[1] Cotxes (2013) takes us on a musical drive around Barcelona on a Spring afternoon. Cars (Catalan: cotxes) come and go while concrete formations, anonymous city dwellers, and urban peculiarities fi ll the windshield’s shifting landscape. Through these images, the passage of time is shaped and reshaped.

[2] delight/delirium (2016) is a musical portrait of Delirium, youngest of the seven Endless siblings in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series. Known fi rst as Delight, Delirium’s unpredictable states of mind are tinged with a psychedelic sense of naiveté and incongruity.

FERNANDO BENADONdelight / delirium

[3] Cosmicomics (2013) recounts two stories from Italo Calvino’s book by the same name. The protagonist is Qfwfq: humanly commonplace in thought and emotion, yet seemingly ageless and often formless.

(i) Without Colors. It is early in the life of our solar system, and Earth is pure grey. The world is suddenly fl ooded with colors when a passing meteoroid creates a temporary atmosphere. This scares Qfwfq’s lover Ayl, who escapes to the underworld. Qfwfq lures her back to the surface with the false promise of a still-grey planet. Mirroring the Orpheus myth, the return journey ends in disaster: a tremor sends Qfwfq and Ayl in opposite directions and separates them eternally.

(ii) The Stone Sky. Qfwfq and Rdix live inside Earth. Qfwfq dreams of reaching the planet’s innermost core. But his beloved Rdix has other plans. One day, a mysterious musical being snatches Rdix away and onto the surface. (Or does she go willingly? Qfwfq is in denial.) A volcanic eruption transports Qfwfq upward on a mission to “rescue” Rdix. Upon glimpsing her with her new lover (whom we learn to be Orpheus), Qfwfq returns alone to the underworld.

Mix: Rogério Weis Naressi. Mastering: Dan Nichols. Design: Yana Sakellion. Tracks 1, 2, 4, 5 recorded at American University; track 3 recorded at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; track 5 drums recorded at Systems Two. Produced with support from the Guggenheim Foundation and American University’s College of Arts & Sciences.

[4] Búgi Wúgi (2007) emulates the rhythmic escapades of early jazz masters such as Bubber Miley and Earl Hines. While the left hand keeps time with steady accompaniment patterns, the right hand weaves in and out of time, resulting in an unfolding game of rhythmic consonance and dissonance.

[5] Rhythmensional (2015) showcases drummer Dafnis Prieto, who improvised an extended solo onto which I then overlaid a new non-improvised work. In concert, the live players follow a score and perform alongside Dafnis’s recording, creating a strange superposition of past and present musical events. At the outset of the piece, the drumset sparks new ideas that spread through the ensemble, giving rise to an interplay of shared gestures and gradually evolving themes.

1. Cotxes [9:20] Noah Getz (sax), Nobue Matsuoka (vibes), Jacqueline Pollauf (harp),

Jeffrey Chappell (piano)

2. delight/delirium [7:38] Stephanie Ray (flute/piccolo), Gleb Kanasevich (clarinet/bass clarinet),

John Wilson (piano)

3. Cosmicomics [10:03] Illinois Modern Ensemble, conducted by Stephen Andrew Taylor

4. Búgi Wúgi [7:29] Ivan Ilic (piano)

5. Rhythmensional [11:52] Dafnis Prieto (drums), Rane Moore (bass clarinet), Jacqueline Dorr (viola),

Nobue Matsuoka (vibes), Jeffrey Chappell (piano)

total time: 47 min

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