"Big Sur: The Night Sun" Violin Concerto (2021)
John Christopher Wineglass (b. 1972) is an Emmy-winning composer of music for films and television, and a recipient of many commissions throughout the United States. A gifted arranger, pianist, and violist, his primary focus is as a composer, and in that endeavor he has enjoyed great success and respect from audiences and musicians alike. The premiere of Big Sur: The Night Sun builds on this success and respect, as it was a commission from the Carmel Centennial Celebration in conjunction with the Big Sur Land Trust and the Monterey Symphony Orchestra. The natural beauty of Big Sur is sacred to many. This sanctity was shared by Wineglass, who formed many of the themes for his tone-poem Big Sur: The Night Sun while in residence on the grounds of the Glen Deven Ranch and other areas such as Pfeiffer Beach. The beautiful impressions and warm enlightenments that affected him while on retreat became the root - and soul - of this magnificent work. The first of four total movements sets the mood for the tone- poem as a whole: the “Mystery of the Night Sun” is divided into three distinct sections, opening with two talking drums, a native flute player, and an Ohlone-Chumash vocalist all contributing in an improvisational manner. The second section (sub-titled “Path to the Night Sun”) begins with the pulse of the timpani and talking drums, and reflects the spiritual experience that Wineglass had while taking a walk during the night at Glen Deven Ranch, where he was transformed by the deep power of a risen full moon. The third section (“Rise of the Night Sun’) is marked by an intensifying brass chorale, with winds and strings joining in a climactic revealing of the full glory of the risen moon (“The Night Sun Revealed”). The second movement, appropriately named “Rushing Waters,” opens the listener to the loveliness of the crashing waves along the California coastline. The motivic ideas from this section were derived from student examples: children from the BSLT children's camp with Bach Festival violinist Edwin Huizinga contributed their ideas, which Wineglass then included into the completed work. This stemmed from a compositional component at a camp for local YOSAL students, who were challenged to go into the woods and create musical ideas on their own instruments...the very concept that Wineglass subjugated himself to in order to compose this tone-poem. The second movement pairs well with the third, “Pfeiffer Beach - A Secret Revealed,” where a path through the trees opens to an unexpected view of the Pacific Ocean, revealing the overwhelming beauty of this hidden creation by God. The presence of God and the admiration of beauty are central themes not only to this tone-poem, but to Wineglass himself, and as such his music offers praise and celebration to both. The fourth movement, titled “The Return,” was inspired directly by the brilliant writings of Robinson Jeffers, in particular from the poem of the same name, which Wineglass discovered while on retreat down at Big Sur one year ago. The movement begins and opens with the Ohlone-Chumash vocalist, reflecting the peoples who preserved and cared for this great land.
"Unburied, Unmourned, Unmarked: Requiem for Rice" for Mezzo-Soprano, Baritone, SATB Chorus and Symphony Orchestra (2020)
"Unburied, Unmourned, Unmarked: Requiem for Rice" for Mezzo-Soprano, Baritone, SATB Chorus and Symphony Orchestra (2020)
"Voices of The West" for Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (2019)
"Cityscapes" for Symphony Orchestra (2019)
"Bonny Doon" for Symphony Orchestra (2019)
"Big Sur: The Night Sun" for Symphony Orchestra (2016)
"Octa-Rhumba" for Octet (2015)
Last year I was approached by Ensemble San Francisco to write, arrange and/or create a work for a signature encore in their upcoming seasons of performances. With my discussions with co-founder Christine Payne (piano) and member Rebecca Jackson (violin), knowing the love that my friend Rebecca has for tango music - we started settling in that area as far as style and genre. Ultimately, I settled on a 'rhumba' from my early influences of Chick Corea's music and it premiered in February 2014.
Octa-Rhumba is a composition/arrangement based on the theme of Chick Corea's "Armando's Rhumba". It is in a simple A-B-A form stating the melody and going through several improvisations of the chord structure (just like in a standard jazz tune fashion). The B section is a developmental section taking on new original melodic ideas inspired by 'if Corea was to approach this as Beethoven did what would a B section look like' with my musical own quotes of Lloyd-Weber thrown in for an eclectic mix of rhumba, mystery, masquerade, macabre and the such - a cadre of inspirations.
One of the proven challenges with this work and at the request of the group - which is a collective and since all players can't always be together at the same time - was writing a work that some parts could be interchanged if one person was missing so that the listener is not 'missing' a part. So doubling was something done STRATEGICALLY to help in this process. In constructing the work and thinking about sonority and colors, I had to keep in mind that perhaps a flute might double or replace a violin and/or clarinet or an oboe replacing a clarinet or the piece existing without the horn part. This primarily works and gives the audience a different experience every time (barring the player's schedules) while still keeping the consistency of the work. At the eve of the premiere performance, I added a cajon a la myself as the performer) to keep everything together rhythmically.
Octa-Rhumba is a composition/arrangement based on the theme of Chick Corea's "Armando's Rhumba". It is in a simple A-B-A form stating the melody and going through several improvisations of the chord structure (just like in a standard jazz tune fashion). The B section is a developmental section taking on new original melodic ideas inspired by 'if Corea was to approach this as Beethoven did what would a B section look like' with my musical own quotes of Lloyd-Weber thrown in for an eclectic mix of rhumba, mystery, masquerade, macabre and the such - a cadre of inspirations.
One of the proven challenges with this work and at the request of the group - which is a collective and since all players can't always be together at the same time - was writing a work that some parts could be interchanged if one person was missing so that the listener is not 'missing' a part. So doubling was something done STRATEGICALLY to help in this process. In constructing the work and thinking about sonority and colors, I had to keep in mind that perhaps a flute might double or replace a violin and/or clarinet or an oboe replacing a clarinet or the piece existing without the horn part. This primarily works and gives the audience a different experience every time (barring the player's schedules) while still keeping the consistency of the work. At the eve of the premiere performance, I added a cajon a la myself as the performer) to keep everything together rhythmically.
"Someone Else's Child" for Narration and Orchestra (2012)
[Festival Commission/World Premier]
Loosely based on the title and topic of the book by the award-winning author Jill Wolfson and John Hubner, this work is a symphonic poem describing the life and thoughts of incarcerated youth in America today. Specifically using text from a select number of poems of The Beat Within - a weekly publication of writing and art from kids in the juvenile detention center of Santa Cruz, California, I was deeply impacted emotionally and musically by my initial reading of these works introduced to me by David Kaun and by my several visits to this guarded facility with poet and volunteer coordinator Dennis Morton.
The opening movement entitled “Scarred” is a dark ominous description of a once positive ‘light’ entering into a sea of obscurity and eventual lost of identity. This dark movement opens with a six-note tone row or cluster on the most delicate of instruments in the modern-day orchestra today – crystal wineglasses (no pun intended) signifying the delicateness and innocence of the human soul as it enters this world as a child unabated until eventually ‘scarred’ by some of the perversions of this life. The extended techniques in the piano and harp along with the ominous bass drum rumble in this brooding movement appropriately marked Lento in tempo add to this movement’s uncertainty.
“Instability”, the second movement, further depicts sonically the life of chaos exemplified in over the hundreds of poems I read through and is indicative by the constant meter changes and rhythmic hemiolas both polyrhythmic or more specifically cross-rhythmic in nature throughout this movement. Starting in a 7/8 meter marked Vivace, this movement rips at 180 bpms with blaring French horns and counter-rhythmic melodies in the lower brass and strings sauntering into a scherzo-like dance exemplifying the wicked devices of perhaps the devil himself and even briefly quoting an altered version of “Mary Had A Little Lamb’” for some resemblance of a childhood as most of these kids still desire today. The apex of this movement comes with a chaotic wall of sound that comes to a screeching halt exuding utter brokenness. Narration begins in this movement colored by the orchestra with an occasional utter silence as the narrator himself in a rubato fashion manifests as a solo ‘instrument’. Using different lines from the text of a number of the poems written, a landscape is painted in words of a detainee’s plight giving one details and reflections of his/her choices.
Eventually ‘the sun is in the sky’ is the text that opens the third movement, entitled “The Rise” giving us a ray of light into the possibility of rising from the adversities of life. A slow Adagio with a rising melody in the strings is later doubled with the winds and then accompanied by the brass in an explosive fanfare and narrative celebration proclaiming that even in the darkest of adversity, “I rise… All of me… yet I rise. I am FREE again”.
Loosely based on the title and topic of the book by the award-winning author Jill Wolfson and John Hubner, this work is a symphonic poem describing the life and thoughts of incarcerated youth in America today. Specifically using text from a select number of poems of The Beat Within - a weekly publication of writing and art from kids in the juvenile detention center of Santa Cruz, California, I was deeply impacted emotionally and musically by my initial reading of these works introduced to me by David Kaun and by my several visits to this guarded facility with poet and volunteer coordinator Dennis Morton.
The opening movement entitled “Scarred” is a dark ominous description of a once positive ‘light’ entering into a sea of obscurity and eventual lost of identity. This dark movement opens with a six-note tone row or cluster on the most delicate of instruments in the modern-day orchestra today – crystal wineglasses (no pun intended) signifying the delicateness and innocence of the human soul as it enters this world as a child unabated until eventually ‘scarred’ by some of the perversions of this life. The extended techniques in the piano and harp along with the ominous bass drum rumble in this brooding movement appropriately marked Lento in tempo add to this movement’s uncertainty.
“Instability”, the second movement, further depicts sonically the life of chaos exemplified in over the hundreds of poems I read through and is indicative by the constant meter changes and rhythmic hemiolas both polyrhythmic or more specifically cross-rhythmic in nature throughout this movement. Starting in a 7/8 meter marked Vivace, this movement rips at 180 bpms with blaring French horns and counter-rhythmic melodies in the lower brass and strings sauntering into a scherzo-like dance exemplifying the wicked devices of perhaps the devil himself and even briefly quoting an altered version of “Mary Had A Little Lamb’” for some resemblance of a childhood as most of these kids still desire today. The apex of this movement comes with a chaotic wall of sound that comes to a screeching halt exuding utter brokenness. Narration begins in this movement colored by the orchestra with an occasional utter silence as the narrator himself in a rubato fashion manifests as a solo ‘instrument’. Using different lines from the text of a number of the poems written, a landscape is painted in words of a detainee’s plight giving one details and reflections of his/her choices.
Eventually ‘the sun is in the sky’ is the text that opens the third movement, entitled “The Rise” giving us a ray of light into the possibility of rising from the adversities of life. A slow Adagio with a rising melody in the strings is later doubled with the winds and then accompanied by the brass in an explosive fanfare and narrative celebration proclaiming that even in the darkest of adversity, “I rise… All of me… yet I rise. I am FREE again”.
"Death of A Princess" Piano Trio No. 1 (2011)
It was August 31st, 1997. I had just settled into my New York City apartment to start my graduate composition studies when the tragic death of Diane, Princess of Wales, was announced to the world. The grief of her demise came to me immediately in the form of a dark, ascending, angular 7-note tone row programmatically indicative of her sudden and mystical departure. This series of notes begins to perpetuate unified motion in the first movement, “A Mystery”, which contrastingly starts in a mystic fog of sound appropriately marked Grave in tempo and explores extended techniques reminiscent of avant-garde composer George Crumb. Some of these techniques include, in this first movement, plucking with fingertips and striking with palms the strings of the piano.
The second movement, which recently came to me in a dream sequence of that fateful car crash is entitled “The Chase” and is a rapid Agitato con fuoco in 4/8 and then 7/8 mirroring the tone row in time only with constant interplay between instruments. The second movement culminates into a sudden, roaring halt into what came to me that tragic day as the news reports poured in – the theme of the third movement, “Diana’s Lament”. This final movement in an ‘ABA’ structure and very tonal in nature, is a deliberately slow Poco adagio – a ‘funeral’ procession as she is finally laid to rest in my mind. This quasi passacaglia explores the theme in different variations eventually shared amongst each instrument.
The second movement, which recently came to me in a dream sequence of that fateful car crash is entitled “The Chase” and is a rapid Agitato con fuoco in 4/8 and then 7/8 mirroring the tone row in time only with constant interplay between instruments. The second movement culminates into a sudden, roaring halt into what came to me that tragic day as the news reports poured in – the theme of the third movement, “Diana’s Lament”. This final movement in an ‘ABA’ structure and very tonal in nature, is a deliberately slow Poco adagio – a ‘funeral’ procession as she is finally laid to rest in my mind. This quasi passacaglia explores the theme in different variations eventually shared amongst each instrument.
"Portraits of A Theme" Overture No. 1 for Orchestra (2010)
Predicated on a theme that I wrote for the WB show, “Smallville” under the tutelage of the original composer and friend Mark Snow, this theme which is indicative of the young early rocky life of the superhero Superman is full of twists and turns as different aspects of the theme are explore in mini ‘portraits’. The inversion and retrograde inversions of the thematic material are intersperse throughout this work with intricate counter-rhythms that play off of one another in the winds. In true ABA fashion, I was impressed to extend this original cue for the show into this overture.
"Reflections" for Jazz Trio (2008)
"Interludes" for Solo Voice (Mezzo-Soprano), Piano and Violincello (2006)
Herein lies a description of the “Lord’s Prayer” using both atonal and tonal techniques. The dissonant beginning depicts the unrest of mankind and it is not until the first statement of the prayer in which harmonic rest (a tonal center) is achieved exemplifying the comfort the apostles received in their quest of how to pray (Mt. 6:9-13) from the Lord Jesus Christ himself – which ultimately resulted in the birth of this prayer that has been a part of the Church since inception.
Theme of Rosa Parks (2000)
Fantasia No.4 for Electronic Tape "Darkness" (1997)
Fantasia No. 5 for Piano and String Orchestra "Ascending Towards Heaven" (1996)
This is a brief musical description of the ascension of Jesus Christ from the earth into the heavens in describe in the New Testament (Luke 24:51). From the expansion of the first triadic motive and the use of polychords and quartal harmonies to a rather romantic theme accompanied by block chords towards the end, this work paints a vivid picture of what the disciples may have experienced during Jesus’ exodus into heaven. Wavering between keys during its transitions without establishing a true tonal center, the work is a prime example of how impressionism disintegrated the major-minor system of the Classical Period, thus creating elusive effects, unprecedented sonorities and gradually opening music up to a new world of dreams and enchantment.
String Quartet No. 1 in C-Minor "Changing of Seasons" (1994)
Consisting of four precise movements, it eventually becomes evident that “Changing of Seasons” is titled in conjunction with the four seasons of the year (winter, spring, summer and fall respectively). From the virtuous and most basic forms of the 17th-18th century fugue and rondo (ABACADA) to the picturesque melody of the Romance, the movements not only represent the four seasons in form but four distinct periods of music with continuity unity them all. Finally, after the last theme is introduced (a subtle reminiscence of the composer’s visit to Edinburgh), a recapitulation of each previous style briefly occurs with the conclusion of the work following shortly thereafter.
Piano Suite No. 2 in E-Flat Major "Times of Solitude" (1994)
Herein present three examples of music with the feel and sound of complete solitude. From “A Midsummer Waltz” describing God (alone) ‘walking in the garden in the cool of the day’ looking for Adam (Gen. 3:8) to “The Journey” of the prodigal son (Luke 15:8) and his subsequent return (which is also exemplified thematically (ABA) throughout the work), one can almost fathom a nocturnal effect… ‘ a serenade, particularly a dreamy, pensive instrumental composition’ [Grout, pg. 794 – A History of Western Music]. And although “Distant Memories” is a reflection upon the composer’s own life setting a different context, it still effectively yearns – as all the scenarios do – for companionship.