2006 Gloria (Everywhere)
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Temple II
last night, in Istanbul...
Hammers and Whistlers
2005 Symphony No. 5 Galatasaray
2004 Strange Stone
Sheherazade Alive
Requiem Without Words
2003 Istathenople
2002 Drawings
Gates
2001 Sarkici/The Singer (film score)
MKG Variations (guitar version)
Flight Box
2000 It's been 80 years
One for Eight
Symphony No. 4 Sardis
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Hammer Music (1990)
First Performance

May 1990 Boston Musica Viva Ensemble
Richard Pittman, conductor
Boston, MA

Instrumentation

fl. (pic), cl. (bcl), perc. synth., vln., vla., vlc.

Duration

14'30"

Listen

Hammer Music

Program Notes

Hammer Music is commissioned by the Fromm Foundation of Harvard University, which sponsors several free concerts of new music at Harvard annually. Hammer Music draws its title from the hammer strokes heard from the synthesizer in the recitative-like sections at the beginning and the end. In these two sections it is as though the synthesizer is the singer and the acoustic instruments are the passive accompaniment. The synthesizer tells a story or expresses quick thoughts and the acoustic instruments immediately react and give their support. The recitative-like sections, which represent reality, form a frame for the rest of the work, which is a journey of the imagination. This journey consists of a pounding energy that is straight, twisted, sometimes noise-like, and even valse-like. The energy finally breaks down in the form of an Adagio introduction of a Baroque Allegro form, which leads us to the last recitative-like section.