Moments: A Short Suite for Violin and Piano

Early in 2021, the Covid pandemic was raging across the world. I’d retired just a few months before and was finally able to resume serious composition. This is the first piece that came from that time and contains some of the feelings possibly shared by a great many of us.

The movements are as follows:

• You’re It - A little game of close tag. The violin and piano are never far apart, but are each playing their own bits of music. At the very end, they team up for one short jazzy line. At the time, my granddaughter—quite young — would invite me outdoors to play tag. There wasn’t that much room to play, so the matches usually dissolved into giggles.

• PriorityThread - perhaps a more familiar sort allegro, at least externally. There’s fast passage work that covers a fairly dramatic range. The instruments jump rapidly back and forth between lead and supporting roles—each taking brief priority. Perhaps they were feeling a little cooped up. I know I was.

• A Moment for Mon - We all felt loss during this period. We still do. My mother—already dealing with the encumbrances of real old age —was stricken by the Covid virus. She received excellent, skilled and loving care and appeared to be improving. Then, in just a matter of hours, she was gone. There is no way to know how her last moment felt, but perhaps it was a little like this.

I hope that I’ll be able to share a live recording of this piece some time in the next year or so. But for now, I hope this rendering gives you a sense of the piece.

You can listen to it right here.

Update on a Duet

Just a few months ago, I announced a new duet, Bagatelles for Clarinet and Viola. I had written the piece for two old friends in Park City, Russell and Leslie Harlow. Only a couple of weeks after I delivered the piece, Leslie learned she had an aggressive lung cancer. She fought as well as she could, but only survived a little way into the new year.

Leslie founded the first chamber music series in Park City and made music there for something like 40 years. Early on, she was joined by her husband Russell (who had founded Nova Chamber Music, his own series in Salt Lake City). I never saw her when she wasn’t cheerful and funny—even when she was doing so much of the work needed to keep a chamber music series going. The last few phone conversations the three of us had were full of laughs and musical insight.

In time, Russell and I will sort out what’s to become of the piece in terms of performance. In any case, it will bear a permanent dedication to both of them. In the mean time, I invite you to listen to an audio rendering of the piece.. It’s sunny and playful (and quite tricky), not unlike Russell and Leslie.

20 years on: Updating a symphony

In 2003 the New England Philharmonic, under the baton of Richard Pittman gave the premiere of my symphony Challenger. I only had a fragment of that performance here on the website, since I didn’t have clear permission to post the whole thing.

I’d long felt the piece needed a few revisions and corrections, but it took until my years of retirement that I could take that on. That’s now accomplished and you can hear the entire piece here The performance uses a virtual orchestra, but one that is a considerable step forward. Most of the corrections involve only some small changes in orchestration. A few allow the piece to spread out just a little.

There’s one additional significant change: a dedication. The piece originally bore no dedication, but it now gives thanks to Richard Pittman. Here’s what the score says:

When I began school at Berklee in 1975, I'd already been a working guitarist for several years. But I'd reached a crossroads and knew there was much more to learn--both on the guitar and about music in general. I quickly found a home-away-from-school in Jordan Hall, the principal concert space of New England Conservatory. Quite a few of those concerts were conducted by a young Richard Pittman. While the ensembles were always good to begin with, Pittman brought out that little something extra. I began to get a sense of what 500 years of musical culture really meant. It didn't take me long to know I wouldn't be going out on the road again.

As it turns out, Pittman had a much larger profile in the Boston area, most notably with Boston Musica Viva, the New England Philharmonic and the Concord Orchestra. I began to have pieces played around the area, but never had the chance to really sit down with him. Life was busy. Finally, the New England Philharmonic decided to perform Challenger. I was excited to work with someone who'd been such a part of those formative years. Dick (as he insisted on being called) was convivial, humble, and knew the piece inside-out.

The Philharmonic is comprised of a few full-time professionals and a larger proportion of well- trained musicians who'd decided to pursue other ways of making a living. They were hard-working and fearless (new music was a staple with this group). I remain deeply appreciative of the many weeks they put into this piece. It was a gutsy first performance.

I came back to the piece in 2023, although I'd been thinking about it much longer. It needed some revisions and clarifications. While it did not have a dedication in 2003, it was obvious that Dick Pittman should be recognized. He suffered a major stroke in 2020 and it's likely that he'll not lift a baton again. But his influence on generations of musicians in Boston is significant and will carry on down the years.

Please give yourselves 13 minutes to listen to the piece.