Thomas Clark – composer / digital artist

Category: 2010-19

  • Dark Matter

    2019      string quartet     duration: 7 minutes

    Excerpt:

    My compositional fascination with musical canons began in the early 1970s with study (at the University of Michigan) of Ockeghem’s 15th-century polyphony, the 10 canons in Bach’s 18th-century The Musical Offering, and Webern’s 20th-century Symphonie Op.21. As a young professor in the 1980s teaching 16th-century counterpoint at what was then North Texas State University (now UNT), I used canon as a challenging contrapuntal writing assignment. In 1985, a wind ensemble piece, Parallel Horizons (Homage to Schoenberg), was my first formal composition constructed by canon. In Dark Matter, other contrapuntal writing surrounds an extended canon.

    According to Wikipedia: “Dark matter is believed to be a form of matter thought to account for approximately 85% of the matter in the universe and about 27% of its total mass–energy density. Its presence is implied in a variety of astrophysical observations, including gravitational effects that cannot be explained by accepted theories of gravity unless more matter is present than can be seen. For this reason, most experts think that dark matter is abundant in the universe and that it has had a strong influence on its structure and evolution. Dark matter is called dark because it does not appear to interact with the electromagnetic field, which means it does not absorb, reflect or emit electromagnetic radiation, and is therefore difficult to detect.”

    To request performance materials and permission, email the composer, tc24@txstate.edu.

  • Unseen Voices

    2018      double SATB choir, orchestra      duration: 9 minutes

    Horn in F, 2 Trumpets in C, Trombone, Bass Trombone, Triangle, Timpani, Strings

    Angels in most world religions and mythologies seem to serve one of two functions: wielding controlling power over the physical world or over human affairs; or making spiritual announcements to humans. In giving voice to the unseen voices of angels and other spirits, the choir pronounces the names of Native American and Hebrew spirits representing the power and beauty of nature – wind, moonlight, rainbows – and messages of peace and assurance. Here is our chosen cast of angel/spirit names:

      Gǎoh – chief wind spirit (Iroquois)

      Yaogah – bear spirit of the north wind (Iroquois)

      Neoga – fawn spirit of the south wind (Iroquois)

      Oyandone – moose spirit of the East Wind (Iroquois)

      Amitolane – rainbow spirit (Zuni)

      Nokomis – daughter of the moon (Algonquin)

      Gabriel – archangel of justice, annunciation (Hebrew)

      Maris stella – star of the sea (Latin)

    Ave maris stella is an 8th-Cen. Roman plainsong antiphon for Vespers. The text speaks of Gabriel announcing peace to the world.

    Gabrielis ore, funda nos in pace. (Latin)  “From the mouth of Gabriel, establish us in peace.”

    Epi gis Eireni anthropois. (Greek)  “On earth, peace to all people.”

  • Bending Birches

    Bb clarinet.     2018.     Duration 5 minutes.

    Inspired by Robert Frost’s “Birches”

  • Before I Sleep

    Viola.   2018.  Duration 6:20.  

    Written for my colleague Ames Asbell of the Texas State music faculty and Pleasant Street Players, an outstanding artist and player of one of my favorite instruments.

    The title, Before I Sleep, is a quote from the last lines of Robert Frost’s famous poem “Stopping by Woods,” a contemplation of death on a nocturnal sleigh ride in the snow. The lead motive is a quote from Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, which open with flutes and sleigh bells jingling what is called the “bell theme.”

  • Climbing Blaník

    oboe, clarinet, viola, cello, marimba.    Duration 7:10.      2018.

    Final piece of the Czech chamber music trilogy for the Pleasant Street Players, Ian Davidson, Vanguel Tangarov, Ames Asbell, and their musical associates.

    Climbing Blaník records musical impressions of an autumn walk up this legendary mountain. A famous Bach quote sets the forest scene of fluttering golden leaves above the rocky landscape. Blaník’s history goes back to 5th-century BC Celtic ruins, but the structure at the summit now is a replica of a Hussite watchtower. A 15th-century legend says that St. Wenceslas and an army of knights slumber inside the mountain and will awaken to defend the Czech people when they are attacked.

  • String Theory

    2018 . . . solo soprano saxophone and sax quartet (2 alto, ten, bari) . . . Duration 7:30

    String Theory – In Memoriam Larry Austin is based on the idea current in particle physics that subatomic particles of matter at the deepest fundamental level are all spinning strings of energy. Translated into music by analogy, small three-note segments of a diatonic scale (C Major) become ostinatos spun simultaneously at subtly or wildly different speeds. This is an example of an abstract musical idea like those at the core of much of the experimental music of pioneering composer Larry Austin (1930 – 2018), Clark’s 40-year colleague, collaborator and friend.

    To request performance materials and permission, email BMI-affiliated composer Thomas Clark, tc24@txstate.edu.

  • First Light

    2018      wind ensemble      Duration: 7:30   

    “first dawn”

    “shimmering light”

    First Light is a double reference. It is the term used when a new telescope is commissioned and opens its optics for the first time to capture light. When Texas State University opened its new Performing Arts Center, the 2015 inaugural concert in the acoustically splendid Recital Hall was titled “First Light.”

    The older reference is to native American mythology, which tells origin stories of the First People who emerge from the Dark World into the light of the rising sun (the Blackfoot sun god is called Natosi). In Navajo mythology, “Early on the morning of the fourth day, Little Dawn Boy began to sing his magic song. As he finished the song, an arch of shimmering light, all rose, violet, blue, and every color, and delicate as a veil, began to stretch from the summit of the purple mountain to the top of the white cliff. He then saw a bright Rainbow Bridge grow before his eyes. Singing with delight, he hastened over the Rainbow Bridge. As he ran a wind sprang up and blew a many-colored mist to the top of the cliff.” [First People: American Indian Legends]

    To request performance materials and permission, email BMI-affiliated composer Thomas Clark, tc24@txstate.edu.

  • Karlův Most (Charles Bridge)

    2018     oboe, clarinet, viola, cello.    Duration 7:30

    Middle in a series of three works (following Hukvaldy Sketches and preceding Climbing Blaník) inspired by Czech culture and written for the Pleasant Street Players, Ian Davidson, Vanguel Tangarov, Ames Asbell, and their musical associates.

    The stone Charles Bridge spans the great Vltava in Prague, connecting Old Town to the Lesser Quarter’s St. Vitus Cathedral and Presidential Palace. Built in the 14th century, its 16 arches are guarded at each end by magnificent bridge towers typical of Prague‘s Gothic architecture. Some 30 statues watch over peddlers and a constant stream of local and tourist pedestrians. To be among them always evokes strong feelings of history and the joy of Bohemian life.

     

    To request performance materials and permission, email BMI-affiliated composer Thomas Clark, tc24@txstate.edu

  • Chicago Sketches

    2019 . . . Flute choir: piccolo, 3 flutes, alto flute, bass flute . . . Duration: 15:30

    I. Fermi Lab – December 1942

    II. Navy Pier – March 2014

    III. Buckingham Fountain – August 1976

    To request performance materials and permission, email the composer, tc24@txstate.edu.

  • Lunar Litany

    2018      digital synthesis      duration 6:40