Piano, Winds, Strings
Seasons of New York
Solo Piano / This four-movement suite was inspired by locations surrounding New York City's Upper West Side.
1. Summer - reflects the passing of the broad, peaceful Hudson River alongside the City.
2. Autumn - evokes the bursts of color and drama caused by fall colors around Central Park's Great Hill.
3. Winter - adjacent to Great Hill, The Loch is one of the wilder sections of the park, containing a meandering stream and several waterfalls.
4. Spring - celebrates the blossoming of the cherry and crabapple trees in Riverside Park
Duration: 15 minutes
Oxymoron
Organ, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon / The title adheres to the dictionary definition of "oxymoron," that is, two words (here, two types of music) which are juxtaposed for poetic or dramatic effect. The aggressive, modern music of the opening is interrupted by a quote from a Gabrielli canzona, but the modern music won't give up and eventually overcomes the sweet-voiced canzona to conclude with a fugato and boisterous ending.
The two recorded excerpts, taken from the beginning and middle sections, are from a performance by Dominic Gagliano, Carolyn Fedderly, and Mary Young, bassoons, Susan Nigro, contrabassoon, and Robert Delcamp, organ.
Duration: 12 minutes
Winter Morning by a Lake
String Quartet / The title refers to both the lake near my then home and to the third movement of Schoenberg's Five Pieces for Orchestra Op.16, one movement of which originally carried the title "Farben: Sommermorgen am See"
This performance is by the Cassatt String Quartet (Muneko Otani & Jennifer Leshnower, violins; Sarah Adams, viola; Nicole Johnson, cello)
Duration: 7.5 minutes