Most of my output can probably be labeled as being eclectic or poly-stylistic, influenced largely from the multi-cultural environment in Hawaii where I spent my childhood. I'm interested in how music functions as a language -- though music is not always universal, it does have the ability to transcend boundaries that spoken or written languages are often unable to do. A lot of my ideas are derived from Analytic and Pragmatist philosophy, in addition to the works of Jose Ortega y Gasset. Musical influences include Mozart, Schoenberg, Bartók, and Gubaidulina, among others.
Fantasies for a Quintet (2007)
Excerpts performed by the California EAR Unit.
August 11th , 2007 @ Arcosanti, Arizona.
1. Introduction
2. Fantasy for Piano (Dialogues)
3. Fantasy for Flute (Melody and Accompaniment)
4. Fantasy for Cello (Fugue)
5. Fantasy for Clarinet (Dance)
6. Fantasy for Violin (Cazenda, Coda)
Fantasies for a Quintet is a narrative work, loosely based on people and figures that I've encountered throughout my life. Each instrument is given a character trait -- flute (hectic), clarinet (nonchalant), piano (orderly), violin (diplomatic), cello (supportive) -- which defines each performer's role in the dialectical process that unfolds throughout the work.
In addition to the introduction, each instrument is given its own movement where it's given a period of time to fantasize about its hopes, dreams, and desires before inevitably having to hark back to the reality of dealing with the personalities of rest of the ensemble.
P.S. -- The pitch material of this work is completely serialized.
Conquest of Happiness (2007)
Commissioned and performed by the New Century Players.
May 7th, 2007 @ CalArts Roy O' Disney Hall. (Score)
1. Preface
2. Byronic Unhappiness
3. A Sense of Sin
4. Zest, Effort, and Resignation
"To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness."
Inspired by Burtrand Russell's book, Conquest of Happiness (1930), which deals with issues of happiness and unhappiness in the context of a developing modern world. Polystylistic elements are used as a way of describing my experiences and influences acquired from CalArts.
Cadences (2006)
Commissioned and performed by the "Formalist Quartet": Andrew Tholl (violin 1), Mark Menzies (violin 2), Andrew McIntosh (viola), Ashley Walters (cello). November 2nd, 2006 @ CalArts Roy O' Disney Hall. (Score)
A humorous piece based on the often sarcastic demeanor of Shostakovich's works.
Skin and Meat (2006)
Commissioned and performed by the CalArts "New Century Players".
December 4th, 2006 @ CalArts Roy O' Disney Hall. (Score)
1. Swans Are White Except When They're Not
2. It's Raining Outside But I Don't Believe It
3. The King of France is Bald
4. The Unmarried Bachelor (Who Has No Wife)
5. This Movement is False
"Skin and Meat" is the literal translation of the Japanese word for "sarcasm", which loses all of its meaning through its translation. The movement titles pay homage to analytical philosophers who tackled the issues of paradoxical language. (Popper, Moore, Ayer, Quine, Russell.) Even after having spent the entirety 20th century thinking of the meaning behind those phrases, they still have no answer! Philosophy can often be a silly thing.
Adventures in Contemporary Culture (2006)
Performed by Catherine Hay, Alysha Conroy (soprano), and Rory Cowal (piano).
April 15th, 2006 @ CalArts Main Gallery. (Score)
1. Introduction (With a Commercial Interlude)
2. Road to Happiness
3. Not a Very Good Movement
4. Song About Nothing In General (Text)
5. Song About Something In Particular
The piece deals with issues of media formats-- how tragedies and problems can often become forms of entertainment. Text of the fourth movement is based on academic jargon.
Counterpoint in Three Parts (2007)
Performed by Melinda Rice (violin), Chris Votek (cello), and Jody Hurt (french horn).
March 14th, 2007 @ CalArts Main Gallery. (Score)
1. Counterpoint One
2. Counterpoint Two
3. Counterpoint Three
A short piece that focuses on the idea of brevity.
String Quartet No. 2 (2004-2005)
Performed by the "Formalist Quartet": Andrew Tholl (violin 1), Mark Menzies (violin 2), Andrew McIntosh (viola), Ashley Walters (cello).
November 16th, 2006 @ CalArts Roy O' Disney Hall. (Score)
Introduction
1. A Graven Image
Interlude - Compression, Downward (attaca.)^
2. One Cycle^
Interlude - Expansion, Downward (attaca.)*
3. Perpetual Resolutions*
Interlude - Expansion, Upwards
4. Black and White
Interlude - Expansion, Compression
This piece largely focuses on devising a harmonic language within the 12-tone system -- process oriented techniques (transpositions, inversions, retrogrades, aggregates) are all ignored. Instead, the collection of 12 pitches are used either intuitively (movement 1 and the final interlude) or rows are just repeated over and over for each instrument (movement 4). In the latter method intuitive composition is still possible, although it requires the composer to bypass the beareaucracy of the tone-row in order to get to the pitch that they want.
The harmony is arranged through a simple system of interval arrangement -- consonant intervals are placed toward the lower registers, while the dissonant intervals toward the higher, which approximates the shape of the overtone series. This allows for the relative control of consonance and dissonance without necessarily referencing a tonal center, although due to its flexability, the option to reference a major or minor chord is still possible. (In working with this system, I was hoping to create a harmonic continuity between tonality and atonality.) The interlude sections highlight the process of expansion and contraction, where it temporarily breaks from the 12-tone method -- consonance/dissonance, in this case, correlates with expansion/contraction in its harmonic interval content.
The piece progresses dialectically, from the movements where the 12 tone method is used, interrupted by interludes of rhythmic drive reminiscent of minimalism, which serves as its antithesis. After a bunch of things happen, they synthesize and culmilate during the last interlude, where it starts to sound sort of like Bartók. Bartók wins, I guess.
One Cycle (2004)
Commissioned and performed by the California EAR Unit -- the oboe part was replaced by a violin for this particular performance.
Performed Feb. 24th, 2006 @ Cal Arts Roy O' Disney Hall. (Score)
For oboe, clarinet, piano, cello, and percussion. Composed with the help of one of my mentors, Guy Garnett. This piece sort of leads into the second string quartet in its treatment of harmonic material.
Dialogue (2003)
Performed by Ryan Tanaka, MIDI KeyBoard.
Recorded November 23rd, 2003 in real-time.
Screwing around with the pitch bend on a MIDI keyboard mostly, though there's sort of a funny dialogue going on in a Charlie Brown sort of way...