BROWSE & LISTEN
Chamber Music (Instrumental) for Guitar & Other Instruments
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Extraño Lugar: Elegía Fantasmagórica (2019) | 8'
Accordion & Guitar Quartet
Soupir II: "Aria Con Fantasia" (2013) | 9'15"
Oboe & 2 Guitars
Sol Negro, after paintings by Fernando de Szyszlo (2014) | 9'15"
2 Guitars
Inkwash (2018) | 5'45"
Clarinet in B-Flat, Clarinet in A & Guitar
Mar de Lurín, after paintings by Fernando de Szyszlo (2011) | 5'
Oboe & Guitar
Percussion Quartet (2015) | 10'
Unpitched Percussion (Gongs, Cymbal, Woodblock, Shaker, Maraca, Conga, Earthplate, Kathak Bells)
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Peter Dayton Music (ASCAP) for: $15.00
Extraño Lugar: Elegía Fantasmagórica (2019)
Accordion & Guitar Quartet
Total duration ca. 8'
Single-movement work
Requested by the Erlendis Quartet to be included in a South American-inspired concert program they were planning with accordionist José Valente, I was honored to write a work of this group of musicians who truly embody the best of chamber music in their performances. The piece is a double tribute - taking its title from the refrain of a dark, hallucinogenic poem by Argentine writer Enrique Mólina: El Habitación No. 23. This poem has inspired numerous paintings by Polish-Peruvian painter Fernando de Szyszlo. De Szyszlo's creative output has inspired 5 other compositions in my catalogue for solo or chamber instrumentations. The mix of violence and sensuality, passion and lugubriousness are present in the works of both artists. It seemed an act of perfect triangulation to bring the Argentine poet, the Polish-Peruvian painter, and the Polish guitar quartet together in this work. This composition is my next step in what has emerged as a continuous creative engagement with the work of de Szyszlo over nearly ten years of composition. In its brooding melancholy, I hope the piece honors the passing of this great artist; in its energy and color, I hope the piece does justice to his work, and the work that inspired him.
Soupir II: "Aria Con Fantasia" (2013)
Oboe & 2 Guitars
Total duration ca. 9'15"
Single movement work
Premiered on March 23, 2014
in Austin, TX
by Lindsey Reymore, Robert Brown, and Andrew Rohwedder
Purchase the score
Peter Dayton Music (ASCAP) for: $15
Listen to a recording on SoundCloud
The title comes from the French word meaning "to sigh." While called a Fantasia it is primarily a series of variations: varied contexts in which the lyrical melody appears and takes on different colorations and meanings. In the clear melody/accompaniment texture, the piece resonates with my lyrical Soupir for violin and string quartet, hence the se The piece is also arranged for oboe and 1 guitar. My dear friend and Vanderbilt colleague Lindsey Reymore requested this work for one of her Master’s Degree recitals. It is dedicated to her.
Sol Negro, after paintings by Fernando de Szyszlo (2014)
Total duration ca. 6'30"
Two-movement work:
I. Preludio (Largo)
II. Sol Negro (Largo - Senza Tempo, Drammatico, Feroce)
Premiered on March 12, 2015
in Baltimore, MD
by Eric Meier and Thomas Clippinger
Purchase this score from
Peter Dayton Music (ASCAP) for: $15
Listen to a recording on YouTube
Recorded performance, March 12, 2015, Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, by Eric Meier & Thomas Clippinger
"Sol Negro," by Fernando de Szyszlo, used with permission.
Fernando de Szyszlo’s paintings have inspired me since 2011, having been the genesis of four pieces of mine to date. De Szyszlo, influenced by Incan artwork and symbolist poets, draws the sol negro image, the black sun “of melancholy,” from a Gérard de Nerval poem. In de Szyszlo’s paintings, the sun hangs ominously: a brooding the first movement expresses, a menace that I attempt to manifest in the second. De Szyszlo’s black sun also touches the Incan image of the apocalyptic black rainbow (another painting title: Arco-iris negro). The second movement takes its tone from this apocalyptic image in a series of bursts of destructive energy that consume even themselves. Sol Negro, composed in 2014, was requested by Tom Clippinger and Eric Meier and is dedicated to Fernando de Szyszlo and to his son, Vicente de Szyszlo.
Inkwash (2018)
Clarinet in B-flat, Clarinet in A, Guitar
Total duration ca. 5'45"
Single movement work
Dedicated to Laura Bouffard and Leonel Marulanda
Premiered in July 2019
at International Clarinet Fest, in Knoxville, TN
by Laura Bouffard, Leonel Marulanda (Clarinets), and Joey Grimaldi (Guitar)
Listen to a recording on SoundCloud
Purchase this score from
Peter Dayton Music (ASCAP) for: $15
Recorded performance, July 20, 2019 at International Clarinet Fest in Knoxville, TN, by Laura Bouffard, Leonel Marulanda, and Joey Grimaldi
Inkwash draws upon the effect of inks upon paper in painting. The intricate, spidery lines of India ink that branch out into the rough grain of a sheet of watercolor paper, the sense of distance and atmosphere that this technique can create are visual analogues to the sound world I have tried to craft in this trio for 2 clarinets and guitar. Several ink and watercolor paintings I own by Douglas Johnson were influential in helping me find the mysterious and hazy mood that enshrouds most of this piece, with momentary glimpses of clear light that dot the experience of this piece. The work is dedicated to Laura Bouffard and her husband Leonel Marulanda. Laura was a former Vanderbilt University classmate, and I am grateful to her for the opportunity to write this piece.
Mar de Lurín, after paintings by Fernando de Szyszlo (2011)
Oboe & Guitar
Total duration ca. 4'30"
Single-movement work
Premiered on October 23, 2011
in Nashville, TN
by Lindsey Reymore and Professor Joshua McGuire
Listen to a recording on YouTube
Recording, October 23, 2011, Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN by Lindsey Reymore & Joshua McGuire
Image: Mar de Lurín by Fernando de Szyszlo. Image used with permission.
The paintings of Polish-Peruvian artist Fernando de Szyszlo (b. 1925) were introduced to me by Dr. Michael Alec Rose in the Spring of 2010 and I was transfixed by the vibrant, saturated colors which Szyszlo used, and by the mysteriously ancient quality and subject matter of his art. Szyszlo has produced many series of the same subject, often in varied colors and with different interlopers in each painting. In a manner analogous to music, Szyszlo's artwork is pervaded by motifs which gain their own significance both within each painting and a universal significance within Szyszlo's œuvre. Szyszlo's paintings of the Pacific Lurín from (a coastal city in Peru) are some of his most beautiful and sensuous works. An effect within this series which I have tried to mirror in my musical response is the concept of large-scale stillness and small scale activity, seen in the broad sweeping waves, filled-in with small geometric shapes. Though Szyslo's rendering is not mimetic, it encapsulates the motion of water gesturally and texturally in a uniquely beautiful fashion. This composition is dedicated to Lindsey Reymore and Professor Joshua McGuire.
Purchase this score from
Peter Dayton Music (ASCAP) for: $15
Mar de Lurín is featured on the Navona Records CD "Figments, Vol. 2" (NV6259). Performed by Jennifer Slowick and David William Ross.
Mar de Lurín is featured on the Blue Griffin Records CD "Vanderbilt Virtuosi" (BGR577). Performed by Jared Hauser and Richard Todd.
Percussion Quartet (2015)
Gongs and Unpitched Percussion:
Perc. 1: Low Nipple Gong, Kathak Bells, Claves
Perc. 2: 20" Tamtam, Earth-plate, Wood-block
Perc. 3: Paiste Nipple Gong (wind gong), Maraca, Shaker
Perc. 4: 20" Suspended Cymbal, Conga Drum
Total duration ca. 10'
Four movement work
I. Overture
II. Salvo
III. Arioso
IV. Strains
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Peter Dayton Music (ASCAP) for: $20
A four movement work, for a concise ensemble of unpitched percussion instruments, combining dry, wooden timbres with resonant metal instruments. The four movements names were derived from the names of the members of the Milieu Quartet. This work would not have been possible without the close consultation of one of the quartet’s members, Christopher Salvito.