Composed in the summer of 1987 at the request of the Elgart/Yates Guitar Duo (to whom the work is dedicated), arcus vitae is a representative example of the composer's ongoing interest in strictly controlled, systematically applied processes as analogies of natural phenomena.

As the title suggests, the work is essentially an arch-like structure, and is characterized by a gradual process of growth and decay that is evidenced in all parameters: rhythmic material is the result of an incremental accumulation and subsequent reduction of temporal values (each of the two parts proceeding in palindrome from a basic rhythmic nucleus); pitch material expands from a single point to a completely saturated chromatic field, then gradually dissipates; variations of dynamics and register are the result of articulative/timbral modifications, which are applied to the raw materials in such a way as to effect a gradual increase then subsequent decrease in density and complexity, eventually returning to the simplicity of the opening. Canonic elements, inherent to the structure and present throughout, become more apparent from the midpoint onward, where the temporal displacements are often so minute as to create an echo-like stretto between the parts.

As an analogy to the life process, the return to the original state in arcus vitae is not a literal one; rather, it is degenerative in nature, as in the eventual deterioration of an organism over time. Such a retrogression is effected by rhythmic and intonational distortions that occur within the latter portion of the work, thus epitomizing mortality itself.

In the spring of 2010, I was contacted by poet and Cornell University English Professor, Alice Fulton — whose poems I had set to computer music several years earlier — about undertaking a similar project with the second-year MFA poetry students in Cornell’s Creative Writing Program. A dozen poems were submitted for consideration, from which four — each by a different poet — were selected for this collection. The poems were chosen for their contrasting content and style, allowing for a variety of approaches in the computer music setting as well.

Specific references in the text provided the impetus for many of the processed sounds (e.g., cars and dogs in the Pityk poem, birds and rain in the Garcia poem); in some cases, the text reading itself provided the source material (this occurs to some degree in each setting, though the computer music in the Atsitty poem is based entirely on a reading of the text by the poet). For the most part, the computer music is cued off of the text, though the Rogers poem also includes a continuous track of gongs and ambient street sounds throughout.

Cornell Set was commissioned by the Creative Writing Program and the Department of English at Cornell University. The work was first performed by poets Tacey M. Atsitty, Clayton Pityk, Benjamin Garcia, and Elizabeth Rogers on 15 April 2011 at Cornell University.

DEdi/seC(r)ATIONS was composed between February and April of 1986 for tenor John Reager, to whom the work is dedicated. The work was first performed by Reager, with the composer playing percussion, at California State University, Pomona, on 17 April 1986.

The work consists of five arias for voice (male or female) and percussion, each separated by a brief interlude for percussion alone. The primary percussion instruments (which are used during the arias) are grouped into two stations, arranged at the far right and left sides of the stage. Connecting these stations are two parallel rows of percussion instruments forming a narrow corridor through which the percussionist passes during the interludes.

Regarding the music itself, each aria and interlude is the result of a different compositional approach: should we not go in? for voice and timpani follows a strict system in its organization, and is notated conventionally; (...at the 1369) for voice and vibraphone is notated proportionally, allowing for some degree of flexibility between the parts; The Cage for voice and marimba consists of an aleatoric chart, by which four dice determine the structure of the aria; re: Vinko for voice, prepared timpani, and miscellaneous percussion instruments is in a somewhat free mobile format, each of the performers following his/her own set of directions provided within a series of boxes; Mr. P's Epitaph for voice and ocarina is a purely graphic score intended as an improvisatory guide. The four interludes similarly display such a diversity of approaches.

The use of text is extremely varied, ranging from straightforward presentation (e.g., (...at the 1369), should we not go in?) to more flexible situations through either chance procedures (e.g., The Cage) or performer choice (e.g., Mr. P's Epitaph, re: Vinko).

Der Demutsahne ("Humility-forebear") is the tenth in a series of short works for solo instrument based upon characters from Der Ohrenzeuge: Fünfzig Charaktere ("Earwitness: Fifty Characters"), written in 1974 by the Bulgarian-born British-Austrian novelist Elias Canetti (1905-1994). Canetti’s distinctive studies incorporate poetic imagery, singular insights, and unabashed wordplay to create fifty ironic paradigms of human behavior. This collection of works, begun in 1997, was inspired by the vividly surreal depictions of Canetti’s characters and include works for contrabass, violin, bass flute, ocarina, contrabassoon, glass harmonica, alto saxophone, trumpet, percussion, guitar, and bass saxophone.

Der Demutsahne was composed in September 2008 for guitarist Matthew Elgart.

Dog is based upon the poem of the same name by American poet W.S. Merwin (b. 1927), from the collection titled Green With Beasts (1956). Merwin’s poem is a nihilistic study in despair and desolation, a contemplation of the dog who “guards all that is gone.” The present work explores the psychological implications of the poem through a variety of musical and visual elements — including 8-channel computer music, live processing of the voice and bassoon, video projections, and lighting.

The vocalist elaborates upon the salient aspects of the poem, while the bassoonist acts as alter ego: together, these elements represent the physical presence of the dog, alternately aware of the oppressive present and reflective of a vital past. The computer music consists of three musical layers: a sonic “windscape” (utilizing processed sounds from the female voice and bassoon), suggesting “the shimmering vista of emptiness” described by Merwin; the spoken voice, presenting the poem in its entirety; and the processed dog sounds (crossed with bassoon and voice samples), representing a struggle of the psyche, as the creature comes to terms with its fate. The work is presented in six episodes, throughout which the voice and bassoon exchange roles: as the former becomes increasingly prominent, the latter assumes a more accompanimental status.

Dog was supported in part by a faculty research grant from the University of North Texas, and is dedicated to Heidi Dietrich Klein and Kristin Wolfe Jensen. The computer music was realized at the UNT Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia, with the invaluable assistance of Michael Thompson, and the video component was rendered and edited by Jon L. Henry, under the supervision of the composer. The work was first performed by soprano Heidi Dietrich Klein and bassoonist Kristen Wolfe Jensen on 1 October 1997 at the University of North Texas.

When director Jan Harrington approached me with the prospect of composing a work for the Indiana University Contemporary Vocal Ensemble in collaboration with choreographer Emily Stuart, I was both enthusiastic about the dramatic possibilities and a bit tentative regarding the collaborative process itself. During my initial meetings with Emily, it was apparent that we had quite dissimilar aesthetic concerns, and therefore, somewhat different conceptual approaches to this particular work. As the composer, my primary goal was to create a music that would be an equal partner to the visual drama, neither dominating nor playing a subservient role to it. In particular, I wanted to integrate and manipulate the sound materials in a compelling, musically satisfying way, and to avoid creating a mere textural backdrop to the stage action. As for the form of the work, we had a pretty clear idea early on of how it would be structured, though the details were slowly formulated over a period of several months by a continuous process of reworking and elaborating upon each other's materials. Thus, each stage of the work's development was the result of a kind of artistic cross-pollination, whereby a particular action would determine an appropriate musical response, and vice versa. This interactive process gave each of us a fresh perspective toward the creation of dreaming the dark down slowly, and in the final analysis, those creative differences which I had initially regarded with some apprehension actually proved to be the essential catalyst for a work I consider to be a truly collaborative effort.

false relationships was composed between August of 1989 and February of 1990 at the request of clarinetist Richard Hornsby. The work is in five continuous movements, each utilizing different combinations of the eight instruments. Clarinets are prominent in prologue: sects,discourse, an introductory movement in which the basic materials of the entire work are presented. In alter ego, the ensemble is divided into two equal quartets which engage in a polemic exchange, the musical material of which is based loosely upon the second movement of Antonín Dvorák’s Serenade for Winds, Opus 44. The third movement, circuit, is a round for six players modeled after the third movement of Mozart’s Serenade No. 12 in C-minor, K.388. Based upon Edgard Varèse’s Octandre, schism (concertino) features the two oboists against a ripieno consisting of the remainder of the ensemble. This apparent rift is ultimately rectified in the final movement, epilogue: acquiescence/diaspora, which is characterized by a convergence and eventual dispersion of the entire ensemble.

Goblin Market was composed in 1993 for trombonist William Bootz on a National Endowment for the Arts Composer Fellowship, and is based upon the poem of the same name by Pre-Raphaelite poet Christina Rossetti (1830-1894). The work itself is not intended as a programmatic representation of the poem, but is rather a structural and psychological study of the actions and characters portrayed therein; thus the material has been reworked to the extent that it exists in this form as a parallel or alternate realization of the original impetus, almost as a shadow or spectre. To this end, the work is divided into five movements, according to the dramatic unfolding of the poem. Each of these movements is itself parsed into smaller sections, the number and duration of these sections corresponding to each paragraph of text; thus, the pacing of the musical work is based directly upon that of the poem itself.

The Rossetti poem concerns two sisters, Laura and Lizzie. Each day as they stroll through the woods to the market, they hear the cries of the goblin men, enticing them to come buy their fruits (come buy, come buy). Though the girls are aware of the dangers of listening to the goblin men, Laura one day gives into the temptation. As she peeks over a knoll, the grotesque little men rush her, offering luscious fruits from their strange, enticing garden. After buying their fruits with a lock of hair and a tear, Laura is treated to tastes and pleasures beyond her imagination. Eager to repeat the encounter the following day, Laura is devastated to find that now only her sister hears the cries of the goblin men (open heart/absent dream). Pining for lost pleasures, Laura begins to waste away (Laura dwindling). In an effort to save her sister, Lizzie confronts the goblin men, but stubbornly refuses to eat their fruits (resistance). Eventually the goblin men give up, leaving Lizzie in disgust (bitterness without a name). The shared experience brings the two sisters together and heals Laura of her wasting anguish.

In the present work, the two main characters of the poem are represented by two complementary pitch cells, one consisting of five pitch classes, the other of seven. These cells are utilized according to the action within the poem; thus their separation/integration is directly linked to the poem's narrative structure. The 5:7:12 scheme is also applied proportionally throughout the work, evidenced primarily in the temporal relationships between the various elements within the environment and solo parts.

The musical-dramatic content of each section of the work is the result of a psychological extrapolation of the drama within the poem, which has then been superimposed upon or recast within more traditional formal models. However, in several cases these boundaries have been obscured as a result of the various interrelationships: for example, the theme of the second movement variations is actually a paraphrase of the second section of the first movement, as well as a miniature set of variations in itself; the variations of the second movement continue in the fifth movement, after being interrupted by movements III and IV; the third movement is a passacaglia (i.e., continuous variations) based exclusively upon the seven-note pitch cell, and is thus an extension of (or obsession upon) variation 4 of the second movement. In a broad sense then, the entire work may be viewed as a set of variations on the two pitch cells (thus making the second and fifth movements "variations within/upon variations").

From a dramatic standpoint, the work depicts the course of a protagonist (trombonist) through a reflection of the plot (pianist/environment) as generated by the composer's response to the content of Rossetti's poem.

IcarUS At thE caBARet VoLtairE: parT I (tHe RENdeZVOus) was composed in August and September of 1985 for the Los Angeles-based guitar duo of Matthew Elgart and Peter Yates. The work was first performed on 18 December 1985 by the Elgart/Yates Duo at the University of Leuven, Belgium, and has since been performed over two dozen times throughout the United States and Europe. IcarUS At thE caBARet VoLtairE is the recipient of a 1987 ASCAP Grants to Young Composers Award and an honorable mention in the 1988 Gaudeamus Prize Competition.

To present an in-depth analysis of a work such as IcarUS At thE caBARet VoLtairE prior to its performance would be an injustice both to the work itself and to the audience. However, let it suffice to say that the work is intended as a musical embodiment of the DADA spirit (as suggested by its title) in both construction and presentation. Much of the work is based on a process of growth/metamorphosis/decay, though the myriad of surface details often obscure this fundamental structural tenet. Textual materials are taken from four different languages (German, French, Italian, and English) and juxtaposed arbitrarily, their placement defined by Morse Code and organized according to pre-compositional decisions determined by a deck of playing cards. The often marionette-like actions of the guitarists themselves emphasize their reflexive/reactive attitude toward the various aural stimuli, which in turn either generate additional musical materials, or are integrated into the overall texture.

Composed in 1982, Images for jazz combo is an improvisational work which allows performers freedom from the rhythmic, harmonic, and stylistic constraints of more traditional jazz idioms. The score is comprised of nine boxes, each of which contains a distinct image for improvisational impetus. Three of the boxes are played by the entire ensemble; each of the remaining boxes is interpreted by a different combination of instruments within the group (solo with drums; solo with bass; solo with bass and drums; bass and drums; drums solo; horns only). Players may follow any number of possible pathways through the nine boxes, as indicated in the score; the order of the various instrumental groupings and the duration of each event (and of the overall work) are determined by the ensemble.