Bassoon:
  Favoring Gail - Serenade for Mandolin and Bassoon (2003) 2'

Clarinet:
  Celtistan's Farewell (2002) [Mand/Cl/melody instrument, Gtr] 1'40" Published: SibeliusMusic.com

Flute:
  Canon in D (1978) [3 Vn/Fl, continuo] ms

Harpsichord:
  Le Tombeau de Scarlatti (1977) 4' Published: SibeliusMusic.com
  Premiere Livre de Pieces de Clavecin (1978/80) 10' ms
  Farewell to a Hubbard Harpsichord (1980) 3' Published: SibeliusMusic.com

Solo Mandolin:
  Lullaby (1978) 1' ms
  Etude (1981) 1' ms
  Partita a Dodici Toni (1982) 10'   Recorded: PSD 002
  Prelude #1 in G minor (1999) 1' ms
  Sonata for Solo Mandolin (1983) 13'
  Sonata II for Solo Mandolin (1989) 15'
  Threnody (2001) 1' Published: SibeliusMusic.com Free!

Mandolin and Guitar:
    Carousel Waltz (2002) 1'30" Published: SibeliusMusic.com  Free!
    Celtistan's Farewell (2002) 1'40" Published: SibeliusMusic.com  Free!
    Sonata for Mandolin and Guitar (unfinished)

Mandolin Concertos:
  Concerto in G for Mandolin and Strings (1979) (withdrawn)

Mandolin Ensemble:
  The Red Bach Book: 3 Rags After Bach (1982) 8'

Organ:
    Shut Up (Main Title) (1999) 1'30" ms

Piano:
  Sonatina (1979) 4'30" ms
  The Red Bach Book: Three Rags After Bach (1980) 8' ms
       The Ragtime Offering (a Prussian Two-Step)
       The Goldberg Rag
       The Art of the Rag

Violin:
  Canon in D (1978) [3 Vn/Fl, continuo] ms
  Partita a Dodici Toni (1982) [solo Mand or Vn] 10' Published: SibeliusMusic.com, Recorded: PSD 002

Vocal Music:
  Three Songs after Thomas Campion (2002) [Mez-Sop, Mand] Published: Neil
   In The Dark Times (2006) [Mez-Sop, Pno] (in process)
  The Atonal Blues  [Mez-Sop, Mand] (unfinished)
 
 

Mandolin and Guitar:
     Henry VII - Taunder Naken, ms
     Stravinsky, Igor - Fiddle Music (from Histoire D' Soldat), ms

2 Mandolins and Guitar:
     Couperin, Francois - Les Baricades Misterieuses,
     Scarlatti, Domenico - Sonata in D, ms

Mandolin and Piano:
    Europe, James Reese - Castle House Rag, ms
    Europe, James Reese - Clef Club March, ms
    Sousa, John Philip - Washington Post March Broadcast on "If You Knew Sousa," PBS (1992)

Mandolin Ensemble:
  Confrey, Zez - Kitten on the Keys (almost finished!)
  Gladd, Neil - The Red Bach Book: 3 Rags After Bach (1980/82) 8' PSE 001, Recorded
  Sousa, John Phillip - The Stars and Stripes Forever PSE 014

Voice, Mandolin and Guitar:
     Stravinsky, Igor - Pastorale, ms
 
 

The Ragtime Offering (a Prussian Two-Step) [Pno] (1976) Published: NGP 1003 (In preparation)

    When I went off to college in the Fall of 1973, "The Sting" had recently been released using the music of Scott Joplin in the soundtrack.  It was impossible to walk through the Music building or the Student Center without hearing someone play either The Entertainer or Maple Leaf Rag  in  one of the practice rooms.  At the same time, I was having to analyze a lot of Bach pieces in my theory classes.  This piece is the direct result of overdosing simultaneously on Bach and Scott Joplin.  It was written in as close as I could come to classic rag style, but based on the theme from Bach's Musical Offering.

Le Tombeau de Scarlatti (1977) [harpsichord] 4'  Published: SibeliusMusic.com

     I was not a fan of "modern music" until I discovered Domenico Scarlatti.  In 18th century Italy, he was using polytonality, tone clusters, blue notes and chance music. (In some of the extended hand crossing sections, the performer has no idea what note he is going to play next.)  After having played a dozen of his Sonatas, I decided to write my own.  It really only goes one step farther than Scarlatti actually did.

     "very cleverly written and quite witty, and would make a good encore piece" - Igor Kipnis

Canon in D (1978) [3 Vn/Fl, continuo] ms

     Pachelbel goes to Burger King and McDonalds, then takes some Alka Seltzer.  Pachelbel's Canon in D is the  of classical music, and I was already sick of it when a college flute instructor asked me to write a piece for flute ensemble.  It was premiered at Virginia Tech in 1978 with 3 student flute players and myself on harpsichord.  The humor will be lost on those who were not watching too much American television in the late 1970s.

Premiere Livre de Pieces de Clavecin (1978/80) [harpsichord] 10' ms

    In the French Baroque tradition, each movement was a musical portrait of the Virginia Tech music faculty.  I performed it once just before graduating (when it was too late to affect my grades) in 1978.  I later threw out 2 movements and added 2 others in 1980.

Lullaby (1978) [Mand/Vn] 1' ms

    Written as a present for a friend, and not performed until 1995 at the 10th AmGuss, in Rhode Island.

Sonatina (1979) [Pno] 4'30" ms

    Mozart meets Prokofiev, in textbook Sonata form.

Concerto in G for Mandolin and Strings (1979) (withdrawn)
       Allegro
       Adagio
       Allegro

     This is the first composition I started (1974), but it took 5 years to complete.  The style is Vivaldiesque, but with some meter changes, wrong notes, and an unfortunate passage of Baroque Disco. (It was the late 70s.)  It received its first and only performance on November 11, 1979 at the Arlington Central Library in Arlington, VA, my first public concert after graduating from college.  There are still parts of the Concerto that I like, but rewriting a 20 year old piece is usually more difficult than writing a new one.  It may see the light of day again, but for now and for your amusement, I have included just the last movement.

Farewell to a Hubbard Harpsichord (1980) [harpsichord] 3' Published: SibeliusMusic.com

     My first entirely serious composition, this was a literal farewell to a Hubbard Flemish kit that I built and had to sell to pay off some debts.  I gave the first performance on November 18, 1982 at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC.  Although I had a much better harpsichordist there as my accompanist, she was unable to reach the wide spaced chords I had written (most required a tenth).

The Red Bach Book: Three Rags After Bach [Pno](1980) 8' Published: NGP 1003 (In preparation)
       The Ragtime Offering (a Prussian Two-Step)
       The Goldberg Rag
       The Art of the Rag

       I had always intended to expand The Ragtime Offering into a set, and I finally wrote its companion pieces in 1980.  The Goldberg Rag uses the harmonies of the Goldberg Variations measure by measure, as well as quotes from Bach's variations.  The Art of the Rag comes closest in style to both Bach and Joplin of the three pieces.  Bach's theme from the Art of the Fugue is heard simultaneously in augmentation and diminution, and during a passage with the theme inverted, the hands are crossed for a visual pun.  There is a short fugato, and in the final measures, the main theme is combined with B - A - C - H.  The first performance was given on December 6, 1981 by Frank Conlon at the Church of the Annunciation, Washington, DC.

    In January of 1982, I first met Norman Levine, and played the rags for him on piano.  He asked me to arrange them for mandolin ensemble (which would never have occurred to me, otherwise), and they became the first work to be published by Plucked String Editions.  That arrangement has been performed many times around the world, and recorded in Germany.  I still like them better on the piano, though!

Etude (1981) [Mand] 1' ms

      After learning my first piece by the 18th century mandolinist, Leoni, I wrote this short piece as an exercise in cross-picking.

Partita a Dodici Toni (1982) [Mand/Vn] 10' Published:   Recorded: PSD 002
     Corrente
     Sarabanda
     Minuetto I e II
     Gavotta
     Giga

     "Baroque 12-tone music in C with blue notes."  After the performance of my Concerto, one of the string players described it as being a "cute" piece.  I decided that I had greater aspirations than to write "cute" music and parodies, so to get out of a rut, I wrote my first and only 12-tone piece.  It is modeled after the solo violin partitas of Bach, and even though it was composed on the mandolin, it is also playable on the violin, since I limited the techniques required to the areas where mandolin and violin technique overlap.  All of the movements are in Baroque binary form, and sound quasi tonal due to the implied tonic-dominant relationships at the cadences and the use of tradition dance rhythms.  I gave the first performance on November 18, 1982 at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC.

Sonata for Solo Mandolin (1983) 13' Published: PSE 015, Recorded: PSD 002 and  La Follia Madrigal LFM 10901
      Toccata
      Aria
      Dance

      I have been researching the mandolin's repertoire for as long as I have been playing it.  As a result, I have seen more of the the existing literature than most players, and a lot more than most composers. The goal of my Sonata was to combine the virtuoso mandolin techniques of the 18th and 19th centuries, which I learned from my research,  with the musical language of the 20th century.  My recording of it never made me rich, but it did catch the attention of other composers, who had never heard difficult, modern, idiomatic mandolin writing before, and several wrote pieces for me as a result.

    I gave the first performance on July 8, 1983 at A Festival of Mandolins, in Providence, RI, and played it at most of my recitals for the next five years, in the U.S. and Europe.  Other performances (that I am aware of) have been given by Keith Harris (U.S. and Austria), Gustavo Battista (Puerto Rico), Paul Hooper (Australia), Alison Stephens (U.S. and England) and Masayuki Kawaguchi (Japan).  In September of 2000, Julien Martineau and Mathieu Sarthe each played my Sonata as one of their free selections at an international mandolin competition in Italy. Mathieu Sarthe was the 3rd prize winner, and Julien Martineau, a musicology student at the Sorbonne, has also performed it recently in Paris. A new recording by Florentino Calvo was released in November of 2002 on La Follia Madrigal LFM 10901.

     "compelling, with a songlike second movement followed by particularly robust, propulsive rhythms"

      "stunning... The audience sat enthralled by this piece" (performance by Alison Stephens)

Sonata II for Solo Mandolin (1989) 15' Published: NGP 2002 (In preparation)
      Toccata (editing not yet complete)
      Andante
      Fugue

      I must immodestly state that my Sonata II, and the opening Toccata in particular, is my masterpiece - easily the best thing I've ever written.  It took 5 years to write this 15 minutes of music, and the Fugue was as exhausting to write as it is to play.  It is all based on a short motif that is developed extensively, like my first Sonata, but is technically more difficult.  It uses only traditional techniques, especially the intricate picking patterns of the 18th century virtuosos, but in new combinations and with meter changes.  Much of the Toccata is in 11/16, while the Andante is mostly quarter notes, depending on the harmonies to build intensity.  The Fugue subject is related to Bach's G minor violin fugue, but derived from the same theme as the Toccata.  Once again, I have used the B A C H motif as a counter theme, as well as the chorale tune, Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott.

      I gave the first performance of the Toccata on May 18, 1987 at Georgetown University, and of the completed Sonata on June 13, 1989 at the Levine School of Music, both in Washington, DC.  The score has been noteset using Sibelius software, and will be published as soon as I finish the editing.

Prelude #1 in G minor (1999) [Mand] 1' ms

      A short teaching piece written for one of my students, it will eventually be in a collection of short pieces with the Etude and Lullaby above. It's primary significance is that it is the first new piece I had written in 10 years, and got me started writing again.

Shut Up - Main Title (1999) [Organ] 1'30" ms

     When local film maker Sam Serafy asked me about finding a composer for his next film, I did not volunteer as I assumed he was talking about a two hour feature film.  When I found that he only wanted opening credit music for a 10 minute short, I said I would try it and he gave me the script to read.  It is about a couple that goes to the beach, gets rained in for a week, and get on each others nerves (while being "shut up" together).  He wanted a "Coney Island feeling but a little off kilter."  The film has not yet been made, but the music is ready.

Threnody (2001) [Mand] 1'30" Published: SibeliusMusic.com
     After the events of September 11, I found it difficult to concentrate on practicing for my October recital tour, so I wrote this short piece in memory of the victims.  This piece can be printed out for free.

Three Songs after Thomas Campion (2002) [Mez-Sop, Mand] 6' Published: NGP 2001  NEW!
     Silly Boy, 'Tis Ful Moone Yet
     So Quicke, So Hot, So Mad
     Shall I Come, Sweet Love, To Thee
      Mandolin and voice is a wonderful combination with not nearly enough repertoire. Thomas Campion appealed to me because he was both a poet and a composer.  He set his own texts with lute accompaniment, so there is already a history of singing them with a plucked instrument.  For the first two songs, I used only his texts and wrote all new music.  I kept Campion's melody for the last song, and just wrote a new accompaniment for the mandolin.  They received their first performance, on June 2, 2002.

Carousel Waltz(1999/2002) [Mand, Gtr] Published: SibeliusMusic.com
    This is a mandolin and guitar arrangement of the Shut Up - Main title.  Carousel Waltz was the original title when I first wrote the tune, and looks much better on a concert program. It was premiered on June 2, 2002 with guitarist Steve Smith.

Favoring Gail - Serenade for Mandolin and Bassoon (2003) 2' ms
     Possibly the first duet written for this combination, it was written to play with my friend, Gail Wein.  One of my more laid back and relaxed compositions, and betraying my early years of listening to pop music. I may eventually add a few more movements.

The Atonal Blues [Mez-Sop, Pno]

    Your typical blues song is about someone that has lost their man, woman, job, dog, etc.  This is a blues song for a contemporary music performer that has lost their NEA grant.  I hope to finish it later this year.

Concertino for 2 Mandolins and Guitar

     I had written several fragments for this piece in the late 80s, but could never decide what the instrumentation should be.  I tried to make it a quartet, but there just wasn't enough for four instruments to do, so it became a trio.  Unlike the Sonata with guitar below, I am keeping this piece much easier technically, so that students can play it.  The style owes much to Neo-Classic Stravinsky. 3/16/03 - I have written the beginning of the third movement.  It began as a duo for mandolin and guitar, but in this case, I decided that it needed an additional instrument.

Concerto II for Mandolin and String Quartet

      I've written the opening tutti and first solo section for the first movement, and half of a slow movement.  This will be a much more serious and intense piece than my first concerto.

Preludio In Blue [Solo Mand]

    Calace meets Gershwin. I've only written a little of this piece so far, but it's off to a good start!

Sonata for Horn and Piano
    Allegro
    Siciliano
    Ostinato Moderato

    Two of three movements were virtually complete by 1980.  It is Neo-Classic, but probably more Classic than Neo.  I have recently been revisiting the Sonata, and have rewritten part of the third movement.

Sonata for Mandolin and Guitar
    Toccata

     Mandolin and guitar duos are currently the most popular performing unit in the classical mandolin world.  Each instrument has its own virtuoso solo repertoire going back for centuries, yet when most composers combine them, they revert to giving the mandolin a simple melody line and the guitar an accompaniment.  The goal of my Sonata is to use the soloistic capabilities of both instruments at the same time.  I have posted the opening as a sample.

Sonata for Mandolin and Harpsichord

      Six pages so far...

Variations on "The Carnival  of Venice," for Mandolin and Guitar

      For my first attempt at writing variations, I chose a tune that every mandolinist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries used. Three pages so far...