SKU: A0.1004713

Arrangement for solo cello of Sphynx (Homage to Enescu), op. 33 no. 5 (2007), a neoclassical piece for solo flute based on motifs from Enescu's oeuvre and traditional Romanian music. Requested by cellist Mirel Iancovici. Duration: 3 min. 30 sec. Performing Rights Organization: SOCAN.

SKU: A0.1004714

Arrangement for solo viola of Sphynx (Homage to Enescu), op. 33 no. 5 (2007), a neoclassical piece for solo flute based on motifs from Enescu's oeuvre and traditional Romanian music. Duration: 3 min. 30 sec. Performing Rights Organization: SOCAN.

SKU: A0.1156596

Handel’s great set of 12 Concerti grossi (= Grand Concertos, in the first edition) op. 6 are somehow a bit related in spirit, through their power and diversity, with Beethoven’s string quartets. Therefore, here they are arranged for the more ‘abstract’ and ‘timeless’ medium of the string quartet, allowing also for an addition to the repertoire of the respective ensembles. Articulation, tempo and dynamics indications were specified or added where needed, and all the trills were indicated to start with the upper auxiliary note, not only according to the Baroque performance practice but also fitting to the melodic contour. Concerto grosso in A major, op. 6 no. 11: 1. Andante larghetto – solemn, complex introduction, like in a French overture; 2. Allegro – one of his best movements, a short and exhilarating fugue; 3. Largo-Andante molto mosso – slow and dramatic introduction, then soothing and elaborate; 4. Allegro – joyful and enthusiastic. The mp3 audio clip is the second movement. Total duration: 16 min 30 sec. Performing Rights Organization: SOCAN.

SKU: A0.1004712

Arrangement for cello and piano of Ode To A Bug, op. 63 no. 1 (2015), a humorous neoclassical lied for high voice and piano on a poem by Gene Tyburn. Appropriate for students. Duration: 4 min. Performing Rights Organization: SOCAN.

SKU: A0.1150520

Handel’s great set of 12 Concerti grossi (= Grand Concertos, in the first edition) op. 6 are somehow a bit related in spirit, through their power and diversity, with Beethoven’s string quartets. Therefore, here they are arranged for the more ‘abstract’ and ‘timeless’ medium of the string quartet, allowing also for an addition to the repertoire of the respective ensembles. Articulation, tempo and dynamics indications were specified or added where needed, and all the trills were indicated to start with the upper auxiliary note, not only according to the Baroque performance practice but also fitting to the melodic contour. The movements of Concerto grosso in A minor, op. 6 no. 4: 1. Larghetto affettuoso – solemn, melancholy and broad; 2. Allegro – an energetic, syncopated and somber fugue; 3. Largo – a sublime, soft and simple sarabande in F major, with walking bass; 4. Allegro – restless and dramatic. Total duration 10 min. The mp3 audio clip is the third movement. Performing Rights Organization: SOCAN.

SKU: A0.1004693

Short and very slow piece in F minor for string quartet, like a monumental haiku, brooding, dark and reminding of Bartok's quartets and slightly influenced by Romanian traditional music. Dedicated to the Signum Quartet, Cologne, Germany. Appropriate for introducing students to modern music. Duration: 3 min.

SKU: A0.1004689

Four Lutheran chorales for organ in Neo-baroque style: Ach Gott und Herr (two versions, in D minor and D major), Ach, mein Herr Jesu, dein (in B flat major), and Allein Gott in der Höh' sei Ehr' ( in A major). Simple and easy harmonization, with a contemplative mood. Appropriate for students of the organ and for Lutheran services or for other denominations which allow organ pieces and chorale references. Total duration: 7 min.

SKU: A0.1357497

The orchestral parts of the Third Symphony (2000, revised 2023), an ambitious, modernist/neoclassical composition for orchestra and chorus with four vocal soloists. It may represent a search for harmony within and/or without and is a huge, subtle variations form on a theme that appears clearly and in full only in the Finale.
The chromatic, first movement (Andante maestoso) begins mysteriously with A's in the unaccompanied violins, like a tuning or a seed of what is to come. These A's are adorned with oscillations which gradually become wider leaps until they reach the fifth (as in the beginning of the future full theme), and the other instruments join gradually. The mood is dark, tragic, pensive, and somehow abstract, as the music wanders in an almost improvisatory manner through chromatic modes and goes crescendo-decrescendo back again to the bare, cryptic A's.

The energetic second movement (Allegro) is an enormous scherzo toying with the second melodic cell of the full theme, a descending tetrachord. This vital, Dionysian frenzy (in strong contrast to the Apollonian, severe contemplation in the first movement) leads only to its exhaustion and to the disorientated, slow Trio: first, an almost atonal tenor monologue accompanied by harp (on verses from Dante's Purgatory), then a quotation from Beethoven's sketches for a planned overture on the B-A-C-H motif, followed by a fugal section on the same archetypal motif and again a tenor monologue (on verses from Eminescu's Satire No. 4), this time with organ accompaniment and more and more tortured until the choral exclamations and the final cymbal clash. The search seemed in vain, so the rhythmic fury of the scherzo returns, but in mirror, as minor modes replaced the major ones on the same material.

The Finale (Larghetto-Allegro-Larghetto) was inspired by the last scene in Goethe's Faust, part 2. After a cryptic variation for choir a cappella, the full theme appears at last in the orchestra, setting a lyric, appeased mood and more diatonic harmonies, while it reconciles the introspection of the first movement and the emotional and vital aspects of the second, although occasional attempts are made to escape, striving more and more towards the ending (with four vocal soloists and chorus). The parenthetic structure of the finale is a holographic reflection of the general form of the whole symphony, alternating gentle, contemplative episodes with exuberant or majestic fugatos. Towards the ending, ecstatic, big, complex quartal chords suggest the limits of perception and language (on the final stanzas from Dante's Paradise), until the sonority becomes again more and more rarefied and the journey returns to its starting point from the first movement: the 'tuning' A's in the violins.

Total duration: 54 min. Performing Rights Organization: SOCAN. The mp3 audio clip is the second movement.