row. After writing the initial sketch with 12 recurring motivic gestures, they were graphed into 12 regions. The sketch was then revised so that without departing from relatively strict serialism, the entrances of these 12 recurring gestures occur symmetrically throughout the work.
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.
Six Shelley Songs by Jason Thorpe Buchanan were composed in the summer of 2008. Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) wrote these poems between 1814 and his unexpected death in 1822, when he drowned at sea. He is known for having been expelled from Oxford for distributing a pamphlet entitled "The Necessity of Atheism". He was married twice, leaving his first wife shortly after having written Away!, later meeting Mary Shelley, soon to be author of Frankenstein and daughter of William Godwin, a literary figure whom Shelley idolized. He lost two of the three children he had with Mary Shelley between 1818 and 1819. His texts have been criticized for their seemingly abstract surface aesthetic, as well as being called "splendidly nebulous". With these six songs I have attempted to capture the essence of Shelley's writing and depict the well-crafted romantic imagery contained in these poems. I hope that in doing so I manage to show their "splendidly nebulous" nature in my music.
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.
