Performance of my music

On Monday night in New York there’ll be a performance of two pieces of mine. This is at Symphony Space (95th and Broadway) at 7:30, with a pre-concert discussion at 6:30. I’ll be speaking. It’s all part of Victoria Bond’s Cutting Edge festival.

My pieces: Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano, and Short Talks, a work in progress for a pianist who also plays a drum. The performers will be Charles Neidich, clarinet, and Jenny Lin, piano and drum. 

Both pieces are short and, at least to me, packed full of detail. The Sonatina starts with two movements in which the clarinet and piano play separate pieces — quite literally separate, especially in the first movement. The clarinet plays a rigorous scherzo, complete with all the obligatory repeats, while the piano plays a movement in sonata form. if you look at the score, you’ll see that the time signatures and barlines in the two instruments are completely separate. The third movement then brings clarinet and piano in unison, playing music that’s a wild rhythmic ride. On the music page of my website you can find recordings of a live performance and a computer demo. 

(And why would you listen to a demo rather than the real thing? They come across differently. You decide.)

The Short Talks are based on intense short prose poems by Anne Carson. I’ve blogged about them before. And then got in an argument in the comments with someone who really hated a notation whim of mine, to divide bars of silence into insanely complex rests, so I could mirror the deranged mind of someone in the poem. 

There were three of these Short Talks when I blogged about them. Now there are five. In there end, I’m expecting to write 10 or more. Rather than make separate links, I’ll wrap this up by sending you (if you want to know more) to my music site, where you can scroll to the Short Talks, see scores, and hear both a live performance and computer demos. 

If you come to the concert, please find me and say hello!