SKU: CF.FAS108F

ISBN 9781491151761. UPC: 680160909261. 9 x 12 inches.

Annie's Gone Home, composed in the style of a spiritual, was written as a tribute to composer Bud Woodruff's mother. The tune is built on phrases of easily understandable material, but the poignant nature of the piece is marked with profundity. From the subtle bass solo to the emotional high points, the piece is inspired by this strong woman in the life of the composer.

Annies Gone Home is a tribute to my Mother, Annette Fenner Hains (19232017). Her siblings and cousins always called her Annie. She loved music, and her influence was the primary inspiration for me to go into music. Her tastes were wildly diverse, loving everything from symphonic music to Country/Western, to various styles of folk music, to pop, to marches, but she had a very tender spot for hymns and spirituals.

While it is easy to interpret grief in this music, and its presence is undeniable, it is really intended more as a song of the ultimate triumph of goodness. In her wisdom, she was able to capture deep thoughts within simple phrases, which I have also tried to capture. Her life was one of frequent struggles, yet she was inspiring to many. She emerged from every difficulty, never unscathed, but always victorious, with clear eyes and head held high, until her last battle, which brought about her greatest victory. This sentiment is what I tried to capture. If too slow a tempo is taken, that feeling is lost and a sense of grief takes over. That may be what a conductor wants to convey, but is not what I intended.

Annieas Gone HomeA is a tribute to my Mother, Annette Fenner Hains (1923a2017). Her siblings and cousins always called her aAnnie.a She loved music, and her influence was the primary inspiration for me to go into music. Her tastes were wildly diverse, loving everything from symphonic music to Country/Western, to various styles of folk music, to pop, to marches, but she had a very tender spot for hymns and spirituals.

While it is easy to interpret grief in this music, and its presence is undeniable, it is really intended more as a song of the ultimate triumph of goodness. In her wisdom, she was able to capture deep thoughts within simple phrases, which I have also tried to capture. Her life was one of frequent struggles, yet she was inspiring to many. She emerged from every difficulty, never unscathed, but always victorious, with clear eyes and head held high, until her last battle, which brought about her greatest victory. This sentiment is what I tried to capture. If too slow a tempo is taken, that feeling is lost and a sense of grief takes over. That may be what a conductor wants to convey, but is not what I intended.

Annieas Gone HomeA is a tribute to my Mother, Annette Fenner Hains (1923a2017). Her siblings and cousins always called her aAnnie.a She loved music, and her influence was the primary inspiration for me to go into music. Her tastes were wildly diverse, loving everything from symphonic music to Country/Western, to various styles of folk music, to pop, to marches, but she had a very tender spot for hymns and spirituals.

While it is easy to interpret grief in this music, and its presence is undeniable, it is really intended more as a song of the ultimate triumph of goodness. In her wisdom, she was able to capture deep thoughts within simple phrases, which I have also tried to capture. Her life was one of frequent struggles, yet she was inspiring to many. She emerged from every difficulty, never unscathed, but always victorious, with clear eyes and head held high, until her last battle, which brought about her greatest victory. This sentiment is what I tried to capture. If too slow a tempo is taken, that feeling is lost and a sense of grief takes over. That may be what a conductor wants to convey, but is not what I intended.

Annie's Gone Home is a tribute to my Mother, Annette Fenner Hains (1923-2017). Her siblings and cousins always called her Annie. She loved music, and her influence was the primary inspiration for me to go into music. Her tastes were wildly diverse, loving everything from symphonic music to Country/Western, to various styles of folk music, to pop, to marches, but she had a very tender spot for hymns and spirituals.

While it is easy to interpret grief in this music, and its presence is undeniable, it is really intended more as a song of the ultimate triumph of goodness. In her wisdom, she was able to capture deep thoughts within simple phrases, which I have also tried to capture. Her life was one of frequent struggles, yet she was inspiring to many. She emerged from every difficulty, never unscathed, but always victorious, with clear eyes and head held high, until her last battle, which brought about her greatest victory. This sentiment is what I tried to capture. If too slow a tempo is taken, that feeling is lost and a sense of grief takes over. That may be what a conductor wants to convey, but is not what I intended.

SKU: P2.30116

Invisible Orthodoxy features extremes of density and space: the densities give way to the space. Ideally this piece will be performed in a small to medium sized recital hall where the performer can play acoustically (no microphone on the clarinet) and the playback will need to be in stereo. The timing of the tape and the solo part are very flexible in terms of how they should line up with each other for any given performance. The soloist should rehearse with the recording and establish their own timeline, similar to the one that is provided as an example, but ideally the soloist will build in a good amount of flexibility to their own version of the timeline. The core idea here is don't panic. Audiences are very sensitive to the tension within a performer, and this piece is meant to prioritize the calm, solid core of the performer's attitude and personality, i.e. the performer is calm and in control, both when playing very dense, rapid material and when leaving large gaps of space for the recording and the ambience of the performance space to speak louder than the solo for extended periods. IF you are getting ahead of the recording when practicing with it, just add more space between phrases and statements, particularly in movements II, IV, and V. Specifically, when exiting and re-entering the stage area in movement IV, do not run, rush or hurry. There is plenty of time built into the tape part for you to get back to the stage, even if you went up to a balcony (which is recommended when possible) to play your half-clarinet part. note that you should slowly move between several locations to play these ad lib. statements, and slowly return to the stage during or after the truck sond. Optimally you would have a dress rehearsal in the performance space, rehearsing with the feel of the space and timing within it so you can rehearse not hurrying. Again in mvt. V, leave plenty of space and really take some expressive freedoms in terms of the timing of the solo. You should actually be feeling the energy field of your heart during this movement; audiences are also sensitive to that, so make yourself vast and humble.

SKU: MN.56-0026

UPC: 688670220319. Latin. Matthew 5:3-11.

Written for the Enchanted Voices CD, this is one of many settings of texts either from the Beatitudes (or springing from them) available from this composer. For soprano solo and SS chorus, organ, cello, and handbells, the music has a light, ethereal feeling. The text is entirely in Latin and begins with a chant-like melody in unison. The cello begins to dialogue with this melody offset by a measure. The soloist is heard next in music that also dialogues with the cello, both a bit more complex than the beginning. All voices take up the solo passage, the cello commenting. The voices go into canon at the half measure, the cello continues with its own melody. The piece returns to unison and ends quietly. Duration 7:10

SKU: MN.56-0023

UPC: 688670220289. Latin. Matthew 5:3-11.

Written for the Enchanted Voices CD, this is one of many settings of texts either from the Beatitudes (or springing from them) available from this composer. For two soprano soloists and SA treble chorus (marked Soprano I and Soprano II in the score), cello, organ, and synthesizer, the music has a light, ethereal feeling. The Beatitudes text is set here entirely in Latin. Beginning in a meditative chant-like style, the music moves to a sort of dialogue duet, sometimes between the two soprano sections and sometimes between the two soloists. The music is sweet, lyrical, and calm. Duration 4:10

SKU: MN.56-0027

UPC: 688670220326. Latin. Matthew 5:3-11.

Written for the Enchanted Voices CD, this is one of many settings of texts either from the Beatitudes (or springing from them) available from this composer. For soprano solo and SS chorus (there are two measures of SSA divisi), organ, and handbells, the music has a light, ethereal feeling. The cello begins on a chant-like melody which the soloist repeats. Then all voices take up the melody. The length of the perhaps unfamiliar Latin text is offset by the simplicity of the beautiful vocal line. Duration 6:04

SKU: PR.16400222S

UPC: 680160037841.

This work follows my Quartet No. 1 by five years. In terms of style and aesthetic aim, however, it seems light years away. Where the first work, a 28-minute, four-movement piece, took aim at cosmic conflicts and heroic resolutions, the present work is intended as a kind of divertissment. Harbor Music lasts a mere eleven minutes, is cast in a single movement with six sections, and should leave both performers and listeners with a feeling of good humor and affection.   The title comes from my experience as a guest in the magnificent city of Sydney, Australia. One of its most attractive features is its unique system of ferry boats: the city is laid out around a large, multi-channeled harbor, with destinations more easily approached by water than by land. Consequently, inhabitants of Sydney get around on small, people-friendly boats that come and go from the central docks at Circular Quay. During a week's visit in 1991, I must have boarded these boats at least a dozen times, always bound for a new location - the resort town of Manley, or the Zoo at Taronga Park, or the shopping district at Darling Harbour.   In casting about for a form for my second string quartet, a kind of loose rondo came to mind. Each new destination would be approached from the same starting-out point (although there are subtle variations in the repeating theme; it's always in a new key, and the texture is never the same). The result, I hope, is a sense of constant new information presented with introductory frames of a more familiar nature.   The embarkation theme, which begins the piece, is a sort of bi-tonal fanfare in which the violins are in G major and the viola and cello are in B-flat major. It is bold, eager, and forward-looking. The first voyage maintains this bi-tonality, beginning as a 9/8 due for second violin and viola in a kind of rocking motion -much as a boat produces when reaching the deeper water in the harbor. A sweet, nostalgic theme emerges over this rocking accompaniment. This music is developed somewhat, then transforms quickly into a much faster and lighter episode, filled with rising and falling scales (again, in differing keys). A scherzando interlude in short notes and changing meters provides contrast, and the episode ends with a reprise of the scales.   The second embarkation follows, this time in A major/C major. It leads quickly into a very warm and slow theme, in wide-leaping intervals for the viola. This section is interrupted twice by solo cadenzas for the cello, suggesting distant boat-horns in major thirds. The end of the episode becomes a transition, with boat-horns leading into the final appearance of the embarkation music, this time in trills and tremolos instead of sharply accented chords. The nostalgic theme of the first episode makes a final appearance, serving now as a coda. The rocking motion continues, in a lullaby fashion, leaving us drowsy and satisfied on our homeward journey.   Harbor Music was written for the Cavani Quartet, and is dedicated to Richard J. Bogomolny. Commissioned by his employees at First National Supermarkets as a gift, it represents a thank you from many of the people (including this composer) who have benefitted from his vision and generosity. An ardent advocate of chamber music (and a cellist himself), Mr. Bogomolny has for many years been Chairman of the Board of Chamber Music America. -- Dan Welcher.

SKU: MN.56-0025

UPC: 688670220302. Latin. Matthew 5:3-11.

Written for the Enchanted Voices CD, this is one of many settings of texts either from the Beatitudes (or springing from them) available from this composer. For two-part treble chorus, cello, organ, and handbells, the music has a light, ethereal feeling. The piece begins in unison on a lyrical theme, which the cello echoes next in a 30-measure solo. The voices enter again with the theme, expanded to two parts. After brief restatement in the cello, the piece returns to a quiet, unison ending. Duration 5:02