instrumental — solo / small ensemble
EQUINOX – viola, piano, 1983. view score
HOLOHEDRAM – cello, 1980. view score
JUST PIANO – piano, 16:00, 1984.
Premiered in New York, CAMI Hall, 1988, Erik Skjoldan, piano. view score
LURE – flute, 12:00, 1985.
Premiered in New York, Columbia University, 1988, American Festival of Microtonal Music, Andrew Bolotowsky, flute. Bandcamp view score
NOCTURNE – piano, 1982. view score
PEAL – violin, cello, 1986. view score
STATIONARY POINT – trumpet/flugelhorn, clarinet, bassoon, vibraphone, 10:00, 1981.
Premiered in Buffalo, 1982, David Kuehn, principal trumpet Buffalo Philharmonic, the composer conducting. SoundCloud
TANGIBLE MIDNIGHT – piano, 62:00, 1995.
Tribute to Morton Feldman. SoundCloud
THROUGH THE DOOR OF THE HEART – violin, piano, 14:00, 1986.
Premiered in New York, CAMI Hall, 1988, as NIERIKA, Laura Seaton, violin, Erik Skjoldan, piano. view score
WINDSPOOR – flute, clarinet, 2 violins, cello, 1984. view score
orchestra / chamber orchestra
CONVERGENCE – chamber orchestra – flute, trumpet, horn, tuba, percussion, 6 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos, 1980. view score
ILLUMINATION – overture for chamber orchestra – piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, Eb clarinet, 2 Bb clarinets, 2 bassoons, horn, trumpet, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, percussion, 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass, 1984. view score
NEW SKY – 4 movements for orchestra, 1985.
Premiered as WAY OF THE HOPI in New York, Merkin Hall, 1987, American Festival of Microtonal Music, the composer conducting. view score Bandcamp
NEW SKY – 2 movements for chamber orchestra – flute/alto flute, oboe, Bb clarinet/bass clarinet, bassoon, F horn, C trumpet, trombone, percussion, 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass, 20:00, 1989.
Premiered as WAY OF THE HOPI in Pittsburgh, 1990, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, David Stock conducting.
NIGHTHAWK – symphony in 2 movements for large wind ensemble, 1983, 20:00. view score performance notes
PALONGAWHOYA – chamber orchestra – piano, 2 flutes, bassoon, 2 horns, trombone, 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass, 1981, 20:00.
Premiered in Copenhagen, Royal Danish Conservatory of Music, 1981, Erik Skjoldan, piano, the composer conducting. view score SoundCloud
vocal with accompaniment
CLOSE YOUR SLEEPY EYES – 3-part round for mixed voices, flute, alto flute, double bass, 1985. view score listen/buy mp3
COLORADO – tenor, ashiko, 4:00, 1993.
Premiered in Madison, NJ, 1994, Paul Gallagher, tenor, percussion. listen/buy mp3
FALL LIGHTLY – flute, clarinet, 2 violins, cello, mezzo soprano, 8:00, 1984. view score
KINGDOM OF MESCAL – tenor, tape in 4 parts, 20:00, 1991.
Musical and visual dreamscape of a quest for self-knowledge.
Premiered in New York, Christ and St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 1992, Paul Gallagher, tenor. listen/buy mp3
LABYRINTH – flute, oboe, clarinet, viola, cello, double bass, soprano, alto, tenor; 5:00; text: Pablo Neruda, 1982.
NOTHING DOING – version for violin, piano, mezzo soprano, tenor, 15:30, 1987.
"I am consumed – / Yet all remains."
Premiered in New York, CAMI Hall, 1988, Laura Seaton, violin, Erik Skjoldan, piano, Barbara Hess, mezzo soprano, Paul Gallagher, tenor.
SONG OF SURVIVAL – mixed voices, flute, alto flute, double bass, 12:00, 1983.
Premiered in New York, Symphony Space, 1990, Melodious Accord, Alice Parker conducting.
THREE NERUDA SONGS – flute, viola, cello, harp, soprano; text: Pablo Neruda, 1982.
VOIR – soprano, piano, 1980.
Premiered in Buffalo, 1980, Christine Marstrand, soprano, Erik Skjoldan, piano. view score SoundCloud
vocal a cappella
ALREADY GONE – SATB, 6:00, 1997.
Already Gone pairs its delicate text with rich harmonics. Combined, they suggest the paradox that lies at the heart of the work's theme of transformation through the experience of attachment and detachment, self and oneness, will and acceptance. Sung in the chamber opera Six Blind Men and the Moon in the style of a Greek chorus, Already Gone as a singular piece attests to the capacity of music to express the human condition at its most vulnerable and transcendent.
Premeired in New York, Kraine Theater, 1998, one of 6 a cappella quartet interludes in the chamber opera Six Blind Men and the Moon. watch video
ASPENS – mezzo soprano, tenor, 14:00, 1985.
Premiered in New York, 1985, Composers Forum – New Music/New Composers.
BLOOD RED/EXQUISITE BLUE – SATB, 1997.
CANONS AND EXCHANGES: Not One, Not Two; To Hide in a Stone; The Seed Is Sown – mezzo soprano, tenor, 5:00, 1990.
Premiered in Newark, 1991, Newark Museum, Barbara Hess, mezzo soprano, Paul Gallagher, tenor.
CLEAR THE WAY – mixed voices, 8:00, 1987.
Premiered in New York, New York Open Center, 1988.
NOTHING DOING – version for mezzo soprano, tenor a cappella, 14:00, 1987.
SALTWATER – tenor, tape in 5 movements, 15:00, 1993.
Alternately seductive and torturous, a story of a man’s relationship to Being itself. Personified as a woman, the vast, powerful, entrancing sea immerses the protagonist in both terror and ecstasy en route to a thoroughly unsolicited transformation.
Premiered in Trenton, Planetarium of the State Museum, 1994, Paul Gallagher, tenor. listen/buy mp3
SEEN – 3-part canon, tenor, digital delay, 9:00, 1992.
"Beyond dreams, beyond myths, beyond anything necessary or conceivable."
Premiered in New York, 1994, Paul Gallagher, tenor. listen/buy mp3
SHINING SWEET WATER – 3-part canon, 1987.
SIX BLIND MEN AND THE MOON – song in 6 parts for mezzo soprano, tenor. (See also the chamber oratorio of the same name.)
Premiered in New York, Anita Shapolsky Gallery, 1991, American Festival of Microtonal Music, Barbara Hess, mezzo soprano, Paul Gallagher, tenor. Bandcamp
SONGS TO THE FOUR DIRECTIONS – SATB, 1991.
North: Water Finds Its Way – 5:00, 1991 – "Laugh, splintered into being, gone, completely here and gone."
Premiered as a version for mezzo soprano, tenor in Newark, 1991, Newark Museum, Barbara Hess, mezzo soprano, Paul Gallagher, tenor.
South: Cradle the Sky – "Can you, will you / Hold my love – so fragile – my life?"
East: Fly, Eagle – "Eagle be one with the light, fill my mind, my vision."
West: Stillness, Quiet – "Let me hear the voice within. / Let me know my song."
SONGS TO THE FOUR DIRECTIONS – SATB, c.1984.
North: Wisdom. South: Innocence. East: Illumination. West: Introspection.
Premiered in State College, PA, 1984, Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts.
ULMUS AMERICANA – five tenor/countertenor multi-tracked voices, 10:30, 1987.
Tribute to the American elm in the manner of the 13th century organum of Perotin, with each of seven broad sections sounding on a single syllable of the title in ornate polyphony.
Premiered in New York, 1988, Paul Gallagher, tenor/countertenor. listen/buy mp3
WALK IT OFF – SATB, 1998.
WONDER – SATB, 5:00, 1996.
chamber opera / oratorio
SIX BLIND MEN AND THE MOON – choreographed multimedia chamber oratorio, solo tenor with digital ensemble (Six Blind Men and the Moon song, Saltwater, Kingdom of Mescal), live a cappella quartet (Blood Red/Exquisite Blue; Water Finds Its Way; Walk It Off, Already Gone, Fly Eagle, Wonder), 100:00, 1998.
Premiered in New York, 1998, Kraine Theater, Paul Gallagher, tenor; quartet: Ovaline Whitner, soprano, Karen Goldfeder, mezzo soprano, Steven Raiford, tenor, Chad Karl, baritone.
releases
PROWLING THE INTERIOR – compact disc, download – tenor, countertenor, electronics – Kingdom of Mescal, Seen, Saltwater, Ulmus Americana, Colorado – words, music, vocals: Paul Gallagher, 1995. order cd listen/buy mp3
ROUND THE GREAT CIRCLE – audiocassette – contemporary rounds and madrigals composed in a classical/folk style for mixed voices, flute, bass, percussion; words and music Paul Gallagher; performed by Paul Gallagher, tenor, Barbara Hess, mezzo soprano; the Heron Consort: Darah Clatworhy, Bruce Detrick, André Solomon-Glover, Dana Hanchard, Jay Taylor, Caryl-Beth Thomas; Rheva Kaplan, Rachael Rudich, flute; David Light, percussion; Brian Smith, double bass, 1987.
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