Matthew 22

Inhaling and exhaling quite deliberately as one plays a growing melody. Basically a flute piece, though other wind instruments are welcome to try it. 7-11 minutes.

Seven-note chords, sometimes tonal. sometimes atonal. are constructed logically with the same six intervals in different orders. The orchestration changes slightly every 12 chords and it takes 20 minutes

Rational harmonies in five voices for amplified ensemble (solo 1, solo 2, keyboard, guitar and bass). 20 minutes.

The music is on 12 music stands, and the viola soloist makes the rounds, playing all the fragments in 6-8 minutes.

Nine miniatures in phrases of 12 and 13 notes, following the rhythm of classical French poetry. 10 minutes.

Logical up-and-down progressions, dedicated to Didier Aschour. Five short movements in 9 minutes.

Mathematical music, systematically following finite automata, for six percussionists. Eighteen short movements, 50 minutes in all, but playable in incomplete versions. Score and material offered in one

A collaboration with Luiz-Henrique Yudo for six percussionists. The music goes BACK & FORTH between the two composers every 10 seconds following two graphic designs made by each composer. Exactly 10

Twelve pieces for clarinet and narrator, or clarinetist/narrator. Also available in French as Histoires a dormir debout, and in German as Gutenachtgeschichten. 

The largest work of Tom Johnson, premiered by the orchestra and chorus of the Dutch Radio in September 1996, and had its German premier in Berlin in November of 1998. The text comes from various books,

A five bar theme is gradually transformed into one repeating chord. 6 minutes, score and parts.

Four movements with a mathematical melody in one, two, three, and finally four voices. 6 minutes.

Five movements for percussion trio: Similarities, Differences, Canons, Well-Formed, and Mirrors. Easy to play for percussionists who never make mistakes. Small instruments. About 15 minutes.

Someone is at the door, but the two singers are too tired to answer it. They sing many cadences on the word "yawn." Two sopranos and piano.

She looks for her thimble and finally finds it on her finger. Soprano and piano, text in English, French, German. 15 minutes.

A difficult piece for a talking and singing juggler, who normally doesn't drop balls but eventually will. 

The baritone catches fish and hangs them up to dry while the tenor looks on, wondering why. Baritone and piano, in English, 15 minutes.

The baritone, the tenor and the soprano all try to listen to time for 15 minutes. The pianist and the audience do too. In French but easily translatable.

One explains how many ways there are of putting six eggs into two baskets, with the help of a narrator and two unspecified instrumentalists, who play the permutations as melodies. Also published in French

Trio for saxophone, guitar and bass, written for the German ensemble Ugly Culture. The title means "Unison Polyrhythms." 18 minutes.

One of Johnson's most often performed pieces, written for Jon Deak, and also interpreted by Bertram Turetzky, Gary Karr, and many other virtuosos. A classic among bassists. 

The falling thirds are played by some solo instrument, the drum keeps the beat, and everything is the result of a drawing. Eight minutes.

The composer writes : In this work I wanted to listen to all the ways that chords of one note, two notes, three notes, four notes, and five notes could be orchestrated using five instruments. 

The composer's first opera, and the best known. Published in America by G. Schirmer, but now also available in French from Editions 75.