Works

Tal Para Qual was written for the Duo Westklang, Daniel Ahlert (mandolin) and Nicola Yasmin Stock (guitar) and premiered in Rödental, Germany in 2022. “Tal Para Qual” (“Two of a Kind” or “They Were Made For Each Other”) is one of Francisco Goya’s wonderful prints from his collection “Los Caprichos” (The Caprices) created in 1797-98. The 80 prints reflected his criticism of the Spanish society in which he lived. Tal Para Qual addresses the love relationships between men and women and can be interpreted in a variety of ways. In my Tal Para Qual I have tried to portray two different characters: a rather abstract and cerebral mandolin, and a more traditional and lyrical guitar. In the final sections, however, they begin overlapping and then exchanging musical material, bringing into question just how different their personalities really are.

My Divertimento for flute and viola was written for flutist Katherine Kemler (Professor of Music at Louisiana State University) and violist Matthew Daline (former Professor of Music at Bowling Green State University). This arrangement for violin and viola was made at the request of Professor Daline.

Simple Serenades was composed in 2013 for Gabriel Beavers, Professor of Bassoon at the University of Miami. The title reflects the fact that each movement emphasizes the lyrical qualities of the bassoon.

I have long believed that a musical composition is a personal communication between the composer and each individual listener. The composer is saying something specific to the listener that might be interpreted as exciting, dull, engrossing, tedious, moving, or simply anodyne — much like the conversations we have with each other every day. Although the title of each “story” (“Barcelona”, “Berceuse”, “Caracas”) alludes to a different culture, no attempt has been made to evoke local music. Each story has something to say — exactly what that is isn’t important. How each listener responds to the tales is all that matters.

The Devil’s Dictionary was commissioned by and is dedicated to Dr. Mark Ostoich, Professor of Oboe at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Each of the work’s three movements was inspired by a word definition found in Ambrose Bierce’s sardonic lexicon “The Devil’s Dictionary”. The first movement, “Dawn”, evokes the strange sounds heard as the sun rises. “Fiddle” was inspired by the fiddling of the great Louisiana Creole fiddler Canray Fontenot. The final short movement, “Circus”, is my little homage to the greatest work ever written for dancing elephants: Igor Stravinsky’s “Circus Polka”.

The first movement, “Canray’s Dream”, is my little homage to the great Louisiana Creole fiddler, Canray Fontenot. The second movement, “Molto Tranquillo”, is a slow, lyrical movement that uses flute and viola harmonics in the outer sections. The finale, “Cajun Riviera”, make use of some Cajun fiddling techniques along with clashing polyrhythms between the two instruments.

Cherubs is a single-movement scherzo which pits a decidedly uncherubic saxophone against the three string instruments. Some extended techniques are used in the sax part. Cherubs was commissioned by an anonymous donor who wished to commemorate Clarence Laughton’s book of photographs entitled “Ghosts Along the Mississippi”.

Canray was commissioned by the Louisiana Sinfonietta and makes use of common fiddling techniques found in the music of south Louisiana Cajuns. The work uses these fiddling techniques as the basis for a new composition which only briefly alludes to one Cajun/Creole melody.