32. Visions And Revisions

My time in California was really a terrifically productive period for new music projects. Shortly after arriving, I composed a couple of short pieces. The first was a theme song for a proposed video project called Instant Karma. The second was a satirical piece written in response to the Arab Spring.

Then, building on my growth as a composer I decided to intersperse my original compositions with new improved revisions of pieces that I had written previously. The first revision I wrote was of my four movement Concertpiece for clarinet, horn and piano. I followed that up with a new three movement piece for orchestra called Prisms. I then revised my three movement Paradise Lost for string orchestra including the addition of a vocal chorus to two movements.

I next revised Mantra for flute, vibraphone, cello and double bass, Syzygy for strings and brass, and Martial Meditation for orchestra. I then wrote a new two act play called Debussy's Daughter which used Debussy's music as incidental music, and finally a new five episode piece for piano called A Distant Shore.

A big part of my motivation for doing all this was to record new CD's to sell on my website. All of these visions and revisions enabled me to record five CD's of original music and five CD's covering work by other composers. Another part of the equation was, that along with preparing for occasional live performances, producing high quality recordings ensured that I would have to push my piano skills to their highest level.