Artistic Statement

I want my compositions to take the listener on a deeply felt musical journey. It is my belief that our emotional response to music is based on our understanding of it. Each person brings with them to the concert hall the experiences of everything heard before, and this is the basis for understanding something new presented to them.

This breadth of previous experiences provides the listener with a set of expectations as to how the music they hear will unfold. Music is all around us, and even if we cannot articulate the specifics in terms of melody, harmony, rhythm, dynamics, color and instrumentation, we nonetheless have expectations. We search for patterns in what we hear.

We respond when we hear something that is within the framework of our expectations, but yet also fresh and engaging. I therefore view my responsibility as a composer to provide both familiarity and novelty in an appropriate balance, to combine the elements in interesting and creative ways.

These elements are: consonance and dissonance, slow and fast, soft and loud, legato and staccato, small and large intervals, simple and complex textures, tonal and atonal, slow and fast harmonic rhythm.

Approach to Tonality

With so much of our collective musical experience being tonal, I believe it is important to use tonality in order to communicate effectively. However, because it is ever present there exists a challenge to maintain interest.

As composers we must write within the confines of the possible yet not completely inside of the expected. Being creative with tonality is therefore essential in creating music that is not only understood, but also interesting.

I understand the essence of tonality, the relationship of tonic to dominate as well as fa to mi and ti to do. I use my ear to guide me when writing, not always aware of the key. I often have to review what I have written later to determine the exact key.

The writing unaware of which key I happen to be in gives me the freedom necessary to use tonality in interesting ways, letting my ear guide my music along its path.

This is how I have addressed the issue of capitalizing upon the musical knowledge of the public, while at the same time providing something less predictable.

Vienna Symphonic Library

BWG scores with some of the finest orchestral samples available from Vienna Symphonic Library to create professional orchestral sounds. His studio also includes the notation software Finale, and Studio One sequcencer fromPresonus.