As this website began to take shape, it seemed propitious to include a page addressing the various inspirations behind my compositions. I have to admit, I approach it with some hesitancy. I have been performing and composing for over 30 years now and a lot has changed in my life since those early years of “naïve inspiration”.
Having said that, I can most definitely point to an actual event in my early life that ignited the fire of my devotion to the classical arts. As a fifteen year old, I remember lying in bed, listening to a recording of the Cantata Nr. 50 by Johann Sebastian Bach. I found it to be mysteriously powerful in its ultimate “baroque-ness”. For double choir and orchestra, it is a one movement fugue based on a very obscure, yet frighteningly pertinent bit of text from Revelation 12 in the Holy Bible. As I listened to the recording, I became aware that I was able to hear clearly every voice and every line and knew exactly where they were going and what they meant. I heard beautifully trained performers executing these lines with marvelous precision. Witnessing all the artists- composer, singers and instrumentalists- collaborating on this recording with such devotion moved me to tears. Indeed, I remember weeping quite uncontrollably.
Interestingly enough, it was only later that the music of Bach became such a huge inspiration for me. As a matter of fact, it was the tone poems of Richard Strauss which gripped me as a teenager. His command of colorful harmony and his gift for melody have served as an example to me throughout my career. Similarly, and for the same reasons, the soundtracks of John Williams continue to inspire me to this day. As I began to perfect my skills in harmony and counterpoint, it was inevitable, I suppose, that I would be drawn to the music of Arnold Schoenberg. Very often, I listen intently to one of his works just prior to beginning a composition of my own.
Today, though I still revert faithfully to these old friends before composing, I have gradually developed what some might consider a controversial calling. I truly feel that the art of modern composition is going down the wrong path. Composers today seem to feel compelled to paint the ugly and chaotic in their “music”. I do not say this strictly from a compositional point of view. I have sat in orchestras for 20 years and have witnessed the loathing with which my colleagues have approached the vast majority of pieces written since about 1970. This attitude has come not only from the players, but certainly the audiences and very often from the conductor himself! Yet we are somehow obligated to play it. I call it “The Emperor’s New Clothes Phenomenon”. I sometimes wonder if these composers are truly following their hearts or writing on a solely academic level. Moreover, this style of composition seems to have monopolized the funding for modern music. More often than not, performers, sponsors and audience members are neither inspired nor satisfied from this style of “music” and, ultimately, I feel this much-needed funding will disappear from the arts altogether.
Perhaps it has become somewhat of an inspired calling to attempt to bring things back into balance. Yes, creative art should mirror the contemporary condition of humanity. But does the majority of music written and played today accurately do this? Shouldn’t an artist also be allowed to embody the adventurous, positive and life affirming spirit of our age? To me, the gift of song and harmony as well as the proper use of the splendid instruments we master are crucial to achieving this more beautiful aspect of our lives in the 21st century.