Sheetmusic is available for these songs by contacting me here.

BALLET SUITES FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO

NIGHT

1. Overture: Violin Solo/1:00
2. Present/4:00 (Viola and Piano)
3. African Smile/3:30
4. Be Still Sad Shadow/8:00
5. Office Parks and Strip Malls/3:20
6. Salvador Dali/3:15

"Night" was choreographed by Julia Adam and premiered in the spring of 2000 with the San Francisco Ballet. Julia choreographed a Chagall inspired dreamscape ballet with fantastic images including a three headed woman and a bed of kneeling men. My brother Benjamin danced the lead part and designed the costumes and set projections. Scott Speck beautifully conducted the orchestrated string sketches.

On opening night, the house erupted with a whoosh of applause and ovation surprising everyone involved. A dancer remarked that the War Memorial Opera House had not heard that level of response in a very long time. The following year the ballet was performed at the City Center in New York, the Palais Garnier in Paris and at London's Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.

Benjamin was responsible in large part for this commission having introduced me to Julia. I sent her demos of songs I had been writing and began work immediately on a full orchestra, fully developed symphony type work that I called "Be Still Sad Shadow." I went to the depths to express myself in this piece. Julia ended up compiling a bunch of songs and took portions of the symphonic work as her inspiration. The opening Violin Solo for example is a primary theme and opens the symphony. After understanding her needs, I compiled the songs, changed the keys and orchestrated them to fit together as a whole. Her insight into the songs innner connections remain a heavy influence on this work.

IMAGINAL DISC

7. Giggling and not Getting Up/4:30
8. Egg Crack/1:05
9. Caterpillar/4:30
10. Chrysalis Waltz/4:30
11. Butterfly/4:00

An imaginal disc is the bag of cells that allows a caterpillar to morph into a butterfly. Voted best cultural event of 2003, by the San Francisco Chronicle, "Imaginal Disc" explores the changing body. This was the first ballet Julia Adam created after the birth of her child. Costumes and set by Christine Darch.

A single man is joined by another and another, until there are six. They represent the seed. Six women are behind a veil of fabric at the back of the stage in vague, dimly lit shapes. Visible for the second movement, they are joined into a single shape that represents the egg. When the egg cracks, two dancers emerge and do a beautiful pas de deux. He holds her against him. She fully extends her arms and legs as he supports and spins her. Centrally lit and alone on the stage for the conclusion, the prima ballerina flutters her new formed fabric butterfly wings.

PECOS BILL

12. Pecos Bill/3:15
13. Texas Hoedown/3:45
14. Slewfoot Sue/3:10
15. Big Love Duet/7:10

When Stanton Welch announced his directorship of the Houston Ballet in 2003 he wanted a Texas sized ballet for his opening. Stanton chose as his hero, the legendary Pecos Bill. The scenario tells the story of the mythic cowboy who was raised by coyotes near the Pecos River after falling from a wagon as a baby. Later he joins society as a teen to perform feats of superhuman Texan bravery. He invents the lasso, tames a cyclone, wields a rattlesnake whip and digs the Rio Grande. Finally, he wrangles and proudly rides the horse Widow-maker.

After a courtship with Slewfoot Sue, where among other things, Pecos Bill shoots all the stars from the sky, except for the one that becomes the Lone Star, he proposes to Sue who insists on riding Widow-maker. Jealous of no longer having Bill's undivided attention, Widow-maker bounces Sue off, who lands on her bustle which begins bouncing her higher and higher, eventually hitting her head on the moon. Following a failed attempt to lasso her, Pecos realizes that she will starve to death and as an act of mercy puts her out of her misery by shooting her.

BONUS TRACK

16. Catch Me If You Can/4:30 Preview

Catch Me If You Can started as an improvisation between me and cellist Stephen Day. In 1996 I was commissioned by the Tiny Mythic Theater Company to write incidental music for a theater production to be held at HERE Theater in downtown SOHO, New York. Stephen and I would improvise after rehearsals and while waiting for actors to warm up. The piece took on a new life in 1998 when I used the motive for the poodle character in the opera "Cry Pitch Carrolls," libretto by Ruth Margraff and was heard in a live performance at the Village Voice Obie Awards.