Stigmata Musicum Nr. 1

Now in the interest of fleshing out the "music" category, I thought I might step back in "time" for a moment and write some updates about my latest musical endeavors.

August saw the premiere of my first complete piece since finishing undergrad in 2003. The work was inspired by, written for and premiered in public by the New York Miniaturist Ensemble, a fascinating group of top notch musicians dedicated to performing works consisting of 100 notes or fewer. The concept spoke to me immediately (thanks Mark!) and I set to work creating my "Miniature No. 1" for solo percussionist. The piece was my first excursion into the world of the spacial score, or score based upon its visual element and the placement of notes rather than being bound my meter to dictate the passage of time. The philosophy I have developed is that the score should "look like what it sounds like" which after my second piece in this style proved to be much more accommodating to the performers. The extreme opposite is realized by the brilliance of composers like Elliot Carter, Milton Babbitt and Brian Ferneyhough, all of whom I have been listening to a great deal recently. Elliot Carter in particular pioneered the idea of rhythmic transformations and complex rhythms within rhythms which can be interpreted only by the most sophisticated musicians. For the NYME I created a one page score, complete with arrows and dotted lines suggesting phrases and rhythmic direction, more like something George Crumb would have done, complete with the option of speaking fragments of text lifted from the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus (needless to say, the skilled but timid percussionist elected not to speak the text).

For my next experiment in avoiding definite and overly complex rhythms, I created a piece for two flutes and two bassoons entitled "Stigmata Musicum No. 1". The title is a mutation and parody of the Syntagma Musicum of Michael Praetorius and the mission of the work is to develop the intimacy of creating a compelling chamber music performance. Due to the lack of time signature through the majority of the work, coordination is completely dependent upon the intuition of the players, who must take turns as conductor and carefully watch and be aware of the entire score. The premiere was expertly performed by my chamber group, David Graham and Mira Magrill, flutes, and Nick Cohen and Vanessa VanSickle, bassoons. Below is the three page score and complete recording of the premiere. The complete work is about 7'30", give it a listen!