As with most of my works, the music arises from the emotional experience of life. I think of this as a reflection on the passages of emotion — that ebb and flow of the feelings that continually emerge and recede repeatedly throughout life.
The music is written to balance the interplay between the soloist and the orchestra, rather than the traditional role of the soloist being in the forefront. The soloist should seem to emerge from the orchestra in much the way that intense feelings seem to surface from the unconscious, giving voice to our inner emotional currents, and then recede back into the chorus of the subliminal.
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Though not quality video… The music comes through in this exquisitely soulful world premiere performance of “In Passages” by violinist, Pam Davis as soloist with the Missouri State University Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of conductor, Christopher Kelts.
October 2017: Recorded for CD release by PARMA Recordings with conductor, Miran Vaupotić and the Croatian Chamber Orchestra (Hrvatski komorni orkestar)
Yet Still Night
Release 2/12/2016: Dream Vapors – selected works for orchestra, Navona Records, NV6025
(Original Release 2007: Masterworks of the New Era, Volume 11 – ERMMedia-6811 no longer available)
Recorded 2006: Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Robert Ian Winstin, Conductor
Program note: Recurrent punctuations of an urban soundscape reverberate in the late hours and mix with an emotional insight suffused with sadness and clarity that dreams and conflict will continue, insistent and inconsolable. –RW
Within a Dance
Re-Release 2/12/2016: Dream Vapors – selected works for orchestra, Navona Records, NV6025
Released 9/2014: Luminescence, Navona Records, NV5969
Recorded 7/2013: PARMA Recordings, Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, Petr Vronsky, Conductor
Program note: Reflecting on a first invitation to dance, and the continuation of the dance of love. … a tenderness of touch; … a lingering embrace; … dancing a circular space; … a song of two –RW
Tracing a Dream
Release 2/2016: Dream Vapors – selected works for orchestra, Navona Records, NV6025
Original Release 4/2011: Light and Shadow, Navona Records, NV5847
Recorded 3/2010: PARMA Recordings, Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, Ovidiu Marinescu, Conductor
Program note: Tracing a Dream taps into the impressionistic logic of emotions and dreams. Within this realm there is a fluidity of connections and sequences that is governed by emotional contexts, rather than rational order. Music has the capacity to heighten and distill emotions through juxtapositions that might otherwise be thought to be unlikely – comparable to dream imagery. – RW
Still Motion
Released 7/8/2016: SPARKS, Navona Records, NV6050
Recorded 6/11/2015: PARMA Recordings, Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, Petr Vronsky, Conductor
Program note: The inspiration for Still Motion arose from a combination of sorting through the emotional residue of year’s end and the impatient desire to move ahead with life with a new year’s beginning. It is a mix of edgy energy, reflective sadness and strength of conviction. – RW
Shredding Glass
Re-Release 2/12/2016: Dream Vapors – selected works for orchestra, Navona Records, NV6025
Released 2008: Masterworks of the New Era, Volume 12 – ERMMedia ERM-6827
Recorded 2006: Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Robert Ian Winstin, Conductor
Program note: Shredding Glass began as an immediate cathartic response to the events and images of September 11, 2001. It was not until several years had passed that I was able to complete the work. To me this piece represents the essence of an emotional remembrance of how a sense of time and timelessness unfolded while coping with the realization, heartbreak and impact of this catastrophic event. I believe the music is ultimately about transcendence. – RW
Reversing Mirrors in the Quiet
Release 2/12/2016: Dream Vapors – selected works for orchestra, Navona Records, NV6025
Program note: The intangibility of perceptions – the quiet subtle shifting of perceptions between reflection, translucence, and transparency. – RW
Of Time Remembered
Re-Release 2/12/2016: Dream Vapors, Navona Records, NV6025
Recorded 11/2011: PARMA Recordings, Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, Petr Vronsky, Conductor
Tapping into the impressionistic logic of emotions and dreams, moving through an interior space where logic dissolves and language gives way to subconscious rooms and pathways where memories play like shadows cast against a screen of emotion.
Memories of Place
Program note: Memories of Place arose from emotional memories of a time traveling and living in Greece, Egypt and Turkey. It is a recollection of that time, not as a literal transcription of melodies, but rather as an emotional memory of aural textures, painted with a broad brush of modal sound. –RW
Long Division
I. Pulses of Distraction
II. Empty Corners
III. Pulling Apart
Chromatic, strong tonal centers, neo-romantic and minimalist influences, atmospheric textures and rhythmic pulses without traditional harmonic development. Traces the stages of the dissolution of a relationship. In Mvt 3, all is irrevocably set in motion.
Fast Through Dark Winds
Released 2/12/2016: Dream Vapors – selected works for orchestra, Navona Records, NV6025
Program note: Inspired by the emotional intensity of a dream – careening through dense dark night fog on a bike with no brakes, no control and no visibility, accompanied by alternating interludes of fear and transcendent calm. – RW
Disturbances
I. Running Late
II. Waking From Broken Dreams
III. Yet Still Night
Anxiety segues to a waking insight suffused with sadness and clarity, moving to the inescapable realization that night continues. Recurrent sonic punctuations of city life. Urban soundscape reverberating in the late hours of a night’s existential moment. The final nocturne opens softly with a lullaby motive that becomes insistent and inconsolable
Confluences
Released 2008: Made in the Americas, Volume 1 – ERMMedia
Recorded 2008: Millennium Symphony, Robert Ian Winstin, Conductor
In Confluences rhythmic and melodic lines are drawn, influenced and transformed – creating musical confluences whose predictable elements are offset by unexpected undercurrents and a sense of suspense.