Posts in category: Compositions

Three Moods for Piano are brief movements that explore unique rhythmic and melodic themes in sometime angular, sometime more sweeping and accessible manners.

The first movement, “Interior Dialogue,” alternates a principle rhythmic theme between right and left hands; the second movement “Upon Remembrance,” is a sentimental post-romantic tribute; while the last movement “Wind Dance,” is a rapid flurry of rhythmic motion.

Thee compositions by Brian T Field have been performed by the Sydney Contemporary Orchestra:

“Come Up from the Fields, Father”

or

“A Letter from Camp”

Come up from the fields father, here’s a letter from our Pete,
And come to the front door mother, here’s a letter from thy dear son.

Lo, ’tis autumn,
Lo, where the trees, deeper green, yellower and redder,
Cool and sweeten Ohio’s villages with leaves fluttering in the moderate wind,
Where apples ripe in the orchards hang and grapes on the trellis’d vines,
(Smell you the smell of the grapes on the vines?
Smell you the buckwheat where the bees were lately buzzing?)

Above all, lo, the sky so calm, so transparent after the rain, and with wondrous clouds,
Below too, all calm, all vital and beautiful, and the farm prospers well.

Down in the fields all prospers well,
But now from the fields come father, come at the daughter’s call,
And come to the entry mother, to the front door come right away.

Fast as she can she hurries, something ominous, her steps trembling,
She does not tarry to smooth her hair nor adjust her cap.

Open the envelope quickly,
O this is not our son’s writing, yet his name is sign’d,
O a strange hand writes for our dear son, O stricken mother’s soul!
All swims before her eyes, flashes with black, she catches the main words only,
Sentences broken, gunshot wound in the breast, cavalry skirmish, taken to hospital,
At present low, but will soon be better.

Ah now the single figure to me,
Amid all teeming and wealthy Ohio with all its cities and farms,
Sickly white in the face and dull in the head, very faint,
By the jamb of a door leans.

Grieve not so, dear mother, (the just-grown daughter speaks through her sobs,
The little sisters huddle around speechless and dismay’d,)
See, dearest mother, the letter says Pete will soon be better.
Alas poor boy, he will never be better, (nor may-be needs to be better, that brave and simple soul,)
While they stand at home at the door he is dead already,
The only son is dead.

But the mother needs to be better,
She with thin form presently drest in black,
By day her meals untouch’d, then at night fitfully sleeping, often waking,
In the midnight waking, weeping, longing with one deep longing,
O that she might withdraw unnoticed, silent from life escape and withdraw,
To follow, to seek, to be with her dear dead son.

–Walt Whitman
[1865]

from the clash of race and creed
prelude for orchestra

by Brian T. Field (USA)

This work takes its name from a line of a hymn by Rowland H. Prichard (1811-1887) with a text by William P. Merrill (1867-1954) entitled “Not alone for mighty empire” published in 1909.  While working on the recurring themes within this piece, the United States saw the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01.   In remembrance of that event, I incorporated fragments of this hymn within the fabric of the other motives in the work, drawn to this hymn in particular as it reflects a sentiment of spiritual reconciliation for all peoples without overt patriotism for any one nation. 

In the course of the work, the abbreviated hymn is exposed at the beginning simply and

solemnly — returns at the climax, celebratory yet surrounded by the motives of the main body of the piece — and closes with a modified yet still hopeful recapitulation of the hymn.

VARIAZIONI
by Paolo Geminiani

The score work around the famous theme La donna e mobile from Verdi’s Rigoletto.

It was a commission for Festival di Bellagio 2011 edition: a only one variation from various composers.

I wrote the first variation very close to original score in melody and harmony. In a second time I had the idea to go on with harmony and instrumentation progressively away from the original score and a final recapitulation in the forth and last variation.

VISIONS DES REFLETS ET NOCTURNES 

Peter Dickson Lopez

I composed the first seven sections of Visions des reflets et nocturnes (Visions of reflections and nocturnes) in 2016-2017. Though still working on completing the entire work with numerous additional sections, I have released these first seven sections of Visions as together they sufficiently satisfy my standard for a complete and meaningful musical statement. This seemingly counterintuitive and contradictory attitude (How can something incomplete be considered complete?), no doubt derives in my mind and ear from the use and development of extended moment form throughout the work.

The notion of moment form was first introduced by Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007) in Kontakte (1958-60). Essentially moment form consists of the stringing together of independent musical components, gestures, or structures, but which are not developmentally related or perceived as a part of linear or directed motion. The key concepts in moment form are threefold: (1) each moment is a formal unit that is self-contained and has an immediately recognizable character; (2) the time frame for each moment is indeterminate, i.e., the moment can be as short or as long as needed; and (3) directed motion (moving to and from climaxes and structural downbeats) is not a factor in construction of moments and moment sequences. The ultimate aim of moment form was to explore ways of structuring sound that did not rely on, indeed contradicted, traditional concepts of time and directed motion.

I absorbed and adapted this compositional approach in my own work but rejected the foundational principle of intentional dismissal of directed motion. For me, directed motion is an absolute necessity in my music, and this traditional aesthetic finds its way into my music on many different levels. My extended moment form is essentially a collection of small forms, interconnected in continuous variation, with cross-relationships deriving intentionally, subconsciously or randomly, the spinning out of which aims to discover and expose one or more ìspecial momentsî, which in traditional terms might be thought of as ìclimaxesî, but which for me are not always necessarily so. Indeed, a special moment might be a moment of extreme calm, reflection and introspection.

Each section is preceded and followed by a short poetic descriptive phrase in French. The Preludes of Debussy come to mind where the composer lists the title of the piece at the end, but not as a literal description. These are the seven sections of Visions included in this volume:

• I.  Premier reflet
  feuilles en baisse (First reflection
  falling leaves)
• II. Un petit morceau
  de nocturne cassÈ (A little piece
  of a broken nocturne) 
• III. Montage
  en blanc et noir (Montage
  in black and white)
• IV. Un esprit solitaire
  triste et joyeux (A lone spirit
  sad and joyous)
• V.  Feux follets
  des courants (Wisps
  of currents)VI. Estampes
  en dehors et en bas (Engravings
  outside and below)
• VII. FenÍtre
  des souvenirs (Window
  of remembrances)

As these titles might suggest, Visions des reflets et nocturnes can be thought of as a kind of dreamscape which reflects introspective and subconscious musings in a kind of ìstream of consciousnessî. In this work, I continue to explore integrating traditional tonal language with more experimental approaches to pitch construction. As for using titles and phrases in French, doing so has helped me to recapture and continue working in the creative cocoon that I so enjoyed during my years in Paris.

LUSHAN FALLS

The sun shines on the Peak of Incense Burner*,
And the purple vapor rises like smoke.
Lo, the long stream of water hung up yonder!
Straight down three thousand feet the flying torrent leaps,
As if the Silver River** were falling from the ninth heaven.

Li-bai (701 – 762)
Tong Dynasty, China

* “Incense Burner” is a nickname for Lushan (a mountain)
** The Milky Way

Composed in 2001 this orchestral piece is a picture of the scenic landscape of Lushan Falls, as depicted by the poem.

The piece consists of four sections reflecting the meaning of the poem. The music is derived from a folk song of the Jiangxi Province, China, a region where Lushan stands. The music begins with fragments of the folk tune in the flutes’ lower registers and the percussion instruments’ glittering sound – “the sun shines on the Peak of Incense Burner and the purple vapor rises like smoke”. A long extensive melody of the folk song gradually becomes increasingly clear in the violins as one is overlooking the long stream of water “hung up yonder”. Music moves to the climactic point of the extreme sonority of the orchestra tutti – “straight down three thousand feet the flying torrent leaps”. This long descending section moves from fortissimo to pianissimo, from the highest to the lowest registers of the orchestra. Returning to the folk song with traditional Chinese harmony, the piece finishes calmly and peacefully.

望盧山瀑布

作於2001年，此曲靈感來自唐詩 《望盧山瀑布》：

李白

日照香爐升紫煙，
遙看瀑布挂前川。
飛流直下三千尺，
疑是銀河落九天。

以盧山所在地江西省民歌為基調，以詩中四句為格式，此曲意圖展現出李白詩中對盧山瀑布之生動描寫

The main theme of the piece came to me as an amusement after comparing a theme from Eine Alpensinfonie by Richard Strauss to a similar one from the 2nd movement of Max Bruch’s G minor concerto No. 1 in G Minor. From then on, the Waltz Fantasy in D Minor appeared unpretentiously, free in form but strongly anchored in the traditional harmony and in the orchestra of the mid- nineteenth century.

JUPITER AND SEMELE
– Symphonic Poem PROGRAM NOTES

2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, 1 tuba, 4 timpani, a snare drum, a triangle, cymbals, strings.

Jupiter and Semele

On Olympus, Jupiter feels that for him was made a sacrifice of a great bull.
Flying in the guise of an eagle over a temple dedicated to him, he observes Semele, a priestess, who swims naked in the rives Asopus to cleanse herself of the blood after she slaughtered a bull at Jupiter’s altar.

The god appears in human form and declares his love. She, frightened, repels him because she is a priestess of Jupiter. He then reveals that he is Jupiter himself. Simple love evolves into passion. She, after a night of love, becomes pregnant.

Juno, jealous wife of Jupiter, feels, from Olympus, that a demigod was generated. She descends to Earth. Disguised as an old crone, she befriends Semele. She confides in her that her love is Jupiter. Juno says that it’s probably a lie. Semele, in conflict, fears to have given herself to a mere man, she who is a priestess of Jupiter. Juno suggests that she demand proof of her lover’s divinity – that he appear to her as god (Juno knows no mortal would support such a vision). Semele cries for being deceived. Juno leaves.

Enter Jupiter, in love. Semele, cold, asks him to grant her a boon. He promises on the River Styx to grant her anything she wants. She then demands that Jupiter reveal himself in all his glory as proof of his divinity. Though Jupiter begs her not to ask this, she persists and he is forced by his oath to comply. Jupiter shows her the smallest of his bolts and the sparsest thunderstorm clouds. She perishes consumed in lightning-ignited flame.

Jupiter rushes to her, rescues the fetal Bacchus by sewing him into his thigh.
Time goes by. Semele is rescued from the Kingdom of Pluto by Bacchus and is taken to Olympus, where she becomes the goddess Thyone. She is received by all the gods.