David Ludwig: Music

 
 
Music to Download: Updated: 10-06-07 Below are links to my pieces to which you can listen. All of the files are mp3’s and should play on most computers. In no way are these music files to be reproduced, duplicated, or archived (i.e. burnt to CD or other mechanical medium for any use other than personal) without my own express and consent. All original material on this page is under copyright by the composer (that’s me), all rights reserved: BMI, New York. The music is here for you to listen to as much as you want, and if you would like a CD, please drop me a line! Some of my music is available for download at instantencore.com. Check it out! Here is my list of works I hope you enjoy what you hear. -David www.davidludwigmusic.com Chamber Music: Haiku Catharsis (2004) was written for the eighth blackbird ensemble and was commissioned by the American Composers Forum and the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. It is a set of four miniatures inspired by haiku that represent the seasons. Duration: ca. 7 minutes 1. Haiku Catharsis: Night 2. Haiku Catharsis: Covered with Flowers 3. Haiku Catharsis: Late Cicadas 4. Haiku Catharsis: Temple Bell The Catherine Wheel (2002) was written for oboist Katherine Needleman and was commissioned through Astral Artistic Services. The first performance featured Needleman, Michi Wiancko, violin, Che-Hung Chen, viola, and Clancy Newman, cello. Program notes can be downloaded here. Duration: ca. 20 minutes 1. The Catherine Wheel Part I 2. The Catherine Wheel Part II: “Rose Window” 3. The Catherine Wheel Part III Sonata for Flute and Piano (2002) was commissioned by flutist Jeffrey Khaner and premiered in 2003. This is a studio recording with flutist Jasmine Nakyung Choi and pianist Nicholas Ong. It is set as a traditional three movement sonata, and I was inspired by the idea of writing something lyrical and expressive while still using a modern musical language. The outer movements drive with rhythmic music while the inner one is basically a dark ballade. The last movement uses an Argentine folk song that hails back to Europe originally and that I used in my “Autumn Variations” trio. 1. Flute Sonata I: Con moto Flute Sonata II: Misterioso Flute Sonata III: Con moto Three Portraits of Isabella (2004) was written after my residency in the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in Boston. It’s really a wonderful place you should check out if you haven’t been. I actually was a “resident” there, living in the museum. These short piano works are based on three different portraits of Mrs. Gardner as they reflect stages in her life from youth to old age. You can see the portraits and visit the museum site here (the outer movements are on portraits by Sargent and the middle by Zorn). The piece was written for and premiered by pianist Jeremy Denk. Duration: ca. 12 minutes 1. Three Portraits of Isabella: Isabella Stewart Gardner 2. Three Portraits of Isabella: Isabella in Venice 3. Three Portraits of Isabella: Mrs. Gardner in White Dances of Light (2000) was written with a grant from the Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts to be played on the Schneider Chamber Series (of the NY String Seminar) and on the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society series. The work was commissioned for the Divertimento Trio, which includes Soovin Kim, violin, Michael Tree, violist, and cellist Margo Drakos. This performance is from another series. Duration: ca. 18 minutes 1. Dances of Light: Dance of the Seekers 2. Dances of Light: Dances of Perpetual Revelation 3. Dances of Light: Dance of Light Autumn Variations (2002) was born out of an idea Soovin Kim had to get guitarist Jason Vieux and cellist Efe Baltacigil together for the “Hill and Hollow” music festival in Saranac, New York. The piece is a set of variations based on a children’s song adapted from Argentina. The poem and the names of the ten movements can be found here. Duration: ca. 14 minutes Autumn Variations The Clarinet Quintet “Poems from Antiquity” (1998) is an older piece of mine that was first performed in a private home in Philadelphia and first publicly performed at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont. The piece is inspired out of ancient poetic forms of the Troubadours, and the movements follow suit formally. The work was dedicated to my grandmother Irene Busch Serkin after her death a few months before. In the last movement, all of the players get up one by one and leave the stage as a kind of “Farewell Symphony” for her. Clarinetist Michael Rusinek premiered the work in Philly and the ensemble at Marlboro included clarinetist Anthony McGill, violinists Ivan Chan and Tim Fain, violist Brian Chen, and cellist Margo Tatgenhorst Drakos. Duration: ca. 18 minutes 1. Clarinet Quintet: Villanelle 2. Clarinet Quintet: Sonnet 3. Clarinet Quintet: Monody 4. Clarinet Quintet: Doggerel 5. Clarinet Quintet: Rondeau Aigaios (2007) (string quartet) was written for my residency at the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival. The director asked for a piece that would somehow reflect the events from the book “The Perfect Storm” (so much music seems to be about storms...) Rather than try to program out the whole book, I opted to try to capture the violence of the waves leading up to the moment the Andrea Gale was impaled by water rushing in all around. This leads to serenity to end the piece using only the open strings of the quartet (maybe the “eye” of the storm, or maybe the serenity of the passing sailors). The music ends in total contrast to the beginning, as peacefully and quietly as possible. Duration: ca. 6.5 minutes Aigaios Pleiades (2005) was written for oboist Katherine Needleman as a “thank you” and acknowledgment of our fruitful work together. It was premiered with pianist Amy Klosterman on the “Music From the Great Hall” series in Baltimore and will be featured on Katherine’s debut recording. I knew I wanted to write a seven movement work of miniatures, so I “googled” the number “7” and found this pertinent stellar constellation. The Goddesses called “Pleiades” by the ancient Greeks worked especially well given the devastation of hurricanes at that time. Images from that tragedy were always on my mind then, and the seventh of the Pleiades was a poignant idea for me. Duration: ca. 14 minutes Available at Instant Encore.com Orchestral Music: My Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (2004) was written for the first part of my “Music Alive!” residency with the Vermont Symphony with conductor Jaime Laredo. “Music Alive!” is a program created by “Meet The Composer” to fund residencies with orchestras all over the US. I have since received a residency extension with MTC for another three years with the VSO. It’s a wonderful orchestra. The piece leads on a journey directly inspired by the myth of Orpheus (though that doesn’t need to be recognized to listen to the music). I wrote a very extensive blog as a part of the residency detailing my own work on the piece from the beginning of its writing to the performance. You can read that through the VSO website here. Apparently, I’m heavy on the exclamation points... The Concerto was written for Margo Tatgenhorst Drakos and Jaime Laredo for the VSO’s Seventieth Anniversary concert at the Flynn Center in Burlington. Duration: ca. 24 minutes 1. Concerto for Cello and Orchestra: Descent 2. Concerto for Cello and Orchestra: “Lura Agonia” 3. Concerto for Cello and Orchestra: Caccia Concertino (2005)–I wrote this short work for Jaime Laredo and the VSO to tour with for their “Made in Vermont” annual barnstorm around the state (with a little New Hampshire thrown in). Jaime and the orchestra performed the piece ten times in two weeks (I conducted). It was ridiculously fun. The work is a three-movement “neo-Baroque” piece (and on the request of the commission, the orchestra is looking for music to speak to a wide range of audiences for the tour). I’m including the second “slow movement” entitled “Recitative-Aria.” 1. Concertino mvt II: “Recitative-Aria” Radiance (2003) was commissioned by the Richmond Symphony and premiered by oboist Michael Lisicky. It is for oboe with string orchestra accompaniment and was meant to be played with a short concerto (like the Martinu). It was last performed in Carnegie Hall and was particularly admired by Trey Anastasio from Phish. This is the closest I’ll get to being a rock star. The piece was inspired by long, glowing, “radiant” nights at the Yaddo artist colony in the height of a summer residency there. Duration: ca. 8 minutes Radiance Vocal Music: “The Choir” was written for conductor Robert DeCormier for the Seventieth Anniversary concert of the Vermont Symphony and chorus. It is from a text by Vermont poet Gallway Kinnell. Duration: ca. 3 minutes “The New Colossus” was written for conductor Judith Clurman and the Todi music singers. It is a patriotic anthem setting the poem by Emma Lazarus from the Statue of Liberty. The poem welcomes anyone and everyone (the “wretched refuse”) to America and seemed an appropriate remembrance of September 11th; the event it was commissioned to commemorate. Duration: ca. 3 minutes The Choir (2004) The New Colossus (2002) (available at instantencore.com) The “Bucks County Country Day Songs” (2000) are some of the works of which I am most proud! They were written for the children’s chorus of the Bucks Country Day school using poetry of 2nd graders (I picked two of the submitted poems--one by Emma Briggs and one by Kyle Brooks.). It was reported to me that they broke into “I Believe Cats are the Highest Jumpers” on the bus--what is cooler than that for a composer? Things to do in a Park.mp3 Cats Are the Highest Jumpers You can download a complete list of works below. Most are available for sale through my publishing company “Unicursal Publications.” For more information or to just say “hello”, please email me at dludwig@verizon.net List of works mailto:dludwig@verizon.net?subject=CDhttp://www.instantencore.comMusic_files/works%20list.pdfhttp://www.davidludwigmusic.comMusic_files/Haiku%20Catharsis%20web%20prog%20notes.docMusic_files/Haiku%20Catharsis%20I.mp3Music_files/Haiku%20Catharsis%20II.mp3Music_files/Haiku%20Catharsis%20III%202.mp3Music_files/Haiku%20Catharsis%20IV.mp3Music_files/The%20Catherine%20Wheel%20notes.docMusic_files/The%20Catherine%20Wheel%20I.mp3Music_files/The%20Catherine%20Wheel%20II.mp3Music_files/The%20Catherine%20Wheel%20III.mp3Music_files/Flute%20Sonata%20I%20Con%20moto.mp3Music_files/Flute%20Sonata%20II%20Misterioso.mp3Music_files/Flute%20Sonata%20III%20Con%20moto.mp3http://www.gardnermuseum.org/Music_files/I.%20Isabella%20Stewart%20Gardner.mp3Music_files/II.%20Isabella%20in%20Venice.mp3.mp3Music_files/III.%20Isabella%20in%20White.mp3.mp3Music_files/Dances%20of%20Light%20I.snd.mp3Music_files/Dances%20of%20Light%20II.snd.mp3Music_files/Dances%20of%20Light%20III.snd.mp3Music_files/Autumn%20Var%20inner%20page.pdfMusic_files/Autumn%20Variations.mp3.mp3Music_files/Clarinet%20Qnt.%20I.mp3Music_files/Clarinet%20Qnt.%20II.mp3Music_files/Clarinet%20Qnt.%20III.mp3Music_files/Clarinet%20Qnt.%20IV.mp3Music_files/Clarinet%20Qnt.%20V.mp3Music_files/Aigaios.mp3http://www.instantencore.comhttp://www.vso.org/Music_files/Cello%20Concerto%20I.mp3.mp3Music_files/Cello%20Concerto%20II.mp3.mp3Music_files/Cello%20Concerto%20III.mp3.mp3Music_files/Concertino%20II%20editmp3.mp3Music_files/Radiance.mp3.mp3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_ColossusMusic_files/The%20Choir.mp3.mp3http://www.instantencore.comhttp://www.instantencore.comMusic_files/Things%20to%20do%20in%20a%20Park.mp3Music_files/Cats%20Are%20the%20Highest%20Jumpers.mp3mailto:dludwig@verizon.net?subject=Website%20linkMusic_files/works%20list_1.pdfshapeimage_2_link_0shapeimage_2_link_1shapeimage_2_link_2shapeimage_2_link_3shapeimage_2_link_4shapeimage_2_link_5shapeimage_2_link_6shapeimage_2_link_7shapeimage_2_link_8shapeimage_2_link_9shapeimage_2_link_10shapeimage_2_link_11shapeimage_2_link_12shapeimage_2_link_13shapeimage_2_link_14shapeimage_2_link_15shapeimage_2_link_16shapeimage_2_link_17shapeimage_2_link_18shapeimage_2_link_19shapeimage_2_link_20shapeimage_2_link_21shapeimage_2_link_22shapeimage_2_link_23shapeimage_2_link_24shapeimage_2_link_25shapeimage_2_link_26shapeimage_2_link_27shapeimage_2_link_28shapeimage_2_link_29shapeimage_2_link_30shapeimage_2_link_31shapeimage_2_link_32shapeimage_2_link_33shapeimage_2_link_34shapeimage_2_link_35shapeimage_2_link_36shapeimage_2_link_37shapeimage_2_link_38shapeimage_2_link_39shapeimage_2_link_40shapeimage_2_link_41shapeimage_2_link_42shapeimage_2_link_43shapeimage_2_link_44shapeimage_2_link_45