Jane Brockman, Composer

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Music for Chamber Ensembles
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DANCE OF SPIRALS, Trio for violin, cello and piano (12:00, 2008). Sorry, clip not up yet, so feel free to email for an MP3 download link.

Premiered by Roger Wilkie (vln.), Antonia Lysy (vc.) and Delores Stevens (pno.). Chamber Music Palisades Ded. 13, 2008.

The piece's title describes the shape of its ubiquitous theme. This is what happens when I can't get an idea out of my mind. It may hide, lurk behind trees and around corners, but it can leap out at any time. It may be fierce, sweet, friendly, romantic, sassy; it puts on Sunday clothes and makes nice. My mission has been to give this theme its own organic 'dance of life'.

STARSAIL TRIO for violin, cello and piano (13:00, 2008). Sorry, clip not up yet, so feel free to email for an MP3 download link.

Premiered by Mark Menzies (vln.), John Walz (vc.) and Delores Stevens (pno.). Chamber Music Palisades Mar. 21, 2008.

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The StarSail image was suggested by New York artist-photographer Bo Parker to NASA many years ago: a huge glistening sail made of gold leaf which is so light that it could rotate the earth indefinitely, powered by solar energy. StarSail would be literally uplifting--an art symbol which would raise millions of eyes to the heavens.

NASA was nonplused, but the concept launched a collaboration with New York dance company Randance and choreographer Randall Faxon-Parker. That was many years ago, and for some reason I recently had the idea of using the thematic material as the motivic source for a piano trio.

All of the music here is new and very different from the original, except for the final “theme”--the last ca.1 1/2 minutes, arranged for this ensemble.

LAW OF THE JUNGLE for marimba and piano (10:00, 2007). Sorry, clip not up yet, so feel free to email for an MP3 download link.

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Premiered by Delores Stevens (pno.) and Nicholas Terry (marimba).

Who could think about the marimba without images of Africa coming to mind? And what images of Africa do not include elephants? Section titles: Baby Elephant Walks, Beasts of the jungle, Stalked but Unaware, Trapped!, Life is Hard for a Working Elephant, Escape, Baby Elephant in Love, Coda.

FROM SECRET SPRINGS for flute, viola, cello, and piano (10:00, 2006). Sorry, clip not up yet, so feel free to email for an MP3 download link

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Premiered by Susan Greenberg (fl.), John Hayhurst (vla.), Armen Ksajikian (cello), and Delores Stevens (pno.) Music & Conversations, Los Angeles June 17, 2006. Dedicated to Ms. Stevens and Ms. Greenberg.

Not inspired by, but perfectly described by Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem, Mont Blanc (1817) first stanza:

The everlasting universe of things
Flows through the mind, and rolls its rapid waves,
Now dark--now glittering--now, reflecting gloom
Now lending splendour, where from secret springs
The source of human thought its tribute brings
Of waters--with a sound but half its own,
Such as a feeble brook will oft assume
In the wild woods, among the mountains lone,
Where waterfalls around it leap forever,
Where woods and winds contend, and a vast river
Over its rocks ceaselessly bursts and raves.

SCENES FROM LEMURIA for clarinet, and string quartet (13:00, 2006). Sorry, clip not up yet, so feel free to email for an MP3 download link.

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Premiered by William Powell (cl.), Mark Menzies and Eric Clark (vlns.), Nancy Uscher (vla.) and Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick (vc.) in REDCAT/Disney Hall, Los Angeles Mar. 14, 2006.

Many years ago, Bill Powell gave me a recording of an amazing improvisation he did, which he had labeled, “From Lemuria”. Lemuria, I learned, was an ancient mythical place which disappeared into the sea much like Atlantis, but in Lemuria, the arts and creativity were the focus of civilization. Bill’s improvisation, done completely extemporaneously, seemed to be pulling magic out of the ether.

That’s really what composition (and perhaps all creativity) seems to be. We study and theorize about much pre-existing music, but when composing becomes ‘flow’, it’s almost as if one is accessing information on another plane.

FEAST OF FIVES for flute, cello and piano (13:00, 2003). Sorry, clip not up yet, so feel free to email for an MP3 download link.

Recorded in 5:1 surround sound DVD and CD by ChamberMusic Palisades on AIX Records.

"Closing out the recital is American Jane Brockman’s Feast of Fives -- a trio for flute, cello, and piano that’s just 12 minutes in length yet symphonic in scope." The Absolute Sound

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Based on a relentless 5-note theme, which even exerts its tyranny over the meter of the piece--which is also relentless.For some reason, 5 has been neglected in music--we have lots of 2, 3, 4 and even 6. Yet 5 is tremendously important to humans. Besides the number of our fingers and toes, we have 5 senses. Leonardo's Microcosmic Man features man as five-pointed star inside a circle, and harks back to the star as ancient symbol of man. In the middle ages, you could use the power of 5 to dispell evil spirits, witches and goblins--if you needed to... For Pythagoras, 5 was the sum of the feminine element of 2 plus the masculine element of 3. There are so many other examples.Now you can forget all of this, and just enjoy the ride! JB

Commissioned by Chamber Music Palisades--Delores Stevens, Susan Greenberg with Steve Erdody. Premiered Jan. 2004. Just recorded (Dec. 2005) for an AIX Records DVD Ms. Greenberg, Ms. Stevens (Chamber Music Palisades), and Peter Stumpf (Principal Cellist, Los Angeles Philharmonic).

FANTASY ON A VOODOO RHYTHM for alto saxophone, cello, and piano (9:30, 2003/2006). Cello version of Fantasy on a Vodoun Rhythm (with violin). Sorry, clip not up yet, so feel free to email for an MP3 download link.

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The Voodoo rhythm heard throughout this work is something I discovered almost fifteen years ago after a trip to New Orleans inspired me to research Voodoo. And here, I have tried to capture the energy and excitement of that indigenous music--in a context that is purely mine. JB

Premiered by Douglas Masek, Kim Scholes, and Delores Stevens, Music & Conversations, Nov. 11, 2006. Diaphanous Music. Purchase score/CD or get perusal score.

FANTASY ON A VODOUN RHYTHM for violin, alto saxophone and piano (9:30, 2003).

Commissioned by John Sampen, and "The Cleveland Duo and James Umble". Premiered by James Umble and the Cleveland Duo at the World Saxophone Congress, Minneapolis, July 2003.

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The Vodoun rhythm heard throughout this work is something I discovered almost fifteen years ago after a trip to New Orleans inspired me to research Voodoo. And here, I have tried to capture the energy and excitement of that indigenous music--in a context that is purely mine. JB

Diaphanous Music. Purchase score/CD or get perusal score.

NIBIRU TRIO excerpts: group 1, group 2 for clarinet, violin and piano (16:00, 1999). The Titan Trio: Ernest Salem, William Powell and Cynthia Williams. Nibiru is the best kept secret in our solar system. An exotic tone poem based on Sumerian legend (ca. 2800BCE). For the Titan Trio.

Diaphanous Music. Purchase score/parts or get perusal score. Also available from Theodore Front Musical Literature Inc.

NIBIRU TRIO, arrangement for alto saxophone, violin and piano (16:00, 2001). Nibiru is the best kept secret in our solar system. An exotic tone poem based on Sumerian legend (ca. 2800BCE). For James Umble and the Cleveland Duo.

Diaphanous Music. Purchase score/parts or get perusal score. Also available from Theodore Front Musical Literature Inc.

SHADOWS (excerpt), Duo for Flute and Clarinet (6:00, 1982). Nancy Harman, fl. and David Harman, cl. The tradition of imitation which has historically inspired two voice music can be likened to an object and its shadow--continually evident in this composition. At times, the instrumental identities become obscured, and one is not certain which instrument is playing which line. The subtle shadow of Kundry's leitmotiv from Richard Wagner's Parsifal can also be sensed throughout the work. For David and Nancy Harman. Has been in the touring repertoire of the New Music Consort, New York City.

Published by Arsis Press (Purchase).

MUSIC FOR CLARINET AND PIANO (excerpts from the three movements) (10:00, 1981).
David Harman, cl., Benita Rose, pno. Explores the clarion register of the clarinet (and of course, the chalameau) with a highly evolved piano. Has been in the touring repertoire of Continuum, New York City, Cheryl Seltzer & Joel Sachs, directors, David Krakauer, clarinet.

Diaphanous Music. Purchase score/parts or get perusal score.

TWO-PIANO QUARTET, with Flute and Cello (7:30, 1980). Diaphanous Music.

DIVERGENCIES, Trio for Flute, Soprano Saxophone and Piano (10:00, 1975/2007).

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Music for Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra and Wind Ensemble
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PRELUDE TO NIBIRU (excerpts: group 1, group 2) for full orchestra (3333,4331,4, pno, hp, strings. Duration: 16:00, 1999). Nibiru is the best kept secret in our solar system. An exotic tone poem based on Sumerian legend (ca. 2800BCE).

Diaphanous Music. Purchase score or get perusal score. Also available from Theodore Front Musical Literature Inc.

STARSAIL for Chamber Orchestra (excerpts) for flute, oboe, harp, one percussionist & strings. Duration: 6:00, 1987/1998. A huge glistening sail made of gold leaf which is so light that it could rotate the earth indefinitely, powered by solar energy. StarSail would be literally uplifting--an art symbol which would raise millions of eyes to the heavens. NASA was nonplused by Bo Parker's suggestion, but the idea launched this piece. Originally a collaboration with choreographer Randall Faxon Parker.

Diaphanous Music. Purchase score/parts. Also available from Theodore Front Musical Literature Inc. Premiered by Carolann Martin.

PERIHELION II for String Orchestra (excerpts) (12:30, 1985), The Arioso String Orchestra conducted by Carolann Martin, recorded on Leonarda CD # LE327.Written in the year of the comet, Perihelion is the point in the orbit of a planet or comet where it passes closest to the sun. The piece, originally commissioned for string orchestra and digital sound evokes the analogy between planet and sun. This version for strings alone uses a smaller ensemble (a modern concertino) for what was previously the digital music.

Diaphanous Music. Recording: Leonarda CD Le 327 Arioso String Orchestra conducted by Carolann Martin. Dedicated to Cynthia Treggor and Arioso. Purchase score or get perusal score.

PERIHELION I for String Orchestra and Computer-Generated Sounds (12:30, 1985). (sorry--clip is not up yet) Written in the year of the comet, Perihelion is the point in the orbit of a planet or comet where it passes closest to the sun. The piece, commissioned for string orchestra and computer evokes the analogy between planet and sun. The digital sounds are Synclavier-basedDiaphanous Music.

Commissioned by the Hartt School of Music. Purchase score or get perusal score.

AUTUMNAL CONTRASTS for Wind Ensemble (30 players, 9:00, 1983) Purchase score/rent parts or get perusal score. Parts available on rental from Diaphanous Music. Also available from Carl Fischer Rental Library. Dedicated to Larry Rachleff, who conducted the premiere.

Music for Solo Instruments with or without Electronics
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FIREFLIES for Solo Flute (2:00, 2003). Sorry, clip not up yet. When Nina Assimakopoulos approached me about writing a piece for her recording project, Laurels, my thoughts immediately went to Tagore’s book, Fireflies (Beacon Press). Bengali poet, philosopher, mystic, painter, musician Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) won the Nobel prize in 1912.

"My fancies are fireflies,
specks of colored light
twinkling in the dark."

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Diaphanous Music: Purchase score

CIRCLES IN THE SUN: Clarinet Solo with Prerecorded Electronics on CD (in 3 movements, 15:00, 2002). Listen to each movement: I. Circles in the Ruins, II. Circles in the Sky, III. Circles in the Sun. This piece is hot off the presses--so the clarinet part is played by MIDI piano in movements I & II in these recordings.In Jorge Luis Borges' short story, "The Circular Ruins", a wizard paddles upstream to an overgrown abandoned ritual site in the forest, the sacred circle of the god of Fire. There through his dreams, after untold torment and numerous false starts over several years, he managed to produce a son. The first movement is a soundscape of this magical circular story, in which only Fire can distinguish between those who are dreamed and those who are real. Movements two and three continue the circular motif--bringing the magic into the sun. Movements can be performed separately.

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Diaphanous Music: Purchase score/parts or get perusal score. Also available from Theodore Front Musical Literature Inc.

CIRCLES IN THE SKY: Clarinet Solo with Prerecorded Electronics on CD (one movement, 4:00, 2002). This is an expanded version of the second movement of CIRCLES IN THE SUN above. Sorry, clip not up yet.

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Commissioned by F. Gerard Errante. Diaphanous Music. Purchase score/parts or get perusal score.

TAGORE SONGS: Clarinet Solo with Prerecorded Electronics on CD (10:00, 1997). Four movements. Listen to excerpts from:
I: A lurid glow waxes & wanes on the horizon...what was sorrow has become peace.
IV: Where roads are made, I lose my way...

F. Gerard Errante, clarinet. From his CD on Drimala, Beyond Noend with Errante. In India, a young performer learns his instrument by studying with a singer--so the music will always a a vocal foundation. I’ve tried to emulate this, and the improvisatory spirit of the music, although the piece is fully notated. The movement titles are fragments from the writings of Bengali poet, philosopher, mystic, painter, musician Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) whose work, revisited recently, holds even more power for me than it did twenty years ago. The inspiration for this piece came from William Powell, one of its dedicatees, whose knowledge and deep love of Indian music caused me to explore it as a source of alternative resources. As well as the prerecorded electronics on CD, the second movement employs a pitch to MIDI converter, the PitchRider, which allows the clarinet real-time control of an additional synthesizer. A pick-up microphone in the clarinet is also connected to reverb and delay devices. The other three movement of the piece can be performed without this movement, if a pitch to MIDI converter is unavailable. Movements can be performed separately.

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Diaphanous Music. Purchase score/parts or get perusal score. Also available soon from Theodore Front Musical Literature Inc. Recording Drimala CDs: Beyond Noend with Errante. F. Gerard Errante, Clarinet with Electronics. Dedicated to William Powell and F. Gerard Errante.

Another fine recording by Australian clarinetist Ros Dunlop, Great White Noise: Proceeds from this recording to be donated to Glendale Day Centre for the Intellectually Disabled and Ahisann ("Light and Friendship")--a refuge for young disabled Timorese men.

TAGORE SONGS: Soprano Saxophone Solo with Prerecorded Electronics on CD (9:00, 1997). Three movements. Premiered by by Allen Cordingly at the World Saxophone Congress, Minneapolis, July 2003.

Recorded on Capstone Records CD by Demetrius Spaneas.

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Diaphanous Music. Purchase score/parts or get perusal score. Also available soon from Theodore Front Musical Literature Inc.

TENACIOUS TURNS (excerpts): Clarinet with Pitch-to-MIDI Converter and Prerecorded CD (13:00, 1991). William Powell, clarinet.

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Program Notes: After a lifetime of writing nontonal music, I am presently concerned with exploring the kinkier regions of tonality. The turn, a baroque ornament which encircles a particular pitch, governs the small and large-scale aspects of this piece. In terms of large-scale structure, this can produce some very strange ways of approaching closely related tonal centers. Emotionally, (I hope) the result produces an exotic yet somehow deeply familiar listening experience.(JB) The piece includes a prerecorded CD and employs a pitch to MIDI converter, the PitchRider, which allows the clarinet real-time control of an additional synthesizer. A pick-up microphone in the clarinet is also connected to reverb and delay devices. Dedicated to William Powell.

Diaphanous Music. Purchase score/parts or get perusal score. Also available soon from Theodore Front Musical Literature Inc.

TENACIOUS TURNS : Saxophones (soprano and alto--one player) and Prerecorded CD (13:00, 1991/2006). Recorded for Centaur CDs by Douglas Masek.

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Program Notes: After a lifetime of writing nontonal music, I am presently concerned with exploring the kinkier regions of tonality. The turn, a baroque ornament which encircles a particular pitch, governs the small and large-scale aspects of this piece. In terms of large-scale structure, this can produce some very strange ways of approaching closely related tonal centers. Emotionally, (I hope) the result produces an exotic yet somehow deeply familiar listening experience.(JB) Can be performed with or without delay and pitch follower devices.

NINGANA (excerpts from mvts. I & II): Clarinet with pitch-to-MIDI converter and CD(9:00. 1989). William Powell, clarinet.

NINGANA was written for clarinetist F. Gerard Errante, and was first performed at the 1989 Clarinet Fest International in Minneapolis."Ningana", a Maori word meaning "resting place", was suggested as a title by Mr. Errante, who has a special interest in the music of Australia and New Zealand. This might suggest that the piece is restful in nature--actually, the resting places in this work are more in the form of tonal arrivals. The same basic materials comprise two very different movements which are played without pause. The second movement includes a prerecorded CD and the first movement may simply be played as a solo. Alternatively, a pitch to MIDI converter, the PitchRider, may be used which allows the clarinet real-time control of an additional synthesizer. Though not required, a pick-up microphone in the clarinet may be connected to reverb and delay devices.

Diaphanous Music. Purchase score/CD or get perusal score. Recording: F. Gerard Errante, Cl., Capstone CD 8607.

NINGANA: Alto Saxophone solo with prerecorded electronics on CD (9:00. 1989). Arranged by O. Angel Negrin, who also premiered it at the World Saxophone Congress, Minneapolis, July 2003.

Diaphanous Music. Purchase score/CD or get perusal score.

LANDCAPES (excerpts) for Piano and Prerecorded Electronics on CD. (9:00, 1990) Vicki Ray, piano. At times raucous, at times ethereal, the piano travels through a landscape of amazingly organic digital sounds.

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Diaphanous Music. Purchase score/CD or get perusal score.

REFRACTING TIME for two synthesizers and digitally-processed french horn (1984). Diaphanous Music. Premiered at the Whitney Museum, NYC.

Music for Solo Piano
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LANDSCAPES (excerpts) for Solo Piano and Electronics on CD (9:00, 1990) Vicki Ray, piano. At times raucous, at times ethereal, the piano travels through a landscape of amazingly organic digital sounds.

Diaphanous Music Purchase score/CD or get perusal score.

CHARACTER SKETCHES (I/II excerpts) (III excerpt) for Piano Solo (14:00, 1983). Bryan Pezzone, piano. Stylistic "characters" from the music of Debussy, Schoenberg, Wagner and Mussorgsky serve as a point of departure in these three movements. Sometimes references appear in the form of quotations, other references are simply evocative. The strategy for this work was to uncover the similarities and relationships among these different characters--and to guide their evolution still further into materials which are mine alone.

Recording: Leonarda CD Le 334 Nanette Kaplan Solomon, Piano. Published by Arsis Press (Purchase). Dedicated to Neal Larrabee.

TELL-TALE FANTASY for Piano Solo (6:00, 1978). Sorry--clip is not up yet. An illusion of improvisation is created in this piece--as though the pianist, intending to play a piece of "contemporary music" gets sidetracked in wistful thought of masterworks of the early twentieth century. Schoenberg, Debussy and Ives are quoted. The notation is precise.

Recorded by Rosemary Platt, Coronet Records LP#3105. Remastered on Capstone CDs. Published by Arsis Press (Purchase).

Music for Dance and/or Electronics Alone
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STARSAIL II (dance piece, digital synthesizers, 9:00, 1987), Diaphanous Music. A collaboration with RANDANCE/Randall Faxon Parker, choreographer, New York City. A huge glistening sail made of gold leaf which is so light that it could rotate the earth indefinitely, powered by solar energy. NASA was nonplused by Bo Parker's suggestion, but the idea launched this piece.

KURZWEIL ETUDES (excerpts group 1, group 2, group 3) Performance on the Kurzweil 250 (1986). Jane Brockman, performer. Etudes in the tradition of Chopin for the Kurzweil 250 digital synthesizer. The sound is definitely Brockman.

Recording: Opus One Records #133. CD version is available. Diaphanous Music, Purchase CD.

BRINKSCAPE (Synclavier-based Digital Sound with live French Horn, Prelude and Prologue), 12:00, 1983. For Linda Diamond & Co. , New York City.

DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTROM, Computer-generated tape and percussion (timpani, vibraphone) (12:00, 1982). For Larry Rachleff. Inspired by Edgar Allen Poe's short story. Diaphanous Music.

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