Forrest Tobey's

Classical Compositions

Here are some sound files of selections from Forrest's "classical" compositions.

A. Acoustic works

1. Keeping Still

This work was written for the Earlham College Concert Choir and the Earlham Symphony Orchestra. It is to a text by Pabla Neruda, translated by Stephen Mitchell. This is the version for orchestra and choir. The second playlist is the version for piano and orchestra.

2. Blessing on the Wild Child.

This work was written to accompany a performance of Vivaldi's Gloria, and thus uses much the same instrumentation, namely string orchestra with two oboes. The text is from the Dylan Thomas poem "Vision and Prayer," which struck  me as both about and not about the birth of Christ. It seemed a fitting if unusual poem to set for a Christmas concert. The melody of the third movement is based on a traditional north Indian classical melody in Rag Yaman, for no particular reason other than that it wanted to go there. It uses the Indian concept of cyclic return by  cyling the key center up a major third at each iteration, returning enharmonically to the original key at each third statement of the theme.

This poem is laid out very beautifully on the page, which you can access here. Amy  (last name) is the soloist. The performance is from 1998 in Alexandria, Virginia at the Mt. Vernon Unitarian Church.

2. Four Conversations for String Quartet and Orchestra

This work was written for a professional string quartet with a student orchestra, and might be of interest to college orchestra directors who have a professional quartet on hand. Each movement was inspired somwhat by a different composer: the Debussy of his String Quartet in the first movement, the Bartok of the Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion in the third, something of the Stravinsky of Agon in the third, and the pulsing repititions of the minimalists in the final movement, which also ends with an intentionally clichéd rock guitar flourish.

This piece is played by the Chanticleer String Quartet, based in Richmond, Indiana, with the Earlham College Orchestra. It was performed in January or 2007.

3. Turning the Wheel, a Solstice Gloria

This work was written out of a need to provide something of a "pagan" alternative to the traditional Christmas concert. Drawing on a wiccan text, it suggests the soul's growth as it moves towards the night of solstice and the renewal of the coming days of light. It was first performed by the Mt. Vernon Unitarian Church choir and members of the 21st Century Ensemble in December, 1998. Lynnell Lewis is the soprano soloist.

B. Works for orchestra and conducted electronics

In the late 1990s I formed an ensemble in Washington D.C. called the 21st Century Ensemble which  championed the creation of new works for conducted electronics and orchestra. In these works, I used my custom-designed software and the wand of the Buchla Lightning to allow the computer-driven part of the score to follow my conducting gestures along with the musicians. The conceptual result is a detailed interaction between orchestra and electroic sound that both avoids the use of sequencers and avoids the necessity for the conductor to conduct to a click track, a musically destructive act if there ever was one.

1. Millennium Stage Performance, Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.

Fantasia on a Theme of Dvorak for String Quartet and Orchestra.

Magnificat pro Mundo for Choir, String Quartet and Conducted Electronics

This link is a video of Forrest's performance on the Millennium Stage in Washington, D.C. with the Mt. Vernon Unitarian Church Choir and memers of the 21st Century Ensemble. It features works for conducted electronics and ensembles. This performance is from December, 2000.

2.. Sparkling Whorls of LIving Light

Sparkling Whorls of Living Light  (the text is taken from the Gary Snyder poem Mother Earth: Her Whales) was written for the Washington D.C.-based orchestra The Twenty-first Century Ensemble as part of a children's concert. Thus the music is rather film-score sounding, intended to tell something of a science fiction story, as the spoken introduction indicates. The performance took place at the Mt. Vernon Unitarian Church in Alexandria, Virginia in 2001.

As is often the case, this work received a quick rehearsal before the performance, but while ragged shows, I believe, an successful interaction between orchestral and electronic sounds in a conservative musical idiom.

2. Kaleidophonic Sketches

I am, on July 26th, learning how to embed video from Youtube. Here goes:

This work, also written for the 21st Century Ensemble,was premiered in the spring of 2003.  It is a work in four movements for orchestra and conducted electronics. The electronics are somewhat out of balance on this recording, but it seems worthwhile to post the composition here at any rate

The movements are:
1. Expectations
2. Despair
3. Delight
4. Humility

3. First Essay for Conducted Electronics and Orchestra.

This was the first piece I wrote for this idiom. I remember that we had to restart the performance 4 four times, but in the end computer and live musicians did hold together. Listening back, I kind of likes it strange spookiness.

Coming soon.