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OPERA THE MASK OF ELEANOR for Coloratura* (1984) 50 minutes MOSES (in progress) TESTIMONIES: The Retrial of Joan of Arc (in progress) DRAMATIC CANTATAS FRAGMENTS FROM AUGUSTINE THE SAINT for Tenor and Chamber Orchestra (1975) 36 minutes THE VISION OF SAINT JOAN for Coloratura* (1987) 18 minutes CHAMBER MUSIC VOCAL SONGS on Shakespeare Texts for Soprano and Piano (1949) 15 minutes Recitative Sonnet AWAKENING for Mezzo-Soprano and tape (1963) LOVE SONGS for Tenor and Guitar (1974) 18 Minutes INSTRUMENTAL TWO FACES OF JANUS for String Quartet (1963) 15 minutes Variations on L'homme armé (2005) 10 minutes Valse Langueur (2005) 6 minutes Valse Songeur (2005) 4 minutes FIVE STUDIES ON TWO UNTRANSPOSED HEXACHORDS for Keyboard (1971) 10 minutes DITHYRAMBOS for Violin and Cello (1975) 10 minutes MOVEMENTS for Guitar (1982) 12 minutes TRIO for Violin, B-flat Clarinet, Piano (1994) 18 minutes SAXSONG for Alto Saxophone (1996) 10 minutes SHAKTI CYCLE * SHAKTI I for Flute (1983) 7 minutes SHAKTI II for Soprano and Projections (1985) 10 minutes SHAKTI III for Clarinet and Tabla (1989) 10 minutes ELECTRONIC AND COMPUTER SCORES A LITTLE BACKGROUND MUSIC (1976) 7 minutes OCCAM'S RAZOR (1985) 5 minutes SPHERES (1998) 8 minutes *Orchestral and sound effects created on the FAIRLIGHT Computer Music Instrument I, II, or III MUSIC FOR FILMS AND VIDEO 1964: AYAMONN THE TERRIBLE (music score), a Francis Ford Coppola Production 1985: SIGHT AND SOUND (music score), Video production on Computer Music and Computer Graphics for CSU Chancellor 1988: THE VISITOR (score), Ray Bradbury, Alexander Entertainment Group 1988: CMI (CERTIFIED MARBLE INDUSTRY) (score) Video Production for Industry 1989: CSU CHANCELLOR DIVISION OF INFORMATION (score) film 1990: A IS FOR ANDROMEDA (score) Ray Bradbury, Alexander Entertainment Group 1991-1992: Various scores for animated film, Alexander Entertainment Group Reviews "A cantata for soprano and electronics, Beverly Grigsby's VISION OF SAINT JOAN uses the interior dialogue of the French saint to create a compelling melodrama. Vocally, Grigsby has stuffed into 171/2 minutes more High C's than Brunnhilde sings in all of 'Gotterdammerung.' Deborah Kavasch easily handled the duties of protagonist, and the electronics cleverly approximated orchestral timbres." -Daniel Cariaga Los Angeles Times "Grigsby's VISION OF SAINT JOAN, a work for soprano and synthesized accompaniment proved almost terminally lyrical, soaring to ever higher and sweeter raptures." -John Henken Los Angeles Times "Beverly Grigsby's Preludes for voice and electronic sounds [THE AWAKENING] held considerable interest... mezzo-soprano Nina Hinson was smashing in Grigsby's theatrical setting of Eliot poems complete with strobe light." -Walter Arlen Los Angeles Times "Beverly Grigsby's SHAKTI II...I think both in composition and performance (by Deborah Kavasch) blew the balcony off. I certainly got the gestural aspect of the piece - right between the eyes; this was probably the most thrilling piece of the entire program...the truly fabulous SHAKTI II." -Paul Attinello Journal Seamus "...Probably the furthest advanced technically was A LITTLE BACKGROUND MUSIC by Beverly Grigsby, an electronic piece done on Stanford's fancy new computer system. One appreciated its descriptive subtitles (Canons, Bells, Gongs, and Clusters) and the sureness with which they were delineated. Woodwind-like colors made attractive the work's elaborate contrapuntal textures. -William Weber Los Angeles Times "...The most interesting work on Friday night's program called for just this instrumentation - Beverly Grigsby's A LITLE BACK GROUND MUSIC (1976). Originally to be performed with piano and orchestra, this three-section piece consisted of bell and gong-like sounds, together with computer-generated tones. Grigsby, a strong advocate of computer compositional techniques, showed inventive use of new sonorities in her work." -Larry Schwartz News-Chronicle "This [concert] documented Beverly Grigsby as a composer of wide-ranging interest and a decidedly lyrical bent. Even so unpromisingly titled a post-Webernian relic as her FIVE STUDIES ON TWO UNTRANSPOSED HEXACHORDS from 1971 shifted pitch-spotting to the background in favor of expressive and kinetic interests. -John Henken Los Angeles Times "The studied abstraction of Beverly Pinsky Grigsby's [FIVE STUDIES ON TWO UNTRANSPOSED HEXACHORDS] performed by Nancy Fierro, began with a severe and self-imposed limitation that allowed her only six notes to work with in the first and third sections and a different six notes as material for the second and fourth sections. The work is an inventive and almost playful challenge to the restrictions, full of surprisingly full-bodied expressions and spiced with some fascinating rhythms." -Albany Times Union "[Grigsby's use of] sly counterpoint in a rhythmically acute Neoclassical style was the heart of the three movement TRIO from 1994, played with affection and brio by violinist Nancy Roth, clarinetist Berkeley Price and pianist Paul Hurst." -John Henken Los Angeles Times "THE MASK OF ELEANOR is an impressive work [that] lives up to composer Grigsby's expressed intention to write an opera which could 'fit in a suitcase and go on the road' and does so well." -Steve Lyon Journal SEAMUS "The heroine of this 50-minute opera is Eleanor of Aquitaine...Grigsby's ambitions here are enormous. Eleanor's spirit appears before us and recalls her entire life for our judgment. ..Grigsby's music is an evocation of modal Medieval chant and song and dance with a few shifting modulations, chromatic harmonies and disjunct, high-laying vocal lines to give it a modern cast. The music is always pleasant and at times lovely...this score is a formidable one." -Anthony Tommasini New York Times Special To The Globe "The opera is set in medieval France. The music and special effects... create a mysterious and authentic medieval mood. The music combines the sounds of early instruments...people and places flash continuously throughout the 50 minute opera, producing spectral and mysterious images that enhance the medieval mood...the ghostlike characters and scenery pull the audience right back to the 12th century. -Mary Laura Boyle Special To The Globe "...When Deborah Kavasch saw THE MASK OF ELEANOR during its premiere in Paris, she was impressed enough by 'the first computer opera' to want to meet the composer. Since then Kavasch has performed the opera at its premieres in Los Angeles and Boston and this summer she will make the first recording of the ground-breaking work. MASK has proven to be surprisingly popular. It has averaged a performance a year since its premiere in 1984. If opera conjures up an image of Brunnhilde in breastplates, and computer music suggests something that sounds like electronic indigestion, then you're going to have to change your thinking to deal with THE MASK OF ELEANOR." -Mark Stanic Turlock Journal "...They performed ... a Beverly Grigsby trio which was also very good. Halfway through the 'waltz' movement of the piece, I started crying and didn't know why... but at the moment I started crying, none of it mattered - all that mattered was the music, it was unbelievably beautiful..." Radio Weblog |
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