The Forest Near Ingolstadt

[March 11, 2023]

The music and a computer-generated recording are available on this page of the IMSLP. You can also listen here.

Transcription: Ravel Kaddish for tenor and string quartet

You can find the music on this page of the IMSLP.

My arrangement for an array of different instruments and string orchestra can be found on this page of the IMSLP as well.

This transcription was performed by Clemence Poussin and the Quatuor Girard at the opening of the European Parliament on Holocaust Remembrance day in 2019, but the video is no longer available.

Sleep Thou for Flute and Soprano (or Alto Flute and Alto)

August 6, 2018

April 27, 2025

You can find a PDF on this page of the IMSLP.

The Gloves

February 2003

This is a setting from a chapter of Laurence Sterne's A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy for Baritone, flute, cello, and harpsichord. You can listen to a computer-generated recording (without the text, of course) here. The music is available here from Subito.

Behold the Rain for Soprano and String Quartet

[June 28, 2015]

The score and parts are available on this page of the IMSLP.

The Pen and the Inkwell

This is an intermezzo based on a story by Hans Christian Andersen for a soprano (who plays the part of the inkwell), a tenor (who plays the part of a quill pen), a baritone (who serves as the narrator), and a violin. It can be done as a simple concert work, or it can be staged.

You can listen to a computer-generated recording of it here (without the words, of course--the libretto follows the story link above very closely). The music is available here from Subito.



July 2003

Under the Apricot Tree

This is for medium voice, and it sounds exceptionally good when sung by a countertenor.

2001

The music is available here from Subito. You can listen to a computer generated recording here.

Two Pieces from the Song of Songs

2002

The music is available here from Subito. You can listen to synthesized recordings of "I Will Sing the Song of All Songs," and "Tell Me My True Love" here.

The Bird Phoenix

June 11, 2003

This is a setting of The Bird Phoenix by Hans Christian Andersen for soprano, flute (piccolo), violin, viola, and harp. You can listen to a computer-generated recording (without the words) here. The music is available here from Subito.

In the Gold Room

Here are two versions of my setting of Oscar Wilde's poem "In the Gold Room." There's a version for flute, mezzo-soprano, and piano, and a version for cello, mezzo soprano, and piano. You can find both versions here.



Note: The choice of vowels in the untexted vocalizations (indicated by Hmm) are left to the discretion of the singer.
August, 2009

Asleep in the Deep

August 1, 2009

This is another "new tune for an old song" with lyrics by Arthur J. Lamb. You can download a PDF here, and you can listen to an excellent performance here:

 

You can find a 2023 transcription for Alto flute, high soprano, and piano on the same page of the IMSLP.

Bird in a Gilded Cage

This is a new setting for soprano, flute, and piano of the lyric that Arthur J. Lamb wrote to music by Harry von Tilzer in 1900. For the full text, as well as a bit of amusing background, Chatty, of Glimpses through the blog is the best source I know.


July, 2009
You can download a PDF here, and listen to a computer-generated recording here.

Here is a performance from March 6, 2026:

I got to hear a livestream concert from the Tenth International Music by Women Festival that included a performance of this along with two other pieces I wrote for voice, flute, and piano (the video is set to start just as Soprano Lydia Beasley Kneer, flutist Brittney Patterson, and pianist Laurie Middaugh are ready to play the first piece "In the Golden Room." The last piece in the set is "Asleep in the Deep").

It was particularly exciting for me to hear these three pieces performed as a set.

The flutist is not playing a gold flute, but because the concert is being held in a gold room, golden reflections glint off the flute. There is something "just right" about that.

For more links and texts for all three songs, please go to this Musical Assumptions Blogpost.

Emma

This opera is an adaptation of Howard Zinn's play EMMA that is available (for free) through the Emma Goldman Papers Project at Berkeley.





March 2005

You can download the full score, the piano-vocal score, and all the parts on this page of the IMSLP, where you can also listen to computer-generated audio files of the opera. If you ever have a chance to perform any part of this opera, and happen to make a recording of it, I will be happy to post your performance on-line.

You can also find the PDF scores and parts in this folder.

Kubla Kahn

May 27, 2004

You can read the text and listen to a computer-generated recording. The music is available here from Subito.

The Teapot

This is a setting of Hans Christian Andersen's story "The Teapot" for soprano, tuba, and piano that I wrote for Tricia Marcus and her tuba-playing husband Steve. It is a story about a teapot that loses its handle and spout in a tea-table accident, becomes a flowerpot, and is later discarded, singing to us as an old piece of broken pottery who still has her memories.

You can listen to a computer-generated recording (with a synthetic oboe playing the part of the soprano) here. The music is available here from Subito Music.




December 2007

Transcriptions: Music for Soprano and String Quartet

I made these transcriptions of ever-popular music for fun and pleasure, and will be adding to the folder (the contents of which I dare not name on these internets) from time to time.

There are also some parts for clarinet to substitute for the vocal line for some of the songs. Any C instrument can, of course, play the vocal line of the above transcriptions.

Transcription: Schubert Serenade for String Quartet

You can get the score and parts here. I have also put a version of this for soprano and string quartet on the same page of the IMSLP. It is listed under "Standchen No. 4 from Schwanengesang, D 957."