Short Pieces for Piano

Joseph Bohigian composer/performer

Joseph Bohigian is a composer, percussionist, and pianist whose music has been heard around the world in Germany, Portugal, Armenia, Brazil, and across the US. He is currently a graduate student at Stony Brook University and received his BA degree in composition from California State University Fresno. His primary teachers include Matthew Barnson, Kenneth Froelich, Benjamin Boone, and Matthew Darling. He has also studied with Artur Avanesov in Yerevan, Armenia and, in 2014, held an internship with Vox Novus in New York City where he curated a concert for the Composer’s Voice Concert Series. In addition to composing, Bohigian is an active percussionist and pianist, having performed in New York City, Yerevan, and across California.

"Short Pieces for Piano" is a set of piano solos, each centered around a single idea.

Rumi Settings (2001)

Augusta Read Thomas

Paris Lavidis-violin

Amelia Krinke-viola

The music of Augusta Read Thomas is nuanced, majestic, elegant, capricious, lyrical, and colorful — "it is boldly considered music that celebrates the sound of the instruments and reaffirms the vitality of orchestral music." (Philadelphia Inquirer) In February 2015, music critic Edward Reichel wrote, "Augusta Read Thomas has secured for herself a permanent place in the pantheon of American composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. She is without question one of the best and most important composers that this country has today. Her music has substance and depth and a sense of purpose. She has a lot to say and she knows how to say it — and say it in a way that is intelligent yet appealing and sophisticated."

My favorite moment in any piece of music is the moment of maximum risk and striving. Whether the venture is tiny or large, loud or soft, fragile or strong, passionate, erratic, ordinary or eccentric...! Maybe another way to say this is the moment of exquisite humanity and raw soul. All art that I cherish has an element of love and recklessness and desperation. I like music that is alive and jumps off the page and out of the instrument as if something big is at stake.
When I read this beautiful poem by Rumi, written 900 years ago, all of it but especially the last 3 lines
Stop the words now.
Open the window in the center of your chest
and let the spirits fly in and out.

The Particle Songs

David Wolfson

Sara Paar, voice

David Wolfson is currently working towards his PhD in composition at Rutgers University, and has taught at Rutgers University, Montclair State University and Hunter College. He is enjoying an eclectic career, having composed opera, musical theatre, touring children’s musicals, and incidental music for plays; choral music, band music, orchestral music, chamber music, art songs, and music for solo piano; comedy songs, cabaret songs and one memorable score for an amusement park big-headed-costumed-character show. Current projects include two musicals and a chamber opera. His CD Seventeen Windows, featuring the solo piano suite Seventeen Windows and the Sonata for Cello and Piano, is available from Albany Records, iTunes and Amazon.com. For more information: www.davidwolfsonmusic.net.

Soprano Sara Paar commissioned me to write a song cycle about elementary particles. I imagined them with personalities based on their physical characteristics.

A Verse for Dad

Rodrigo Baggio

Tzu-En Lee, violin

His music has been performed in many cities around the world such as São Paulo (Brazil), Paris (France), Quebec (Canada), Bremen (Germany), London (England), Bucharest (Romania), Vermont, New York and Washington DC (USA). As a performer, he has played concerts in different countries of the globe.

A special tribute to Mr. Joao G. DaSilva and to the father figure present in different aspects of our lives.

Rabequinha

Sergio Roberto de Oliveira

Tzu-En Lee, violin

Nominated for the 2011 Latin Grammy in the category of "Best Contemporary Classical Composition" and for the 2012 Latin Grammy for the CD "Prelúdio 21 -String Quartets" for which he participated as producer and composer, Sergio Roberto de Oliveira has been actively participating in the Brazilian and international music scenes over his 17 years as a composer. His work has made an impact outside Brazil, particularly in the USA and England, with lectures, interviews, concerts and musical publications. He is one of the most active and most widely performed composers in Brazilian contemporary music. His work has been widely disseminated by groups such as the Quarteto Radamés Gnattali, the Duo Santoro, Música Nova, GNU, the Quarteto Colonial, and many others. Various articles in specialized journals and sites have cited the composer, who has frequently been invited to lecture at American universities including Princeton and Duke. In 2009 he was Artist-in-Residence at Duke University. In addition the USA and the UK, Oliveira's music has also been played in Italy (Milan, Trent, Udine, Pavia), Holland (Amsterdam), German (Karslhue and Hamburg), Chile and Mexico (Mexico City). His discography includes 13 Cds as composer and 14 Cds as a producer. His catalog of compositions includes more than 100 works for various ensembles. Sergio Roberto de Oliveira is a member of the Latin Academy of the Arts and Science of Recording.

“Rabequinha” was written specially for the project “My Dad’s Violin”, which reunited several 1 minute pieces for solo violin, to be performed by the same instrument. Since the “Dad”, owner of this violin, was from the Northeast from Brazil, me, as a Brazilian, decided to homage him and the region with this piece. “Rabeca” (Diminutive: rabequinha) is a hand made fiddle, very tradicional. A regional version of a violin. A violin from the Northeast, like the owner of that particular instrument and the accent of the musical material.

Força de Pai

Syrlane Albuquerque

Tzu-En Lee, violin

Syrlane Albuquerque was born in Brazil. In 2003 she moved to US to pursue her degree in Theory of Composition. She went to Dallas Baptist University (undergraduate) and Southern Methodist University (masters), studying with Michael Cox, Simon Sargon and Xi Wang. Her style is a blend of classical and Brazilian music.

Capriccio on a Theme by Tom Jobim

Serban Nichifor

Tzu-En Lee, violin

Serban NICHIFOR (b. 1954, Bucharest-Romania), American Composer, Prizes and Awards: Amsterdam, Tours, Evian, Athens, Urbana-Illinois, Birmingham-Alabama, Toledo, Koln, Karlsruhe, Roma, Trento, Newtown-Wales, Bydgoszcz, Jihlava, Zagreb, a.s.o., Officer of the Order of the Crown, conferred by His Majesty Albert the Second, King of Belgium. Over 200 compositions: Symphonic, Vocal-Symphonic, Concertant, Chamber, Vocal, Choral and Computer Music.

“Capriccio on a theme of Tom Jobim” is composed In Memoriam JOAO G. DaSILVA and is based on the marvellous melodic cell of “Aguas de Marco” by the Brazilian Composer Tom Jobim.

Sound of Life i: Alegria ii: Serenata iii: Saudade iv: Acalanto

Masatora Goya

Melanie Chirignan, flute

Alturas Duo

Scott Hill, guitar

Carlos Boltes, viola

Masatora Goya is a composer extensively writing a new kind of chamber music for everyone. Trained as a vocal performer first, he explores the musical landscape of drama, space, and emotion. Described as a “composer of cultural crossroads” by American Composers Forum, his unique eclecticism has attracted many musicians performing in nontraditional chamber ensembles. His new album "Dream of Sailing" is released from Ravello Records. www.masatoragoya.com

Intermission

Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Re-Imagining Schubert with Stephen Porter

Stephen Porter, piano

In 2015 Stephen Porter's acclaimed New York recital at SubCulture was praised as “a powerful revelation” by New York Arts, “as if the voice of the composer were speaking to us.” He has appeared as a soloist in London, Paris, Lake Como, Sarajevo, Istanbul and Rio de Janeiro, among other cities. Mr. Porter was named artist-resident of the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris for Debussy’s 150th birthday year, and invited to perform the composer’s 24 Preludes. His recitals in Europe were followed by a guest appearance on NPR's Diane Rehm Show. The Boston Musical Intelligencer describes his performance this season as "simply spellbinding," and in the new biography Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph, author Jan Swafford calls his playing “unforgettable.”

Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame is 15 one-minute works by different composers written for a specific performer or ensemble. The theme of this Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame is “Re-Imagining Schubert.” The works interact in some way with the music or compositional spirit of Franz Schubert. It can be a quotation or pastiche; the connection can be as direct or indirect as the composer imagines.

Leise flehen die Lieder (The songs beckon softly)

Paul Cowell

Paul Cowell played percussion for many years, but after becoming more interested in Baroque music, switched to continuo playing. He is a composer and arranger; his pieces have been played on the BBC and ABC, and performed across the UK, USA and Australia. He lives and works in London.

Although it may not sound like it, Leise flehen die Lieder (The songs beckon softly) is derived from Schubert's songs. An accompanying figure from one characteristic motifs from several places, harmonies from others. These are worked up into a repeating form like those Schubert used.

Thoughts on the Rosebud of the Heath

Konrad Harley

Konrad Harley lives in Toronto. He holds an ARCT in Piano from the Royal Conservatory of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree in Organ Performance from the University of Toronto. In 2014, he completed a PhD dissertation in music theory entitled “Harmonic Function in the Music of Sergei Prokofiev.”

Thoughts on the Rosebud of the Heath: This short scherzo recalls the tune of one of Schubert's loveliest little songs--"Heidenroslein" (D.257).

Schubertango

Juan María Solare

Juan María Solare, born in Argentina, works in Germany as composer, pianist (contemporary & tango) and teaching at the University of Bremen and at the Hochschule fuer Kuenste Bremen. His music has been performed in five continents. Fifteen CDs of different performers include at least one piece of him.

Schubertango: Tango music has more to do with Franz Schubert than with any other classical composer. Harmonies and types of melody are extremely similar. Such similarities cease, at the latest, when we come to rhythm. This miniature shows how Schubert's melodies can be flawlessly integrated into the musical language of tango. If one doesn't know the original pieces, you will not even recognize at all that there is a quotation

An Augmented Reduction of Impromptu No. 2

Alex Conde

Alex Conde, San Francisco jazz-flamenco-classical pianist and composer, graduated Spanish conservatories and Boston’s Berklee College of Music, was recently Piano Chair, Oakland School for the Arts, collaborates with jazz and flamenco luminaries, performing in the U.S. and internationally. His Descarga for Monk will be released through ZOHO Music February 2015.

An Augmented Reduction of Impromptu No. 2: The romanticism of Schubert’s Impromptus captivated me when I was a boy of 12 studying piano in Spain, and the melodies have stayed with me my whole life. Here I have re-imagined them as my own Impromptu, letting the harmonies flow with the original characteristic melody of Impromptu No. 2.

ff (Frozen Franz)

João Pedro Oliveira

João Pedro Oliveira completed a PhD in Music at Stony Brook University. He has received numerous prizes and awards, including three Prizes at Bourges Electroacoustic Music Competition, the prestigious Magisterium Prize, the Giga-Hertz Special Award, 1st Prize in Metamorphoses competition, etc..

ff (Frozen Franz) is part of a collection of pieces based on classical and romantic composers music: transformed and suspended in time, as if the music became frozen. Frozen Franz is based on the lied Der Leiermann.

One-Minute Waltz

Gyuli Kambarova

Russian composer and pianist Gyuli Kambarova has Developed a unique voice in her compositions; her works incorporate an incredible mixture of Eastern sounds and classical techniques. Gyuli is a graduate of the prestigious Rostov State Rachmaninov Conservatory, and received two Masters of Music with honors.

One-Minute Waltz: Light gentle waltz brings you to the romantic atmosphere of the XIX Century ballrooms. Pastoral middle part of this piece comes to the dramatic climax and resolves in the main theme that is reach on polyphony imitations. The end of the waltz scatters in the "sky".

Reducción al absurdo

Rafael Gutiérrez Gandía

Composer Rafael Gutiérrez Gandía (Seville-Spain). In 2013 he was finalist in the international Oberon Quartet Composition Contest in Richmond (USA) for his string quartet Autumn Dream.

In 2014 his piece Spiral Void (for clarinet double bass) is selected for The Vienna University. My piece Reducción al absurdo is inspired by the chromaticism and large tessitura of Schubert but led the XXI century.My work has free form . Piano pedal never lifted to create a feeling of constant harmonic notes to collide against other.

Artemis Limnaia

Justin Blackburn

Justin Blackburn’s chili recipe has won top honors in every major contest worldwide. Bootlegged recordings of him reading the collected works of Emanuel Morgan and Anne Knish swept the 2002 Grammys. Justin Blackburn is the man every man would love to be.

Corinna's Tale, Terpsichore Dances, Corinna and Her Lute Pierrot (from Danish Delights)

Faye-Ellen Silverman

Kazuki Ueki and Jihee Jeong

Faye-Ellen Silverman’s compositions are published by Seesaw Music Corp., a division of Subito Music, and recorded on Albany, private labels (sold on CD Baby), New World Records, Capstone, Crystal and Finnadar. She has received awards from UNESCO, the National League of American Pen Women and ASCAP, and been awarded residencies at the Villa Serbelloni, VCCA, the Macdowell Colony, and Yaddo. She has received commissions from Nicole Abissi, the IWBC for the group SymbiosisDuo, the Phoenix Concert series, Edinboro University Chamber Players, Seraphim, Philip A. De Simone, Larry Madison, Thomas Matta, the IWBC for Junction, the Monarch Brass Quintet, the Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse, the Fromm Foundation, NEA, Great Lakes Performing Artist Associates, Con Spirito, the Greater Lansing Symphony, and the Chamber Music Society of Baltimore. She is currently an Associate Part Time Professor at both Mannes College the New School for Music and the New School for Public Engagement.. For further information, please visit her Web site: www.fayeellensilverman.com.

Danish Delights (2009) was written for the CD Transatlantic Tales. Having visited with guitarist Volkmar Zimmermann-my partner in putting together the recording- during the summer of 2008, I felt that Sara Teasdale’s poem “Pierrot in his Garden” seemed to characterize Volkmar and his involvement with the guitar perfectly. I then looked for texts that would compliment the Teasdale. This led me to the Campion poem and, hence, to the idea of Corinna as a representation of a female singer. In this song cycle, Corinna and Pierrot each have both a representative tempo and a characteristic motive. After setting the Teasdale, I added an interlude with Pierrot playing on the guitar and Corinna uttering just one word — his name — related musically to the first song. This is followed by Corinna’s Tale, based on a surviving fragment by Corinna, an ancient Greek poet whose sung poetry enthralled her audiences. The guitar shadows the voice for the parts of the song that represent Corinna’s singing, while the singer is alone as Corinna tells her tale. As Corinna refers to Terpsichore as her Muse, the movement that follows is for guitar solo in the manner of a Renaissance dance. This sets the mood for “Corinna and her Lute,” the ending of the cycle. The text is by the Renaissance poet and composer Thomas Campion. It begins with the tuning of the guitar, aided by the voice. The open sound of the lute, referred to in the text, is created by much use of open strings in the guitar part. This last song also brings in references to Corinna’s song, Pierrot’s song, and Terpsichore’s dance