by Corey Rubin | Jan 5, 2017 | Uncategorized
To the Flame, for soprano and chamber orchestra, includes texts from three different sources, united by their use of the moth as a symbol. Ted Kooser’s “Lobocraspis griseifusa” depicts a real-life species of moth that subsists on the tears of sleeping individuals. In...
by Corey Rubin | Jul 10, 2016 | Uncategorized
Swift’s Cantata, for SATB chorus, is a setting of a peculiar text by the 18th-century Irish satirist Jonathan Swift. Noted for his sharp wit, Swift admitted to having no musical talent, but was a fervent lover of music. His “A Cantata” is a humorous send-up of the...
by Corey Rubin | Jun 25, 2016 | Uncategorized
Said a Blade of Grass, for SATB chorus, tells a story about the cycle of seasons and the passing of generations. Khalil Gibran’s text, from his 1918 volume The Madman, depicts a conversation between a blade of grass—earthbound, world-weary, and ready for winter—and a...
by Corey Rubin | Feb 7, 2016 | Uncategorized
Broken Pearls, for string orchestra, is a play on certain Baroque music of the early 18th century. The word baroque was originally derogatory; it meant “imperfect or misshapen pearl” (a rebuke of Baroque-period art by later, Classical-period critics). Broken Pearls...
by Corey Rubin | Feb 7, 2016 | Uncategorized
One Hit Song, for orchestra, is named for the bit of advice my grandfather always gives when the conversation turns to my career in music. He imagines, in a best-case scenario, that I might compose something like the next “White Christmas,” and become the next Irving...
by Corey Rubin | Feb 7, 2016 | Uncategorized
Borrowed Time, for violin and piano, was born out of my fascination with the music of the Hungarian composer György Ligeti (1923–2006). At the time of the work’s composition, I’d been exploring in particular Ligeti’s later-period pieces (of the 1980s and 90s), which...
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