My first composition was an operetta for four voices and guitar: My mother, my father, my brother and I. It was for marionettes which I had made, and we performed it in our basement for my schoolmates. It was 1964 and I had yet to hear or see a real operetta. My junior-high music teacher gave me private lessons in music studies. She was a gospel organist. I continued writing short choral pieces and duets for harmonica and guitar. My father spent 1/2 hour every night after dinner playing these duets with me. Then I studied every book on orchestration I could get my hands on. My high school library had a score and recording of The Flying Dutchman and Mathis der Mahler. I listened to them over and over. In college, I was introduced to Wozzek and a another general music teacher took an interest. He wanted me to study the ragas of classical Indian music. He was the principal oboist for the New York Philharmonic. I changed my major from theater to comparative languages and finally to biology. I studied the complete Carcassi method for classical guitar. In grad school, studying botany, I became known for my ability to copy music and was employed by marching bands during football season for their half-time shows. I never completed my botanical studies and joined Local 802 as a music copyist and made my living as such for half-a-dozen years. The Salvation Army played from my scores on street corners. A large scale symphony which had taken several months to prepare was performed at the United Nations. My own composition for symphonic band—Canti Svizzeri—received a perfomance in Switzerland which was broadcast live over public radio. I had my fifteen minutes. I still write little pieces for this–and–that just because it amuses me. Why not? On this page I present about 1/3 of all the pieces written to date. Most of the pieces composed since 2000 do not have opus numbers. We have over 400 videos: here are some featuring John reading his poetry | ||
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417: Sonatina Op.19 "To Pastures New" (percussion ensemble, 1977) 400: Stairway to Forever (harp, 1973) 399: Nothing Lost (op.96 for piano, 1996) 397: Opus 69 "Partita" for piano (On a woodcut by Urs Graf) 396: Salome (op.28 for two harps, after Vivaldi) 395: ERNI Lithograph a/p (op.77 for harpsichord, guitar & harp) Part 3 of 3. 394: ERNI Lithograph 112/190 (op.77 for harpsichord, guitar & harp) Part 2 of 3. 393: ERNI Lithograph 32/95 (op.77 for harpsichord, guitar & harp) Part 1 of 3. 392: Tricky Girls! (op.42 for piano and animation, 1985) 391: Narcissus (mixed ensemble, 2018) 345: The Nose Of a Beast (flute and piano) 338: Village Dances, Spreitenbach (op.14 for piano) 331: Secret Snow (paintings by Albrecht Dürer) (for two pianos) 329: Snow Day with John Singer Sargent's "in Switzerland" (op.94 for harp) 328: Fantasia on Saint Nicholas in Four Parts and Epilogue (op.76) 326: Four Noels on paintings by Segantini (for flute and harp) 323: Fancy That! (op.10 for piano and bass written in 1972) 309: Canti Svizzeri (op.88 for symphonic band, 1990 premiere performance broadcast on Swiss Public Radio) 279: A Brief Affair (Toccata No.5) (piano solo) 278: Toccata for Glenn Gould (piano solo) 276: Dea r Aunt Lau ra (piano solo) 274: Toccata No.2 (piano solo) 262: Masquerade with Napoleon at the Pinacoteca di Brera 259: A Christmas Song for my brother Roy 258: Cat Dreams (dedicated to sleeping cats everywhere) 257: Rest, Rest (a Christmas song for my mother) 256: I can't be Santa Claus anymore 254: Uncle John's Bells (percussion) 190: Nostalgic Dance No.4 (on location at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh) 178: Scherzo at Liliuokalani Gardens (on location in Hilo, Hawaii) 176: The Cold Spell (harmonium) 172: Hot in Hilo (Hawaiian mele and hula, Op.72 percussion ensemble 1993) 171: The Howling Ages / Jack London (op.58 for harpsichord) 167: Boogie Doggie (Walking the Mop Hounds in Hauppauge) (piano) 165: Observations on Nathan Hale (op.50 for piano solo) 158: the faculty of walking (op.23 for flute and bassoon) 125: pitted like a honeycomb (op.23 for flute and bassoon) 113: as a ship with sails and ropes (op.23 flute and bassoon) 99: kind of earth boring drill (op.23 flute and bassoon) 88: Fantasia on Max & Moritz (symphonic band transcribed for organ) 48: united with glue (op.23 flute and bassoon) 47: tsuga mertensiana (op.23 flute and bassoon) 46: Chamber Concert (flute and harp) 45: Magnificat (op.65 for piano, 1992) 44: Hot Under the Collar (piano) 43: Walking the Kilauea Iki Crater (Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii) 40: A View of the Enemy (op.91 for marimba ensemble) 39: Konane (Stones) (three guitars) 38: Puerto Rico Suite (two pianos) 37: Solitude (op.20, flute and harp, 1977) 36: Looking at Hawai'i (two pianos) 35: Looking at Big Island (piano solo) 34: Clouds: Toccata for Piano (op.47 for piano) 33: Hurly-Burly Life (accordion) 32: Braving the Wild Surf of Puerto Rico's north shore (mixed ensemble) 31: A Romp through Old San Juan in Puerto Rico (mixed ensemble) 30: Lament Music for Good Friday (op.37 for organ) 29: Exploring the Forts of Old San Juan (mixed ensemble) 28: A Lark at El Yunque (mixed ensemble) 27: It Takes Two (playing with stones on location at Lapakahi, Big Island) 26: Learning to Surf (on locationat Playa Isla Verde in Puerto Rico) 22: Scherzo on the Rocks (on location at Daubensee, Switzerland) 21: Scherzo on a Stump (on location in Geneva, Switzerlandc) 8: The Eccentric Dance of Drumming in a Maui Bamboo Grove (on location in Hawaii) 7: The Eccentric Dance at the Montauk Point Lighthouse (on location on Long Island) 6: The Eccentric Dance of The Walking Dunes (on location on Long Island) 5: The Eccentric Dance of The Boboli Threesome (on location in Florence, Italy) 4: The Eccentric Dance at Shoshone Point (on location at the Grand Canyon) | ||
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