Perusal scores and (for most works) complete recordings are available to presenters, upon .
Looking for a specific title? Here’s an alphabetical list.
Does it matter to you when I wrote it? Here’s a chronological list.
Can't find anything that fits your needs? Depending on your time constraints (and mine), you could commission a new work; here are some guidelines from Meet The Composer.
Chamber instrumental | Orchestral | Wind Ensemble | Chamber vocal | Choral | Electro-acoustic
Haiku (1996)
12 miniatures for solo clarinet
Duration: ca. 6:00
Commissioned by Robert Milnikel.
Performances: February 29, 1996. Robert Milnikel, clarinet. Barnes Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Neo-/meta- (2001)
for violin, vibraphone, and marimba (six mallets)
Duration: ca. 10:00
Premiere: February 7, 2009. The Chamber Players of the League/ISCM. Tenri Cultural Institute, New York, NY.
Audio excerpts (Chamber Players of the League/ISCM).
excerpt 1 (mp3, 708K)
excerpt 2 (mp3, 916K)
excerpt 3 (mp3, 380K)
Cats’ cradle (1995)
for piccolo, piano, and percussion
Duration: ca. 7:00
program note
Performances: November 7, 1995. The Bucket Consort. Barnes Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
February 8, 1998. Society for New Music. Colgate Memorial Chapel, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY.
March 22, 2001. Locrian Chamber Players. Riverside Church, New York, NY.
October 2, 2005. Sue-Ellen Hershman-Tcherepnin, Yukiko Ueno, and Robert Schulz. Killian Hall, MIT, Cambridge, MA.
November 4, 2005. Katie Waters, et al. Festival of New Music, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY.
Audio excerpts (Bucket Consort).
excerpt 1 (mp3, 684K)
excerpt 2 (mp3, 474K)
excerpt 3 (mp3, 474K)
Baboons and periwinkles (1993)
for oboe, viola, and piano
Duration: ca. 18:00
Performances: November 7, 1995. John Lathwell, oboe; Carol Grohs, viola; Wendy Maraniss, piano. Barnes Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Dança da Tranquilidade (2008)
for theremin, clarinet, marimba, and violoncello
Duration: ca. 12:00
Premiere: September 19, 2008. Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble. Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA.
Audio excerpts (Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble).
excerpt 1 (mp3, 896K)
excerpt 2 (mp3, 1.1M)
excerpt 3 (mp3, 964K)
excerpt 4 (mp3, 824K)
Simiaminimae (2008)
for string quartet
Duration: ca. 12:00
Premiere: June 27, 2008. Quartetto Paul Klee. Palazzo Albrizzi, Venezia, Italia. (presented by Musica in Divenire)
Audio excerpts (Quartetto Paul Klee).
excerpt 1 (mp3, 796K)
excerpt 2 (mp3, 552K)
excerpt 3 (mp3, 276K)
excerpt 4 (mp3, 1.1M)
Sleep, Child of a Thousand Flowers (2006)
Chikako Atsuta in memoriam
for four horns
Duration: ca. 12:00
Premiere: TBA
Vermontsalvat (2009)
for flute, clarinet, bassoon, violin, and ’cello
Duration: ca. 17:00
Premiere: April 17, 18, 20, 2009. Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble.
Tamna noci (1995)
for brass quintet
Duration: ca. 13:00
Performances: November 7, 1995. The Ithaca Brass; Brian Robison, conductor. Barnes Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Audio excerpts (Ithaca Brass, Robison).
excerpt 1 (mp3, 495K)
excerpt 2 (mp3, 334K)
excerpt 3 (mp3, 461K)
excerpt 4 (mp3, 471K)
excerpt 5 (mp3, 637K)
Animal psychology unlike ours (2009)
for flute, alto flute, E-flat clarinet, B-flat clarinet, and two bassoons
Duration: ca. 2:10
Premiere: September 25, 27, 2009. Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble.
A field guide to North American car alarms (2006)
for flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, and ’cello
Duration: ca. 13:00
Performances: September 29, 2006. Boston Musica Viva, Richard Pittman, conductor. Tsai Performance Center, Boston University, Boston, MA. [preliminary version]
Neo-/meta-/hexa- (2006)
for flute, clarinet, vibraphone, piano, violin, and ’cello
Duration: ca. 10:00
Premiere: TBA
The bonfire of the civil liberties (2004)
for narrator and sextet (picc, b cl, perc, pno, vln, vc)
Duration: ca. 24:00
Commissioned by Boston Musica Viva.
Performances: October 3, 2004. Boston Musica Viva; Steve Aveson, narrator; Richard Pittman, conductor. Tsai Performance Center, Boston University, Boston, MA.
Audio excerpts (Boston Musica Viva, Pittman).
I. [America, the beautiful]
excerpt 1 (mp3, 599K)
II. [America]
excerpt 1 (mp3, 525K)
excerpt 2 (mp3, 445K)
excerpt 3 (mp3, 451K)
III. [Yankee Doodle]
excerpt 1 (mp3, 836K)
IV. [The battle hymn of the Republic]
excerpt 1 (mp3, 596K)
V. [Chester]
excerpt 1 (mp3, 820K)
Tertium organum (2000-)
for wind octet (1012-0220)
1. Our hazy conception of time (ca. 1:30)
4. Animal psychology unlike ours (ca. 1:30)
13. Unending search (ca. 2:24)
“Unending search” was commissioned by the Sidney Cox Library of Music and Dance;
“Our hazy conception of time” and “Animal psychology unlike ours” were commissioned by the Cayuga Chamber Winds.
Performances: October 20, 2000. Cornell Chamber Winds; Mark Davis Scatterday, conductor. Neylan Rehearsal Room, Lincoln Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
January 19, 2001. Members of the Old Dominion University Wind Ensemble. Chan dler Hall, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA.
January 27, 2001. Cayuga Chamber Winds; Mark Davis Scatterday, conductor. Barnes Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Audio excerpts (Cayuga Chamber Winds, Scatterday).
4. Animal psychology unlike ours
excerpt (mp3, 360K)
13. Unending search
excerpt 1 (mp3, 396K)
excerpt 2 (mp3, 364K)
Chamber instrumental (top) | Orchestral | Wind Ensemble | Chamber vocal | Choral | Electro-acoustic
“Gibbons” (2003)
for percussion, two pianos, and strings
Duration: ca. 2:30
Commissioned by the Cornell Chamber Orchestra, as one of a series of additional animals joining Saint-Säens's Le Carnaval des Animaux.
Premiere: April 18, 2003. Cornell Chamber Orchestra; Xak Bjerken, conductor. Barnes Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Audio excerpt (premiere).
excerpt (mp3, 360K)
In search of the miraculous (2002)
for orchestra (3333-4331-timp.+4, pno, hp, str)
Duration: ca. 14:00
program note
Commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra with the generous support of The Helen F. Whitaker Fund.
Premiere: March 2, 2003. American Composers Orchestra; Steven Sloane, conductor. Carnegie Hall, New York, NY.
February 27, 2016. New England Philharmonic; Richard Pittman, music director. Tsai Performance Center, Boston, MA.
Audio excerpts (premiere).
excerpt 1 (mp3, 408K)
excerpt 2 (mp3, 476K)
excerpt 3 (mp3, 508K)
Shagadelic loops (2001)
for string orchestra
Duration: ca. 13:40
Commissioned by the Empire State Youth Symphony String Ensemble.
Premiere: (date TBA) Empire State Youth Symphony String Ensemble, Ubaldo Valli conducting (Albany, NY).
Imagined corners (1999)
for chamber orchestra (2222-2220-timp+2 perc, hp, str)
Duration: ca. 16:00
program note
I. An draighnean donn (The brown-thorn bush)
II. Out the window, don’t have time to lose
III. Ori-nui shibori, meandering stream pattern
IV. Was mir die Schimpansen im Regenwalde erzählen
Reading: April 3, 2000. American Composers Orchestra; Dennis Russell Davies, conductor. Masonic Hall, New York, NY.
Premiere: March 20, 2003. MIT Symphony Orchestra; John Harbison, guest conductor. Kresge Auditorium, MIT, Cambridge, MA.
Audio excerpts (premiere)
I. An draighnean donn (The brown-thorn bush)
excerpt 1 (mp3, 412K)
excerpt 2 (mp3, 392K)
excerpt 3 (mp3, 392K)
II. Out the window, don’t have time to lose
excerpt 1 (mp3, 240K)
excerpt 2 (mp3, 440K)
III. Ori-nui shibori, meandering stream pattern
excerpt 1 (mp3, 280K)
excerpt 2 (mp3, 416K)
IV. Was mir die Schimpansen im Regenwalde erzählen
excerpt 1 (mp3, 192K)
excerpt 2 (mp3, 396K)
excerpt 3 (mp3, 388K)
Charmonium (1991)
for harpsichord and chamber orchestra (1111-1110-perc, pno, str)
Duration: ca. 9:00
program note
Performances: February 23, 1991. Zvi Meniker, harpsichord; Festival Chamber Orchestra;
Brian Robison, conductor. Barnes Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
June 8, 2003. Oksana Lutsyshyn, harpsichord; Creo, with members of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra; Andrey Kasparov, conductor. Chandler Hall, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA.
Festival Chamber Orchestra, Brian Robison conducting (Ithaca, NY).
excerpt 1 (mp3, 278K)
excerpt 2 (mp3, 310K)
excerpt 3 (mp3, 338K)
excerpt 4 (mp3, 438K)
Chamber instrumental | Orchestral (top) | Wind Ensemble | Chamber vocal | Choral | Electro-acoustic
The Congress of the Insomniacs (2003)
for wind ensemble with eight soloists (fl, 2 cl, asx, tsx, tpt, tbn, perc)
Duration: ca. 10:00
Commissioned by the MIT Wind Ensemble.
Performances: May 10, 2003. MIT Wind Ensemble; Frederick T. Harris, conductor. Kresge Auditorium, MIT, Cambridge, MA.
Audio excerpts (MIT Wind Ensemble).
excerpt 1 (mp3, 508K)
excerpt 2 (mp3, 316K)
excerpt 3 (mp3, 684K)
excerpt 4 (mp3, 336K)
excerpt 5 (mp3, 340K)
Chamber instrumental | Orchestral | Wind Ensemble (top) | Chamber vocal | Choral | Electro-acoustic
BROADCAST RECOVERED FROM THE ROOM MARKED “ 1930s ” (2007)
on a poem by Gregory Brooker
for soprano, vibraphone, theremin, and radio static
Performances: April 15 and 16, 2011
Jessica Abel, soprano; Georgi Videnov, vibraphone; Brian Robison, theremin. Baltimore, MD and Washington, DC.
Audio excerpts (rehearsal by Jennifer Ashe, Robert Schulz, and Brian Robison, 28 June 2007).
excerpt 1 (mp3, 632K)
excerpt 2 (mp3, 500K)
excerpt 3 (mp3, 728K)
Parabolas (2005)
songs on poems of Kathleen Aguero
for mezzo-soprano and classical guitar
“Parable of wakening” (ca. 2:25)
“Orpheus, condemned” (ca. 2:50)
Premiere TBA
Borrowed things (2002- )
songs on poems of Kathleen Haley
for soprano and piano
“Residuum” (ca. 3:05)
“The sign” (ca. 2:00)
“Monday has no meaning” (ca. 1:30)
“Beauty” (ca. 2:00)
Premiere TBA
Chamber instrumental | Orchestral | Wind Ensemble | Chamber vocal (top) | Choral | Electro-acoustic
Our Space (2005)
for unaccompanied mixed voices (SSATB)
on a poem by Melissa Masiewicz
Duration: ca. 3:30
Commissioned by the Arlington High School Chamber Singers (Riverside, CA), Timothy L. Lutz, Director
Premiere: TBA
September 11, 2001 (2004)
for women’s voices (SSMAA) and piano, four-hands
on a poem by Seneca Smith
Duration: ca. 7:30
Premiere: TBA
Chamber instrumental | Orchestral | Wind Ensemble (top) | Chamber vocal | Choral | Electro-acoustic
Hundenschnarchenwiegenlied (2010)
for theremin and fixed media
Duration: ca. 11:00
Performances: November 13, 2010. Brian Robison, theremin and electronics. Fenway Center, Northeastern University, MA.
April 6, 2013. Brian Robison, theremin and electronics. Memorial Chapel, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT.
May 31, 2016. Brian Robison, theremin and electronics. Roulette, Brooklyn, NY (as guest artist with Ensemble Pamplemousse).
I like a look of Agony (2010)
for theremin and fixed media
Duration: ca. 6:15
Performances: July 22, 2010. Brian Robison, theremin and electronics. Coolidge Corner Branch Library, Brookline, MA.
soundtracks to Four short cartoons (2007)
1. “The strong arm squad of the future” (1915) for clarinet, bassoon, and piano (0:56)
2. “Uncle Sam donates” (1918) for trumpet and piano (1:17)
3. “The United Snakes of America” (1918) for piano (1:23)
4. “Uncle Sam vs. the I.W.W.” (1919) for string band and offstage chorus of rats (0:36)
Commissioned by the National Film Preservation Foundation.
Recorded Jan-Feb 2007. Elizabeth Connors, clarinet; Jeff Easley, bassoon; Mark Harvey, trumpet; Martin Marks and Charles Shadle, piano; Brian Robison, string band and offstage chorus of rats
Available in the 4-DVD set Treasures III: Social issues in American film, 1900-1931
Music in stacks (2005)
for solo performer and phrase sampler
Duration: ca. 25:00
Performances: April 15, 2005. Brian Robison, guitar and electronics. Lewis Music Library, MIT, Cambridge, MA.
“Cockeyed” (2003)
for multi-tracked electric guitars
Duration: ca. 3:00
Commissioned by the National Film Preservation Foundation.
Recorded Oct 2003. Brian Robison, electric guitar.
Available in the 3-DVD set More treasures from American film archives, 1894-1931
I got isorhythm (2002)
for any number of instruments
Duration: ca. 20:00
Commissioned by the MIT Dance Theater Ensemble to accompany performances of CROWD by gus solomons, jr.
Performances: September 29, 2002. Brian Robison, guitar and electronics. Rotch Library, MIT, Cambridge, MA.
December 5, 6, 7, 2002. Brian Robison, guitar and electronics. Kresge Little Theater, MIT, Cambridge, MA.
Chamber instrumental | Orchestral | Wind Ensemble | Chamber vocal | Choral | Electro-acoustic (top)
works list updated 15 May 2016