heshe music info for pieces

BEGIN is a work for classical guitar ensemble. It is dedicated to the memory of Jorge Liderman, a renowned composer and beloved colleague who also played the classical guitar. The work gets its name from the way the sections of the piece interact with one another. Although the harmonic material remains almost the same, the development of it changes in such a way that each succeeding portion sounds like a new ‘beginning’. This is an homage to Jorge’s music, which always surprised one with the endings never sounding like predictable endings. Jorge also enjoyed music with a relentlessness and harmonic intensity, joking that my music was sometimes too ‘beautiful’. As an acknowledgement to his sentiments I try to give the material some ruggedness and get rid of the polished shine, so to speak. It is all exposed for the listener to explore and figure out. Thanks goes to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for the funding of this work. Finally, a special thanks goes to David Tanenbaum for giving me inspiration to write this piece. Without him, this piece would not have come to fruition.

-BLR

BETWEEN YOU AND ME: Lies. Secrets. How people deal with lying is the focus of this work for sampler and live electronics. In 1997, I interviewed five women, of different ages and backgrounds. Of each of them I asked the following questions: ‘What is your definition of a lie?’ ‘When, if ever, is it okay to lie?’ ‘Tell me about an experience in which you either lied or were lied to.’, and ‘Do men and women lie differently?’ The tapes from these interviews became the basis for this simple, yet disturbing work. Between you and me ...was commissioned in 1997 for Twisted Tutu as part of the Common Sense Composers’ Collective Fourth Annual Collaboration Project.

-BLR

Bridges was commissioned by the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and funded by the San Francisco Arts Commission Individual Grants Fund. I titled the work to reflect both how the piece is constructed and under the circumstances it was conceived. First, BRIDGES refers to how the opening melody is interspersed throughout the different instruments, each passing it to one another. This process continues throughout the work as I devise canons of all sorts to restate the material. The result is a feeling of the music bridging in upon itself both harmonically and melodically. The other use of BRIDGES refers to the three bridges of the Bay Area and how the talented musicians of the SFCO cross these countless times during their day as they go from one rehearsal/performance to another. Their dedication, stamina, and high artistry are an inspiration to us all in the music community.

-BLR

CIRCA was commissioned in 1996 for American Baroque as part of the Common Sense Composers’ Collective Third Annual Collaboration Project. I chose CIRCA as its title for a number of reasons. First, the term, circa, literally means ‘around’. In Early Music circles, this term is often used because the exact dates of many compositions are not known. In my piece, I use this title to refer to the way the opening weaves its harmonic and motivic structure around the entire body of the work. It acts as a nebulous ‘musical cloud’, from which the subsequent sections derive both their harmonic and melodic structures. The title also alludes to how the opening affects the overall structure of the piece, by returning in an altered form to complete the work. Special thanks goes to American Baroque for their invaluable input in creating this piece.

-BLR

coming around... was commissioned in 1995 for the San Francisco based group, Alternate Currents as part of the Common Sense Composers’ Collective Second Annual Collaboration. The title refers to the fact that while the opening material of the piece transforms itself throughout the music, it nevertheless returns in a similar form to conclude the piece.

-BLR

CONVERGENCE, is a three-movement Guitar Concerto commissioned by Sergio Puccini and the IPPM of Rosario, Argentina (Independent Organization of the Artistic Direction of the Cultural Subsidiary of the Santa Fe Province Education Department). I titled the CONVERGENCE because of the unique way the piece the piece came to being.

On a musical level, the title refer to the way the opening chords intersect and weave into melodic and rhythmic material, switching between the solo guitar and the orchestra in different ways within each movement. In the first movement, the chords are first stated in the orchestra, against which the solo guitar begins a melodic/rhythmic odyssey. The guitar’s material is eventually transformed into a strong chordal statement at the end of the third movement, against the orchestra’s ‘reorganized’ statement of the guitar’s opening melody

The title, CONVERGENCE, also reflects the nature of my creative process as a composer. Over the past ten years, I have developed a way of writing that invites the performers into the composing process of my music. I feel there is some ineffable sense that is imbued to a work in which the performers helped create. CONVERGENCE was conceived and written within this spirit. Not only did I work intimately with its commissioner, Mr. Puccini, but also I was fortunate enough to have the help and advice of other fine guitarists, such as David Nadal, Christopher Hanford, Josh McGuire and David Tanenbaum. I feel that all of our minds and energies converged into helping this guitar concerto come into being.

-BLR

COVER was written in the Fall and Winter of 1996 as part of a commission by Continuum Contemporary Music. The work gets its title from the way the opening material interacts with the other two musical statements throughout the piece: it enshrouds, overlays, even masks its presence with the other two main musical statements. Nevertheless, its inherent rhythms and harmonies make up the basic structure of the entire work. Special thanks goes to Isobel Rolston and the Banff Centre for the Arts for their support of this project. Other thanks also goes to Jennifer Waring, Paul Widner, and Rosemary Thomson of Continuum for their input during the composing of this work.

-BLR

CROSSINGS was commissioned by the Boulder Youth Symphony Society and the Marin Symphony Youth Orchestra. The work gets its title from a number of sources. First, the music is based on a series of motives that is introduced in the opening section. As the piece continues, these musical ideas cross over one another in different ways, thus transforming themselves and their relationship to each other throughout the piece. The result is that the listener is always hearing a familiar musical idea from the beginning, but with a new twist each time it is stated. Rather than call it a variation, I prefer to think of it as like looking through a kaleidoscope. The perspective is always changing, but the object remains the same.

Second, CROSSINGS refers to how the bow continually crosses over the strings when playing a stringed instrument.

Finally, CROSSINGS represents how both orchestras faced many challenges and crossed over them to make this work come to life. Commissioning new music is very difficult for any organization. But, thanks to the players and their visionary conductors, these orchestras helped create a new piece that they can truly call their own. It has been a pleasure to write this work, and I hope many musicians come to play and enjoy it.

Special thanks goes to conductors George Thomson and Paige Vickory, who inspired me to write for their orchestras. Their commitment to new music and young musicians is an inspiring example to all of us.

-BLR

DUST was commissioned by the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble as part of their Winter "Coffee House" Concert to benefit the victims of the events of September 11, 2001. While no words can ever sufficiently encompass all the emotions and thoughts we all have surrounding this day, this short duo tries simply to create a musical offering for all of those lives affected by this moment. A special thanks goes to Steven Klimowski and Bonnie Thurber Klimowski for their input in the composition of this work. Other thanks go to The MacDowell Colony for their support of this project.

-BLR

ENVISION was commissioned by the Galax Baroque String quartet as part of their finale concert for the 2007-08 “Music that Cooks” concert season, which raises funds for the First Congressional Presbyterian Church’s food program for the homeless community in Oakland, CA. The title comes from how I ‘envisioned’ using a musical structure borrowed from Baroque Music, that of the Chaconne. The Chaconne is usually a bass line or harmonic progression that repeats again and again throughout a piece. Since I had been analyzing some of Bach’s Chaconne with my students, I took the opportunity to do my contemporary ‘envision’ of what one can do with a chaconne. From the start, one will hear in ENVISION the strings playing the chord progression I use. However, as the piece progresses, it takes a few ‘side-turns’ as the music explores only segments of the chord progression, or only one of the chords. This is all done through the prism of the opening melodic structure, which, like the harmony, recurs again and again, but in altered forms not traditionally associated with Baroque music.

ENVISION also refers to the license I give the players in choosing much of the articulations of the piece. As Early Music players are so expert in interpretation and realization of scores that often have minimal or no dynamics or articulations I let Galax ‘envision’ how they felt the piece could be played through their musical decisions in the shaping of the phrasing and texture. For me, this is one of the most satisfying aspects of writing for such instruments and such players. I wish to especially thank Roy Whelden, composer and gambist and founder of the Galax, for his ‘envisioning’ of my ability to write for his ensemble. Special thanks also goes to Galax musicians David Wilson, Joseph Edelberg, and David Morris. Without their input and high level of musicality this piece would not have the refinement and grace I feel it now has. For all their work, I am eternally grateful.

-BLR

In and Out is a piece for frame drums and oboe, commissioned by Robert Falvo and Alicia Chapman. . The structure of the work rests on the frame drum's opening solo. From it, I extracted the contour and rhythms of the oboe's melody. The result is a weavelike texture in which the two different instruments move in and out of each other's lines.

-BLR

Initiation is a percussion duo written for Robert Falvo and Danny Tunick. In it I explore the relationships of how pitched percussion instruments interact with unpitched percussion instruments when dealing with the same rhythmic/harmonic material. The work is very sectional, with each part initiating a new process that highlights a different perspective of how the duo interacts with each other in creating a new composite from the different timbres of each player’s instruments.

-BLR

Interference Patterns was written for George Thomsoon and Michelle Dulak during my residency at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau in 1990. The piece is an exploration of the textural possibilities of two violins through a tightly controlled harmonic progression. Its structure is symmetrical, with the two instruments' lines closing in from a large vertical sonority to a tiny cluster. The energy of this section builds up to break out of its confines. Eventually the music restores itself to a transformation of the opening sonority.

-BLR

Multitudinous Verses is a five song cycle for solo voice, synthesizers, and Macintosh computer. With it I explore the depth of meanings in six poems of Ping Hsin's from her collection, Multitudinous Stars and Spring Waters. (English translation ©1972 by Kenneth Rexroth and Ling Chung). The vocalist sings the text as it is written in Hsin's verse. Against this I overlay a computerized version of the poems in which readings of the text are altered to highlight the inner meanings of each poem. Both the synthesizers' harmonies and the singer's line are derived from the contours of the spoken poems. This work is dedicated to my husband, Dan, for giving me the inspiration to write this piece. Special thanks also goes to Jonathan Berger and Dafna Napthali for their help in putting the songs together.

-BLR

Fifths and Canons: two long standing elements in music. In over and out I try to put a different aural perspective onto both of these structures. Using canons, I overlay different collections of fifths to create the melodies and harmonies that pervade this short work. Before you know it, the piece is over and out.

-BLR

PLAY is a piano-percussion pieces commissioned by pianists Teresa McCollough. In it, I explore the different approaches and personalities these three pianists bring to performing with percussion.

For Teresa's piece, PLAY, I decided to build on an idea I use for teaching composition to children. One of the things I do with my students is have them make up music by creating words using the seven letters of the music alphabet. For PLAY, I decided to do this game myself. The structure is a double variation, with the basis of each variation coming from motives I created using the music alphabet. For instance, the first theme's marimba part is built on the word C_A_B_B_A_G_E. Likewise, the piano's chords in the second theme comes from the word, B_E_D and E_D_G_E. From these themes, the resulting variations evolve, with the words dispersing into new forms of the original music. Knowing Teresa's love of reading and playing games with her daugther, Emma, I felt this would be a fitting way to create a piece that reflects both her intellectual appetite and her sense of fun. Special thanks goes to Luanne, Peggy, and Teresa for their willingness to "play" along with my musical imagination!

-BLR

REMEMBRANCE is a one-movement work that was commissioned by BARBWIRE for premiere in their annual El Dia Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) festival in 2006. With REMEMBRANCE, I intended to compose a piece that expresses the joy and celebration that is the focus of this Mexican holiday. For Mexicans, this is a time in which the community comes together to celebrate the circle of life by remembering both deceased loved ones and children. Unlike many societies, death is approached with humor and grace, with festivities focusing on galas filled with sumptuous foods, lavish alters and gifts to the children.

REMEMBRANCE approaches these elements of the holiday through both the musical structure and the text, written by Santa Fe based author, Elizabeth Orem, The simple, concise libretto follows a tale of celebrating the dead, celebrating the children, and acknowledging how both will one day be together again in a joyous continuation of the circle of life. Musically, the overall structure consists of five sequential sections that move seamlessly into one another. The first, middle and last sections are primarily for chorus, with the marimba and piano acting in an accompanimental role. The second and the fourth sections are short instrumental interludes that act as transitional material to set up the differing character of following choral sections, respectively. Special thanks goes to Stephen Barber and Matt Orem of Barbwire for their commitment and help in the creation of this work. I also wish to thank Michelle Schumann and Tom Burritt, for who’s outstanding musicianship inspired the instrumentation for this choral piece. Finally, I also wish to dedicate this piece to the memory of Barbara Shearer, a talented pianist and teacher much beloved by many in the music community. She has been an inspiration for countless aspiring musicians, and her life will be celebrated and cherished for generations to come.

-BLR

SARA’S GRACE takes from two rich traditions in American music: the boogie-woogie style that predated jazz, and the spiritual hymn. Growing up in the South, both of these languages became part of my music ‘family-tree’.

The work makes an attempt to fuse the joy of both musical styles through an infusion of boogie woogie to elements of “Amazing Grace.” The vocal text comes entirely from the first verse of “Amazing Grace”. However, the words have been reordered, giving a different context that still celebrates the sacredness of the song.

This work is dedicated to the memory of Sara Lewis, a visual artist who loved to play with the context of found objects in her work. Special thanks goes to David Alan Miller of the Dogs of Desire for the opportunity to write this piece as part of Common Sense Composers’ Collective 6th Collaboration Project.

-BLR

SHARE was commissioned by Essential Music and the Common Sense Composers’ Collective as part Spoleto Festival USA 2003. The work is spare and simple in nature, yet technically challenging for the players to create the ‘character’ of the piece. I modeled it after one of my favorite collection of Stravinsky’s piano pieces, “Le Cinque Doights” (Eight Pieces for Five Fingers). These seemingly easy solo works actually evoke a mood that is both fun and challenging for the player to convey. In this spirit, I wrote SHARE. It is dedicated to my great-aunt Shyron, who lived a vibrant, rich life, full of travels, family, friends, and adventures. However, it was her simple, direct nature that I admired most. She lived in the moment, always present to whomever or whatever was happening. She had no regrets, and I see her as a model for how to live rich and fulfilling life. Special thanks go to Judith Gordon and Margaret Lancaster for their invaluable help in the beginning stages of this work. I also wish to thank my friend, Esther Landau, flutist, who helped me put the finishing touches on the piece. Finally, thanks to John Kennedy and Dan Becker for helping this project come to fruition. We first discussed this ideal back in 1999, and it was through their patience and perseverance that helped it finally come to life.

-BLR

SOLACE was commissioned by American Baroque in 1998 and completed in 1999/2000. The work gets its title from the way the opening material returns again in differing yet easily recognizable fashions, thus setting a tone of comfort amidst confusion. Many of the articulations and dynamics are structured by the players themselves, reminiscent of the stylistic practice of baroque instruments. Special thanks goes to Elizabeth Blumenstock, Gonzolo Ruiz, Kathy Shao, Stephen Schultz, and Roy Whelden, for which this piece is especially written.

-BLR

Static Motion, is a one movement work for string quartet, commissioned by the Deer Valley Music Festival and written for the Cecila Quartet. The title of the piece refers to the unique way I tried to play with the balance of a shifting rhythmic and melodic structure against a seemingly still/slow harmonic pace. Static Motion rests on two chord progressions, one going from the key of c minor to G Major, the other focusing on moving from c minor to f minor. The only note that differs between these two harmonic worlds is the pitch Bb. It is that note that I use as an ‘axis’ from which to explore how can I create tension and motion in the piece within this ‘static’ tonal world.

For the ‘motion’ of the work. I rely on the interplay of the opening melody and rhythmic accompaniment to propel the music into different textures and statements of the chord progression. These shifts create different listening contexts for the harmonies, thus taking the ear away from the traditional way we hear the tonal chord progressions I use.

Special thanks goes to Joan Tower and the Muir String Quartet for giving me this wonderful opportunity to compose a piece for such outstanding players. I also with to thank Premiere Resorts and the Utah Opera and Symphony for their sponsorship of this commission. Finally, I wish to express my gratitude to composer Dan Becker for giving me his ear and his patience as I wrote this piece!

-BLR

THREAD was written for Essential Music as part of a commission by the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College. The work gets its title from the way the opening chordal material interacts with the melodic statements throughout the piece.

-BLR

TURNS was commissioned by the California Professional Music Teachers Association and the Music Teachers National Association for its 2001 California State Convention. The work gets its title from the way the opening chords evolve into subsequent sections of the piece. For instance, one note may turn into the pivot point from which a new moment unfolds. Likewise, some melodic material turns into new chordal sections, thus giving a new perspective on the music. Special thanks goes to Esther Landau, Bruce Foster, and Yueh Chou of Citywinds for their invaluable input during the composing of this work.

-BLR

Weave was written for Meridian Arts Ensemble as part of the Common Sense Composers’ Collective Fifth Annual Collaboration Project. The work gets its title from the way the opening’s melodies and rhythms weave into different permutations throughout the piece. Special thanks goes to the Meridian Arts Ensemble and Common Sense for their input during the composing of this work.

-BLR

Yawp

When thinking of a title for this piece, I thought of the collaboration process I had with Dave Nadal. Throughout composing the work, Dave was always there with his advice and suggestions, testing whatever little snippet I had faxed his way that day. He is a composer's dream in enthusiasm and expert musicianship. The music reflects our collaboration, with all its high points and low points. To ;yawp' in Roget's Thesaurus means to "complain, gaze, roar, and yelp." I did all of those. I think the music does, too. Enjoy.

-BLR