Certain Dark Things

The Whole Tone Studies
Stravinsky famously wrote that "My freedom will be so much the greater and more meaningful the more narrowly I limit my field of action and the more I surround myself with obstacles.” The rootless, monochrome whole tone scale offers a nice place to explore that idea.
The Slow Movements
These began as studies in improvisation that served as a kind of antidote to the highly structured music I had been writing in the ’90s. I was thinking about the tradition of spirituality and the suspension of time found in the slow movements of masters throughout history—from J.S. Bach and before, to Morton Feldman and after.
Certain Dark Things
The last track is a simple song without words and was written as a birthday present for my wife, Lauren Golden. The title comes from the Pablo Neruda Love Sonnet XVII.

Now available—order the CD here or listen on your favorite streaming service—I like Tidal.

Mark Kalinowski, engineered and produced this recording, done on a
7 1/2’ Schimmel grand piano in 2009 at The College of New Jersey.

View or download the Certain Dark Things Artwork Booklet, containing the front and back covers with text, plus the original images used for the 4-panel CD layout.