This sonata is based on the mysterious Indian Raga Puriya Kalyan. It was my first attempt at my new Ragamala form, an attempt to merge Western and Indian music.
For solo harp.
This is the extraverted companion piece to the a cappella anthem, Listen Well.
Organ in the style of JS Bach and Ernst Pepping. I love barcok
Compositions for
Western
Instruments & Voice
Composing for Western instruments was an idea that began to form in India in 1978. I began then to compose in the mid-1990s. I will include a note about the whys and wherefores of this in the Thoughts, Ideas & Stories area.
I did receive training in Western music, five years of private study with Philip Meyers, Solo Horn of the New York Philharmonic, and now recognized as one of the ten best horn players of all time. I did not go to conservatory, or have even a single lesson in composition or theory. I do not play piano. Though I had very good singers for live performances in the 1990s, the renditions here are all made with virtual orchestra samples. No AI was used in any of this, at all. Part of the purpose of this site will be to raise funds for good recordings and performances.
Pushpanjali is the very first work I ever composed. I wrote it on sitar and performed it that way sixty times with my company at that time, with the intention of eventually orchestrating it for Western instruments.
An Offering of Flowers is a work for chorus and keyboard or orchestra.
On this fine day, this morning of all our race still new, we thank You Who Hear Us for all your kindnesses. For this body wondrous we thank You. We thank you for our eyes, to hold dear those who refresh the heart, for ears to hear music sweet to hear, for feet to dance, and for hands to touch, we thank You.
Sancto Numini Spiritus, gratias. We give thanks to the Holy Will of the Spirit.
Dear God, see us here. Golden silken thread, garden bluebird sing, vessel chamber cell, tiny candle flame, Great Body of God. Spirit come! Come within, come! In this smallness, come! ~D
Dies sanctificatus illuxit nobis The sacred day has dawned upon us!
renite gentes et adorate Dominum Come everyone and praise God
qui hodie descendit lux magna in terris because a wonderful light dawns upon the Earth!
haec dies quam fecit Dominus. This is the day God has made!
Exultemus et laetemur in ea! Let us rejoice and be glad in it! ~Hildegard
Scored for SATB soloists & keyboard; SATB chorus & keyboard; SATB chorus & VST orchestra; SATB chorus & orchestra