Large Ensemble

Gross Misconduct (2020)

Joe Pereira conductor, Lina Bahn violin, Jonah Sirota viola, Ben Fried cello, Ryan Baird double bass, and Thornton Edge

Video and Audio Editing by Adam Borecki

I see Gross Misconduct as a culmination of the pieces I’ve written as a composer at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music (2015-2019). This concerto grosso incorporates and develops conceptual and formal structures, improvisatory material, and orchestrational relationships and trends that I have explored in previous works. Most similar to Extraordinary Instruments, a violin quartet I wrote for Modern Violin Ensemble (2018), the opening violin material comes from improvising on the violin. I created a new notational system from this improvisation, allowing the performer to create pitches free of the confines of the traditional diatonic system. The piece is vaguely modeled after Handel’s five-movement concerti grossi, only Gross Misconduct is a one-movement work with five sections played attacca. Perhaps one of the most consistent and noticeable qualities of the piece is its behavior of switching rapidly between the concertino (group of soloists) and the concerto grosso (ensemble), in addition to forming new subsets outside the confines of the two aforementioned groups. Gross Misconduct is my own musical reaction to behaviors in society that result from our political climate, how we process news and information on social media, and our apparent numbness to extremism. 

Egyptian Ratscrew Fantasy (2016) #Egyptian-Ratscrew-Fantasy

For conductorless string orchestra:

8 violins, 3 violas, 3 cellos, 2 double basses

Written for Kinetic Ensemble

While teaching at a summer music camp, I spent many of my nights playing the card game “Egyptian Ratscrew” with my faculty friends. Perhaps it was the rotational motion, the algorithmic quality of the rules, the unpredictable outbursts of players lunging forward to slap the pile of cards in the center, being amongst friends, or a combination of all these components that compelled me to write a piece based off of the game. As a starting point, I wrote four melodic cells; each cell represents a different suit from the deck of cards, and each suit is distinctly different from the other. Heart cards are played with glissandi, diamonds with short pizzicato, col legno, and harmonics, spades with sharp, accented attacks, and clubs with heavy double stops. Within each suit, the cards are differentiated based on the number of attacks. 

The piece is made up of seven sections or movements, each played attacca into the next:

The Cards

Shuffling

Dealing

Round One: The Game Begins

The Cellos Are Eliminated

Round Two: The Game Continues

Round Three: The Final Round

-Tommy Dougherty, 2016

Particularly Competitive (2015)

Written for and performed by Alarm Will Sound

Live at the Mizzou International Composers Festival

July 25, 2015

Quartets (2014)

quartets

E flat/B flat Clarinet, 2 B flat Clarinets, Bass Clarinet, Percussion 1: Vibes, Chimes, Glockenspiel, Marimba; Percussion 2: Xylophone, Vibes, Crotales, Marimba; 2 pianos, String Quartet

Recipient of the 2016 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Award

Recording Info: Rebecca Tobin, Juyong You, Peter Jalbert, Andrew Sandwick: clarinets; Emily Uematsu, Ginacarlo Latta: violins, Jarita Ng: viola, Antoinette Gan: cello; Jun Cho, Satoko Hayami: pianos; Dino Georgeton, Torrell Moss: percussion; Jerry Hou: conductor

Concertino (2013)

for Solo Violin and Ensemble

Andrea Jarrett, solo violin

Rebecca Reale, Heather Thomas, violins; Dan Wang, viola; Coleman Itzkoff, cello; Kelly Zimba, flute; Leah Craft, oboe; Sean Krissman, clarinet; Tommy Morrison, bassoon; Markus Osterlund, horn; George Goad, trumpet; Madeleine Doyon-Robitaille, trombone; Brandon Bell, Dino Georgeton, percussion

Tommy Dougherty, conductor