for orchestra - 2222, 2200, timp, perc, strings(2003: 6'):
Confluences
Instrumentation:
2222, 2000, perc, pno,strings(2008: 6'):
Program Note:
Released 2008: Made in the Americas, Volume 1, ERMMedia.
Recorded 2008: Millennium Symphony, Conducted by Robert Ian Winstin.
In Confluences, the deliberate, insistent pulse of the piano is the central force through which rhythmic and melodic lines are drawn in, influenced and transformed - creating musical confluences whose predictable elements are offset by unexpected undercurrents and a sense of suspense.
Crazed&Blue
Instrumentation:
a dance cycle for orchestra - 2222, 2220 timp, 2perc, strings(1998: 7'30):
three sequential nocturnes for orchestra - 2222, 4220, timp, 2perc, pno, strings(2001: 16'):
Program Note:
I.Running Late II.Waking from Broken Dreams III.Yet Still Night
Anxiety segues to a waking insight suffused with sadness and clarity, moving to the inescapable realization that night continues. Recurrent sonic punctuations of city life. Urban soundscape reverberating in the late hours of a night's existential moment. The final nocturne opens softly with a lullaby motive that becomes insistent and inconsolable.
a tone poem for orchestra - pic, 2222, 4000, timp, 2perc, strings(1997: 13'4):
Program Note:
I. Pulses of Distraction II. Empty CornersIII. Pulling Apart
Chromatic, strong tonal centers, neo-romantic and minimalist influences, atmospheric textures and rhythmic pulses without traditional harmonic development. Traces the stages of a separation, progressing through the piece. In Mvt 3, all elements are irrevocably set in motion.
Shredding Glass
Instrumentation:
for orchestra - 2222, 2021, timp, 2perc, pno, strings(2004: 10'):
Program Note:
ERMMedia CD released 2008: Masterworks of the New Era-Volume Twelve,
Czech Philharmonic, Conducted by Robert Ian Winstin.
Shredding Glass began as an immediate cathartic response to the events and images of September 11, 2001.
To me this piece represents the essence of an emotional remembrance of how a sense of time and timelessness unfolded while coping with the realization, heartbreak and impact of this catastrophic event. I believe the music transcends the specific to touch the hearts of others who have similarly experienced the devastating consequences of politically motivated aggressions and tragedies. Here's a video of my photo images set to Shredding Glass on YouTube.
Review:
Worthington's piece provides the listener instead with exquisite disintegration, mere glass filaments casting light in all directions, with an undercurrent of unresolved apprehension. The texture is transparent but luminous, reminiscent perhaps of the late works of Mahler.
-- Scott Locke (Journal of International Alliance of Women in Music, Vol. 14, No. 2, 2008)
a cycle for orchestra - 2000, 2201, timp, 2perc, strings(1999: 7'):
Program Note:
Formerly entitled January - a cycle for orchestra.
Recorded 2009: Millennium Symphony, Conducted by Robert Ian Winstin for 2010 release on ERMMedia's Made in the Americas, Volume 2
Premiered: 2001 - Orchestra of the SEM Ensemble; Petr Kotik, Conductor; Brooklyn, NY (audio is from SEM Workshop performance.)
The inspiration for Still Motion arises from a combination of sorting through the emotional residue of the year's end and the impatient desire to move ahead with life. It is a mix of edgy energy, reflective sadness and strength of conviction.
picc/2222, 2001, timp, 2perc, strings(2009: 8'15):
Program Note:
Recorded: March 2010 for release on PARMA Recordings. Ovidiu Marinescu, Conductor with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra.
Waking from Broken Dreams
Instrumentation:
a nocturne for orchestra - 2222, 4000, timp, perc, pno, strings(2000: 5'45):
Yet Still Night
Instrumentation:
a nocturne for orchestra - 2222, 2200, timp, 2perc, pno, strings(2001: 7'):
Program Note:
Released 2007: Masterworks of the New Era-Volume Eleven,
Czech Philharmonic, Conducted by Robert Ian Winstin, ERMMedia.
Premiered: Orchestra of the SEM Ensemble; Petr Kotik, Conductor; Brooklyn, NY, 2003.
Review:
Yet Still Night for orchestra plays out the dichotomy of outward naivete/underlying sophistication on a larger scale. You first think this is a lullaby, rocking back and forth between D-flat and B-flat in quarter notes that wander around the orchestra. But this is an urban lullaby, and the nocturnal world intrudes in growing chromatic lines and thickening textures.
-- Kyle Gann (Chamber Music, August, 2003)
“Dark Dreams” was inspired by a painting by Jared FitzGerald. The germinating idea for the piece relates to its image of an angel in the moonlight, wrestling with a shadowy figure. “Dark Dreams” extends the metaphor to the struggles with “emotional demons” confronted in life.
** Indicates audio which features Jacqueline Leclair, eng horn; Evan Spritzer, cl; Richard Vrotney, bsn; Joseph Kubera, pno; Vita Wallace & Theresa Salomon, vlns; Liuh-Wen Ting, vla; Ariane Lallemand, vc.
Four Scenes on Forest Road scored for woodwinds and vibraphone is comprised of four (continuous) movements. It was inspired by emotional responses to the qualities of woods and water, air and light, sounds and silences, and the intimacies and immensities of rural settings of place and time.
This project was partially funded by the New York Foundation for the Arts and The Arts Center of the Capital Region.
Light Currents
Instrumentation:
winds & vibraphone(2008: 3:15):
Program Note:
fl, ob, cl, bsn, vibe
Prelude for Winds
Instrumentation:
fl, ob, cl, bsn, 3 hrns(1991: 3'10):
Resisting Reason **
Instrumentation:
ob, bsn, vln, vla, vc(1996: 4'25):
Program Note:
Emotional resistance to the application of logical reasoning.
(excerpted from Disturbances, a set of orchestra nocturnes.)
* Indicates audio which features Immanuel Davis, fl; Jennifer Raymond, ob; Evan Spritzer, cl; Denise Broadhurst, pno; Julanne Klopotic & Jenny Scheinman, vlns; Ron Lawrence, vla; Ariane Lallemand, vc.
Premiered: 11/16/97 - Synchronia, St. Louis, MO.
Street City is an attempt to convey some of the elemental dissonance, repetition and rhythmic pulse of the city street sounds. It is also meant to evoke the cyclical transition of mood as day gives way to quieter night hours, then picking up rhythmically once again as morning approaches.
Premiered: 2/2/97 - Contemporary Music Festival, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA.
The interplay of oboe and flute represents an emotional struggle that can not be easily resolved amidst prevailing confusion.
Confidentially
Instrumentation:
Bassoon and Cello (alt. Violin and Cello)(2009: 3'30):
Program Note:
Duet for Bassoon and Cello. (alt. version for Violin and Cello)
Reminiscent of children’s taunts, not the playfulness but rather the emotional complexity and impact, “Conflictions” is meant to convey a psychological state – feeling “afflicted” with hurtful conflicts.
The push and pull in a dance of love. (Alt versions: Cl,Pno or Vla,Pno)
Premiered 2009: Light & Sound Concert series, Brooklyn, NY. Julianne Klopotic, violin; Elaine Kwon, piano.
Jilted Tango (trio)
Instrumentation:
fl, vla, pno(1999: 5'):
Moving Through Shadows and Light
Instrumentation:
alt. fl, hrp, vla(1996: 4'48):
Program Note:
"Moving Through Shadows & Light" represents a passage through an emotional landscape, moving through memories which at moments seem dark and remote, and other times lucid.
Premiere: Hartford Festival of Women in Music
(alt. versions: Hp, Vln, Fl, or Alt. Fl) (audio is a midi realization)
The curious play between the poignant immediacy of an emotional moment, and at the same time, stepping back as an observer into a more distanced state of reflection.
Premiered 2010: Ricochet Duo: Jane Boxall, marimba and Rose Chancler, piano, Ninth Festival of Women Composers, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
(audio is a midi realization)
Premiered: 4/28/96 - Row Twelve, Wellfleet, MA
Reconsidering is meant to evoke a contemplative mood... a lingering premonition that something may not be what it seems and must be reconsidered on a deeper level.
Reflections of a Distant Time
Instrumentation:
ob, cl, hrn, vla(1994: 2'47):
Program Note:
Quiet reminiscing for a simplicity and innocence of life, perhaps from another time.
Why Is It?
Instrumentation:
ob, vla, vc(1995: 2'):
Program Note:
A moment's questioning of an emotional circumstance.
Winter's Solitude
Instrumentation:
ob, cl, vla, vc(1995: 3'55):
Program Note:
Clear, cold light and quiet introspection... two moods of existential contemplation on a winter's day.
...Worthington has taken Copland's structural use of rhythm to a further extreme than most composers. She uses it to enliven and articulate, not only a fixed gamut of harmonies, but motives and melodies.
-- Kyle Gann (Chamber Music, August, 2003)
Premiered: 6/4/99 Sirius String Quartet, concert of works, Turtle Bay Music School, NYC.
An anxious lament for love lost. The emotional context begins from a point of sadness and feeling that there is no escape from the hurt, then transmutes into edgy feelings of anger against the emotional pain. It takes musical inspiration from the plainsong, Dies Irae.
Belgian soprano, Francoise Vanhecke performs an alternate dramatic vocal interpretation of These days... in Europe on her More Than A Voice concert program and in the opening of the theater piece, Zielewind.
Review:
In These Days, with words and music by Rain Worthington, the texture is woven inseparably with the color - a most unusual and fascinating technique that allows for subtle, almost spectral shifts and emotional intensity. It is an extraordinary work.
-- New music journalist & reviewer, Mark Greenfest, (Journal of International Alliance of Women in Music, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2004)
Recorded by Max Lifchitz on Moods-Piano Music by American Women Composers.
Always Almost is an expression of the profound realization that some of life’s deepest yearnings may remain unfulfilled, seemingly just out of reach – just 'always almost.' Yet from this sadness music arose.
Review:
“Rain Worthington’s piano compositions are quite striking in terms of the mood each of them sets and also the way she seems to always get mileage out of her materials. There is a surprise for the ear at every turn. She weaves melodic lines in an almost magical way, always leading the ear to unexpected places!"
-- Max Lifchitz, pianist North/South Recordings
for solo piano.
Recorded by Max Lifchitz on Moods-Piano Music by American Women Composers.
Dark Dreams was inspired by a painting by Jared FitzGerald. The germinating idea for the piece relates to the image of an angel in the moonlight wrestling with a shadowy figure. Dark Dreams extends the metaphor to the struggles with emotional demons confronted in life.
Review:
"Rain Worthington’s mood sketches…have a delicate wistfulness and Satie-like repose. I’m not often a fan of minimalism, but these chordal repetitions and loopings are strangely compelling. …’Dark Dreams’ evokes “emotional demons”, apparently more elegant and better-behaved than the ones I have.”
-- Jack Sullivan (American Record Guide, January/February 2010)
Recorded by Max Lifchitz on Moods-Piano Music by American Women Composers.
Hourglass is a musical reflection on the passage of time and the delicacy and variable nature of its passing – as in the shifting phases of sand in a turning hourglass.
Review:
"Rain Worthington’s mood sketches…have a delicate wistfulness and Satie-like repose. I’m not often a fan of minimalism, but these chordal repetitions and loopings are strangely compelling. The shifting sands of ‘Hourglass’ stretch time seductively;…”
-- Jack Sullivan (American Record Guide, January/February 2010)
Paper Wings is dedicated to my mother Nancy Bondurant Jones who, among other accomplishments, is a writer. The title is meant to describe how her writings strengthen her resolve and lift her spirits, as on “paper wings”.
Premiered by violinist, Michael Braudy 2010, Kolkata, India. This audio excerpt was from a recital by violinist, Joan Griffing, Head of the Music Department at Eastern Mennonite University, VA.
Recorded by Max Lifchitz on Moods-Piano Music by American Women Composers.
Tangents derives its name from divergent musical lines that seem to arrive and depart from a musical center, much like fragments of thoughts that tangentially pass through conversations.
Review:
"Rain Worthington’s mood sketches…have a delicate wistfulness and Satie-like repose. I’m not often a fan of minimalism, but these chordal repetitions and loopings are strangely compelling. … the endless droopings of ‘Tangents’ are, in Worthington’s words, “fragments of thoughts that tangentially pass through conversations” – a Joycean conceit subtly realized;…”
-- Jack Sullivan (American Record Guide, January/February 2010)
