| Year |
2008 |
| Time |
3:01 |
| Size |
4.16 MB |
| Book III (830-831, 838-842)
Nil igitur mors est ad nos neque pertinet hilum,
quandoquidem natura animi mortalis habetur. [...]
sic, ubi non erimus, cum corporis atque animai
discidium fuerit quibus e sumus uniter apti,
scilicet haud nobis quicquam, qui non erimus tum,
accidere omnino poterit sensumque movere,
non si terra mari miscebitur et mare caelo.
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Death, then, is nothing to us, nor does it concern us in the least, inasmuch as the nature of the mind is but a mortal possession. [...] So, when we shall be no more, when there shall have come the parting of body and soul, by whose union we are made one, you may know that nothing at all will be able to happen to us, who then will be no more, or stir our feeling; no, not if earth shall be mingled with sea, and sea with sky.
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| Year |
2008 |
| Time |
1:55 |
| Size |
2.65 MB |
| Book II (55-61)
Nam veluti pueri trepidant atque omnia caecis
in tenebris metuunt, sic nos in luce timemus
interdum, nilo quae sunt metuenda magis quam
quae pueri in tenebris pavitant finguntque futura.
hunc igitur terrorem animi tenebrasque necessest
non radii solis neque lucida tela diei
discutiant, sed naturae species ratioque.
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For even as children tremble and fear everything in blinding darkness, so we sometimes dread in the light things that are no more to be feared than what children shudder at in the dark, and imagine will come to pass. This terror of the mind then, this darkness, must needs be scattered not by the rays of the sun and the gleaming shafts of day, but by the outer view and the inner law of nature.
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| Year |
2008 |
| Time |
3:12 |
| Size |
4.40 MB |
| Book I (62-63, 66-67, 72-75, 78-79)
Humana ante oculos foede cum vita iaceret
in terris oppressa gravi sub religione [...]
primum Graius homo mortalis tollere contra
est oculos ausus primusque obsistere contra [...]
ergo vivida vis animi pervicit, et extra
processit longe flammantia moenia mundi
atque omne immensum peragravit mente animoque,
unde refert nobis victor quid possit oriri, [...]
quare religio pedibus subiecta vicissim
obteritur, nos exaequat victoria caelo.
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When the life of man lay foul to see and grovelling upon the earth, crushed by the weight of superstition, [...] ’twas a man of Greece who dared first to raise his mortal eyes to meet her, and first to stand forth to meet her [...]. And so it was that the lively force of his mind won its way, and he passed beyond the fiery walls of the world, and in mind and spirit traversed the boundless whole; whence in victory he brings us tidings what can come to be and what cannot [...]. And so superstition in revenge is cast beneath men’s feet and trampled, and victory raises us to heaven.
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De Rerum Natura is an epic poem written by the Roman philosopher Titus Lucretius Carus (ca. 99-55 BCE). We know little about Lucretius’s life beyond the fact that he was an adherent of Epicurus, a Greek philosopher who had lived two centuries before him. The poem, written for and dedicated to Lucretius’s friend Gaius Memmius, sets forth and expounds upon many of the ideas of Epicureanism – that the universe is governed by the motion of atoms, that we must conquer fear (particularly that of death), and that humanity must achieve its own salvation rather than petitioning it from the gods.
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| Year |
2008 |
| Time |
4:41 |
| Size |
6.44 MB |
Animus is an experiment in rhythm. The beats are divided unevenly, a feature which is exploited to change the tempo with mathematical precision. The harmony, while comprised of simple chords, moves in unorthodox ways. Overall, however, the atmosphere or emotions evoked by the piece are of primary importance. The modernistic techniques described above are used to add an element of unpredictability to this atmosphere.
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| Year |
2007 |
| Time |
5:26 |
| Size |
7.48 MB |
For solo piano. This is something of a tribute piece for Douglas Adams, one of my favorite human beings. The harmonies I use are tertian block chords, but they move in non-functional ways, often to accompany octatonic passages. It was performed live on November 29, 2007 by Nicole Valadez and on November 16, 2009 by Saul Iruegas.
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| Year |
2006 |
| Time |
5:51 |
| Size |
8.01 MB |
Catch-22, a piece for unaccompanied flute, was my first assignment for sophomore composition lessons. I was asked to write a solo piece in three movements, wherein each movement only used two melodic intervals and their inversions. Movement I uses the minor second, perfect fourth, major seventh, and perfect fifth; Movement II uses the major second, minor third, minor seventh, and major sixth; and Movement III uses the minor second, major third, major seventh, minor sixth, and the tritone. I somehow managed to make things sound surprisingly tonal. It was premiered on November 30, 2006 by Natalie Duncan. This recording from November 16, 2009 features Jeremy Jimenez.
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