Peter Van Zandt Lane
composer


welcome to my SCI composer page.
here you will find a bit about myself,
as well as some of my compositions.

enjoy.



Peter Van Zandt Lane is a composer and bassoonist living in New England. His compositions have been performed across the United States, as well as in Europe and South America, by acclaimed musicians and ensembles such as The Cleveland Orchestra, Triton Brass, Xanthos Ensemble, East Coast Composers Ensemble, The Greater Miami Youth Symphony, The f(x), White Rabbit, and NotaRiotous. He has written for chamber ensemble, wind ensemble, orchestra, choir, and often employs the use of electronics in his works.

Peter's compositions have been featured on various festivals and conferences such as NYCEMF, Spark Festival, SEAMUS National Conference, Forecast Music, Festival Miami, and LIPM/IEMS at the world renown Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. He has received awards in several competitions including the CRS Young Composers competition, SEAMUS/ASCAP Student Competition, the Forecast Music International Composers Competition, The Greater Miami Youth Symphony Composition Competition, and the Cleveland Ochestra Miami Residency Call for Scores.

As an active freelance bassoonist in the greater Boston area, Peter performs regularly in chamber ensembles and in orchestras, often focusing on contemporary music, exposing the vast extended techniques of the bassoon and its proficiency as an instrument used in an electroacoustic setting. He has been featured as a soloist several times, and has premiered many works from emerging composers. He is also an active member of the Composers in Red Sneakers.

Peter is currently pursuing a PhD in Music Composition and Theory from Brandeis University, and holds a Masters from Brandeis, and a Bachelors from the University of Miami. He has studied composition with David Rakowski, Lansing McLoskey, Eric Chasalow, and bassoon with Luciano Magnanini.



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Compositions


Taijitu for piano trio
Taijitu for piano trio.mp3 - excerpt
Taijitu for piano trio.pdf - complete


Taijitu is a 13-minute composition for violin, cello, and piano. The piece is organized into two movements that oppose each other in many characteristics, but ultimately rely on each other for the music to make a complete journey through its development of thematic material. In this way, the form of Taijitu displays ideas of the unity of opposites expressed int Taoist philosophy. Hence, the title of the piece is in reference to the common visualization of Yin and Yang. Taijitu was premiered in February, 2008 by the East Coast Composers Ensemble.


Taqsim for clarinet and tape
Taqsim for clarinet and tape.mp3 - complete
Taqsim for clarinet and tape.pdf - complete


Commissioned by Cristhian Rodriguez.

Taqsim for clarinet and tape was written for clarinetist Cristhian Rodriguez in February, 2007. The title refers to a quasi-improvisational opening movement that occurs in many forms of Gypsy music. While there is very little improvisation called for in this piece, the material alludes to traditional Turkish clarinet melodies, which only occur in broken, incomplete, and stuttered variations until the end of the piece. The tape part is entirely composed of recorded and manipulated samples of a bass clarinet as both a wind and percussion instrument, focusing on the spectral components of extended techniques.


Fugue State for brass quintet
Fugue State for brass quintet.mp3 - complete
Fugue State for brass quintet.pdf - complete


Fugue State (2008) was written for the Triton Brass quintet in collaboration with Composers in Red Sneakers. The piece has nothing to do with a fugue in it its musical connotation, but rather the abnormal psychological condition, fugue state: a state of mind characterized by the abandonment of identity and personality. The music conveys this occurrence through rapid alternation of each performers’ composed character, which cycles quickly through a set sequence, then focuses on each character in order. With regards to the overall musical form, the end result is a ritornello form incorporating a recurring series of musical ideas. Basically, musical hot-potato.


Wicked Stride for solo piano
Wicked Stride for solo piano.mp3 - complete
Wicked Stride for solo piano.pdf - complete


Wicked Stride was written in 2008 for Yukiko Takagi in collaboration with the White Rabbitt new music ensemble. The concept behind the piece was to incorporate the ragtime-influenced traditions grown out of the Harlem jazz scene in the early 20th century (stride piano) with a less restricted harmonic language and a more flexible expression of rhythmic manipulation. Stride piano is a notoriously difficult playing technique in its own right, and the incorporation of unconventional harmonies and constantly distorted pulse in this piece demand a monsterous level of virtuosity from the performer.






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©2009 by Peter Lane
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Peter Lane 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.