Chinary Ung will be 70 at Le Poisson Rouge

New York New Music Ensemble will perform Chinary’s music at Le Poisson Rouge on April 16th.

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I had some down time

so I made this midi version of The Emperor’s Music a piece I composed in 1999 and was premiered in 2000 by the Brooklyn Symphony. It was a poor performance because it was under rehearsed. It is an antiphonal piece for 12 solo brass arranged in four trios (trp I, hrn I, trb I; trp II, hrnII, trb II; trp III, hrn III, bass trb; trp IV, hrn IV, tuba) across the stage and well separated.

The Emperor’s Music

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Is this what it’s come to?

Image

Are we just bug splats on a windshield? But go ahead, scan me while I’m down.

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World Premiere of Turning

Turning

I hope to see you at one of these concerts.

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Two Performance Dates for “Turning”

The Contemporary Chamber Players of Stony Brook University will premiere Turning on Thursday, November 15, 2012, 8:00 pm at Stony Brook University

AND

Perform again the next day, Friday, November 16th at 7:30 pm at:

Symphony Space
2537 Broadway at 95th Street
New York, NY

tel: (212) 864-5400

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New Piece Completed

The Stony Brook piece is finished and is titled Turning for bass clarinet, percussion, piano and contrabass with a duration of 14 minutes.

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New Commission

I have received a commission from the Stony Brook University Department of Music to compose a piece for their Contemporary Chamber Players. It will be premiered this November at Stony Brook and a performance in Manhattan.

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Friday’s Sounding #21

Last Friday I posted the first movement of my reed trio and today, as promised, I am posting the second movement, Song. The second movement is ten minutes long. However, this sound file only contains the first 4:30 of the movement and presents the first A and B sections.

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Completed the Song As Above, So Below

Finished another song for the song cycle The Fisherman Songs, As Above, So Below using text from Thoreau’s Walden (The Ponds).

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Friday’s Sounding #20: Predictably Unpredictable

In 1994 I composed a work for oboe, clarinet and bassoon (known as a reed trio). The piece is in two parts. This sound file is the first part with a duration of five and one half minutes. This movement explores fragmented mercurial patterns that organically unfold from a moto perpetuo texture.

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The opening couple of measures presents two pieces of material, a chromatic noodling line that is broken into fragments, actually motives that will be explored later in the piece, between the parts and multiple octaves. The contrast between the smallest interval (the half step) and the largest interval (the octave) would be puerile if it weren’t for the unpredictability of how the noodling line is broken up and when the octaves interrupt the line. This seemingly desultory relationship actually creates an energy on the verge of being almost out of control. The idea of has interested me for almost as long as I have been composing.

I used this idea again in my woodwind quintet a year later but expanded. However, it is such a simple and fun idea that it could be used with many variations with any size ensemble.

Next week I will upload the second part, Song.

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