Early Piano Music

     1986-1997

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• Invention No. 1 - (Homage to Scarlatti) - 5-1-1986​

   John's first musical work dates from May 1, 1986, the day he completed his first piano composition. Studying a Domenico              Scarlatti sonata influenced this piece and was the inspirational basis that sparked his career as a composer.  Unlike                          some composers who have discarded their first youthful musical outbursts, John decided to keep these mostly                                intermediate pieces that he could play on the piano. Saving these early pieces and contrasting them with his mature works

   helps one to see how he has developed as a composer over time.  

   Posted dates are the completion dates of the compositions.

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 1986

• A Courtly Dance 

• Waltz 

• Do You Know Who You Are? - (Invention No. 2) 

• Janny’s Dance 

• Lament No. 1 

• Victim of His Constructs - (Invention No. 3) 

• A Piece in Two Movements 

• Minuet No. 1 

• Graceland 

• It's All in The Genes - (themes based on Graceland) 

• Elusive Truth - (Invention No. 4) 

• Lullaby 

• Dance 

• A Piece in Three Movements 

 

 1987

• 4 eyeballs went to the beach and met 4 penguins

• For Bill 

• Follow The Leader 

• Bagatelle No. 1 

• Cascade 

• Mary’s Hymn 

• Lament No. 2 

• Tweedy’s Last Dance 

• Pastorale No. 1 

• Bagatelle No. 2 

• Spring Sketches 

• Birthday Piece 

• For No One 

• Lament No. 3

• Sandy's Fantasy 

• English Lavender with Sweet Overtones - (Invention No. 5) 

• Bagatelle No. 3 

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 1988

• Snakefinger's Romantic Evening Among Stars 

• Ten Little Tunes for Children 

• Themes for El Centro (Turning Back the Dials of Time) 

• Japanese Landscape (In Eno's Garden of Possibilities) - Francesco Attesti, concert pianist, premiered this work in Cortona, Italy, S. Domenico Church on the 13th of August, 2015.  

• Lament No. 4 

• Minuet No. 2 

• Full Moon Over Diamond Head 

• Lament No. 5 

• Bagatelle No. 4 (John's Bagatelle)

• Dance of the Butterflies (Waltz No. 2) 

• John's Bagatelle (Bagatelle No. 5) 

• Lament No. 6 

• Queen's Suite I-V

• Themes for Honolulu 

• John's Bagatelle (Bagatelle No. 6) (Originally conceived on guitar, this tune was played during adolescence)

• Lament No. 7 ( Oh Mama)

• Bells for Saint Mary  (Christmas Melody) 

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 1989

• Fantasy Dances For Innocents - I-XXIV 

• Folk Dance Variations 

• Semplici Danze 

• Lament No. 8 (Longing for Comfort in a Sea of Pain) 

• Tony's Hymn 

• Christmas Melody No. 2 

• Waltz (Goodbye to the 1980's)

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 1990

• Requiem for Mary I-X

• Bagatelle No. 7 - Homage to Scarlatti 

• Invention No. 7 

• Summer Sketches 

• Lament No. 9 

• Silent Timbres 

• Lament No. 10

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 1991

• The Keys to the Castle (a Fantasy)

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 1992

• Character Piece No. 1 - Cleo's Dilemma

• Character Piece No. 2 - Soothing Waters

• Character Piece No. 3 - Moonlight Glance

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   (John took a break from composing music)

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 1996

• Character Piece No. 4 - If Only by Circumstance

• Catwalk Petite Suite

              I. Cat Dance

              II. Cat Prowl

              III. Cat Chase

              IV. Reprise

• Lament No. 11

• Happy to be Back

• Remembrance, or Mother's Memory

• The Dance

• Themes for Edward Gorey 

• Lament No. 12

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 1997

• 80th Birthday Jingles - 81 tonal miniatures 

• Lament No. 13  

• Antoinette

   This is John's last "Early Piano Music" piece before beginning professional composition lessons.  All these early scores have            been entered into "Finale" software, reviewed and edited, taking many years to accomplish and comprising over 350 pages of      piano music of varying difficulty.

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Piano Suites 

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 The Crumb Suite for Piano Solo - (Opus 1) - 1997 (updated 2022)

• Robert at the Easel

• Sophie's Characters

• Maxon's Poe 

• Sketch for Aline 

• Jesse's Beat Portraits 

• Crumb Finale 

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   Dedicated to Dr. Robert Wehrman, John began composing 'The Crumb Suite' on August 31, 1997, the day he had                          his first composition lesson.

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 Piano Suite No. 2 for Two Pianos - 2002

• Thore and Runa

• Whirlwind Tryst

• Delicately Sensual

• The Mysterious Beyond 

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 Piano Suite No. 3 for Piano Solo - 2002  

   Movements I-V

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   Nathanael May premiered this work in Cortona, Italy at the Teatro Signorelli Loggia on June 24, 2005.

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 Piano Suite No. 4 For Three Pianos - 2005

• Giovanni Baudino's Cleft Hand 

• Anguish in Every Household 

• Do You Have an E.R. For Music? 

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 Piano Suite No. 5 for Piano Solo - 2007 

• Free from Fashion 

• The Virtual Liaison 

• Impressions of Sampson 

• Let Thy Mind Be Still (Red Dust Affairs) 

• The Cruel Black Swan Effect

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 Piano Suite No. 6 for Piano Solo - 2008

• Silent Night

• Starry Night

• Transfigured Night

• Flight of the Nine Reindeers

• The Dark Night

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 Piano Suite No. 7 for Piano Solo - (Every Version of You) - 2011

• I See Your Face in Every Flower

• In Thunder

• Your Radiant Splendor

• And in the Singing of the Birds We Discover Beauty

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 Piano Suite No. 8 for Piano Solo - 2011

• The Greatest Worth is Self-Mastery

• The Greatest Meditation is a Mind that Lets Go

• The Greatest Magic is Transmuting the Passions

• The Greatest Goodness is a Peaceful Mind (Om Mani Padme Hum, Part I)

• The Greatest Wisdom is Seeing Through Appearances

• The Greatest Action is not Conforming with the World’s Ways

• The Greatest Medicine is the Emptiness of Everything (Om Mani Padme Hum, Part II)

• The Greatest Generosity is Non-Attachment

• The Greatest Effort is not Concerned with Results

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 Petite Suite for Piano Solo - 2012

• Savor The Moment

• The Hobgoblin (inspired by the art work of Alex Gross  http://www.alexgross.com/)

• Your Beauty Radiates Through Me on this Fine Spring Day

• The Riddler (inspired by the art work of Alex Gross)

• Day’s End

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 Piano Suite No. 9 for Piano Solo - (Memories of Liszt) - 2012

• Memories of Liszt

• The Exuberant Guest 

• Peace is on the Other Side of the Horizon

• Do We Have Time in Common?

• Transcendental Incantations

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 Piano Suite No. 10 for Piano Solo - (A Lamentation) - 2014

• Now That You Are Gone

• Your Soul Travels

• The Cosmic Waves

• In the Interval

• A Sharp Dagger Pierced My Grief-Stricken Heart

  This work is dedicated to the memory of William K. Dresser, M.D.  

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 Piano Suite No. 11 for Piano Solo (Dialectical Dictums) - 2015

• When the Door of Opportunity Knocks, Walk Through

• The Artist was Sequestered but not Vanquished 

• What Do You Do with the Time Given You?

• Free Markets Make Fools of All of Us

• The Cruel Emasculator Goes Down in Defeat

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 Piano Suite No. 12 for Piano Solo - 2016

• Arditamente - Drammatico - Delicato - (The Rule Breaker)

• Grave - Intenso (This is Not Normal)

• Allegro - (This Too Shall Pass)

• Briskly - With Dark Certainty - (The World Revolves Around Him)

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 Piano Suite No. 13 for Piano Solo - (Homage to Goethe) - 2020​​

•  Your Sweet Felicity

•  The Burdened Man's Anguish (Anguish in every household, Misery and burdens untold)

•  The Frightened Man's Tears (Fear rages throughout the land, Sorrow gives no helping hand)

•  Not All The Blossoms of Dream Grew Ripe 

•  Finale - Who Rides by Night in the Wind So Wild?

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 Piano Suite No. 14 for Two Pianos - (Saved From Extravagance and Incoherence) - 2021

     Part I. Vivace

     Part 2. Giocoso

     Part 3. Animato

     Part 4. Drammatico

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 Piano Suite No. 15 for Piano Solo - (From Here to There or Here To Go) - 2022

• I. con Moto

• II. Grave

• III. Full Throttle - con Bravura

• IV. Finale: Giocoso, Grazioso, Animoso

   A work for violin and double bass from 2002 became a work for Violin and Cello, then became the inspiration for this work.

                                   

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Piano Solo

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•  Metamorphosis N° 6 - N° 8 – 2002

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• Your Beauty Transcends Time - 2006 

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• Lament - (The Passing) - 2007 

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• Dino's Dilemma – 2008 

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• Jade Ponds – 2008

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    Inspired by a fine work of digital art Satoshi dedicated to the composer after the composer wrote a poem named "Jade                 Ponds" for the photographer/artist.

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• Completely Clothed in Sound for Piano, Three Players – 2011

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• Lament No. 14 - “The Death of Michael Alexander Snow” – 2011

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• Honolulu to Helsinki for Solo Piano - 2011 (a transcription from a work for piano and guitar)

​    After a request by pianist, Anne Ku

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• No. 99 – 2012

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• Miniatures - 2013

      I-IX 

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 Imaginations - 2013​

• An Imagined Future Audience

• Like the Whispering Wind 

• You Are a Mirror, I See Myself in You

• Stimulating Inventive Dreams

• Conceptualize the Infinite

• Flight of Fancy

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 Piano Elegies – 2013-14​

• Till Death Do Us Part 

• Reform by The Grim Reaper

• Theatre of the Absurd

• Lament for the Ghost of Blind Joe Death

• Lost Memories

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 A Fronte Praecipitium a Tergo Lupi - 2015 (in memory of Edward Van Egri)​

• A Precipice Awaits You

• Always Look Back for Wolves Approaching

• Running to the Edge of the Precipice Can Only Do You Harm

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 The Iron Cage of Reason - 2017

  I.   Con Brio, Delicatamente, Presto

  II.  Drammatico

  III. Animato, Arditamente

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• A Circular Jingle - 2017 (for the young yearning for fun)

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• In Supine Terror of a Tweet - 2018

      Parts I-II

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• Americans in Fantasyland (Truth Does Not Lie in the Gut) - 2018

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 Music for Children (Children in Fantasyland) - 2018

   I.    Lullaby

   II.   The Playground

   III.  The Fanfare

   IV.  The Jolly Tinkerman

   V.   Musical Chairs

   VI.  Depp and Marlo

   VII. Nonchalantly Suave

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 Phantasmamusica (An ongoing series of fantastic musical creations created by the composer's imagination)

 Book I - 2019

• I. Musica Moderna

• II. Converted to a Talking Book (in memory of Philip K. Dick)

• III. Mindless Repetition and Constant Plagiarism

• IV. Figures of Thought

• V. Figures of Speech

• VI. The Decay of Rhetoric

• VII. Frequency Hopping (Move Over J.S. Bach!)

• VIII. Your Words Can't Take Away the Joy of Creation 

• IX. The Last Nine Steps of Thor

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 Book II - 2020

• X. Spooky Entanglements

• XI. Waves of Probability

• XII. Entangled Qubits (for 1 or 2 players)  

• XIII. Spooky Actions at a Distance (in memory of Andreas Brown)

• XIV. Groups of Qubits

• XV. Entangled by Reality

• XVI. Collapsing to One Reality (in memory of Bill)

• XVII. The Uncertainty Principle

• XVIII. Every Version of Me (a quantum dance)

 

 Book III - 2021 

• XIX. Musical Reflections at 66 

• XX. Resistance to the Herd Spirit

• XXI. Fads and Affections

• XXII. Original Thoughts in Obscurity

• XXIII. Working In A Vacuum

• XXIV. Abandon Yourself to Your Instinct

• XXV. Reshuffling What Already Exists (for Two Players)

• XXVI. Menaced by Herd Compulsions

• XXVII. The Muse Has Never Left

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Piano Etudes

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 Book One (Maladies) - 2005

• 1 - The Repeated Spasm 

• 2 - Sightless  - Premiered by Lucie Kaucká on 5/27/2020 in Czech Republic during a live concert

• 3 - The Ruptured Disc 

• 4 - The Umbilical Hernia 

• 5 - Sciatica 

• 6 - Incystence

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 Book Two (Philosophies) - 2006

• 7 - A Recording is the Antithesis of his Aesthetic

• 8 - No One Has an Idea 

• 9 - Everything is 9 

• 10 - Purposelessness

• 11 - Recombination 

• 12 - Riding Potatoes to Maryland 

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 Book Three (Histories) - 2007

• 13 - To Honor the Past is to Honor the Future (for the past is the great teacher from which our constructs are built)

• 14 - Passing on Ancient Skills 

• 15 - Unmasking the Past 

• 16 - Ancestral Dreams 

• 17 - Ancestral Desires

• 18 - Ancestral Devotions 

 

    Piano Etudes Books 1, 2 and 3 are to be performed in sets of three.

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Piano Preludes

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 Book One – 2000 (revised 2014)

• 1 - Watery Abstractions 

           Premiered by Hugh Sung, staff pianist at the Curtis Institute, at Cabrini College,                  

           November 9, 2005 in Philadelphia, PA.

• 2 - B Bach

• 3 - Gamme de Bertha 

• 4 - Don't Give Me Grief 

• 5 - Amorphous Structures 

• 6 - Edward's Polymath 

           Premiered by Hugh Sung at Cabrini College, November 9, 2005 in Philadelphia, PA. 

• 7 - The Emperor's Gestures in His Majestic Garden 

           Premiered by Hugh Sung at Cabrini College, November 9, 2005 in Philadelphia, PA. 

• 8 - The Unexpected 

• 9 - The Ocean That Divides Us 

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 Book Two - 2001 (revised 2014)

• 10 - Be Nothing

• 11 - Pensive Leanings 

• 12 - Power Games 

             Premiered on 3/23/07 by Brent Nitta at Hawaii Music Awards 2006 where "Ampersand" 

             was recognized as best Classical release.

• 13 - The Path Is Ambiguous 

• 14 - Un Prelude e'tonnant 

• 15 - Appease Me 

• 16 - A Falling Leaf 

• 17 - Twice The Speed of Stitches 

• 18 - The Dexterous Toss 

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 Book Three – 2009-11

• 19 - Dollars for Prague

• 20 - Stillness in Motion, Swimming in Air

• 21 - For Mary Ann

• 22 - Magical Incantations 

• 23 - Humility Over Hubris

• 24 - Better Than Herding Donkeys

• 25 - Crosshairs

• 26 - A Wealth of Sorrow

• 27 - Sheep & Chickens

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 Book Four – 2013-14 

• 28 - Arcane Gestures

• 29 - 21st Century Abominations

• 30 - Grateful for The Privilege

• 31 - Cleo's Curiosity

• 32 - The Charmer

• 33 – Velocity

• 34 - Methodically Speaking

• 35 - The Loner

• 36 - The Mad Genius

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 Book Five – 2018 

• 37 - Eric's Walk Through Town

• 38 - From Precision to Decay

• 39 - The Needy and the Greedy

• 40 - Debt Carnivore

• 41 - From Luxury to Landfill

• 42 - Gold in my Pocket, Pain in my Heart

• 43 - Mr. Oneway Runway

• 44 - Accidental Music

• 45 - Stick a Pin in that Story

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Works for Two Pianos

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• Piano Suite No. 2 - 2002

  •  Thore and Runa

  •  Whirlwind Tryst

  •  Delicately Sensual

  •  The Mysterious Beyond 

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• Transcendence in the Age of War - 2003 (in memory of 9-11)

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• Broken Promises (Another Disappointment) – 2007

 

• Sobering Indignities (Another Sad Commentary) - 2008 (for the disappointed)

 

• The Bells - 2011 (Celebrating a 35-year love affair and journey)

 

• Music for Piano Duo  (Seminal Constructs) - 2013

  • Exquisite (In stillness there is intensity as well as in the slowest of movements and the softness of utterances)

  • Pi (He saw himself in every transcendental number and in every lotus flower)

  • Seminal Constructs (You have to erase sections of previous constructs to build new ones)

  • The Mirror (I look at myself in you)

  • Beneath the Surface of a Memory (Securing our desires is a rarity)

  • In Search of Truth, Beauty and Justice (The search leads to nothing, but it's the search that counts)

  • Agreements Rule Our Dreams (Our construct system is the rule of law that governs our behaviors and dreams)

  • We Keep Searching and Dancing (The Traveling Dancer) (Our personal journeys take us to destinations known and unknown, while the search itself becomes the diary of our lives)

  • Taking the Risk of Being Alive (The Dreamer) (We live in a dream that has no beginning or ending)       

       

            To be played in any order.

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• Piano Suite No. 14 - Saved From Extravagance and Incoherence - 2021

         Part I. Vivace

         Part 2. Giocoso

         Part 3. Animato

         Part 4. Drammatico

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