Oregon Soundscapes, Book 1 (Digital PDF)
This work was commissioned by Dr. Alexandre Dossin and the University of Oregon SOMD in June of 2025 as a celebration of Oregon’s rich landscapes and inspiring locations.
Total Duration: ~26’
Instrumentation: Solo Piano
Recordings will be released in April 2025.
It features six solo piano miniatures, each one exploring a different location in the Pacific Northwest:
The Silver Thaw. Duration: ~4’. Difficulty: Advanced. This piece begins in a frozen-solid wonderland, trees covered in a layer of shining ice. However, as the thaw begins, the sounds of crackling and snapping sweep through the trees as the forest comes to life, signaling the return of spring.
Marble Metamorphosis. Duration: ~5’. Difficulty: Advanced. This piece was inspired by the Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve, a network of marbled underground passageways high in the Siskiyou Mountain Range in southern Oregon. It explores the resonant capabilities of the piano, with occasional flights of fancy and imagination as one spelunks into many interesting rooms with strangely-metamorphosed cave formations.
Shades of Pristine. Duration: ~6’. Difficulty: Virtuosic. This piece was inspired by Waldo Lake, one of the clearest lakes in the world. Situated in the Cascade Mountain Range between Diamond Peak and Broken Top, this gorgeous lake is fed by snowmelt, rain, and underground springs. The music features aleatoric box notation, in which the performer switches between “cells” of music to create a continuously-shifting sheen of sound set over an exuberant melody in the bass.
The Violent Pacific. Duration: ~2’. Difficulty: Advanced. This miniature captures the power of a Pacific Ocean king tide, the waves smashing against rocks and spraying up into the wind. The piece features glissandos and passages of note clusters played with the fists.
In the Rose Garden. Duration: ~5’. Difficulty: Intermediate. This piece was inspired by Portland’s International Test Rose Garden, a popular gathering place in the Washington Park hills along Portland’s southern border. It features two sections: a rhapsodic melody, written without time signature; and a melancholic tune written in the style of a popular song.
Igneous - “Fire born.” Duration: ~4’. Difficulty: Virtuosic. This work tells the story of the formation of Newberry Crater (and many other locations like it) in Central Oregon. Once a towering volcano, lava boiled upwards thousands of years ago and created a cataclysmic eruption that collapsed the volcano inwards on itself, creating the Newberry Caldera, and leaving miles of obsidian fields and igneous rock left over from the eruption.
This work was commissioned by Dr. Alexandre Dossin and the University of Oregon SOMD in June of 2025 as a celebration of Oregon’s rich landscapes and inspiring locations.
Total Duration: ~26’
Instrumentation: Solo Piano
Recordings will be released in April 2025.
It features six solo piano miniatures, each one exploring a different location in the Pacific Northwest:
The Silver Thaw. Duration: ~4’. Difficulty: Advanced. This piece begins in a frozen-solid wonderland, trees covered in a layer of shining ice. However, as the thaw begins, the sounds of crackling and snapping sweep through the trees as the forest comes to life, signaling the return of spring.
Marble Metamorphosis. Duration: ~5’. Difficulty: Advanced. This piece was inspired by the Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve, a network of marbled underground passageways high in the Siskiyou Mountain Range in southern Oregon. It explores the resonant capabilities of the piano, with occasional flights of fancy and imagination as one spelunks into many interesting rooms with strangely-metamorphosed cave formations.
Shades of Pristine. Duration: ~6’. Difficulty: Virtuosic. This piece was inspired by Waldo Lake, one of the clearest lakes in the world. Situated in the Cascade Mountain Range between Diamond Peak and Broken Top, this gorgeous lake is fed by snowmelt, rain, and underground springs. The music features aleatoric box notation, in which the performer switches between “cells” of music to create a continuously-shifting sheen of sound set over an exuberant melody in the bass.
The Violent Pacific. Duration: ~2’. Difficulty: Advanced. This miniature captures the power of a Pacific Ocean king tide, the waves smashing against rocks and spraying up into the wind. The piece features glissandos and passages of note clusters played with the fists.
In the Rose Garden. Duration: ~5’. Difficulty: Intermediate. This piece was inspired by Portland’s International Test Rose Garden, a popular gathering place in the Washington Park hills along Portland’s southern border. It features two sections: a rhapsodic melody, written without time signature; and a melancholic tune written in the style of a popular song.
Igneous - “Fire born.” Duration: ~4’. Difficulty: Virtuosic. This work tells the story of the formation of Newberry Crater (and many other locations like it) in Central Oregon. Once a towering volcano, lava boiled upwards thousands of years ago and created a cataclysmic eruption that collapsed the volcano inwards on itself, creating the Newberry Caldera, and leaving miles of obsidian fields and igneous rock left over from the eruption.
This work was commissioned by Dr. Alexandre Dossin and the University of Oregon SOMD in June of 2025 as a celebration of Oregon’s rich landscapes and inspiring locations.
Total Duration: ~26’
Instrumentation: Solo Piano
Recordings will be released in April 2025.
It features six solo piano miniatures, each one exploring a different location in the Pacific Northwest:
The Silver Thaw. Duration: ~4’. Difficulty: Advanced. This piece begins in a frozen-solid wonderland, trees covered in a layer of shining ice. However, as the thaw begins, the sounds of crackling and snapping sweep through the trees as the forest comes to life, signaling the return of spring.
Marble Metamorphosis. Duration: ~5’. Difficulty: Advanced. This piece was inspired by the Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve, a network of marbled underground passageways high in the Siskiyou Mountain Range in southern Oregon. It explores the resonant capabilities of the piano, with occasional flights of fancy and imagination as one spelunks into many interesting rooms with strangely-metamorphosed cave formations.
Shades of Pristine. Duration: ~6’. Difficulty: Virtuosic. This piece was inspired by Waldo Lake, one of the clearest lakes in the world. Situated in the Cascade Mountain Range between Diamond Peak and Broken Top, this gorgeous lake is fed by snowmelt, rain, and underground springs. The music features aleatoric box notation, in which the performer switches between “cells” of music to create a continuously-shifting sheen of sound set over an exuberant melody in the bass.
The Violent Pacific. Duration: ~2’. Difficulty: Advanced. This miniature captures the power of a Pacific Ocean king tide, the waves smashing against rocks and spraying up into the wind. The piece features glissandos and passages of note clusters played with the fists.
In the Rose Garden. Duration: ~5’. Difficulty: Intermediate. This piece was inspired by Portland’s International Test Rose Garden, a popular gathering place in the Washington Park hills along Portland’s southern border. It features two sections: a rhapsodic melody, written without time signature; and a melancholic tune written in the style of a popular song.
Igneous - “Fire born.” Duration: ~4’. Difficulty: Virtuosic. This work tells the story of the formation of Newberry Crater (and many other locations like it) in Central Oregon. Once a towering volcano, lava boiled upwards thousands of years ago and created a cataclysmic eruption that collapsed the volcano inwards on itself, creating the Newberry Caldera, and leaving miles of obsidian fields and igneous rock left over from the eruption.