Solo and Duo

Aria (2013)

Aria is adapted from a larger work, an opera-in-progress, called Fordlandia, about the struggle for succession of power between Henry and his son Edsel at the Ford Motor Company. Evangeline, the secretary and mistress of Henry Ford, sings the aria. In this five-part work for violin and piano, we hear Evangeline’s Aria, an expression of love and triumph, at the end in the fifth and final section. The four sections that lead up to the finale imagine a dialogue and interaction about their complicated relationship.

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Duo Montuño (2004)

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Instrumentation: clarinet and piano (7:00)
First Performance: The Knitting Factory, New York City, 2007

Instrumentation: alto saxophone and piano (7:00)

Instrumentation: viola and piano (7:00)

Instrumentation: violin and piano (7:00)

Much of Susman’s music of the 90s and beyond explores the repetitive rhythms heard in Afro-Cuban music. One such gesture is the montuño, a repeated syncopated line or ostinato, often assigned to the piano, which outlines the harmony of a passage. In Susman’s music, any instrument can play a montuño. He also uses medieval rhythmic and contrapuntal devices called hocket and isorhythm. What results is an episodic conversation between the instruments.

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Uprising (1988)

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Instrumentation: piano (9:00)
First Performance: March 26, 1990, Greenwich House, New York, NY
David Holzman, piano

Uprising is based on an ascending six note melody which is incessantly rising. The piece opens with a surging two-voice canon followed by ten sections that vary in contour from gracefully flowing lines to wildly rapid fortissimo chords. In essence, the piece is a theme and variations in constant manic ascent.