Josh Rodriguez

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Fitting for use in concert hall, church, and synagogue, "como los que suenan" [Spanish: "like those who dream"], is shaped by the ancient paradoxical Jewish poetry of Psalm 126. On the surface, this psalm seems to be about thankful, even joyful, remembrance. However, these memories devolve into an existencial petition. The psalmist desperately desires a return to a healthier, safer time, but does not surrender to despair. This 4-minute work aims to musically explore this internal struggle and resilience concluding with a quote from Brahms's German Requiem, a melodic fragment he used to set the promise in the fifth verse of this very psalm, "Those who with tears sow, will reap with joy."

como los que suenan

Viola Solo Unaccompanied

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Love's Pure Light is an arrangement of "Silent Night" that expands the carol to include an original setting of St. John 3:16 in six different languages (Spanish, Mandarin, Twi, Italian, Armenian, English). The languages used were chosen because of their contemporary importance on the global stage and for historical significance to Christian communities - Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox - around the world. As "Silent Night' returns, the carol is transformed into a celebratory dance, underscored with Latin American and African percussion: a triumphant conclusion anticipating the day when "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." (Revelation 21:4, KJV)

LOVE'S PURE LIGHT

SSA/TBB Octavo

A lush, flowing meditation on a transcendent moment of spiritual awe experienced in the twilight hours, HOLY MIDNIGHT OF THE SOUL brings George MacDonald's vivid poetry to life within a form and harmonic language that is accessible to church and community choirs. Written in the vein of an Oxford carol, this introspective setting may be sung by a quartet with 1 per part or a larger ensemble which can sing the divisi appearing at the work's powerful conclusion.

HOLY MIDNIGHT OF THE SOUL

SATB Octavo

An intense beautiful setting of the darkest passage from the biblical
  Psalms, this work offers both choir and audience a cathartic space for
  lamentation and meditation. The text, while ancient, resonates with relevance
  today as it explores the kind of sadness and abandonment that many today
  experience as a result of mental health issues. It features an easily
  assembled aleatoric opening, and after several gorgeous climaxes, has a slow
  fade out in volume (the text is replaced with pure sound representing the
  pain that can't be expressed in words). This work features a brief solo for
  tenor. 
    
    
    
    This intense sacred work for SATB (with divisi) is suitable to a wide range
  of performing forces as few as 12 in a chamber setting to as many as 60
  singers.  
    
    
    
    From the Program Notes: "This raw, unfiltered lament captures the
  devastation of loss and fractured community that millions around the world
  have experienced. Whether it be in the death of a parent or child from cancer
  or the coronavirus or from police brutality, the violent injustice of loss
  has marked the global experience of 2020. It was my desire to create music
  that could provide some sort of cathartic release, enabling us to reflect and
  lament."

Darkness is my only Friend

Combining lush harmony with accessible extended vocal techniques (ex. speaking, pitch glissandos), THIS BREATHLESS EARTH, is a dramatic meditation on anxiety and peace, rooted in the biblical narrative of Christ's death, and relevant today's mental health conversations. Based on a poem by Malcolm Guite, this work opens with agitated breathing and speaking, progresses into gorgeous singing, and ends with the choir breathing in (pitch-less) unison. This is a challenging work with tremendous payoff, an excellent choice for college choirs and uniquely appropriate for Spring or Easter concerts. 

From the composer, "Having witnessed panic attacks in close family members, and hearing the stories of friends who persevered through various levels of coronavirus infection, I wanted to create a dramatic choral work that would address the fear and anxiety of such experiences. This Breathless Earth, an imaginative unpublished poem by English poet Malcolm Guite, provides a fitting text and moves the reader toward hope by inviting us to empathize with the anxiety which overcame the first-century disciples immediately following the death of Christ...It's my hope that both performer and audience might experience a healing catharsis as they experience this music's movement from agitated gasping to confident, calm breathing."

THIS BREATHLESS EARTH

SA/TB

A gorgeous ethereal setting of a raw yet elegant 17th century text for SSATBB, this universally accessible prayer aims to reorient the heart toward the difficult but necessary path of peace and reconciliation. It opens with a soprano solo and wordless choral sounds; toward the end, it features brief optional solos for other voices. While appropriate for concerts and services connected to important Christian holidays (Advent/Christmas/Easter), Halo My Path, is not limited to these seasons. Musically, it may function as a fitting response to tragedy or a musical meditation at the beginning of a new school year as it create a calming space for the anxious, a moment for refection and renewal.

HALO MY PATH

Fragments of a prayerful hymn-like melody appear underneath a chromatic
  canopy. Shifting metric changes, polyrhythms, and percussive primal-sounding
  harmonies climax in a loud, noisy quote from the 16th century Genevan Psalter
  (the tune used to sing Psalm 19).

TABERNACLE

Piano Solo

Gleeful and groovy throughout, DELFIN (Spanish for "dolphin") written for sextet (flute, clarinet in Bb, violin, cello, marimba, and piano) delivers a smart musical punch that is fun to play and accessible to audiences that might not be familiar with contemporary classical music. Its underlying pulse with hints of Latin American folk music gives way to soaring melody and an evocative ending.

"Having recently explored the majesty and fearful awe of the ocean's largest creatures in a work entitled BALLENAS (written in 2023 for wind ensemble), I was interested in writing a work that explored the playful side of nature. Written for the Festival de Composicion musical "Guatemala Contemporanea"  (12-15 de Junio de 2024), DELFIN, a "lively, yet chill" work, explores bright, colorful soundscapes remeniscient of the ocean surface and its many creatures, especially that of the dolphin."

DELFIN

Pierrot Ensemble (Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Percussion, and Piano) Sextet

Fitting for use in concert hall, church, and synagogue, "como los que suenan" [Spanish: "like those who dream"], is shaped by the ancient paradoxical Jewish poetry of Psalm 126. On the surface, this psalm seems to be about thankful, even joyful, remembrance. However, these memories devolve into an existencial petition. The psalmist desperately desires a return to a healthier, safer time, but does not surrender to despair. This 5-minute work aims to musically explore this internal struggle and resilience concluding with a quote from Brahms's German Requiem, a melodic fragment he used to set the promise in the fifth verse of this very psalm, "Those who with tears sow, will reap with joy."

Cello Solo Unaccompanied

A striking dramatic work that is perfect for the high point of a Christmas concert, Love's Pure Light is an arrangement of "Silent Night" that expands the carol to include an original setting of St. John 3:16 in five different languages. The music begins with a subdued introduction and solo baritone singing the beloved carol, followed by the full choir in the second verse. The middle of the work features the famous passage from St. John's gospel, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son" (3:16), a passage that highlights the theological zenith of Christian story: the Incarnation of Christ. The languages used (Spanish, Mandarin, Twi, Italian, Armenian) were chosen because of their contemporary importance on the global stage and for historical significance to Christian communities - Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox - around the world.  The carol is transformed in its return to "Silent Night" into a celebratory dance, underscored with Latin American and African percussion: a triumphant conclusion anticipating the day when "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." (Revelation 21:4, KJV)

SSA/TBB Full Score

Like the musically substantial yet accessible Oxford carols of the Anglican tradition, I SEE YOUR WORLD IN LIGHT, is a harmonically rich sacred anthem on a text by 21st century English poet Ayodeji Malcolm Guite. Perfect for church and community choirs looking for new Advent/Christmas season music (but not limited by the text to this season), I SEE YOUR WORLD IN LIGHT contains hymn-like repetition making it easy to learn and perform.

I SEE YOUR WORLD IN LIGHT

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