Piano and Organ solos / Music with Keyboards   -   back

(not included here - choral music with piano or organ accompaniment)


After the Moon-Walk (2002) (mp3) (rm) 4:00
soprano and piano
A setting of a beautiful poem by Hilda Morley, from her collection The Turning.  Originally written to be an encore, but the piece would work also well in the middle of a recital.  Suitable for highschool-age and up.
—Available on the CD A Mental Picnic


Bellerophon (1996-1998) (mp3) (rm) 6:30
pipe organ
An early piece, introspective and melodic.  Suitable for young organists.


The Big Bang (2002) (mp3) (rm) 3:00 - 5:00
piano and (violin, viola, or cello)
My sonic conception of the birth of the universe (how big a statement can one piece make?)  The score is mostly graphic, drawn in colored pencil, with some simple guidelines on how to realize it.
—Available on the CD The Doomsday Project


Come Picnic on Mars (2002) (mp3) (rm) 3:00
baritone voice and piano
A setting of a delightful poem by Diane Ackerman, from her collection Jaguar of Sweet Laughter, this highly cheerful song tells of a fanciful space journey.  The vocal part is fairly easy to learn, the piano part fairly challenging.  BTW, this poem contains the line "We will pack a mental picnic..."
—Available on the CD A Mental Picnic


Di/Convergence (1996-1997) (mp3) (rm) 6:30
piano
The tangled and shifting relationship between two musical themes determines the ever-changing course of this piece.
—Available on the CD New Music from Chappell's Kitchen


Kung Pao (2003) (mp3) (rm)8:00
euphonium (or trombone), pipe organ
Spicy-hot!  An assortment of funky grooves not often heard coming from these instruments.
—Available on the CD New Music from Chappell's Kitchen


Midsummer (1998) (mp3) (rm)10:00
soprano and piano
Text by Derek Walcott, poem XXVI from Midsummer.  This is a lush, romantic setting with a very colorful and challenging piano part.
—Available on the CD New Music from Chappell's Kitchen


out there (1999-2001)22:00
violin and piano
I: Welcome. (mp3) (rm) — II: Lingering (mp3) (rm)
III: Planet Funkotron (mp3) (rm) — IV: The Plunge. (mp3) (rm)
Single movement(s)
An extreme challenge for violinist and pianist alike, this intense piece has many of the characteristics of a Beethovenian sonata - a stormy opening, a dreamy slow movement, a playful scherzo, and a driving finale - but the musical ideas reach in new and surprising directions.
—Available on the CD A Celebration of Sylvia Plath


Silence always wins (2007) 8:00
acoustic guitar, electric guitar, percussion, vibraphone, harpsichord, piano
Three duos of "ancient" and "modern" instruments create a unique sound-world, both beautiful and grotesque.  The musical material is based on several concepts: musical development through interruptions and juxtapositions — unfamiliar ways of playing instruments — the role of one instrument being taken over by another — the sound of notes fading into silence...This piece, written for a contest, is awaiting its première.