This piece was commissioned by Arquin Abaya, a Music Education student and clarinet player at CSUF. It is one of my largest works to date in terms of both length and instrumentation. I drew influence from wind repertoire like Poulanc’s Sextet for Piano and Wind Quintet, video game soundtracks like Final Fantasy 9, and pop music such as Dream Theater’s The Astonishing. The piece features an interplay between ensemble writing and I intend for this to be the first movement of a larger work to come. Be sure to listen for the arching clarinet and flute solos in the slow middle section.

This is my Senior Composition Recital, performed on May 11, 2018. This represents the culmination of my education as a composer at California State University, Fullerton.

I graduated in the Spring of 2018 with a Bachelor of Music Degree in Composition.

Program:
Hypnagogia (2017) 0:38
Michelle Duong, Piano

String Suite for Violin & Cello (2015) 7:11
1. Allemande
2. Minuet
3. Gavotte
Pebbles Tsai, Violin
Celianne Aquino, Cello

Three Moon Songs (2017) 12:25
1. Dein Silber schien
2. Clair de lune
3. Child Moon
Omar Rodriguez, Baritone
Michelle Duong, Piano
Griffin Romley, Guitar

Brass Quintet No. 1 in C Major (2016) 19:13
Éclectique for Brass Quintet (2016) 22:00
“DT JIVE”
Ivan Morales, Joey Hotta, Trumpet
Tim Moy, Horn
Dan “Pretty Good” Damore, Trombone
Erick Velasco, Tuba

Escaping Reflections (2017) 25:41
Multimedia Presentation
Lily Fassnacht, Megan Conaty, Video Artists

Adventure! (2018) 28:58
Madeline Brydges, Flute
Arquin Abaya, Clarinet
Pebbles Tsai, Violin
Celianne Aquino, Cello
Michelle Duong, Piano

Unfolding (2016) 31:57
Noah Telles,
Kristian De Leon,
James Werrett, Percussion

Wind Octet No. 1 (2018) 35:47
Madeline Brydges, Flute
Alice Morales, Oboe
David Sanchez, Ben Filler, Clarinet
Tim Moy, Alex Gellatly, Horn
Bryan Larios, Thomas Robinson, Bassoon

Text:
Dein Silber schien
Ludwig Christoph Heinrich Hölty

Dein Silber schien
Durch's Eichengrün,
Das Kühlung gab,
Auf mich herab,
O Mond, und lachte Ruh'
Mir frohem Knaben zu.

Wenn jetzt dein Licht
Durch's Fenster bricht,
Lacht's keine Ruh'
Mir Jüngling zu,
Sieht's meine Wange blaß,
Mein Aug' Tränen naß.

Bald, lieber Freund,
Ach! bald bescheint
Dein Silberschein
Den Leichenstein,
Der meine Asche birgt,
Des Jünglings Asche birgt!

Translation:
Your Silver Shone

Your silver shone
through green oaks,
bestowing a coolness
down on me,
O moon, and you smiled peace
on a happy boy.

When now your light
breaks through the window,
you smile no peace
down on this young man;
see my pale cheeks,
my eyes moist with tears.

Soon, dear friend,
ah, soon will shine
your silver light
on the tomb
that holds my ashes,
that holds this young man's ashes!

Text:
Clair de lune
Paul Verlaine

Votre âme est un paysage choisi
Que vont charmant masques et bergamasques,
Jouant du luth et dansant, et quasi
Tristes sous leurs déguisements fantasques!

Tout en chantant sur le mode mineur
L'amour vainqueur et la vie opportune.
Ils n'ont pas l'air de croire à leur bonheur,
Et leur chanson se mêle au clair de lune,

Au calme clair de lune triste et beau,
Qui fait rêver, les oiseaux dans les arbres,
Et sangloter d'extase les jets d'eau,
Les grands jets d'eau sveltes parmi les marbres.

Translation:
Moonlight

Your soul is a chosen landscape
charmed by masquers and revellers
playing the lute and dancing andzalmost
sad beneath their fanciful disguises!

Even while singing, in a minor key,
of victorious love and fortunate living
they do not seem to believe in their happiness, and their song mingles with the moonlight,

the calm moonlight, sad and beautiful,
which sets the birds in the trees dreaming, and makes the fountains sob with ecstasy, the tall slender fountains among the marble statues.

Text:
Child Moon
Carl Sandburg

The child's wonder
At the old moon
Comes back nightly.
She points her finger
To the far silent yellow thing
Shining through the branches
Filtering on the leaves a golden sand,
Crying with her little tongue, “See the moon!”
And in her bed fading to sleep
With babblings of the moon on her little mouth.

The Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble came to visit us here at CSUF early in the Spring 2018 semester, and I was given the incredible opportunity to have a piece read by them. The music is inspired by the Soarin’ Over California ride at Disneys’s California Adventure. This short, swashbuckling piece has many flourishing figures that contribute a sense of drive. After an introduction, the main theme is presented triumphantly. When it comes back later, it comes back reorchestrated and in a new key, making the material sound fresh and exciting again. I also experimented with meter changes that dovetail melodic and supporting musical content. This is one of my favorite pieces that I have composed so far, and I hope you like it, too.

This piece was written at the CSU Summer Arts International Brass Quintet Composition Workshop at CSU Monterey Bay, and premiered on July 20th, 2016 by the New York Philharmonic Principal Brass Quintet. The version played tonight is an edited version of that original performance, incorporating more of what I have learned about brass quintets and composition as a whole. The title comes from the variety of styles touched upon in the short three-minute piece. It feels like a musical theater overture, with themes coming back over and over in new ways each time.

This is my first venture into the exciting world of percussion. There are so many toys to choose from, so many mallets to hit things with – composing for these ensembles opens so many doors in terms of texture and timbre. I decided to use gongs, bass drum, toms, singing bowls, snare drums, woodblocks, metal water bottles, and chrome bowls. The mix of orchestral drums and found percussion like household objects examines the past and future of percussion music through a dichotomy of texture. The piece earns its name from the way it presents a simple rhythm, then spins it out in a variety of ways. I was inspired to write this piece by the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet, who came to demonstrate percussion techniques and performed as guest artists at CSUF.

I composed this score for the CSUF InterArts Collaborative Projects in Spring 2017. I loved the way the mirror in the video makes sharp, angular images that still look natural in the fascinating setting surrounding it. Collaborative works like this are my favorite to work on because the individual art forms become more than the sum of their parts, and I hope to do many more like it in my career.

This piece was my first foray into writing for brass. The brass quintet has become one of my favorite ensembles to compose for. I used this work as my submission to the CSU Summer Arts program. I love how similar brass ensembles are to vocal ensembles while opening a new world for me to explore. This piece achieves a unique color by toying with how whole tone scales accent major tonalities.

This Gavotte is the third movement of my String Suite.

Another piece from my early semesters in the composition program at CSUF, these stylized dances are an early exploration of 18th century counterpoint. I enjoyed juxtaposing old styles with my own. My music has been seriously influenced by video game scores, and that influence is very apparent here, especially in the Gavotte.

I wrote these songs in a graduate seminar taught by Dr. Pamela Madsen called The Art of Song. We explored the techniques of text setting in multiple languages, and I took on the extra challenge of trying to write for piano and guitar in a way that made them complement one another without competing with each other. Each song, all in different languages, expresses a different emotion while moongazing: mournful nostalgia, false happiness, and innocent excitement. I love how one subject can inspire such differing poetry. The moon is a mirror to the soul; whatever you see in it is what you find in yourself.

I wrote these songs in a graduate seminar taught by Dr. Pamela Madsen called The Art of Song. We explored the techniques of text setting in multiple languages, and I took on the extra challenge of trying to write for piano and guitar in a way that made them complement one another without competing with each other. Each song, all in different languages, expresses a different emotion while moongazing: mournful nostalgia, false happiness, and innocent excitement. I love how one subject can inspire such differing poetry. The moon is a mirror to the soul; whatever you see in it is what you find in yourself.

I wrote these songs in a graduate seminar taught by Dr. Pamela Madsen called The Art of Song. We explored the techniques of text setting in multiple languages, and I took on the extra challenge of trying to write for piano and guitar in a way that made them complement one another without competing with each other. Each song, all in different languages, expresses a different emotion while moongazing: mournful nostalgia, false happiness, and innocent excitement. I love how one subject can inspire such differing poetry. The moon is a mirror to the soul; whatever you see in it is what you find in yourself.

This Minuet is the second movement of my String Suite.

Another piece from my early semesters in the composition program at CSUF, these stylized dances are an early exploration of 18th century counterpoint. I enjoyed juxtaposing old styles with my own. My music has been seriously influenced by video game scores, and that influence is very apparent here, especially in the Gavotte.

The first of three pieces in my String Suite.

Another piece from my early semesters in the composition program at CSUF, these stylized dances are an early exploration of 18th century counterpoint. I enjoyed juxtaposing old styles with my own. My music has been seriously influenced by video game scores, and that influence is very apparent here, especially in the Gavotte.

This piece is based loosely on material from a previous work. That original composition was my Composer’s Forum debut here at CSUF, and revising it illuminated my growth as a composer. The piece is inspired by the physiological state of the same name; the state of consciousness that comes between sleep and wakefulness. If you have ever found yourself still dreaming while you hear your alarm interrupt, or if crossing over from sleep to being awake is a process for you, then you know what hypnagogia feels like. The music follows the progression of falling asleep, dreaming, and then finally waking up the next morning. There are a few quotes from other tunes embedded in the middle section. If you can identify them, then I owe you a soda.