Here’s a link and a “reprint” of an article on the Pacific Serenades web site, in preparation for the premiere of my new song cycle: Composer Profile: Justin Morell by Mark Carlson It’s as if playing jazz guitar were in his genes—Justin Morell is a fourth generation professional jazz guitarist on his dad’s side of the family. Immediately before him, his father John Morell has been a very successful recording session guitarist since the Read more…
I’m very excited to announce the premiere of my new work, “Four Songs on excerpts from Lucretius’s On the Nature of the Universe“, on the Pacific Serenades concert series in Los Angeles. The piece is for baritone and string quartet, and will feature some incredible LA musicians: Michael Dean, bass-baritone Roger Wilkie, violin Miwako Watanabe, violin David Walther, viola David Speltz, cello There are three concerts: May 19, 20, and 29. In addition to the Read more…
Fugue as we think of it today dates back to the baroque period (c. 1600-1750) when it became not simply an imitative contrapuntal technique but a type of musical composition with a somewhat rigorous structural process. The term “process” is often favored over the term “form” to describe fugue because the music unfolds in a series of continuous events rather than in distinct repeated sections. The composer we most often think of as the master Read more…
I love the new GR-55. It’s got a solid sound engine, plenty of sounds to choose from, decent internal effects, and of course the COSM modeling of several typical guitars. I picked up my GR-55 about a week ago, and have been trying to get a handle on its strengths and limitations. I have been using a GR-20 for some years (a GR-50 before that, and a GR-700 even before that) so I’m a long Read more…
Considering that the Second Viennese School of Composers was arguably the most influential individual school of compositional thought in the 20th century, and that the movement consisted of only three composers, one might reasonably expect that the entire small oeuvre of Webern works would have been by now well-worked and re-worked through by analysts. However, with respect to the atonal Six Bagatelles for String Quartet, Op. 9, such is not the case. One can only Read more…