Writing, publishing, and recording music, in addition to being extremely time-consuming, are also rather expensive endeavours. Like many other people who write music in the tradition of high art, I do other things which allow me to pay my rent and give me a reasonable amount of time for the creative work I want to do, for which no one is paying me. Out of a large number of ongoing projects, relatively few can be brought to completion due to lack of funds. An incomplete list of current major ongoing projects is given below. If you would like to support a specific project, simply include the name of the project with your subscription. Your name will then appear as an underwriter in the published score or recording liner notes. Thank you in advance.
Work on this project began in 2017 with a first draft of the opening chorus (Geh, Jesu, zu deiner Pein). In 2018 followed drafts for 16 chorales, after which the project was set aside. Work resumed in 2024 with drafts for 6 Arias and the choruses (interjections from the choir, as well as the choral closing movement). The text is from Picander (1744) for the St. Mark Passion written by J.S. Bach, which was lost. Provisional scoring is for SATB choir, 4 SATB soloists, strings, flute, oboe, and continuo. The work is divided into two parts, with a total duration of less than two hours, including a short break in the middle.
This project began in 2023 with a series of eight fugues (written without preludes) and was set aside due to duties as substitute organist, then resumed in 2024, continuing into 2025. One of the ideas behind this project is to explore the techniques learned through The Apprentice of Fugue project in 2022. For example, invertible counterpoint at multiple intervals, or subjects which allow more than one form of stretto in augmentation. The overall structure is based not only on key relations, but also meters using primes up to 23.
An accompanying text with analysis was originally planned with the release of The Equal-Tempered Keyboard but for various reasons remained unfinished at the time of publication (2021). In the years which have followed, the text has received sporadic attention but has remained unfinished due to various uncertainties and interruptions. Through collaborative work with Matthew Sheeran, acoustic performances and recordings have been in preparation since 2022. As part of that work, each piece has been transcribed into a 12-ET version (playable on a normal keyboard in normal tuning) and these scores have become part of the planned release, which will be a second book including 12-ET scores, the text with analysis of all the tunings and how counterpoint operates in each tuning. It remains to be seen whether new recordings will become part of the printed publication or will remain separate.
A recording of my first book of 24 Preludes and Fugues was released in 2015 using a sampled piano. That was replaced twice, in 2017, and again in 2018, both of which used slightly better sampled pianos. All of these recordings are of sub-par quality and have been removed from circulation. My second book of 24 Preludes and Fugues was released in 2020 and revised in 2022, and in between, a revised edition of my first book was released (2021). These revised editions have not yet been recorded. At this point I have accumulated enough experience to know exactly how these recordings should be done. The quality of the performance and the sound of the piano (Steinway D) can be heard on the recent release of The Apprentice of Fugue.
A large number of older works remain unpublished; for example, a collection of festival music for brass, choir, and organ commissioned by the Episcopal Church. Many earlier scores exist only in manuscript or were written using notation software which no longer exists. Given the number of current projects and my limited time, it is very unlikely that I will ever be motivated enough to give these older works the time required to prepare them for publication. A reasonable solution would be to hire someone to prepare the scores. For that, your support would be welcome.