1992 Night Passage Hot, Red, Cold, Vibrant 1991 Lipstick (ballet) 1990 Hammer Music 1989 Fantasie of a Sudden Turtle Symphony No.1 Castles in the Air 1988 An Unavoidable Obsession Waves of Talya 1987 My Friend Mozart Ebullient Shadows Deep Flight 1986 Cross Scintillations Before Infrared < later   > earlier 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.