The Desert, Op. 149

Op. 149 THE DESERT
(August 12, 2007)
for a hopeless array
I. Antarctic
II. Arctic
III. Sahara
IV. Great Australian
V. Arabian
VI. Gobi
VII. Kalahari
VIII. Patagonian
IX. Syrian
X. Great Basin


Score:

Recording:

ORBITAL AMERICAN DESERATA
(Complete Works, Volume 65)

Variations on Americana, Op. 148

Op. 148 VARIATIONS ON AMERICANA
(August 4, 2007)
For orchestra


Score:

Variations on Americana maps denatured pitches (often with accidentals removed, or mode change) of John Philip Sousa's four-strain Stars and Stripes Forever over an abbrieviated rhythmic grid and some of the contour of Charles Ives's Variations on America. That the third strain of the dialectic has been transformed into a vague resemblance of Lowell Mason's Mary Had a Little Lamb is purely coincidental, and very welcome. The coda features distorted SASF quotes previously utilized in my setting of Tennesee Williams's Camino Real (Op. 110), for Block Four (Kilroy and the Loan Shark). The moral of the story in this case seems to be that rhythm is a far stronger identity and identifier than pitch.

The work was conceived as a movement in the collaborative eight-composer Sousa Variations for the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra.


Performance:

June 7, 2008
San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra
Old First Church




Recording:

ORBITAL AMERICAN DESERATA
Variations on Americana

The Musical Orbital, Op. 147

Op. 147 THE MUSICAL ORBITAL
(May 4, 2007)
for mixed media
I. Mostly It's Lousy Out There (Ricercar a 3)
II. Mostly It's Lousy Out There (Ricercar a 6)
III. Sonata on "Mostly It's Lousy Out There"
     A. Largo
     B. Allegro
     C. Andante
     D. Allegro
IV. Mostly It's Lousy Out There (Crab Canon)
V. Mostly It's Lousy Out There (Stretto Canon)
VI. Mostly It's Lousy Out There (Contrary-Motion Canon)
VII. Mostly It's Lousy Out There (Augmentation Canon)
VIII. Mostly It's Louy Out There
     (Augmentation / Contrary-Motion Canon)
IX. Mostly It's Lousy Out There (Fifth Canon)
X. Mostly It's Lousy Out There (Perpetual Canon)
XI. Mostly It's Lousy Out There (Canon on Tones)
XII. Mostly It's Lousy Out There ("Seek and Ye Shall Find", Maybe, a 2)
XIII. Mostly It's Lousy Out There ("Seek and Ye Shall Find," Maybe, a 4)


Score:

Recording:

ORBITAL AMERICAN DESERATA
(Complete Works, Volume 65)

Trout Fishing in America, Op. 146

Op. 146 TROUT FISHING IN AMERICA
(April 30, 2007)
Music Drama for Voices and Instruments,
after Richard Brautigan
I. The Cover for Trout Fishing in America
II. Knock on Wood (Part I)
III. Knock on Wood (Part II)
IV. Red Lip
V. The Kool-Aid Wino
VI. Another Method of Making Walnut Catsup
VII. Prologue to Grider Creek
VIII. Grider Creek
IX. The Ballet for Trout Fishing in America
X. A Walden Pond for Winos
XI. Tom Martin Creek
XII. Trout Fishing on the Bevel
XIII. Sea, Sea Rider
XIV. The Last Year the Trout Came Up Hayman Creek
XV. Trout Death by Port Wine
XVI. The Autopsy of Trout Fishing in America
XVII. The Message
XVIII. Trout Fishing in America Terrorists
XIX. Trout Fishing in America with the FBI
XX. Worsewick
XXI. The Shipping of Trout Fishing in America to Nelson Algren
XXII. The Mayor of the 20th Century
XXIII. Oh Paradise
XXIV. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
XXV. The Salt Creek Coyotes
XXVI. The Hunchback Trout
XXVII. The Teddy Roosevelt Chingader'
XXVIII. Footnote Chapter to "The Shipping of Trout Fishing in America to Nelson Algren"
XXIX. The Pudding Master of Stanley Basin
XXX. Room 208, Hotel Trout Fishing in America
XXXI. The Surgeon
XXXII. A Note on the Camping Craze that is Currently Sweeping America
XXXIII. A Return to the Cover of this Book
XXXIV. The Lake Josephus Days
XXXV. Trout Fishing on the Street of Eternity
XXXVI. The Towel
XXXVII. Sandbox Minus John Dillinger Equals What?
XXXVIII. The Last Time I Saw Trout Fishing in America
XXXIX. In the California Bush
XL. The Last Mention of Trout Fishing in America Shorty
XLI. Witness for Trout Fishing in America Peace
XLII. Footnote Chapter to "Red Lip"
XLIII. The Cleveland Wrecking Yard
XLIV. A Half-Sunday Homage to a Whole Leonardo da Vinci
XLV. Trout Fishing in America Nib
XLVI. Prelude to the Mayonnaise Chapter
XLVII. The Mayonnaise Chapter


Score:

Recording:

TROUT FISHING IN AMERICA
(Complete Works, Volume 64)

St. Paul Suite, Op. 145

Op. 145 ST. PAUL SUITE
(January 4, 2007)
For voices and instruments
I. Stephen Narrative
II. That Very Day
III. Saul! Saul!
IV. Blind
V. In Prison
VI. In Ephesis
VII. In Jerusalem
VIII. In the Storm
IX. In Rome


Score:

Recording:

ST. PAUL SATURDAY NIGHT 
(Complete Works, Volume 63)

Grating Prelude, Op. 144

Op. 144 GRATING PRELUDE
(January 3, 2007)
For Orchestra


Score:

Performance:

August 15, 2007
Halfway Mark
Old First Presbyterian Church
San Francisco, CA


Recording:

ST. PAUL SATURDAY NIGHT 
(Complete Works, Volume 63)

Textbook for Orchestra, Op. 143

Op. 143 TEXTBOOK FOR ORCHESTRA (January 1, 2007)
I. Rhythm (Big Beat)
II. Pitch (Melody)
III. Dynamics
IV. Timbres
V. Textures (Monophony / Heterophony / Polyphony / Homophony)
VI. Simultaneities (Harmony)
VII. Form


Score:

Performances

December 9, 2006

Mark Alburger, MIDI

Diablo Valley College Music Technology Center, Pleasant HIll, CA

March 26, 2016

The Opus Project presents Opus 39: Strange But True!

The Opus Project Orchestra

Diablo Valley College Music Building, Pleasant Hill, CA

Recording:

ST. PAUL SATURDAY NIGHT 
(Complete Works, Volume 63)