Orchestra

Impro-Vice (2023)

On July 25, 2023, conductor Brad Lubman and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s premiered Impro-Vice at the Dimenna Center for Classical Music. The piece was written through Tommy’s participation in the DeGaetano Composers Institute which involved working closely with mentor-composer Anna Clyne throughout the previous year. Tommy and fellow DeGaetano Fellows Carlos Bandera and Molly Herron enjoyed a week in New York City filled with rehearsals and workshops featuring distinguished guests.

Program Note

Impro-Vice first began as two contrasting musical themes that I improvised on the violin.  I associated these themes with life experiences that relate to expectation.  The first theme, heard at the start of the piece, is turbulent, relentless, and distressed.  It represents periods of time in our lives that challenge and perhaps even break a part of us, but in the end, contribute to defining who we are.  The second theme, a violin solo that emerges in the middle of the piece, represents idealization and romanticization, which while initially enjoyable can lead to disappointment and pain.  I asked Giancarlo Latta and Ling Ling Huang each to respond to one of these themes.  Fingerprint by Giancarlo is a response to the first, and Ling Ling’s poem is a response to the second.  Impro-Vice to me is a space where these ideas and poems intersect. 

-Tommy Dougherty, 2023

Duration: 10 minutes 30 seconds 

Instrumentation:

Flute 1

Flute 2/Piccolo

Oboe 1

Oboe 2/English Horn

Clarinet 1 in B flat

Clarinet 2 in B flat/Bass Clarinet

2 Bassoons

2 Horns

2 Trumpets in C

Percussion 1: Crotales, Glockenspiel, Snare Drum, Suspended Cymbal, Vibraphone (with bow), Xylophone

Timpani/Percussion 2: Finger Cymbals, Slap Stick, Snare Drum, Suspended Cymbal, Ratchet

Violin 1

Violin 2

Viola

Cello

Double Bass

Restrung (2018)

#Restrung-Jump

Recipient of the 2019 ASCAP Leo Kaplan Award

Premiered by the USC Thornton School Symphony Orchestra

Program Note

Restrung is one of several pieces over the past couple of years in which I have searched to find a new voice for my string writing. As a composer/violinist, my compositional process usually begins immediately on my violin improvising, starting off in familiar territory with runs from old concertos I’ve played, and much to my neighbors’ dismay, slowly digressing into race car noises, rickety mechanical sounds, shifts, and slides. I have also had the great luxury of bouncing ideas off of fellow violinists and string players to see how certain gestures play under their fingers. Many of these relationships with fellow string players are formed while playing in orchestra together. Often times in orchestra rehearsals I find myself daydreaming about what each member of the section could be doing independently, instead of exclusively blending and staying with the herd all of the time. Don’t get me wrong; being a small part in a greater whole is exhilarating to me. However, I also find that in today’s orchestra, where hundreds of violinists appear for an audition to compete for just one section chair, the audience never has an opportunity to hear each individual voice. Restrung is the beginning of what will hopefully be a longer and more in-depth exploration of presenting the members of the string sections as both section players and soloists. (And there are some racecar noises)

-Tommy Dougherty, 2018

Duration: 9 minutes

Instrumentation:

Piccolo

2 Flutes

2 Oboes

English Horn

2 B flat Clarinets

Bass Clarinet

2 Bassoons

Contrabassoon/Bassoon 3

4 Horns

3 Trumpets in C

3 Trombones

Tuba

Percussion 1: Brake Drum, Chimes, Kick Drum, Marimba, Sandpaper Block, Vibes, Xylophone

Percussion 2: Bass Drum, Crash Cymbals, Crotales, Kick Drum, Marimba, Ratchet, Splash Cymbal, Wood Block

Percussion 3: Finger Cymbals, Large Suspended Cymbal, Large Tam-Tam, Log Drums, Temple Blocks, Slapstick, Snare Drum

Harp

Piano/Celesta

Violin 1

Violin 2

Viola

Cello

Double Bass

Three Dances for Orchestra (2015) #ThreeDancesForOrchestra

Recipient of the 2017 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Award

Premiered by the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra

Jerry Hou, conductor

In planning this eight-minute work, I referred to many contemporary examples of concise orchestral works; however, it was a series of pieces from the 19th century that inspired my overall form. Antonin Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances were modeled after Johannes Brahms’ famous Hungarian Dances, and their success put Dvorak onto the orchestral map. When I was younger, I repeatedly listened to George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra’s recordings of these sixteen dances. Each dance, anywhere from two to seven minutes, has brilliant orchestral color, exciting rhythmic dissonance, and its own distinct character.

Three Dances for Orchestra begins with a fast, zany, and perhaps even maniacal theme exclaimed by the violins, which serves as the defining feature of the first dance. I fed from the energy of Dvorak’s first dance in B Major (Molto Vivace) from his Op. 72 set, despite our noticeable differences in harmony. My second dance is carried by an ascending passacaglia bass line which was directly taken and manipulated from Dvorak’s second dance in E Minor (Allegretto Grazioso), also Op. 72. The repetitive nature perhaps represents the number of times I would replay the track over and over again. Finally, my third dance begins with a shimmering chord in the string section that gradually cascades into violent tremors, while the rest of the orchestra fuses together the themes from the first two dances. This final dance is a tribute to Dvorak’s (and my own) love for polyrhythms.

Tommy Dougherty, 2016

Duration: 8 minutes

Instrumentation:

Piccolo

2 Flutes

2 Oboes

English Horn

Piccolo Clarinet (E flat)

2 Clarinets (B flat)

Bass Clarinet

2 Bassoons

Contrabassoon

4 Horns (F)

3 Trumpets (C)

2 Trombones

Bass Trombone

Tuba

Timpani

Percussion 1: Bass Drum, Chimes, Suspended Cymbal

Percussion 2: Crash Cymbals, Snare Drum, Triangle, Xylophone

Percussion 3: Crash Cymbals, Glockenspiel, Large Tam-Tam, Marimba, Snare Drum

Harp

Piano

Violin 1

Violin 2

Viola

Cello

Double Bass

Three Pieces for Orchestra (2013)

Winner of the Eastman Orchestral Composition Competition

Premiered by the Eastman Philharmonia

Chaowen Ting, conductor

Kodak Hall, February, 2013