Browse Items (868 total)

• In Bocca al Lupo

  IN BOCCA AL LUPO was composed during a year’s fellowship at the American Academy in Rome, and is a companion piece to SOGGIORNO, also for violin and tape. The title means, “Into the Mouth of the Wolf”, and is an Italian saying that is equivalent to our “Break a Leg”, which is said in an encouraging way to actors and performers who are heading onto the stage. Indeed, the beginning of the piece bursts into life, much as an excited performer would take the stage, and the extensive use of tremolo recalls the combination of nerves and bravado that all of us face in performance situations.
  
  The tape sounds consist entirely of violin samples recorded and stored on computer, then manipulated, edited, and mixed using Csound software. The resulting combination of live violinist and taped violin sounds takes on the character of a concerto for performer and him/herself, with a natural timbral unity between parts.
  
  This recording is a live performance in Austin, Texas by Jennifer Bourianoff-Luke in 1995.
  
  
  Composer contact: mobberleyj@umkc.edu
  
  Website (scores, recordings and info): http://jamesmobberleymusic.com
  

• Soggiorno

  Written for violinists Tiberius Klausner and Sylvian Iticovici. Concert recording by David Abel.
  
  Supported in part by a grant from the Missouri Arts Council.
  
  Composer contact: mobberleyj@umkc.edu
  
  Website (scores, recordings and info): http://jamesmobberleymusic.com

• Critical Mass

  Critical Mass is defined as “the smallest amount of fissionable material sufficient to sustain a chain reaction.” It seemed an appropriate title for this brief but energetic piece. The pre-recorded sounds on the CD were derived partly from organ sounds recorded by Karel Paukert at the Cleveland Museum of Art in January 1989, and partly from the digital synthesis facilities at the University of Missouri- Kansas City. Critical Mass is the sixth in a series of works for solo instrument and CD playback, and is dedicated to Karel Paukert. It was commissioned by Mr. Frank Griesinger for the Cleveland Museum of Art.

• Aspenglow

  Aspenglow (fixed media): The ASPEN system (Automated SPeech Exchange Network) was the first electronic telephone answering machine system at my university. With 80 faculty and staff answering messages, the possibilities for mischief were endless. Composer contact: mobberleyj@umkc.edu Website (scores, recordings and info): http://jamesmobberleymusic.com

• Dialogue

  Written for my perennial partner in tomfoolery, trombonist and unfathomably funny fellow, John Leisenring.
  
  PROGRAM NOTE: This work attempts to define, by example, the inherent discontinuity that exists between silicon- and carbon-based life forms. If desired, the audience can, at the end of the performance, determine which is superior. Or not. Whatever.
  
  NOTE: This work uses both live processing and fixed media.
  
  Composer contact: mobberleyj@umkc.edu
  
  Website (scores, recordings and info): http://jamesmobberleymusic.com
  

• Caution to the Winds

  Written for and recorded by pianist Richard Cass. Supported in part by the Missouri Music Teachers Association.
  
  Composer contact: mobberleyj@umkc.edu
  
  Website (scores, recordings and info): http://jamesmobberleymusic.com

• BEAMS!

  Written for and recorded by trombonist John Leisenring.
  
  Composer contact: mobberleyj@umkc.edu
  
  Website (scores, recordings and info): http://jamesmobberleymusic.com

• Going With the Fire

  Written for and recorded by flutist Mary Posses.
  
  Composer contact: mobberleyj@umkc.edu
  
  Website (scores, recordings and info): http://jamesmobberleymusic.com
  

• A Plurality of One

  A Plurality of One was commissioned by clarinetist Robert Hill for premiere in Cleveland, Ohio.  The idea for the piece came from a recording session which provided a variety of clarinet sounds for the composer to use in making the accompanying tape part – that is, to use ONLY clarinet sounds, thereby insuring a strict timbral unity between soloist and tape.  This recording is by clarinetist Patricia Kostek-Huebner.

  Composer contact:  mobberleyj@umkc.edu    

  Website (scores, recordings and info):  http://jamesmobberleymusic.com   

• Earth Tones

  Earth Tones was the first significant piece of electroacoustic music I wrote in graduate school (1978), and was created using a 4-track recorder, a Moog Mark IV, an Arp 2600 with sequencer and an EchoPlex (analog echo). It’s now become an homage to the wonderful synth sounds of the 1970s and to the meeting point between contemporary concert music and progressive rock — a place I’ve been exploring and mining now for decades. Thanks for the memories.

  Composer contact:  mobberleyj@umkc.edu    

  Website (scores, recordings and info):  http://jamesmobberleymusic.com