Origin Unknown
Original Compositions II
Chamber Guitar Vol. 1
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All compositions by Kevin J. Cope
A little taste of many of the pieces on the album.
TRACK LIST:
1. Origin Unknown: A Pole Was Journeying | Christopher Nichols, clarinet & Kevin J. Cope, guitar
2. Newton’s Cradle | Brendan Evans, guitar & Kevin J. Cope, guitar
3. Penumbra | Paula Frechette, flute & Kevin J. Cope, guitar
4. Hedera Helix | Kevin J. Cope, guitars
5.-7. Three Sephardic Songs | Rachael Lipson, soprano, Benjamin Goldman, darbuka, & Kevin J. Cope, guitar
I. Katav Setav | text by Solomon ibn Gabirol
II. Aviv Baolam | text by Tuvia Rübner
III. Lu Mea Kovaim Leroshi | text by Amir Gilboa
8. A Universe From Nothing | Kevin J. Cope, guitars
9.-11. In the Sky | Rachael Lipson, soprano & Kevin J. Cope, guitar | texts by Hannah Eagleson
I. What if the sun that warms will prove to wither?
II. The moon forever waxes and forever wanes.
III. The stars are hidden by the turning Earth.
12.-16. Dis Sacrificium | Kevin J. Cope, guitars
I. Viduus
II. Discordia
III. Vulturnus
IV. Summanus
V. Pax
Interspheres
features Origin Unknown: A Pole Was Journeying for alto sax and guitar
Format: CD
Duo Montagnard's brilliant "Interspheres" includes the Kevin J. Cope work "Origin Unknown: A Pole Was Journeying" which was also commissioned and premiered by the duo.
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Difficulty: Intermediate
Composed to be a competition piece for advanced young players. Influences in the work range from djent metal to Bach fugues.
Origin Unknown: A Pole Was Journeying
for alto saxophone and guitar (alt versions: clarinet and flute)
Commissioned by Duo Montagnard
SHEET / PDF
Difficulty: Intermediate
The piece includes two Polish folk melodies, A Pole Was Journeying and Whirlwinds Raging in the Valley. which are used to tell a hypothetical version of my ancestor's journey to America in, presumably, the early twentieth century.
Alto Saxophone and Guitar - Duo Montagnard Clarinet and Guitar - Christopher Nichols and Kevin J. Cope
Difficulty: Advanced
In Rondo form, Newton's Cradle is a mix of classical influences with a heavy modern touch.
Difficulty: Early Intermediate to Intermediate
Written for Christiaan Taggart and the University of Delaware Guitar Ensemble, this piece was written in order to accomodate a wide range of playing abilities while maintained an aggressive and youthful spirit.
Difficulty: Beginner to Early Intermediate
This piece depicts four major epochs in the development of our universe: The big bang, the first light, formation of galaxies, and the formation of our solar system. This piece was commissioned for and premiered at the 2015 Salisbury Guitar Festival.
Difficulty: Beginner to Late Beginner
When I sat down to write these pieces my goal was to create a set of modern pieces that would be easy for beginner students to read but without completely shying away from a challenge. While playing very simple rhythms, for the most part, the students can learn to listen for the impact of their part on the piece as a whole with intense dissonances incorporated into homophonic textures, intricate interweaving melodies which contain only simple rhythms, as well as noncomplex ideas such as accompaniments.
Difficulty: Intermediate to Advanced
A set of three songs developed around the idea of bringing out a contrary textual idea that runs through each of the three poems by poet Hannah Eagleson. The first movement is a rather simple song, the second is a complex cyclic composition with expanding and contracting meters to reflect the waxing and waning of the moon, and the third is a polyphonic work that builds layer upon layer until the guitar is providing three separate melodies while the soprano weaves within the texture.
Difficulty: Advanced
Written for flutist Paula Frechette, Penumbra has a very interesting and challenging flute part, with a technique of "rasgueado" and "tambora" used in the guitar part which is a percussive effect that is achieved by rapidly strumming the strings with the right hand for the rasgueado effect, and intermittently striking the strings over the sound hole with a clenched fist in order to subdue all sound and create a percussive effect from the strings hitting the finger board.
Difficulty: Advanced
Three Sephardic Songs was written in the winter and spring of 2013. I strove with the music to maintain a very Arabic tone rather than overtly Spanish, assisted in this by the use of the riq (Arabic tambourine) and darbuka (Arabic drum), and therefore strayed away from chromaticism and key changes. The percussion is used to add wazn, which are repeating rhythmic patterns used in Arabic music, while the guitar wanders through the maqam, Arabic scales.