Classical Works

tenor, bass, gospel choir (with robes), and chamber orchestra;
1,1,1,1 + 1 trumpet, 2 French horns, 1 trombone, strings, 1 double bass, 1 el. bass, electric organ, 2 perc

12b for singers and church organ
text adapted from Mark Twain

Opus 13
Sontag in Sarajevo (1994, 11 min)

accordion, violin (or clarinet), cello (or bass), guitar (or any chordal instrument, including keyboard)

Opus 14
Ice-9 Ballads (1995, 30 min)
narrator, baritone, 3 sopranos, 3 vlns, mandolin, harp, harmonica, cl, alto sax, guitar, tromb, bass, keyboard, gyli (aka balophone), drums
lyrics by Kurt Vonnegut

Opus 15
The People's Choice Music

The Most Wanted Song (1997, 5 min),
with Komar & Melamid) lyrics Nina Mankin
soprano, baritone, e piano, synth, piano, 3 guitars, e bass, trap set, bas drum, vln, cello, double on sop and tenor sax

The Most Unwanted Song (1997, 25 min)
with Komar & Melamid) lyrics Nina Mankin
soprano, children's choir, accordion, bagpipe, banjo, flute/piccolo. harmonica,
organ/ synth/ tuba, harp, 2 bs drums

Opus 16
Naked Revolution, an opera in the socialist realist style (1997, 60 min)

2 mezzo, countertenor, tenor, baritone, bass, chorus (3,2,2,2),
oboe, cl, accordion, piano, guitar, synth, 2 violin, cello, string bass, perc
with Komar & Melamid and Maita di Niscemi, libretto

Opus 17
East St. Louis, 1968 (1999, 8 min)

viola and CD
17b verstion for string quartet and CD
17c version for synthesizer and CD (2009)

Opus 18
A Soldier's Story (2002, 30 min)

book by Kurt Vonnegut
two male speakers, tenor, bass, soprano, vln, trmb, tpt, ctr, cl, bs, bass, guitar, perc

Opus 19
Clever Hans (ballet) (2005, 20 min)

violin, cello, and harpsichord

Opus 20
The Complete Victrola Sessions (2010, 1 hour, collection of 12 pieces)

Violin & Piano
(optional percussion, including a gong, one pieces uses prerecorded track by Meade Lux Lewis)

Opus 21
String Quartet #3, The Essential (2011, 35 min)

string quartet (cowritten with Brad Garton)
after Schoenberg's Second string quartet, second movement
optinal EEG headbands

Opus 22
Dean Swift's Satyrs for the Very Very Young (2011, 40 min)

12 pieces for mezzo or baritone with flute, viola, and harp

Opus 23
Organum, Book I (2011, 30 min)

Five pieces for solo organ

Opus 24
Fractals on the Names of Bach & Haydn (2011, 5 min)

piano

Opus 25
Letter to Gil Evans (2012, 12 min)

piano

Opus 26
girl with a hat in a car (2012, 12 min)

piano

Opus 27
Thung Kwian Sunrise (2012 6 min)
For orchestra

arranged from an improvisation by the Thai Elephant Orchestra
with Richard Lair and Wade Ripka
fl, ob, cl, bsn, horn, tpt, trmb, perc, piano, strings

Opus 28
Phong's Solo (2012 1 and a half min)

piano
arranged from an improvisation by Phong of the Thai Elephant Orchestra
the original version is on the CD Elephonic Rhapsodies and was transcribed by Wade Ripka

Opus 29
Tonight Welcome the Ultraviolet Starlight Trio to {insert venue} (2013 12 min)

piano, violin & cello (piano trio)
the name of the piece, for example at Carnegie Hall is "Tonight Welcome the Ultraviolet Starlight Trio to Carnegie Hall"
based on the duo concerto Ultraviolet Railroad

List of "classical" works by instrument

FOR SOLO PERFORMERS:

solo piano collections and extended pieces
Hockets & Inventions (2010, 30 minutes)
Five Little Monsters (2010, 7 minutes)
Fractals on the Names of Bach & Haydn (2011, 4 minutes)
girl with a hat in a car (2012, 12 min)
Letter to Gil Evans (2012, 12 min)

shorter solo piano pieces:
Belvedere (1984, 6 minutes)
Letter to Skip James (1985, 4 minutes)
Fanny Brice (2009, 4 minutes)
Poong's Solo (2012, 90 seconds)

solo organ
Hockets & Inventions (1990, 30 minutes)
Organum (five pieces, 2011, 30 minutes)

solo violin
Chorale: a boy has never wept nor dashed a thousand kim (2009, 3 min)
Duo for violin & Meade Lux Lewis (1990, 4 min)

solo woodwind (flute, clarinet, oboe, or saxophone)
Utah Dances (1990, 12 min)

solo bass flute
Little Andre (1986, 3 min)

solo viola
East St Louis, 1968 (1999, 9 min) with CD

solo violin or clarinet
Duo for violin (or clarinet) & Meade Lux Lewis with CD

accordion
To Spike Jones in Heaven (1989, 9 min) with CD

INSTRUMENTAL DUOS:
The Complete Victrola Sessions (2010, 1 hour)
12 pieces of violin and piano

Duo Sonata for violin & cello (1988, 20 min)

INSTRUMENTAL TRIOS:
Sontag in Sarajevo (1994, 11 minutes)
for accordion, violin, guitar, cello

Clever Hans, a sonata for violin cello harpsichord: also ballet version (2006, 14 minutes)

Tonight Welcome the Ultraviolet Starlight Trio to {insert Venue} (2013, 12 minutes, Opus 29)
for piano, violin & cello (piano trio)

STRING QUARTET:
String Quartet, #1, The Impossible (1990) with drum kit & conga
String Quartet #2, Bambatta Variations (1992) for a set if quartet instruments designed by Ken Butler
String Quartet #3, The Essential (2009) with electroencephalograms, written with Brad Garton

shorter quartet pieces:
Sequence Girls
Lonesome Train
Sojourner Truth (1990, 7 min)
Five Little Monsters (1984, 7 minutes)
If I had it to give (I'd give it to him)
Michael Callen
East St. Louis, 1968 (1999)
Prelude (1984)

arrangments for string quartet, some with extra players/vocalists :
Here Comes the King (arrangement of Raymond Scott)
Paris 1919 (arrangment of John Cale)
Water Babies (arrangement of Wayne Shorter)
Bo Diddley (arrangement of Bo Diddley)
Ugly (arrangement of Robert Pete Williams)
In Time (arrangement of Sly Stone)

VOCAL WORKS with ensemble including MUSICAL THEATER, OPERA, ORATORIO

The People's Choice (Most Wanted and Most Unwanted Music) for large mixed ensembles, with Komar & Melamid, lyrics by Nina Mankin, based on poll results on musical preference
The Most Wanted Music (soprano, baritone, el guitar, synth, violin, cello, bass, drum, soprano/tenor sax)
The Most Unwanted Music (soprano, child choir, bagpipe, tuba, banjo, synthesizer, harp, harmonica, bass drum, organ)

The Apotheosis of John Brown (text from Frederick Douglass)
soprano, mezzo, tenor, baritone
baroque string orchestra, violin solo, harpsichord, percussion

Chorea Lascivia (aka Smut)
soprano, alto, bass, 2 electric guitars, trumpet, trombome, 2 percussion

Ice-9 Ballads (with Kurt Vonnegut) (30 min)
4 singers and chamber orchestra with balophone, harmonica, guitar, violin, harp, 3 violins, mandolin, electric organ, bass

A Soldier's Story (radio play, with Kurt Vonnegut) (25 min)
narrator, 4 singers, violin, trumpet, trombone, guitar, cello

Naked Revolution (1997, 1 hour)
with Komar & Melamid, libretto by Maita di Niscemi,
socialist realist opera with soloists, chorus, chamber orchestra

War Prayer (30 min, text from Mark Twain)
vocal soloists, orchestra

FOR ORCHESTRA

Double concerto for violin, cello, and orchestra
Ultraviolet Railroad

Marching Band with Elephant Orchestra
The Pastorale Symphony, 1st movement

Thung Kwian Sunrise

Shorter scored pieces without opus numbers

Little Andre (1986, 3 min)

for bass flute

Five Little Monsters (7 min, 1985)

string quartet and drums (1985)
piano solo piano version (2010)

Sojourner Truth (1989, 6 min)

for string quartet

Lonesome Train (1989, 6 min)

for string quartet and trap set drums

If I had it to give (I'd give it to him)

Michael Callen

Arrangement of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony

for high school marching band and Elephant Orchestra:
including giant marimbas, drums, box string bass, and harmonicas

Prelude (1984)

for listening (see also SCORES webpage, which has recordings of many pieces):

organ
Hockets and Inventions
I wrote Hockets and Inventions (1987-1989) to explore how polyphonic music of the Ars Nova might evolve. They are progressively more complex and each in two or three parts that can be played by any instruments, here by the great Walter Hilse on the Aeolian Skinner organ.

listen to the entire series (about 30 minutes)

or single movements:

1. Hocket I Jordan
2. Invention 1
3. Hocket II Fuelgen
4. Invention 2
5. Hocket III Neville
6. Invention 3
7. Hocket IV Otto
8. Invention 4
9. Hocket V Roscoe
10. Invention 5
11. Hocket VI Resolution
12. Invention 6

solo woodwind
Utah Dances (1990), baroque dances as a 90th birthday present for Otto Luening. Can be played by any solo woodwind and performed here by Michael Swartz on alto sax.

hear the entire series

or single movements:
1. Jig
2. Fugue in one voice
3. Cortijo
4. Allemande
5. Forty-niner and double

The Forty-niner is a social dance performed in the "checkerboard" region of northeast Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. It's named from a vaudeville group that played the Kiowa reservation in Oklahoma: the barkers yelled "come see the gals of forty-nine!"

violin and cello
Duo Sonata (1989) played by Laura Seaton and Erik Friedlander on violin and cello.

Reverie
Lent:scordatura
Tribute Electric

Ultraviolet Railroad (1986)
double concerto for violin and cello and orchestra
performed by Mark Feldman and Erik Friedlander; Richard Auldon Clark, conductor, Neil Kirkwood piano soloist
1.Betonia, where I fell into a trance
2. Rapture
3. I'm going upstairs, I'm to take off all my clothes

viola and tape
East St. Louis, 1968
(1999) Memories of my early life as a viola player exploring my home town. Played by Richard Auldon Clark on viola, Dave Soldier synthesizer and harmonica, found tapes and electronics

East St Louis, 1968

violin cello and harpsichord
Clever Hans (2005) six variations based on the Grimm's fairy tale, and written for a ballet by Freefall. Here's the concert version played by Rebecca Cherry on violin, Karlos Rodriguez on cello, and Michael Mizrahi on harpsicord.

Clever Hans

accordion and ensemble
Sontag in Sarajevo
for accordion (parts for standard or Strad accordions both on the scores),
chordal instrument (guitar, piano, or other),
treble melody instrument (violin, clarinet, trumpet, etc.),
bass instrument (cello, bass, trombone, tuba, bassoon, etc.).

Fluor Phosphor Lumen and Candle
Dance for the Tetragrammaton

Performed by Regina Carter, violin; Anne de Maranis, accordion; Dave Soldier, guitar; and Dawn Buckholtz Avery, cello

for accordion and tape (or orchestra)
To Spike Jones in Heaven
(1989) for accordion and tape, performed by William Schimmel. This piece can be performed with orchestra (but never has been).

To Spike Jones in Heaven

piano
Romances From the Second Line
(1986) Le Belvedere portrays Ravel's ghost wandering his home. I was influenced by New Orleans piano music. Performed by Christopher O'Riley.

1. Easy Street
2. Letter to Skip James
3. Le Belvedere
4. Die Heiterkeiten
5. Tillie's Puctured Romance

clarinet
Duo for clarinet and Meade Lux Lewis
A feature for clarinet from Ice 9 Ballads, from an incident in the book that the piece is meant to accompany
Duo for Clarinet and Meade Lux Lewis.

chamber group

Chorea Lascivia (Smut)
(1992) for chamber group and singers
two electric guitars, percussion, trumpet, trombone,
Soprano, mezzosoprano, bass voice
In the early 90’s members of Congress including the late Jesse Helms that only modern art extolled homosexuality. We need to bring back a classical education in this country where you read Plato and Sappho! Chorea Lascivia, nine gothic rock songs, with mostly homoerotic Latin lyrics by medieval monks is dedicated to to Robbert Mapplethorpe and David Wojnarowicz.

1. Dum Caupona Verterem
2. Ad Puerum Anglicum
3. Odalisque in the Seraglio
4. Miser, Miser
5. Graffiti from a 9th century manuscript
6. Quod libet
7. Parisius Paridi
8. Letter to Ausonius

Performers: Tiye' Giraud, Wilbur Pauley, Napua Davoy - Vocals, Ben Neill - Trumpet, Dave Soldier & Bob Bannister - Guitars, Samm Bennett, Jim Pugliese- Percussion, Drums; Rob Bethea - Trombone; Richard Auldon Clark - Conductor

here is an alternate arrangement of Letter to Ausonius for two soprani, clarinet, viola, and cello played by Sequitur.

Ice-9 Ballads
For chamber orchestra and singers. Ice-9 Ballads are songs for chamber orchestra with lyrics from Cat's Cradle and narration by Kurt Vonnegut

Annihilation Life
Dyot Meet Mat
Nice Very Nice
119th Calypso
Duo For Clarinet and Meade Lux Lewis
14th Calypso
Mona's Funeral Music
Big Tyrant
Folly

performed by the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Richard Auldon Clark, conductor, featuring Jimmy Justice, Tiye' Giraud, Napua Davoy, and Janeice Thompson, vocalists

Ultraviolet Railroad
double concerto for violin and cello and orchestra
performed by Mark Feldman and Erik Friedlander; Richard Auldon Clark, conductor, Neil Kirkwood piano soloist
1. Betonia where I fell into a trance
2. Rapture
3. I'm going upstairs, I'm going to take off all my clothes

The Apotheosis of John Brown
a cantata for baroque orchestra, setting of Frederick Douglass, conducted by Richard Auldon Clark

The Apotheosis of John Brown

My first meeting with Capt. Brown (1947)
Concerto
War in Kansas (1856)
Holler
His capture and execution (1859)
My escape to England from United States Marshals
The beginning of the end (1847-1859)
Pastorale
John Brown a fisherman (1860)

Robbie McCauley, narrator; Jason White, Mary Lee Kortes, Napua Davoy, Gilbert High, vocals; Laura Seaton violin, Gwendolyn Toth, harpsichord