Saxophone

This etude is a minute melodic study for saxophone (any saxophone) or some other wind instrument.  The music, like the title, ponders wise, loving citizenship in a time of pandemic.  Ephesians 5:15-20 comes to mind….

Marimba

This piece explores the relationship between a wayward melody and its patient, insistent accompaniment.

This music is deliberately unruly: the initial twelve-chord ground recurs fifteen times, supporting a civil, reserved melody which, before long, turns precocious and contrary.  The accompaniment, accordingly, grows irritable and irregular, foiling the melody’s perverse wit.  The two arrive on uneasy but peaceful terms before the coda, which provides a cryptic summary of the chaconne progression as if to ask, “What just happened?”

Ciaccona Enigmata was composed for percussionist Jason Mathena, who commissioned a series of marimba solos by Mississippi composers.

Solo Viola

This work was commissioned by violist, historian, theologian, and undercover-angel John Farrar, who desired a setting of this famous tune for the close of his recital at Belhaven University.

Solo Flute

Composed in one sitting on Christmas Eve, this is a meditation on a serenely beautiful moment. The melody develops by progressively expanding a simple gesture, then reducing it again, until the opening interval closes the piece. My daughter, who has always been charmed by small, beautiful things, was delighted to learn the piece and premiered it at a church talent show.

Solo Cello, of course.

This is the first work I composed during my PhD studies at Duke University.  The initial concept involved interludes for cello with additional instruments:  the end result, however, included only the odd-numbered solo movements:

1. Prelude
3. Deep Thunder (Heart's Desire)
5. Needle's Eye of the Storm
7. Moment of Truth
9. Epiphanologue (Now All Has Been Heard)

See the Program Note:

A Darkened Glass, for cello solo, draws on several musical and extramusical sources: “A Hidden Life,” a narrative poem by Scottish writer and theologian George MacDonald; the book of Ecclesiastes (particularly the closing verses), and a turn-of-the-century hymn set by William Jeater, “None Other Lamb.” The initial plan for the piece involved punctuating the five movements with interludes by a small instrumental ensemble, but that idea evaporated, leaving only the odd-numbered movements for solo cello. The “Prelude” presents a kind of mysterious puzzle, distilling the material of the above hymn and my reharmonization of it into a strange and obscure brew. “Deep Thunder (Heart’s Desire)” elaborates on the prelude, yet does little to unravel the mystery, instead making every effort to take control of the situation and get on with it. “Needle’s Eye of the Storm” (a reference to camels and hurricanes) displays a subdued self-importance, occasionally interrupted by moments of skittish paranoia. In “Moment of Truth,” the reharmonized hymn begins to emerge. Beginning with a horn call, the music gradually builds to a peak of agitation and evaporates in resignation, still mystified. “Epiphanologue” (combining “epiphany” and “epilogue”) brings the hymn (finally) to the fore, first in relative darkness and then in more direct light. In this way, the final verse of the hymn text is linked with Ecclesiastes 12:13b: “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

Solo Viola

This was composed for violist Michelle Davidson and Cascade Presbyterian Church (Eugene, OR).  Each of its three movements employs a hymn tune:

Neumark is the original melody used with the Lutheran hymn text, “If thou but suffer God to guide thee.” (This movement employs scordatura.)

Day By Day, By Night is a meditation on the hymn, “Day by day, and with each passing moment,” as if reflecting while sitting in a front-porch rocking chair on a summer evening.

O Sacred Head uses a familiar Lutheran chorale.