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Bruce Christian Bennett (b. 1968) is a native of Seattle and is currently residing in San Francisco working for Digidesign and lecturing at San Francisco State. He received his Ph.D. in music composition from the University of California, Berkeley in 1999 where he studied composition with Richard Felciano and computer music with David Wessel. He received his M.M. in composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in 1993, where he studied composition with Andrew Imbrie, David Conte, and Elinor Armer; he received his B.A. in music from Reed College in 1990 where he was a student of David Schiff. He has received several honors, including a recent commission from the Fromm Foundation and the 1993 Prix Maurice Ravel. He is a founding member of both the Berkeley New Music Project and the CNMAT Users Group (a coalition of composers and engineers whose interests are in the interaction of music and technology), and was on the board of directors for Earplay (a San Francisco–based new music ensemble) from 2000 to 2003, and was president of the board from 2001–2002. He was also the editor of the Society of Composers, Inc. Newsletter from 2001 to 2006, and is currently on the editorial review board for the SEAMUS Journal. His works have been played throughout the United States and abroad by such groups as the Arditti String Quartet, Earplay, the Ensemble InterContemporain, Sirius, and members of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. |
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Bruce Christian Bennett, Compositions: Translucent night for trumpet and electronics (in progress): ca. 6’ Growth for DVD, video by Keith Cottingham (2007): 4' Schema for soprano saxophone and electronics (2006): ca. 10’ from the ashes for septet (2005): ca. 20’ Stretch for computer generated sound (2001): 18’ Sketches for cello and electronics (2000): 20’ Canciones de amor y la noche on texts by Lorca for voice, electronics, and ensemble (1998): 25’ the demon in checkered pants for brass quintet (1997): 5’ Schematic Nocturne for solo piano (1997): 13’ Four Pieces for mixed chorus on Richard Howard's translation of texts by Baudelaire (1996–1997): 12’ Fracture for tenor saxophone and electronics (1995): 10’ Snakebyte for electronic wind instrument (1994): 7’ . . . how sad to hear day turn to dark for English horn and guitar (1994): 6’ The night shines forth . . . for ensemble (1994): 8’ . . . a dog named Jethro . . . a cat named Felix for wind quintet (1993): 12’ Prelude for chamber orchestra (1993): 5’ Litanies on Richard Howard's translation of a text by Charles Baudelaire for solo voice, mixed chorus, organ, and electronics (1993): 15’ Music for Theatre for tape (1992): 40’ an exaltation of larks for string quartet (1992): 30’ Three Epigrams for violin and piano (1991): 5’ Etude for solo electric guitar and signal processing (1991): 10’ Two Songs for voice and piano on texts by Ranier Maria Rilke (1991): 6’ Incidental music for David Mamet’s The Water Engine for alto saxophone, two trumpets, double bass, trap kit, piano and organ, and string quartet (1991): 30’ This Night Wounds Time for symphony orchestra (1990): 5’ Meditation for clarinet and (optional) signal processing (1989): 6’ Music for clarinet, alto saxophone, percussion, and piano (1989): 6’ Six Short Pieces on a Series of Pitches by Arnold Schönberg for two flutes or flute and violin (1989): 4’ Five Spanish Songs on texts by Federico García Lorca for soprano, clarinet, guitar, harpsichord, five-string viola [or violin/viola], and cello (1988): 20’ Etude for solo flute (1988): 5’ |
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Compositions | |||
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from the ashes for septet (2005) |
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| from the ashes for septet (2005).mp3 - complete | |||
| from the ashes for septet (2005).pdf - complete | |||
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from the ashes was composed for Earplay at the request of violist Ellen Ruth Rose and conductor Mary Chun, and was made possible by a grant from the Fromm Music Foundation. The myth of the Phoenix provides the poetic inspiration for the piece—a cycle of immolation and renewal. Much of the music is born out of the first dramatic gesture, about a minute into the piece: a violent outburst in the piano and vibraphone that excites the other instruments of the ensemble. This initial gesture is like the splash of a stone thrown into water, disturbing the calm, followed by the subsequent ripples from the impact. Moments of violence give way to periods of calm, which are often interrupted by further violence. This dichotomy frames the dialectic of the piece. Compositionally, from the ashes is based on an underlying structural melody that provides not only melodic profile, but also form and harmonic content. This structural melody is not heard explicitly throughout most of the composition, though it does surface at a few points in the piece. From this Ur-melody, significant structural pitches are identified and then used to generate harmonies and modes based on simple frequency modulation synthesis algorithms. The resulting sequence of harmonic fields creates what could be thought of as a musical topography, which is navigated by the acts of composing, playing, and listening. | |||
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Stretch for two digital soundtracks (2001) |
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| Stretch for two digital soundtracks (2001).mp3 - complete | |||
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Stretch is a sonic exploration of time stretching. It uses several very short samples of gongs, cymbals, tampura, shakuhachi, beluga whales, etc., and stretches them as much as 164 times their original duration. This creates an extraordinarily rich and dense texture of sound, revealing the vast sonic world contained within sounds that normally pass too quickly to be heard in such detail. The composition unfolds in several waves, creating a large-scale arch form. | |||
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Schematic Nocturne for solo piano (1997) |
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| Schematic Nocturne for solo piano (1997).mp3 - complete | |||
| Schematic Nocturne for solo piano (1997).pdf - complete | |||
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Hinojo, serpiente y junco. Aroma, rastro, y penumbra. Aire, tierra y soledad. (La escala llega a la luna.) -Federico Gacía Lorca Schematic Nocturne was commissioned by Lee Alan Nolan and composed during the winter of 1996-97. The piece is an exploration of a series of harmonic fields modeled after frequency modulation generated spectra. The formula for frequency modulation synthesis is pi = c ± (m * I), wherein pi are the partial pairs (sum and difference tones) at a given index, c is the carrier frequency, m is the modulating frequency, and I is the given index (all frequencies are measured in Hz. and then rounded down to the nearest semitone of the tempered scale). I employ several different distinct types of music (fast, slow, wide interval leaps, scalar runs, etc.) to explore various registers and internal structures of the aforementioned harmonic fields throughout the piece. These various types of music, as well as the harmonic fields, interpenetrate one another over the course of the whole work, contributing to a kind of overall arch form supported by pillars of fast perpetual motion music in the lowest registers. This music is based on a symmetrical nine-note scale (around C-sharp) derived from the first twelve pairs (sum and difference tones) of partials of an FM spectrum generated from a pair of F-sharps below middle C. | |||
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Fracture for tenor saxophone and electronics (1995) |
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| Fracture for tenor saxophone and electronics (1995).mp3 - complete | |||
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Fracture, a piece for tenor saxophone and four-channel signal processing, was composed for my friend and colleague, Michael F. Zbyszynski during the Fall of 1995. The signal processor used in this work is the ensoniq DP/4, controlled by a Macintosh computer running MAX software. I programmed MAX to change presets on the DP/4, to cross-fade between presets, and to control various parameters of the signal processing and the midi mixer in real time. At several points in the piece the four-channel spatialization of the sound is controlled by a Lorenz attractor. The performer uses a midi-foot switch to trigger the events stored in the computer. Most of the musical material of FRACTURE is derived from the opening measure; my intention was to fragment and elaborate the opening gesture over the course of the work in a way that is interactive with the electronics. The signal processing is carefully prepared to respond dynamically to the performer's playing. However, I was not interested in merely composing a piece for saxophone and electronic accompaniment; rather, I hoped to effectively allow the electronics to influence the musical material of the saxophone itself. For example, nearly two-thirds of the way into the piece, the saxophone line dissolves into noise and an exploration of harmonics; also, at various points throughout the piece the opening motif fragments and is offset by fractions of the beat in play with digital delays spatialized across all four channels. In this manner I hope to have more fully integrated the saxophone and its electronic complement into a more unified whole--a meta-instrument. | |||
©2005 by BruceChristian Bennett
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BruceChristian Bennett is a member of Society of Composers, Inc. SCI is dedicated to the promotion of composition, performance, understanding and dissemination of new and contemporary music.