Open Veins by Robert Moran

Robert Moran’s music is easy to like and easier to mislabel. Philip Glass is not just “Moran Light.” Moran’s minimalist tonal tendencies mask a sharp social critique and, like the composer himself, perhaps, are supremely seductive, even “disgracefully pretty.”

Beneath the surface, however, you will find the pathos of a mad king, Petronius’s vengeful suicide, an offering to gay film maker Derek Jarman dying of complications of AIDS, and love songs of Beauty and the Beast. These works show a variety of compositional methods, from through-composed works to I Ching-determined modules for performance improvisation, operatic scenes to dance and choral works. They also represent two kinds of energy: the dynamic, driving force behind Open Veins and 32 Cryptograms, as well as the tragical elegiac writing of Desert of Roses and Stimmen. The program as a whole seems to cover the entire gamut from beast to beauty.

WARNING: your heart may be ripped out and your tears jerked when listening to this music. Optional Kleenex® not supplied.

Robert Moran has traveled many musical paths since 1957 when he began his study of 12-tone music in Vienna with Hans Erich Apostel. He has composed for solo instruments and intimate chamber groups; he has created musical compositions incorporating 100,000 performers, radio and television stations, skyscrapers, and airplanes; and he has collaborated with Phillip Glass to compose opera scores.