Instrumental Solos

Inspired by three paintings by Oviedo. This painter from the Dominican Republic is one of my favorite painters of modern times.
La Protesta
La Familia
Levantate Lazaro

A virtuosic and contrapuntal work in sonata-like form. Performed by Elena Ivanina at the International Festival of Contemporary Music in Moscow and at the U.S. Embassy for the cultural leaders of Moscow, 1995. (The audio is transferred from a cassette tape performance recording with pianist, Elena Ivanina.)

The piece is based on the poem of the same name, “Prelude,” by the Irish writer, J.M. Synge This work was commissioned by Nina Assimakopoulis for this CD. I used it later in a new context: as the “wanderer” in Aceldama. (Audio features, Nina Assimakopoulis, flute.)

The Cornfields: Early Morning
The Old Giblin Farm
Endless Road
Moderately difficult pieces based on memories of Illinois farmland near my hometown, Champaign.

A very quick ride on a quirky elevator! (Alternate title: What Goes Up Must Come Down)

Picturesque scenes from around the world and in a child’s neighborhood. Easy – intermediate level written for young piano students.
A Minor Bird
A Song from the Highlands
Hong Kong Holiday
A Little Beethoven, Anyone?
Baseball Blues
Where or Where….?
Lullaby for a Fawn

Theme and Variations on the Gregorian chant Crux Fidelis.
Moderately advanced. (Audio features Diane Guernsey, piano.)

From Womb to the Tomb: a lifetime in sixty seconds is a miniature work, a “snapshot” that symbolizes human life from its beginning as a cell (opening motive) through the cycle of development, expansion, transformation and, in the final statement of the cell which represents death, a return to the essence of the person.

“There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it is going to be a butterfly.”
R. Buckmeister Fuller