Hemispheres I: for Bass Clarinet, Flute, Piano and Vibraphone
Hemispheres II: For Cello, English Horn, Piano and Harp

I would have preferred to release actual recordings of these compositions but it is becoming increasingly unlikely that they will ever be performed (although the full score and parts are available). So they exist here in a crude midi rendering.

Hemispheres is series of chamber works composed using an original tonal system based on the juxtaposition of mutually exclusive hexatonic scales.

This unique tonal system serves not only to generate musical material but also as a powerful metaphor for communication and community in our increasingly polarized society.

Is it possible to have meaningful dialogue with someone with whom you share no common language or framework? What happens when disparate cultures collide? What dissonances exist in a community with diverse points of view? What unexpected moments of beauty? What does it feel like when we are out of step, out of tune, at odds with the world around us? Is there a hidden beauty in those moments of dissonance? A grace within that tension? A dance buried in the struggle?

The concept behind these works is a sonic exploration of these questions. The music is the product of a systematic juxtaposition of voices with unique tonal lexicons. The twelve chromatic notes are divided into pairs of mutually exclusive synthetic hexatonic scales (I have 6 notes, you have the other 6. We share no common notes yet must make music together).

The most fundamental expression of this idea is a duet as in Hemispheres III for cello and flute, where two voices must engage in musical dialog despite having no common notes. Various processes are used to extend the system to larger ensembles. Here we have two quartets in which each instrument occupies one of four "hemispheres."Each one has a polar opposite who shares no common notes but shares 3 notes each notes with adjacent hemispheres. The tonal lexicon shifts as, in each movement, the voices rotate to a new hemisphere.