The Drones of Heaven- (2008) - chromatic harmonica and interior piano

Sentient Weather- (2008) - Percussion Quintet

Credo - (2007) - piano and synthesizer or piano and precrecorded electronics

Ballad of the Cells - (2007) - e-flat contrabass clarinet and electronics

Diamond Morning - (2007) - two pianos

Fiat Lux - (2006) - processed piano and electronics

Out There - (2006) - processed dobro

Points of No Return - (2005) - youth orchestra

Forbidden Etudes - (2005) - piano

Ghost Chart - 2005 - tenor saxophone

from the Ground - 2005 - dobro and string quartet download score

Smoke and Mirrors - (2005) - violin, clarinets, trombone, dobro, guitar, piano, percussion

Blood on the Pattern - (2004) - alto saxophone and electronics

Jojo and the Whirling Dancers of the Daylight - (2004/1996) - clarinet, viola, electronics

Trenchcoat Dances - (2003/2001) - percussion and electronics

Fear of the Past - (2003/1993) - adapted for large wind ensemble download score

No man's land - (2002) - piano solo

Move Your Shadow - (2002) - violin, cello, clarinets, piano, three synthesizers

Evil Mbira Music - (2001) - 9 MIDI triggered toy pianos

Out of the Blue - (2000) - electric guitar and chamber ensemble

Electric Fences - (1999) - violin, cello, electronics

Surgical Strike - (1999) - violin, cello, piano

Rift Valley Canon - (1999) - percussion

Waking in the Dirt - (1998) - bass clarinet and electronics

Bad Times Coming - (1998) - adpated for piano and percussion ensemble

Shootout at Diablo Canyon - (1998) - alto saxophone, violin, cello, percussion

The Carnival of Idiots, and other songs - (1997) - mixed chamber ensemble

Bad Times Coming - (1996) - piano and electronics

The Night of the Dancing Armies - (1996) - piano, violin, vibraphone, percussion

African Hoedown - (1996) - mixed chamber ensemble

Ararat - (1995) - mixed chamber ensemble

River of Sand - (1994) - reed trio

Armed Men - (1994) - piano and wind orchestra

Fear of the Past -(1993) - large chamber ensemble

Country of the Blind - (1993) - string quartet and electronics

The Completed People - (1992) - orchestra

The Leit House - (1991) prerecorded singers and electronics

The Counsel of Krishna - (1991) - mixed chamber ensemble

Minutes from the Ages - (1990) - mixed chamber ensemble

Points of Transition - (1990) - clarinet, bass clarinet, piano

Season of Violence - (1990) - electronic "found" opera

Endangered Species -(1990) - musical theater

But Blue is for Boys - (1989) - electronic music for modern dance

African Cassandra - (1989) - electronic music for modern dance

Dansynergy - (1989) - electronic music for modern dance

Jump... - (1988) - electronic music for modern dance

Sunrise City - (1988) - musical theater

Hotel Polana - (1988) - musical theater

Superwoman has Wings and Flies Frequently at Night - musical theater

Everything but the Shower Scene - musical theater

The title for BALLAD OF THE CELLS is derived from the dramatized poem of the same name by South African poet Cosmo Pieterse. The basic setting of the “poem” is a cell in a Jail in Pretoria where Looksmart Solwandle Ngudle, a political prisoner, is interrogated and ultimately murdered by the Special (ie., political) Branch of the South African Police. Looksmart was the first of many people to die while being interrogated in South Africa. The best-known victim of torture at the hands of the Apartheid regime is perhaps Steve Biko, who died thirty years ago this year. Ballad of the Cells is dedicated to the victims of torture everywhere, and opens with a very free rendition of the dirge Hamba Kahle (”go well”) which was sung at funerals of the victims of the South African government. Ballad of the Cells was composed for Phillip O'Connor.

Phillip O'Connor

_{Fiat Lux (2006) for processed piano and electronics. This work was recorded in January 2006, and is the title track for the new CD due for release by Capstone Records in 2007.}

_{Out There (2006 - 2005) for processed dobro slide guitar, featuring guitarist Scot Ray. This work was recorded in January 2006, and is also included on the upcoming Capstone CD. The work is, among other things, a homage to the guitar styles of Ry Cooder and Dave Gilmore.}

Scot Ray

Points of No Return (2005) for Youth Orchestra

_{The Point of No Return}

_{Moon over Zabriskie Point}

_{Point Blank}

Points of No Return was written for John Koshak and the Orange County Youth Symphony Orchestra during the summer of 2005. The music specifically addresses issues – both technical and musical – that would be beneficial for a young orchestra. Although the musical language is that of the early twenty-first century, the piece as a whole is intended to engage young performers rather than to intimidate them.

The three movements share common musical material, and this will be particularly apparent to the listener in the two outer movements. The first movement, The Point of No Return can be thought of as a “prelude, interruption, and failed recovery”. The “recovery” happens in Point Blank – which presents the same melodic and rhythmic material as a relentness, slightly twisted march, digressing in the middle to pay homage to the ethereal second movement, Moon over Zabriskie Point .

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Forbidden Eutdes (2005) for piano

Composed for Louise Thomas these are not intended to be etudes in the traditional sense. They are primarily an outcome of my interest at the time in exploring new compositional approaches to subjects both musical and non-musical - panic, damage, groove, etc.

_{Forbidden Etudes are best viewed, perhaps as compositional etudes that, as a by-product, pose specific technical challenges for the performer.}

_{Download Score}

Ghost Chart provides a framework for focused improvisation and can be performed in three different ways:

1. Solo tenor saxophone.

2. Solo tenor saxophone playing simultaneously with a prerecorded version (created by the saxophonist). In this version the performer should perhaps adopt a reactive and commentary role.

3.Two tenor saxophones reading the chart simultaneously. Again it is possible here that the performers decide on specific roles – for example one performer could read the chart as written, and the other performer could adopt a reactive and commentary role. A bass clarinet can substitute for one of the saxophones – in this case the clarinetist should adjust to accommodate the lower notes available on the bass clarinet wherever seen fit.

Ghost Chart was written for Phillip Greenlief.

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Phillip Greenlief

BLOOD ON THE PATTERN was written for Demetrius Spaneas during the first half of 2004. The electronic part uses manipulated saxophone sounds and the occasional vocal effect. The performer’s part ranges from precise notation to focused improvization. Blood on the Pattern was premeried at Jordan Hall, Boston in March 2005.

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TRENCHCOAT DANCES was originally conceived as a work for percussion and chamber ensemble. This manifestation of Trenchcoat (adapted for the formidable Nick Terry) pits the percussionist against an electronic part that utilizes sounds modeled on the analog synthesizers of the 1960s and 70s - a combination that very effectively highlights my lifelong interest in rock music, cabaret and African rhythmic techniques, infused now and then with the language of contemporary chamber music. Trenchcoat Dances can be viewed a percussion concerto - but with a difference – the percussionist, playing a large drumset is both the rhythmic foundation and the source of much foreground interest. This is a delicate balancing act for the performer – to be the rhythm section and the star all at once is not an easy task.

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Nick Terry

MOVE YOUR SHADOW was written for FearNoMusic during the second half of 2001 and adds three synthesizers to their standard instrumentation. The piece is conceived in three large sections (I think of them as "sets") that in turn divide into a series of shorter movements. There is a wider narrative that runds through the work culminating in the last "set" (Move your Shadow) where earlier material is revisited and the electronic and acoustic sounds interact in ways that are best described as "shadowy".

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This version of ELECTRIC FENCES is preceded by a version without electronics which was composed in 1997 and premiered by Robin Lorentz and Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Ensemble-in-Residence Series on October 13 1999. The title is derived from the poem "Electric Fences" by Philip Larkin. The first and last lines of the poem read:

"The widest praires have electric fences.....Electric limits to their widest senses."

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The seven sections in SURGICAL STRIKE

Declining Vamp one, Migrating Funk, Evil Cocktail, Machete Malice, Surgical Strike, Friendly Fire, Declining Vamp two

run without a break and are strongly related musically and narratively. The work was conceived from the outset as a highly compressed arch-form climbing from the opening Vamp to Surgical Strike and descending (much more rapidly) through Friendly Fire to the closing Vamp. Although the musical building blocks are very simple they interact in ways that are increasingly complex. This interraction, coupled with the juxtaposition of the different sections serves to drive the non-musical impetus behind the work – clues to which can be gleaned from their various titles.

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BAD TIMES COMING uses the factory presets on a Roland JV-1080 synthesizer module as the basis for the electronic part. The mainly percussive sounds were selected for their referential quality, often evoking echoes of B-movie scores, cabaret, and rock music. These sounds, in combination with a frequently adversarial piano part, explore in the first two sections the juxtaposition of violence and dark humor. The humor disappears in the final section, and although the piano seems to win the game the victory is quiet, dark, and enigmatic. Bad Times Coming was written for Vicki Ray and premiered during the 1997 PianoSpheres season. Bad Times Coming is dedicated to the memory of maverick South African rock star James Phillips.

In 1998 BAD TIMES COMING appeared in a version with five percussionists replacing the electronic part, and was premiered by Vicki Ray and the New World Symphony Percussion Consort conducted by Michael Linville.

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ARARAT: According to the Biblical flood myth the ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat after forty days of devastating rain. Like similar stories from many cultures the tale of Noah and the ark is essentially concerned with the response of people to a time of relentless change. Ararat itself represents the end of uncertainty and confusion, and the beginning of something new.

Although this piece should not be viewed as an overtly programmatic exercise, there is an undoubted connection between the flood myth and the rhetorical flow of the music. The opening is pensive, and is occupied largely with the building of the three rhythmic figures whose interactions and transformations drive the music throughout. The second section is fast, and initially seems to be the logical response to the opening, but ultimately leads up a humorous backwater which quite suddenly changes as the spirit of the opening is revisited, in a less tentative, darker mood, and sets the stage for a collision between two of the rhythmic figures which ends abruptly - on Ararat if you like. The music dies out quietly, with a quotation from Alban Berg's song Warm is the air, set within an elusive reference to the opening rhythm.

Ararat was composed in June 1995 and premiered by the California E.A.R. Unit in Arcosanti, Arizona.

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Arcosanti

WAKING IN THE DIRT for bass clarinet and tape was written for Marty Walker and moves from tightly focused improvisation during the first half (Waking in the Dirt) to strictly notated music (with free interjections) during the second half (Turning the Soil). Both titles were inspired by photographs of bodies exhumed from the mass graves around Srebenica and Tuzsla, Bosnia.

Most of the tape sounds are based on the same bass clarinet sample and provide, among other things, textural and harmonic reinforcement for the soloist.

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