Music of Paul Andrews

Graduated Magna Cum Laude from Ball State University in 2001 with a BM in Music Composition

Paul's compositions have been performed in the USA, Canada, Great Britian, and Japan.

He attended the 2000 Ernest Bloch Music Festival as Guest Composer

and the 2000 June in Buffalo Music Composition Festival as an auditor.

 

DATE, INSTRUMENTATION TITLE LISTEN
1999: Full Orchestra Tranquillitas Maris
1999-2000: Flute, Oboe, Clarinet

Scenes from Childhood:

1. Wandering through the Snow

2. Old Mr. Meeber

3. The Neighbors' Goat

4. Burial of the Dead Birds

5. The Funhouse
2000: Alto Saxophone & Electronics Shir Avel (Mourners' Song)
2001: Women's Chorus & String Orchestra Verses of Peace
2000, Tenor & Piano The Consolations of Sociobiology
2000: Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Percussion Chaos Music
2002: Mezzo-Soprano & Piano Arazaran
2002: Mezzo-Soprano & Piano Yamazato
2000: Oboe & Bassoon

Four Eggs

1. Red

2. Three

3. Upsidedown

4. Last

Composition Information

　
Tranquillitas Maris: Composed in 1999 for Full Orchestra, this piece was performed twice in 2000 by the Ball State Symphony Orchestra under the baton of student conductor Osamu Matsuura.
Scenes from Childhood: A five movement work depicting five different interesting memories from my childhood. The titles have no hidden mean, each movement depicts what its title states. In this recording, Joni Hovis is on flute, Nick Swan oboe, and Ryan Muncy clarinet.
Shir Avel (Mourners' Song): This work was written as a lament for all those who have died trying simply to live their lives to the fullest of their potential. This song is for those who value freedom and life, those who died not trying to force others to their will or attempting to live off the work of others, but those who held their life as the thing of highest value, and without expecting others to live for them attempted to acheive their best. In this performance Ryan Muncy is on clarinet while I am controlling the computer.
Verses of Peace: For Women's Chorus and String Orchestra, this work the setting of a Jewish prayer that begins in Hebrew with Boray niv s'foso-yim (from the Artscroll Transliterated Linear Siddur). Unfortunately, it has yet to be performed, so the only recording I have was made from my the MIDI of my Korg N264 and Roland SCs.
The Consolations of Sociobiology: Based on a biologically fatalistic poem by living composer Bill Knott, the English text tells the lament of a person who blames his/her inability to maintain a relationship on his/her DNA. I don't believe is such a pathetic approach to life, and maybe neither does Bill Knott, but I felt that because of the grip this kind of thinking has on so many people today that I should express my revulsion musically. The tenor in the above recording is Jeff Hartman and Osamu Matsuura is on Piano.
Chaos Music: Composed for the 2000 Ernest Bloch Festival, I wrote this piece as a kind of musical joke, a jab at the musical establishment that equates what amounts to random (whether it was conceived randomly or not is a moot point) noise with music somehow deserving of public funding (for one, I think NO music or art is deserving of PUBLIC funding, but that is another issue). The name says it all: CHAOS. I was happy that I was able to capture chaos with this piece, while stating my disgust with the whole thing in with the final motive.
Arazaran This is one of two pieces written for my wife, Ritsuko. Taken from a famous collection of Japanese tanka known as the "Hyaku-nin Isshu," I set the song in both Japanese and English. Here is the English text.

by Lady Izumi Shikibu: Soon my life will close. When I am beyond this world And have forgotten it, Let me remember only this: One final meeting with you.

Yamazato This is the second piece written for Ritsuko, taken from the "Hyaku-nin Isshu." Here's the English text.

by Minamoto no Muneyuki: Winter loneliness In a mountain village grows Only deeper, when Guests are gone, and leaves and grass Are withered: troubling thoughts.
Four Eggs : What is music if it's not somehow enjoyable? Well, I wrote these four short movements for my friend Nick Swan and I to play together. With Nick on oboe and myself on bassoon, we really had a lot of fun (and difficulty) playing these pieces. Red was called so because we would both become very red in the face while playing. Three got its name from the three mutations of the theme present in the movement. The 3rd movement was called Upsidedown because of the way I play on just the upsidedown wing-joint of the bassoon. You can guess where the name for the last movement came from!

created November 3rd, 2003 by Paul Andrews