Juvenilia
Piano Sonata No. 1
Piano Sonata No. 1 was begun in high school and completed during my first semester at The Juilliard School. It was premièred at the school in the Spring of 1965. The second movement was subsequently arranged for string orchestra. At the time, the Sonata was frequently performed, both live as well as across various broadcast media.
Piano Sonata No. 2
The Beast
My Piano Sonata No. 2 was written in the Autumn of 1965, as I entered my second semester at The Juilliard School. The Sonata is in one movement, divided into three parts. Please see below for some explanatory notes and the dedications, plus selected sample pages from throughout the score.
Wind Trio
for Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon
My Wind Trio (for Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon) was begun while I was a High School student, and finished my first year at The Juilliard School. A lyrical, song-like middle movement is framed by 1st and 3rd movements of a quick, sprightly, joyous nature. I remember so well avid, precocious teenage composers attempting to chase down instrumentalists in the halls of Juilliard in hopes of getting their compositions played on a composition concert. Most ran the other way when they saw one of us coming - and really, they did have better things to do. But not the late, great Bernadette Zirkuli, Bassoonist, Contrabassoonist (with the Metropolitan Opera,) pianist, a brilliant, tough girl from Queens, New York, who became a lifelong friend and, eventually, my near-neighbor. At least for me, this relatively brief piece keeps her memory and spirit ever-present. Includes full score and a set of parts.
The Schoolboy's Dilemma, Solved
Prelude and Fugue in Bb Major, for Piano
Any serious music student (and some, to their misfortune, not so serious) has had to endure exposure to studies in counterpoint in some form or another. This may include so-called species counterpoint (the art and style of the late-Renaissance and early Baroque,) and high Baroque counterpoint and beyond - the great contrapuntal masterpieces of Bach, Handel, Mozart, Haydn, and late Beethoven, among many others - truthfully, often astonishing in their intellectual and expressive genius. Undoubtedly, all along the way, the student must write and solve countless exercises as studies proceed and progress. It is said that no less than Franz Schubert, who took up the formal study of counterpoint late in life (that is, when he was about thirty) filled dozens upon dozens of counterpoint books with exercises. The comprehensive study of counterpoint can be fun, grueling, vision-changing, and utterly exhausting all at the same time.
On a blazingly hot July 4th many years ago, friends and I were gathered at my New York, non-air-conditioned apartment for the holiday festivities and to await the fireworks. On the radio suddenly a heavy, Baroque, string-laden slow fugue came on and mixed with the hot soggy air like pork suet simmering in a Louisiana swamp. It recalled all of my own experiences with the study of counterpoint (as described above,) and it had me wondering how much, and what, I had actually learned, if anything. To await the fireworks, I sat down and wrote the present Schoolboy’s Dilemma, Solved while awaiting the 4th of July finale.
I guess I wasn’t quite done with my studies after all!
