In-Between

Audio/visual Collaboration
Newly Released EP— Soundtrack Only

In-Between is an experimental audio-visual collaboration between American composer Mark Gustavson and Canadian media artist Chris Myhr.

Gustavson’s electroacoustic composition presents two complementary musical characterizations that appear consecutively, yet never overlap in time.

The music and film explore themes of liminality and contradiction; simultaneous becoming/disappearing; transmission/reception; organization/entropy; and aims to make sensible that which operates between polarities— the forces that make things whole, yet paradoxically multifaceted and fragmented.

In-Between was chosen for both the NYCEAMF 2021 and as "Semi-Finalist" in the Blowup Film Fest in Chicago.

DISSOLVING IMAGES

The album contains selected chamber works from 1986 to 1999 including Dissolving Images performed by Lisa Moore; Jag performed by Either/Or; Quintet performed by Contempo; Trickster performed by Ed Gilmore and A Fool's Journey performed by Parnassus.

Read Frank Oteri’s review of "Dissolving Images" in NewMusicBox.

You can also purchase "Dissolving Images" at:

Apple Music
Amazon Tweet

SINGLE EP

Chiftetelli

Chiftetelli for clarinet, two violins, viola and cello features melodic clarinet lines influenced by the Middle Eastern zummara’s (the clarinet’s ancient ancestor) ornamented style of playing. The pizzicato cello parts were inspired by the dombek, a traditional Middle eastern drum. The dombek produces two basic sounds: a low resonant thump and a higher, brighter sound when the edge of the drumhead is sharply rapped with the fingers. Together the lyrical clarinet lines and colorful string writing creates what Ted Shen of the Chicago Tribune described as, "...an adroitly constructed compendium of tantalizing rhythmic variations."

You can also purchase Chiftetelli at:

Amazon
or any of your favorite music download sites.
Performers

Edward Gilmore, clarinet
Susan Polifrone & Theresa Fream, violins
Keith Conant, viola
Kim Scholes, cello

Notes (pdf) for the recording are available here.

For sheet music, contact:
7030 80th Street
Glendale, NY 11385-7735
(718) 416-7800
or buy my music online at Edition-Peters.com

C. F. Peters Corp. Rental Library,
New York:

email: [email protected]
Fax: +1 (718) 416-7823
Tel: +1 (718) 416-7821/26

Trickster, for solo clarinet (1997)
Mark Gustavson is a New York-based composer with an impressive list of credentials, including a Fulbright [Fellowship] to Amsterdam, and awards from BMI and ASCAP. He has received commissions from the Fromm Foundation and Koussevitzky Music Foundation, and his works have been performed at Tanglewood and Banff. However, one of Mr. Gustavson’s most appealing characteristics is that he is also a fine clarinetist. His catalog is full of chamber works with clarinet, and Trickster is his contribution for solo clarinet. A ten-minute theme and variations work in one movement, Trickster is inspired by the American Indian myth of the Trickster, an immortal figure who, after each of his deaths, is renewed to continue his deceit.

The Trickster tale is spiritually and clarinet-reminiscent of Strauss's Till Eulenspiegel: a demanding technical work spanning the range of the instrument with plenty of personality. The six variations are florid, highlighting the clarion and altissimo registers. There is considerable room for interpretive freedom and expression; Gustavson’s use of the rhythmic crescendo adds an improvisatory feel throughout. The silence between and within variations adds a solitary, contemplative effect. Other than a few quarter-tone fingerings sprinkled throughout, the demands are consistent with conventional, modern clarinet playing. The climaxes within variations are particularly effective, especially the low tremolos that finish the work with an unsettled whisper.

Trickster is an engaging, rhapsodic solo work playable by advanced students and professionals. Gustavson’s intimate knowledge of the clarinet allowed many of the technical passages to lay comfortably in the hand, while his choice of quarter-tone fingerings was among the most comfortable, with few cross fingerings. Mark Gustavson has contributed a challenging, musically satisfying piece that yields more on successive hearings and performances. Trickster is a fine addition to the solo clarinet canon.

Download the sheet music for Trickster for FREE: click to Download.

The twentieth anniversary of the ignominious attack on the citizens of the United States on 9/11 is approaching.

Nearly twenty years ago I composed a sincere and passionate work— a modern hymn— to honor the people who perished on that day. The " heartbeat motive" throughout, and allusions to the blues unfold to a powerful climax. The original work for string orchestra was composed for a concert in Brooklyn soon after the attack and subsequently performed at Carnegie Hall by the String Orchestra of New York City (SONYC) on May 24, 2002. Twelve years later I arranged Hymn to the Vanished for clarinet and piano and I performed it with pianist Jad Bernardo at a faculty recital at Adelphi University. The following year I made an arrangement for concert band. The sheet music for the three versions are available for purchase:

Hymn to the Vanished for string orchestra (Sample page) score & parts $20.00

Hymn to the Vanished for clarinet and piano (Sample page) parts $10.00

Hymn to the Vanished for concert band
(Sample page) score and parts $30.00