Compositional Process: The Melody of Life (Part 3)
My last two blog posts (Part 1 and Part 2 of this series) have been describing the process by which I
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Compositional Process: The Melody of Life (Part 2)
In Part 1 of this series, I began to describe the process by which I composed my Nocturne No. 2
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Compositional Process: The Melody of Life (Part 1)
My composing involves a blend of musical intuition and analytical judgment. Melody is central to my music, and typically I
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The 1984 Recital
Having recently come out with a new recording of my Piano Sonata No. 2, I naturally find myself reminiscing about
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Technology and Playability
Modern technology is a blessing for modern composers. It enables us to create and disseminate professional-quality scores with little or
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Klangfarbenmelodie: Variations for Flute and Piano
The term Klangfarbenmelodie — “sound color melody” — was coined by Arnold Schoenberg, although one can find examples of it
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Trompe l’oreille: Variations for Flute and Piano
My Variations for Flute and Piano are one of my most dynamic and successful compositions. One of the techniques behind
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Dualism in a Rachmaninoff Prelude
Harmonically, music of the classical period was based on tonic-dominant polarity. The subdominant served only a subsidiary role, introducing the
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A Grazioso Development
The second movement of my Sonata for Oboe and Piano, marked Andante grazioso, is in ABA form. The middle
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Beloved Nocturne
One of Chopin’s most beautiful and beloved pieces is his Nocturne in E-flat Major, Op. 9, No. 2. I performed
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Connected Movements
In all my large-scale compositions, one of my primary aesthetic goals has been to create a unified art-work. That applies
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Proust, Shakespeare, and Sonnet XVIII
Marcel Proust (1871-1922) wrote just one masterpiece, an epic novel titled À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of
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From Words to Music (“I Have a Star,” Part 3)
My last two posts (Part 1 and Part 2) have been analyzing the relationship between the text and music in
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From Words to Music (“I Have a Star,” Part 2)
I wrote the poem that became the text for my vocal work “I Have a Star” around 1983-1984, later setting
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From Words to Music (“I Have a Star,” Part 1)
The text for my vocal composition “I Have a Star” originated as a poem I had written around 1983-1984, while
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