| Summary: | The thesis consists of five distinct and unrelated compositions which were composed
over a two year residency at the UBC School of Music. The compositions were either
requested or commissioned by the performers involved, and were performed at various
venues within the city of Vancouver. The compositions appear here in the order in which
they were written.
Without the Fear of Wind or Vertigo
This composition is a brief four minute work written for the Vancouver New Music-
Ensemble which consists of flute, oboe, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, cello, and
contrabass. This piece was to be included with other compositions of similar length as
part of the Vancouver New Music Societies twenty-fifth Anniversary Concert, which was
held on November 10, 1996. I approached this work as an opportunity to include as
much rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic activity as possible into the brief time span
allotted to me by the concert's program. Upon reflection the rhythmic vigor of
Stravinsky, the heterophonic orchestrations of Franco Donatoni, and the influences of
jazz music all seeped their way into this work. The title is the name of a chapter from
Italo Calvino's If On A Winter's Night A Traveler.
the earth for you a Standing place
This is a composition commissioned by the Standing Wave Ensemble which consists at
the time of clarinet, percussion, piano, and cello. In relation to my other works this piece
was composed very quickly, seemingly generating itself from intuition, and not from
artifice or any grand design. This work has been released on compact disc by the
Standing Wave Ensemble.
La fille a levre d'orange
For soprano, viola, and harp, this work is an attempt to portray the disconnected, vague,
and arcane images that are so characteristic of Arthur Rimbaud's prose poems,
particularly those of Illuminations. I must admit to having been drawn to Rimbaud not
through any particular poem of his, but through his now famous utterance that poetry is
the "ecstatic exploration of the unconscious." This struck me at the time as reflecting my
own thoughts concerning the creative process. These Things Never Happened, But Are Always
This work is for solo percussion. It was commissioned by Salvadore Ferreras, and was
premiered at the Second Annual Vancouver International New Music Festival, June 5,
1998. The title is from the Greek writer Salostious, and it serves as a beautiful
assessment of myth. The music, divided into two halves— the first concerning itself with
drums, and the second with pitched instruments— is aimed at bringing to mind some of
the fundamental archetypes inherent within basic mythic structures.
Bella Tenebrosita tre movimento spettacoli continuomente
For solo piano, all three movements utilize the broad bandwidth of pitch that the piano so
conveniently provides. The title of this work played a large role in helping to determine
the music; 'bella' of course, means beautiful, but in this instance it also is the name of a
young Polish girl killed by the Nazis, who remains a powerful and ubiquitous presence in
the life of her brother Jakob, the protagonist in Anne Michael's Fugitive-Pieces.
'Tenebrism' or 'tenebroso,' meaning in the "dark manner" comes to me via the
chiaroscuro techniques of Carravaggio.
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