Schizmo-Gadget #4; or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Write for Brass

(Program Notes from the May 1st, 2009 Project 21 Concert premiere.)

“What is a [brass quintet?] A miserable little pile of secrets!”

-Dracula

Now, I know what you’re all thinking. “But Byron, you blundering, bungling buffoon, how can you have a Schizmo-Gadget #4 if there wasn’t a number one through three?”

And what a lovely question it is you have.

…This is a brass quintet written throughout the year of 2008. There is no program. No life stories and anecdotes with tasty little gems of the meaning of life conveniently nestled in song. And there most definitely is no subplot where the romantic lead is swept into a bittersweet love triangle between a Furby and a Chia Pet bearing the likeness of Elvis Presley (even though I know so many of you are begging for it.)

Instead, this is a seven minute romp using a simple four note fanfare as its launching pad. With its numerous twists, turns, and surprises, I hope you enjoy Schizmo-Gadget #4 or; How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Write for Brass!

Schizmo-Gadget #4; or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Write for Brass

Audio Recording

(Video recording will be posted sometime in the future.)

The Penultimate Action: Tales of Death and Those who Gather ‘Round

(Program Notes from the May 1st, 2009 Project 21 Concert premiere.)

The Penultimate Action: Tales of Death and Those who Gather ‘Round is a song cycle that goes through four individuals experiencing death, either of a loved one or of the death of themselves. The first three songs are what I consider unsuccessful attempts at accepting the inevitable.

The Mill Doors features an individual who experiences the death of a loved one who is overworked to their deaths before their time for paltry sums of money. The music is fast; almost too fast for the occasion, chugging along with the monotony of the life of the deceased. The individual never truly gets a chance to lament their loved one’s passing, though there are moments where the voice attempts to break free of this monotony, only to always return to the rigid confines of the accompaniment.

Fear No More is the last movement of the cycle, and the only successful reconciliation with death. This placid movement, set to the poetry of William Shakespeare, presents an individual who casts away the worries of the world and ends his life in peace.  He does not cover up his insecurities like in the other movements, nor does he not allow himself to fear his impending death. However, the individual simply accepts this and realizes that all must “come to dust.”

The Mill Doors

You never come back.

I say good-by when I see you going in the doors,

The hopeless open doors that call and wait

And take you then for—how many cents a day?

How many cents for the sleepy eyes and fingers?

I say good-by because I know they tap your wrists,

In the dark, in the silence, day by day,

And all the blood of you drop by drop,

And you are old before you are young.

You never come back.

–Carl Sandburg

Fear No More

Fear no more the heat o’ the sun,

Nor the furious winter’s rages;

Thou thy worldly task hast done,

Home art gone, and ta’en thy wages;

Golden lads and girls all must,

As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

Fear no more the frown o’ the great;

Thou art past the tyrant’s stroke:

Care no more to clothe and eat;

To thee the reed is as the oak:

The sceptre, learning, physic, must

All follow this, and come to dust.

Fear no more the lightning-flash,

Nor the all-dreaded thunder-stone;

Fear not slander, censure rash;

Thou hast finished joy and moan;

All lovers young, all lovers must

Consign to thee, and come to dust.

–William Shakespeare

I – The Mill Doors

Audio Recording

(Video will be posted sometime in the future.)

______________________
IV – Fear No More

Audio Recording

(Video will be posted sometime in the future.)

StarSolar

(Program Notes from the May 1st, 2009 Project 21 Concert premiere.)

The Song: StarSolar is a piece of Electronica music inspired by a song I wrote during my years in high school of the same name. The current rendition takes quite a few liberties with the source material.

The Video: The accompanying video presentation is created in Celestia. (http://www.shatters.net/celestia) The planet featured at the climax of the song is 51 Pegasi b, a planet revolving around the sun-like star 51 Pegasi, and was the first planet discovered orbiting a star other than our own sun. This planet was discovered in 1995 and it, along with other later discovered extrasolar planets, have changed the theories of how planets form.