Michael Byron (1953-)
Music of Nights Without Moon or Pearl (1998)
Invisible "Seeds" for James Tenney (1997-98)
Entrances (1974)

David Rosenboom, CalArts New Century Players (David Rosenboom, conductor)

Michael Byron writes dramatic, lovely music that bares its compositional process as it unfolds. Music of Nights Without Moon or Pearl is a work for string quartet, contrabass, two pianos, and electronic keyboard. An arch-form work that unfolds slowly and insistently, at its point of greatest activity, the texture of Music of Nights might be likened to the sound of rainfall on a roof—delicate, resonate, active, continuously changing while also seeming to remain the same. Invisible “Seeds” for James Tenney is scored for the same forces as Music of Nights. It begins with somewhat slowly moving sustained tones, gradually picks up its pace and intensity until it reaches a climax, and then it returns to a state that is somewhat akin to its beginning. Entrances is for four pianos—all four parts stunningly played by David Rosenboom, who also realized the specific construction of the version of this somewhat open-form piece. Starting with intermittent bursts of notes, it builds to a dense barrage of sound. [CD and folder in jewel case]