violin

Have I come too late? from the opera: SHE: AN OPERA OF ADVENTURE

Composer:

Mark Thome

Ensemble Type

solo voice(s)+2 to 6 instruments

Instruments

PIANO TRIO NO. 2 "THE BLOSSOM"

Composer:

Robert Carl

Instrumentation freestyle:

vln, vc, pf

Ensemble Type

Instruments

Composer's note: My Piano Trio No.2, “The Blossom”, takes its cue from the image of a flower’s growth. Its three movements chart a course from frozen symmetry to effulgent bloom. On a purely musical level, these metaphors are worked out via an ongoing exploration of aural symmetry.

1. “Frozen”. Here all is symmetry. Symmetries of intervals that generate a ladder of pitches “frozen” in particular registers. Symmetries of time, the music following a strict ternary form, with palindromes abounding. This movement is a “seed”, a template from which more dynamic, propulsive art can emerge.

2. “Thawing”. The music begins to branch out, literally, with long arching lines that become ever more florid and detailed. Its aching, yearning quality suggests a will to grow and transcend constraints. Its symmetries now are more of gesture than structure. The strict abstract constraints of the first movement melt under the merging life force.

3. “In Bloom”. Lines have become free and racing; they create a delicate tangled web. The music rushes like water or wind, but it leaves a trace like sprouting tendrils.

THE STING OF COMMAND

Composer:

Robert Carl

Instrumentation freestyle:

Baritone voice plus quartet of clarinet, violin, piano, double bass

Ensemble Type

solo voice(s)+2 to 6 instruments

Instruments

Score is in C, except for octave transposition of contrabass
Descriptive note:
This song has been commissioned as part of a cabaret series presented by Sequitur, which biennially concentrates on specific themes; the cycle into which this work falls deals with “power”. Taking a concept from a work of Elias Canetti, I have crafted my own text. The piece falls into a recitative and aria form. ----Robert Carl

Elias Canetti, in his magisterial work, Crowds and Power, presents the concept of the “sting of command”. What is the sting? In every hierarchy, there is always one above all others. This one relays an order to the next one below, and with that order a “sting” is lodged. The only way to be rid of the sting is to pass it down to next lower on the chain of command. And so the sting travels through the structure, burning in one lieutenant after another, until it finally arrives at the poor soul who has no one left on whom to pin it. While the imagery is military, the concept applies to any organization--- political, industrial, cultural, familial.

List Price:

$39 two scores (pianist, singer) plus set of parts