Sequence Girls string quartet & drums
(1985, opus 1, 8 min)
score / parts / listen

Three Delta Blues string quartet
(1986, opus 2, 9 min)
songs by Robert Johnson, Skip James, Charlie Patton
score & parts / listen / watch

String Quartet #1, "The Impossible"
quartet & percussion
(1987, opus 3, 25 min)
score /parts / listen to drum kit version played by Soldier String Quartet
/ listen to hand percussion version pefromed by PubliQuartet
watch

Duo Sonata violin and cello
(1987, opus 4, 21 min)
score / listen

To Spike Jones in Heaven accordion & pre-recorded electronics
(1989, opus 5, 7 min)
mp3 of pre-recorded track
listen

Hockets & Inventions organ or piano
(1990/ 2010, opus 6, 30 minutes)
12 polyphonic pieces in 2 and 3 parts
piano score / organ score
listen to organ version /
listen to piano version /
watch organ version performed by Walter Hilse

Utah Dances solo saxophone, clarinet, or flute
(1990, opus 7, 12 min)
5 dances: Jig, Fugue in One Voice, Cortijo, Allemande, and Forty-niner & double
score / listen

The Apotheosis of John Brown baroque orchestra, narrator & 4 singers
(1990, opus 8, 40 min)
text from the Autobiography of Frederick Douglass
score / parts / listen

Ultraviolet Railroad double concerto for violin, cello & orchestra
a.k.a. Tonight Welcome the Ultraviolet Starlight Trio to {insert venue} piano trio
a.k.a. Betonia, where I fell into a trance string quartet version
(1991/ 2013 / 2022, opus 9, 25 min (orchestra version), 8 and a half minutes (string quartet version))
9a. double concerto with orchestra score / violin part / cello part
9b. piano, violin & cello (piano trio) score / parts
9c. string quartet Betonia, where I fell into a trance (score and parts)

Smut, a.k.a., Chorea Lascivia 2 mezzosopranos, baritone, trumpet, 2 electric guitars, percussion
(1991, opus 10, 30 min)
9 pieces from homoerotic medieval Latin poetry
dedicated to Robert Mapplethorpe and David Wojnarowicz
Score and parts
listen

String Quartet #2 "Bambaataa Variations" prepared string quartet
(1992/2003, opus 11, 20 minutes)
11a. Quartet version score / parts / listen
11b. Concerto grosso for prepared quartet & string orchestra
score / parts / watch

The War Prayer singers & chamber orchestra or organ
(1993/ 2011 opus 12, 25 min)
cantata with text from Mark Twain
12a. singers, gospel choir, chamber orchestra watch
12b. organ and singers: solo tenor, solo bass-baritone, choir score

Songtag in Sarajevo accordion & 3 musicians
(1994 opus 13, 11 min)
accordion & 1 chordal instrument (guitar, piano)" treble melody (violin, clarinet, trumpet): bass (cello, bass, trombone, tuba, bassoon)
score 1st movement, Fluor, Phosphor, Lumen, and Candle
score 2nd movement, Dance for the Tetragrammaton
listen to version performed by Regina Carter

Ice-9 Ballads narrator, singers, chamber group
(1995 opus 14, 30 min)
nine pieces in collaboration with Kurt Vonnegut, songs from Cat's Cradle
narrator, tenor, 3 sopranos, cl, sax, trombone, harmonica, 3 violins (1 mandolin double), guitar, harp, synthesizer, bass, two percussionists
songs from Cat's Cradle from Kurt Vonnegut
mp3 of pre-recorded track for Duo with Meade Lux Lewis
score / listen to version with Vonnegut's narration

The People's Choice Music, a.k.a., The Most Wanted Song & The Most Unwanted Song
for large unusual chamber groups
(1997 opus 15, 5 & 26 min)
in collaboration with Komar and Melamid, lyrics by Nina Mankin
from results of a survey on preferences and dislikes in music
The Most Wanted Music (exactly 5 min) score / listen
The Most Unwanted Music (26 min) score / listen

Naked Revolution opera
(1997, opus 16, one hour)
a socialist realist opera drawn from immigrant dreams
piano reduction / full score / listen

East St Louis, 1968
viola or string quartet & pre-recorded track
(1999/2000, opus 17, 9 min)
mp3 of pre-recorded track
17a. viola version performed by Richard Auldon Clark score / listen
17b. quartet version performed by the PubliQuartet score / parts / listen

A Soldier's Story radio opera
(2002, opus 18, 30 min)
libretto by Kurt Vonnegut 30 min
2 actors, two tenor/baritones, soprano, violin, clarinet, trumpet, bassoon, trombone, snare and vibraophone, jazz guitar, contrabass, sound effects
score & libretto / parts
listen to version with Kurt Vonnegut as narrator

Clever Hans sonata / ballet for violin cello harpsichord
(2005, opus 19, 14 min)
score & parts / listen

The Complete Victrola Sessions violin & piano
a.k.a Nocturnes piano
(2008/2013, opus 20, 55 min)
20a. Eleven pieces for violin and piano
Mata Hari, ballerina de Java: Bricktop: Togetherness Blues: Alegria por la cueva vieja: Belvedere (piano solo): Brian's Lament (a.k.a. Surf's Up), arrangement of song by Brian Wilson & Van Dyke Parks: Prelude: Duo for violin & Mead Lux Lewis: Li Yuen (Fountain of Beauty): A boy has never wept nor dashed a thousand kim (violin solo): The Unfolding Opium Poppy
score & parts / listen
20b. Nocturnes, four works for piano (21 min)
Mata Hari, balerina de Java: Yuen: Bricktop: Belvedere
score / listen

Five Little Monsters
string quartet & drums or piano or accordion
(1986/2010, opus 21, 6 min)
five very short pieces
21a. string quartet & drums score / listen / watch
21b. piano score / watch / listen
21c. accordion

Variations on Chopin's Minute Waltz
piano, electronics, some unplayable
(2010, opus 22)
score/ listen / watch

String Quartet #3, "The Essential" string quartet & electronics
(2011, opus 23, 30 min)
cowritten with Brad Garton, mathematical transformations of Schoenberg's second quartet for amplified quartet and prerecorded loops triggered manually or by EEGs
download soundclips for 1st movement performed by Mari Kimura, Curtis Stewart, LiuhWen Ting, Greg Hesselink
score /parts / listen

Dean Swift's Satyrs for the Very Very Young singer, flute, viola, harp
(2011, opus 24, 40 min)
twelve newspaper satires by Jonathan Swift
score / parts / listen to Eliza Carthy's performance with Robert Dick, Stacey Sames, and Richard Auldon Clark

Organum solo organ
(2011, opus 25, 32 min)
Five pieces inspired by nature
score / listen / watch performances by Walter Hilse

Fractals on the Names of Bach & Haydn piano
(2011 opus 26, 5 min)
score / listen to the Bach / listen to the Haydn

Letter to Gil Evans piano
(2012, opus 27, 12 min)
score / listen

girl in car with hat piano
(2012, opus 28, 12 min)
score / listen

Letter to Skip James piano
(1987, rev. 2012, opus 29, 4 min )
score / listen

Thung Kwian Sunrise orchestra
(2012, opus 30, 6 min)
orchestration of piece by the Thai Elephant Orchestra (transcribed with Wade Ripka)
score / watch
contact Dave for parts

Phong's Solo piano
(2012, opus 31, 1 and a half min)
arranged from an improvisation by Phong of the Thai Elephant Orchestra
the original version is on the CD Elephonic Rhapsodies transcribed by Wade Ripka
score / listen

SamulNori Overture orchestra
(2013 opus 32, 7 min)
for picoolo, flute, oboe, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 French horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, harp, strings
percussion: 1 tympanist, jing (Korean gong) or similar tuned gong, tam-tam, glockenspiel, 2 finger cymbals, maracas, snare, bass drum)
score
contact Dave for mp3 and parts

The Eighth Hour of Amduat opera
(2015, opus 33, one hour)
opera based on the oldest musical score in ancient Egyptian, translated by Rita Lucarelli
32a. full opera score / piano reduction /listen
32b. Three Songs from the Egyptian Underworld for mezzosoprano & piano
score

LeWitt Etudes
Adventures in group composition for any collection of musicians of any background
(2015, opus 34)
Fifty architectural designs for musicians
score

Stuff Smith's Unfinished Concerto for violin and orchestra
'Music starts where words leave off"
(2017, opus 35, 14 min) for solo violin, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinet, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, tympani and strings
Dave transcribed the violin part from a 1963/1964 home recording by Stuff Smith for a concerto he hoped to compose: he left the recording with friends, and never finished the piece
orchestra score
solo violin part
contact Dave for parts and mp3

Jaleo rhapsody for piano
(2017, opus 36, 9 min) listen to piano version, listen to piano and string orchestra version
36a. Jaleo for solo piano
36b. version for full orchestra (2 flute (piccolo), 2 oboe (English horn), 2 clarinet, 2 bassoon, 2 French horn, 2 trumpet, 2 trombone, tuba, harp, strings): contact Dave for parts and mp3

Vienna Over the Hills / Six Violins six or more violins and violas
(1986/2017, Opus 37, 11 minutes)
score
mp3
live version with strings and percussion
contact Dave for parts

Calo' / Palos and Cante for solo violin
with Taranta, Alegria, Solea, Seguiriya, Saeta, and Buleria
(2020, Opus 38, 30 min)
full score
listen to Miranda Cuckson's performance

Motet: Harmonies of the World / Dave Soldier with Johannes Kepler
for soprano, 2 altos, tenor, baritone, bass, written according to Kepler's book of the same name
(2021, Opus 39, 17 min)
score / parts for 6 voice vocal choir (in just intonation)
score for 6 voices and continuo (keyboard, bass, additional instruments as available in equal or well temperament
listen to a performance by Ekmeles

Laudato Si' for Choir (SATB) and piano
setting of St. Frances of Assisi's Canticle of the Creatures
(2022, Opus 40, 28 minutes)
version in the original Italian (1224)
version in English (with chord symbols)

Symphony #1, The Ganesha for percussion ensemble, harmonica, bass
a transcription from the Thai Elephant Orchestra that can be performed by humans
(2022, Opus 41, 11 minutes)
score
listen to a performance by the Thai Elephant Orchestra with score

Eggleston for solo piano
(2023, Opus 42, 3 minutes) score

SHORT PIECES AND EXCERPTS

Little Andre for solo bass flute
(3 minutes, 1986) inspired by a very young breakdancer I met working on a hiphop musical
score / listen
Performed by Robert Dick

Score for Duo for Clarinet and Meade Lux Lewis (3:17 minutes, 1990) from Ice-9 Ballads
download Meade Lux Lewis's track (mp3)
Performed by Suzanne Gekker with Kurt Vonnegut's voiceover

Duo for Violin and Meade Lux Lewis
Score
download Meade Lux Lewis's track (mp3)
Performed by Rebecca Cherry

Prelude (1984, quartet with optional rhythm section)
score and parts / listen

Sojourner Truth (quartet, 7 minutes, 1990)
score and parts / listen
Performed by the Soldier String Quartet

Here Comes the King (quartet with opt. percussion, 5 min)
arrangement of a piece by Raymond Scott
score / listen

Lonesome Train (quartet with drums)
watch 80s version / watch 90's version

Bo Diddley (6 min, string quartet & improvised vocals)
Vocals are unscored since they are not expected to read music
score / parts / listen

Michael Callen (quartet, one tenor or soprano, and 3 backup singers)
score / listen

ARRANGEMENTS

Water Babies (quartet, 5 minutes)
arrangement of piece by Wayne Shorter
score / listenn version with quartet, flute (Robert Dick), and rhythm section

A Year for a Pomegranate (7 min, 2010)
for 2 violins, recorder, cello, harpsichord: not recorded

Ugly (quartet with singer)
arrangement of song by Robert Pete Williams
Vocals are unscored since they are not expected to read music
score / listen

Seguirilias
themes by Pedro Cortes, 2014
flamenco singer, string orchestra, optional guitar & cajon
score & parts /watch
Performed by Ismael Fernandez, singer, Composer's Concordance Orchestra with Thomas Bo