Program Note: Composed near the end of my mother’s long descent into dementia, as witness, I sought a release of wordless expression and reflection through music. –RW (Audio is a midi realization)
Configurations
(Audio is a midi realization)
In Passages – violin & piano
(Audio is a midi realization)
This is a version of the soloist and string orchestra piece, reworked as a duet for violin and piano.
Changing By Turns
(Audio is a midi realization)
These Days
Soprano, Minkyung Lee beautifully captures the emotional essence of this song in her stunning performance on the Lux Musicae “Soloists” April 4, 2017 concert program at the Palmetto Center for the Arts.
These days – text
At Night
A reflection and questioning of life transitions and loves. At Night-text
Video features a recent InterXChange concert performance by Melanie Mitrano, with Gerson Galante on clarinet in São Paulo, Brazil. (A score of this version is available to purchase via the Score link.)
SoundCloud track is the world premiere performance by mezzo-soprano Donna Balson.
Winter’s Solitude
Program note: Clear, cold light and quiet introspection infuse two moods of existential contemplation on a winter’s day.
(Audio is a concert performance at Turtle Bay Music School, NYC.)
Why Is It?
Program note: A moment’s questioning of an emotional circumstance.
(Audio is a concert performance at Turtle Bay Music School, NYC)
Rhythm Modes
2001 Concert video features: Vita Wallace & Theresa Salomon, vlns; Liuh-Wen Ting, vla; Ariane Lallemand, vc.
2015 CD Release: ELEMENTS RISING, Navona Records features Moravian Philharmonic violinists: Vit Muzik, Jakab Látal, violins; Dominika Muzikova, viola; Marian Pavlik, cello.
Program Note: The “modes” in Rhythm Modes include clocklike ostinato, canonic imitation and repetitions out of phase with either the meter or another instrument’s version of the same line. These rhythmic “modes” play upon the surface of the music in a lively intertwining of motives and melodies.
Only to Ask
Audio is a recent concert performance by Vent Nouveau, with Katrina Owens, flute; Kristen Mather, clarinet; Briana Lehman, bassoon.
On Curious Reflection
A curious reflection on the emotional immediacy of a moment, and the more distanced self-observation in the moment. – RW
(Audio features concert performance by Nathan Shew, marimba, and Topher Ruggerio, piano, at the 2014 SCI National Conference.)
Night Stream
Released 2015: ELEMENTS RISING, PARMA Recordings, Moravian Philharmonic violinists: Antonín Hradil, and Jakab Látal
Program Note: Reflecting on the flow of life and time, imagined impressionistically as lights streaming across a rain-streaked window on a late night taxi ride through city streets. –RW
(SoundCloud features violinists, Sylvia Ahramjian and Emily Hanna Crane performing at the 2014 PARMA Music Festival)
Moving Through Shadows & Light
A passage through an emotional landscape, moving through memories – at moments dark and remote, other times lucid. – RW
(Audio is a midi realization)
Moonlit Mists
An impressionistic duet for marimba and piano. (Audio is a midi realization)
Jilted Tango – duet
This is a lovely concert video of at the Seoul Performing Arts Center. She’s such an exquisitely skilled violinist.
Jilted Tango is included on Moonkyung Lee’s Navona Records album, PARTS TO PLAY.
Program Note: The give and take in a dance of love. -RW
In Conversation
Duets for a Duo
Audio features flute version concert performance by 2Flutes: Laura Falzon & Pamela Sklar at St. Paul’s Concert series, Columbia University, NYC.
Two movements with only a brief pause between.
I. Reconsidering
In a contemplative mood… a lingering premonition that something may not be what it seems and must be reconsidered on a deeper level.
II. Amidst Confusion
An emotional struggle that cannot be easily resolved amidst prevailing confusion.
Confidentially
A brief intimacy of a shared moment in confidence. – RW
(Audio is a midi realization of the version for bassoon and cello.)
A Turn in Return
Originally composed as a submission to Hilary Hahn’s Encore Project call for scores, it is a quietly tender piece that has stayed close to my heart. – RW
(Audio is a midi realization)
A Dance of Two
(Audio is a midi realization)
This work was also premiered as a version for an ensemble of violinists taking the two parts, led by violinist, Sylvia Ahramjian at the Encontro Internacional de Cordas Festival in Brazil.