Solo/Duo Archives — Joseph Sowa

Atlas

“Atlas himself is suffering, and can barely hold up the white-hot sky on his shoulders!” — Ovid, tr. Klein Instrumentation: bassoon Duration: 4½ minutes Performance History: premiered 2007 by Darcy Whetten; August 22, 2016 by Jessi Vandagriff Ordering: Preview Page 1 Hard Copy: $15 PDF: $10

Daydreams and Postlude

Written for oboist Jeralee Johnson, Daydreams and Postlude was inspired by Britten’s classic Six Metamorphoses After Ovid as well as by pastoral images such as Franz von Lenbach’s painting “Hirtenknabe.” In four movements, the piece consists of three fantasies — a gnarly tocatta, a rustic dance, and a plaintive chant — and a cantankerous finale. […]

Double Refraction by a Uniaxial Crystal

“. . . Light traveling through such an anisotropic medium can exhibit double refraction or birefringence, in which an unpolarized incident light ray splits into two polarized rays with mutually perpendicular planes of vibration.” — Wolfram Demonstrations Project Instrumentation: cello and piano Duration: 5 minutes Premiere: 8 March 2015 by Geoffrey Burleson, piano, and David Russell, cello Ordering: Please use my contact form […]

fangled contraption

Frazzled hair. Mad, coffee-fueled eyes. White pharmacist coat. A sea of boiling beakers, flashing lights and scattered papers. All for the latest in a long line of -inators. Instrumentation: flute and alto saxophone Duration: 2 minutes Premiere: 5 August 2011 by the Tower Duo Performance History: complete performance list Ordering: Perusal Score: FREE Download Now Hard Copy Score and Parts: $15 PDF Score […]

Icarus and Daedalus

“… when the boy began to delight in his daring flight, and abandoning his guide, drawn by desire for the heavens, [he] soared higher. His nearness to the devouring sun softened the fragrant wax that held the wings: and the wax melted: he flailed with bare arms, but losing his oar-like wings, could not ride […]