Limerick Study 1, for SATB Choir

There once was a man named McSweeney
Who spilled some gin on his weenie.
So just to be couth,
He added vermouth
And he slipped his girlfriend a martini
Additional Vocals by Marjorie Halloran.

Water Stage, for AATB Saxophone Quartet

Maybe my first piece where there’s not a gag somewhere, but no less lighthearted than usual. This is the first piece where I really felt like I took all of my favorite styles of music and really made them work together. The video game music influence is especially strong, but there’s also a hint of big band swing and some sweeping Romantic music in there.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

This piece lives at the place where dark comedy meets minimalism. Inspired by my work in mental health, the piece is built on motifs – representing intrusive thoughts – that must be played again and again until they all end at the same time. Eventually this becomes impossible, and the piece collapses under its own weight. Yuezhi Dou gives an incredible performance, both acting and musically.

One Place in New England (Sketches of Revere Beach)

A sort of response to Ravel and Debussey’s romanticizing of the sea, I wrote a piece about things I’d experienced at Boston’s Revere Beach, both good and bad, all framed by a transition meant to invoke the waves. This recording is from a composition workshop by Meridian Arts Ensemble.
Movements:
I. A Morbidly Obese Woman is Throwing French Fries at a Couple of Chinese Tourists. She Yells at Them to “Go Back to Islam.” (starts at 0:42)
II. Kite Festival (starts at 2:00)
III. The Reason We Don’t Feed the Gulls (starts at 3:32)
IV. 19 Fireworks Displays Across the Horizon (starts at 4:47)