HARP – Mixed Ensemble

Mixed Trios:

Concerto for Harp and Chamber Ensemble [2 perc, piano, 2 vln, vla, vlc, bass, and solo harp] (6/19/23) – 20’00”.  I wanted this work to explore emotional aspects of harp music beyond the romantic, lush sounds usually associated with the instrument.  Each movement evokes a different mood.   The first movement relies on short, two-note pairs combined with melodies drawn from a four-note head motive consisting of a rising triplet and a longer note a seventh above the starting pitch. The second movement begins mysteriously, with both harp and string glissandi.  This evolves into an accompanied brass chorale, later elaborated by the full orchestra.  A lively theme introduced by the harp dominates the third movement.  It is interrupted only once for a brief harp cadenza, then returns to conclude the movement.

 

A sunset sonata (3/16/21) for flute, viola and harp – 7’00”.  The work is in three movements.  The title comes from a line in a poem by Carl Sandburg.  I grew up in northern Ohio on the eastern edge of the corn belt.  The surrounding fields were always alive in the wind.  In summer, they are warm, sunny, peaceful places where “the prairie sings to me.”  Hear the breezes in the harp glissandos and feel the restful leisure of the intertwining melodic lines.  As the evening approaches, rain clouds gather, and the wind picks up.  There is an intensity in the air and a sense of sudden instability, framed here by chromatic lines from flute and viola against the diatonic stability of the harp.  At the same time, the late afternoon sun creates an array of colors in the sky.  That is the nature of the “spring breeze.”  The patter of water on the dry earth is heard in the constant repetition of sixteenth notes.  It is the kind of gentle shower that is good for the crops and a farmer’s delight.   Cheerful melodic patterns jumping between instruments proclaim, “send us at last a joyful rain.”  MIDI perfoprmance.

 

I am a Creature Who Molts (1985) three movements for solo harp, two flutes, three clarinets, and alto voice.  MIDI perfoprmance.