The seventh string quartet is for four violas. Here’s the beginning of the second movement, based on a theme I heard in a dream. In the dream, I was singing it with these words: “Oh, dear, you’ll never understand; you’ll keep on for that undiscovered land.” I suppose that is what I do.  If this […]

[Read more →]

In 1976, I joined Michele Larsson for a performance by her nascent company Flywheel.  I had forgotten about it until I turned up this program.

[Read more →]

One of my infrequent forays into serialism.  For another, look here.

[Read more →]

A melancholy round, based on a traditional quatrain.

[Read more →]

“Cinderella’s Glass Eye” is a bit of fairy tale music, scored for tuba and piano.  There is a story to go with it; here it is.  (Some readers have complained that the images are too small; let me remind them, gently, that you can enlarge a thumbnail by clicking on it.) And here’s the brooding […]

[Read more →]

David Gold and I performed in “The Speakeasy Series,” produced by Studio B in Maplewood, NJ, March 24, 2012. Our set: Make a Wish Never Shtup a Nutjob Fa La La La La The Gypsy (by Billy Reid) Don’t Talk To Me Good Night

[Read more →]

I wrote the score for Katie Nelson’s dance “Blunders” back in 1980.  Frankie Mann recorded it; I played all the instruments, including piano, toy piano, ‘cello, organ, and percussion.  Here’s the first page.

[Read more →]

Michele Larsson put together The Big Show in 1978, in connection with an exhibit devoted to Loie Fuller at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, in San Francisco.  I provided music, which was mostly improvised, as I recall; Tony Gnazzo talked and rode an exercise bike; Helen Dannenberg and Michele danced.

[Read more →]

“Lasciate l’Ombre” is a setting of an excerpt from Luigi Tansillo, as quoted by Giordano Bruno in La Cena de le ceneri. A bit of research reveals that Bruno’s citation differs from Tansillo’s original poem.  Duly noted.  My setting is based on the randomized four-pitch diatonic chords that I’ve used in several pieces. My translation […]

[Read more →]

Back in 1988, I used to perform this version of Hamlet’s soliloquy, in which each word is followed by a cartoonish sound effect.  It was, I recall, fun to perform, difficult to memorize, and took a long time to set up.  Here’s how it begins.

[Read more →]