Score: http://issuu.com/craigdavispinson/docs/musicoutoffocus_score_craig_davispi

Performed by The Boston Conservatory Composers' Orchestra

Interaction between two unrelated layers of musical material is at the core of Music Out of Focus. The first is a simple four-voice chorale, the second consists of rock and funk-like grooves derived from drum-set playing. Both are stretched and contracted, at different rates, throughout the entirety of the piece.

Each section of the work emphasizes particular aspects of what happens when one layer of music takes place on top of the other. This is expressed through contrasts in density of sound, instrumental color, and texture. The work takes its name from the effect of its scope being constantly shifted.

Music Out of Focus - for orchestra

Eric Hollander, Viola

Shattering Monolith is a piece for solo viola. The idea that drives it is the exploration of relationships between sounds of clear and indeterminate pitch on this particular instrument. The viola’s characteristic open strings anchor the pitches used. Extremes of register and shadings of tone color are exploited, using a variety of bowing techniques. The music is comprised of blocks of static material paired with sections characterized by motion and energy.

Shattering Monolith - for solo viola

Bethanne Walker - flute
San Francisco Conservatory, October 2014

Lightning Rod was written, with admiration, for Bethanne Walker in October 2013. The work is the result of attempting to exploit some particular aspects of her virtuosity, which provide unusual freedom for the composer. The piece relies on the interplay between changing speeds of notes and textures that create the impression of being multi-layered within one instrument. The narrative of the music also hinges on a trajectory to extremes of register, with an acrobatic intensity that the performer must navigate. Additionally, the rhythmic language is highly precise and exploits the tension between mechanical accuracy in notation and natural human fluctuations that are part of the process of transforming the score into music.

Lightning Rod - for solo flute

Charlotte Roth, Ayla Goktan - Flutes
Recording of the premiere at Alice Millar Chapel

Again Prefigured Then - for two flutes

Percussionists: Brant Roberts and Stephen Downing
Recording of the first performance, at Nief-Norf Summer Festival 2016

Figures and Grids - for two modified hi-hats

This is a set of variations written on the melody heard in the Youtube video Nyan Cat [original]. It is an experiment, in which I tried to find the limits of how far I could transform the melody before it begins losing its identity. The theme is known as Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!, originally posted by username daniwellP on the Japanese video sharing website, Nico Nico Douga. Fascinating as they are to me, the origins of the theme are not played upon in this composition. Instead, I treated Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya! as pure musical material from which to generate music. The motivation to use this theme came from my repeated viewings of the video, and slowly realizing that it is a strangely alluring melody. Therefore, this is my tribute to Nyan Cat. Credit goes to daniwell-p for creating this theme(http://momolabo.lolipop.jp/nyancatsong/Nyan/), prguitarman for creating the gif animation (http://www.prguitarman.com/index.php?id=348), and saraj00n for joining them (http://www.youtube.com/user/saraj00n). Theme used for non-commercial purposes as per daniwell-P's request.

This is a recording of the Juventas Ensemble performing the premiere of the work, on the Composer Recital Series 12, February 9, 2012 at Seully Hall in The Boston Conservatory. Many thanks go to this amazing ensemble for valiantly performing a very demanding score!

Juventas New Music Ensemble:

Lidiya Yankovskaya, Conductor
Zach Jay, Flute
Marguerite Levin, Clarinet
Julia Scott Carey, Piano
Yohanan Chendler, Violin
Drew Ricciardi, Viola
Rachel Arnold, Cello 

http://www.juventasmusic.com/

"Nyan Cat" Variations - for sextet (2012)

A Meditation on Woodwork - for string quartet

Andante Atmosférico - for two pianos

Co-composed with Emily Beisel and Luis Fernando Amaya as Fat Pigeon. Based on a notated score by Craig Davis Pinson, modified and expanded on by Fat Pigeon.

NO FATE PIG
Ghostly melodies are produced 
by a group of performers. 
As three rabid animals, 
they enact brute force upon the frail sounds. 
Traces of the music remain on display, encrusted in the mud.

Emily Beisel - amplified bass clarinet
Luis Fernando Amaya - cajón and objects
Craig Davis Pinson - bowed electric guitar

Photo by Noah Jenkins

"No Fate Pig (no. 1)" - for trio (Fat Pigeon)

Written with great appreciation for the ~Nois saxophone quartet. Live recording from the premiere at Constellation Chicago in November 26, 2017, studio version forthcoming!

Dismantle - for saxophone quartet (Live recording)

Poem by Kay Ryan

Imagine a sea
of ultramarine
suspending a
million jellyfish
as soft as moons.
Imagine the
interlocking uninsistent
tunes of drifting things.
This is the deep machine
that powers the lamps
of dreams and accounts
for their bluish tint.
How can something
so grand and serene
vanish again and again
without a hint?

Performed by Jordyn Keller and Yukiko Oba at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee

Tune - for mezzo-soprano and piano

Composer, improviser, and musicologist born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico 🇲🇽 Doctorate in composition. I play guitar in the experimental group Fat Pigeon and lead the large ensemble project Pinson Chamber Band.

Craig Davis Pinson

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