Dennis Báthory-Kitsz   home · composer · engraver · author · editor · photographer · contact


The Big List has the Latest Scores and Downloads



Chamber Music Available through 2015

Music for Four Instruments



Dennis Bathory-Kitsz

The Four Rules of Use

    1. Download, print, study, rehearse, perform, enjoy! If you download, please tell me. Don't want to do it youself? Purchase printed scores & parts from Frog Peak Music.
    2. Report the performance to me & ASCAP (One Lincoln Plaza, New York, NY 10023 US, Attn: Indexing). Used it for teaching? Please tell me what your students thought.
    3. Send a recording if you made one to Dennis Báthory-Kitsz, 176 Cox Brook Road, Northfield VT 05663 US, or upload it. I even enjoy amateur or 'living room' performances. Don't be shy!
    4. Do not republish my music without written permission from me. This music is not public domain. The usual rules of copyright apply. Why are my scores free?
  • Looking for parts? This link is the index of all score downloads, including music not yet listed here.
  • Find manuscript scores described in the Big List. Ask me for photocopies.
  • Want scores or parts you don't see? Is the music not arranged for your ensemble? Ask me. I can make arrangements or grant you permission to do so.

Exclusive Distributor

Frog Peak Music
Box 1052, Lebanon, New Hampshire 03766

Publisher

Westleaf Edition
176 Cox Brook Road, Northfield, Vermont 05663

Catalog Index

Keyboard · Solo · Two Instruments · Three Instruments · Four Instruments · Five or More Instruments · Large Ensemble · Voice and Chorus · Performance Works · Electroacoustic · Music for Young People · Media Comments · Home Page


Chamber Ensemble: Four Instruments

(see also Vocal, Electroacoustic and Performance catalog)


Key

MIDI file to listen to a MIDI demo version of the music.
MP3 file to listen to a performance in MP3.
MP3 file to download a performance in MP3.
MP3 file to listen to an MP3 demo performance of an acoustic piece.
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) to view or download an Adobe PDF file.
Real Video file to watch a RealMedia video of the music.
Windows Video file to watch a Windows Media video of the music.
YouTube link to watch a video of the music on YouTube.
Word file to read program or lecture notes in DOC format.
Available from Frog Peak Music means printed editions can be purchased.
[OK for broadcast] means broadcast rights are granted.

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file

Almost Not in Progress / two flutes, clarinet, & cello / 6 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Flute 1 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Flute 2 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Clarinet Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Cello Part
Composed for three students and myself at a workshop, Almost Not in Progress was written overnight. It was premiered by the students in a fine performance before their parents. Counting is important! Available from Frog Peak Music

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file

The Big Drag / woodwind quartet / 7 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Flute Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Oboe Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Clarinet Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Bassoon Part
The Big Drag was written in response to a challenge thrown down by another composer, who disliked my work and sought to hear any gentle side I could reveal. Here it is, with long and countoured lines and subtle interior rhythms. Available from Frog Peak Music

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file

Descent of the Particles / violin, clarinet, cello, piano / 2 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Violin Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Clarinet Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Cello Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Keyboard Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Descent of the Particles / "Cold Stones" version / 3 celli, electric bass, horns, voice / 2 minutes
Fearsome looking on paper in its 15/16 rhythm, "Particles" actually moves effortlessly with its spiky foreshortened rock rhythm. The music was written for and premiered by the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble, and cheered by the audience. Available from Frog Peak Music

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) YouTube link

Drumbing / 5 minutes [OK for broadcast]

Created under the pseudonym "Brady Kynans" for The Long Roll, a concert of percussion music.
Drumbing still
"Drumbing" performed by the Long Rollers in concert, 2007

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file

Emerald Canticles, Below / violin, cello, clarinet & piano / 15 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Violin Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Clarinet Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Cello Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Piano Part
Word file Among the finest musicians in the world are those from Toronto, for whom Emerald Canticles was written. In a series of performances that began in Toronto and ended in Boston, they gave this strenuous work a deep and thoughtful performance. Available from Frog Peak Music

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file

L'Estampie du Chevalier / string quartet / 15 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Violin 1 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Violin 2 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Viola Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Cello Part
Word file A departure for the composer's work, L'Estampie du Chevalier was written for the Rode Pomp Ensemble in Ghent. The work is difficult because it is so simple -- a near-Appalachian sound using a regular beat over which expressive content is written as expanding and contracting note lengths. (Please note this premiere performance was very uncharacteristic because of the expressive cultural clash!) Much as I loved the string quartet who first played it, you should listen to this demo for a better idea of the actual notes. Available from Frog Peak Music

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) YouTube link MP3 file

Evil Pony / sax quartet / 7 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Sorpano Sax Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Alto Sax Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Tenor Sax Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Baritone Sax Part
Composed for the Dan Gordon and the Frontier Saxophone Quartet, Evil Pony is a demanding, audience-exciting quartet in three continuous movements with reprise. It's a technical whopper in places, yet still molded to the abilities of a grand sax quartet Available from Frog Peak Music

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form)

The Four Elements: Earth, Air, Water, Sleep / 4 student cellists / 6 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Cello 1 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Cello 2 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Cello 3 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Cello 4 Part
Commissioned by the Montpelier Cello & Brass Studio, and based on a 2007 piano/vocal composition. Sweet, elegant and perfect for student cellists.

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) YouTube link MP3 file

Fuliginous Quadrant / violin, cello, clarinet & piano / 12 minutes (second PDF link is simplified version) [OK for broadcast]

MP3 file
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Violin Part (second link is simplified version)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Clarinet Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Cello Part (second link is simplified version)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Piano Part (second link is simplified version)
The events of September 11, 2001, triggered two tightly related pieces, The Key of Locust and Fuliginous Quadrant. The latter was written for the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble. Available from Frog Peak Music
Fuliginous Quadrant afterwards
Rode Pomp Ensemble in Ghent after the premiere of "Fuliginous Quadrant".

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file

Hoots & Honks / string quartet / 25 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Violin 1 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Violin 2 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Viola Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Cello Part
I never learn. I accept commissions from groups that just break up when I write for them (cause and effect?) The Crossroads String Quartet commissioned this, but didn't survive long enough to play it. A very difficult piece, but very rewarding -- do it! The title comes from my friend Felix Thor, who hated modern concert music with a passion, calling it 'hoots and honks'. This was my homage to Felix, now dead, who had truth to tell.

MP3 file

LowBirds / flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, piano / 10 minutes [OK for broadcast]

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Full (performance) score with instructions
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Flute Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Clarinet Part (B-flat)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Bass Clarinet Part (B-flat bass clef)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Piano Part
Word file Written for The Downtown Ensemble in Manhattan, LowBirds is an architectural aleatory, with a performance score and set of parts modules. Take it as a day in the country!. Available from Frog Peak Music

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file

Marche Triomphale from Lully's "Thésée" / 4 trombones or 4 horns / 4 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trombone 1 (left), Horn 1 (right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trombone 2 (left), Horn 2 (right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trombone 3 (left), Horn 3 (right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trombone 4 (left), Horn 4 (right)
A short arrangement originally written for four trombones for Kiley and Christopher Currier for their wedding; Kiley is a trombonist. The horn arrangement came later for interested players online. (Note: Trombone parts available on request.) Available from Frog Peak Music

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form)

McFwang's Allstep & Swag / reed, brass, bass, & drums / 7 minutes

Bill Black's little Texas band wanted a tune, so I gave them this one, a re-creation of the tune MixMaster's Revenge. Bill, uh, fell out of touch. Available from Frog Peak Music

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form)

Mountains of Spices / mezzo-soprano, viola, violin and piano / 8 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Mezzo Part (Hebrew)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Mezzo Part (English)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Violin Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Viola Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Piano Part
The Song of Solomon has come recently back into fashion as a text, but in the 1960s the composer first heard a setting by early American William Billings. This time the Hebrew text (with optional English) is used. Mountains of Spices was commissioned by Willie Docto in memory of his father Hermilo Docto for the 2007 We Are All Mozart project.

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form)

Pão: The Bread Song / string quartet / 6 minutes

Luisa do Candal and her friend are in their 80s, and this song was recorded by a young environmentalist while the women were making bread. Although it is a song of love, it came to be called the "bread song" in Nodar during the composer's residency there in 2007 at Binaural Media.

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form)

Pivot: The House of Cloves / any four instruments / 3 minutes

This was an unusual commissioned for the 2007 We Are All Mozart project. Patrick and Chris May wanted a 4-track Midi composition, meaning what wasn't performable (or was difficult to perform) could be rendered as Midi. Cross-rhythms dominate and the ranges are wide and wild. It is rendered here with several Midi instruments and there is a score, but it can be mutated as desired.

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form)

Quartet for Winds / fl., ob., clar., & bsn. / 10 minutes / four movements

MP3 file First Movement Non-streaming (downloadable) MP3.
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon Parts
MP3 file Second Movement Non-streaming (downloadable) MP3.
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon Parts
MP3 file Third Movement Non-streaming (downloadable) MP3.
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon Parts
MP3 file Fourth Movement Non-streaming (downloadable) MP3.
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon Parts
An early piece, this Quartet stands as one of my most playable tunes, transforming the classical four-movement chamber sonata into an airy and enjoyable pastime for four wind players -- ones who can count, that is. Available from Frog Peak Music

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form)

ScRolls (Scrambling Renga Rolls) / 4 percussionists / 7-15 seconds

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Written for the Third Coast Percussion Ensemble for a John Cage honorific concert. The scrolls unroll and cross in 7-15 seconds of chaos! Instructions in the first PDF, the four separate scrolls in the others.

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file

Training Fugue / string quartet / 11 minutes

The repair trucks were working on the railroad tracks, repeating the same four note pattern. It was suggested to me that I write a fugue on the theme. And here it is -- serious and nicely wrought, and fun to play. Parts available on request. Available from Frog Peak Music

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form)

Turn Around, Bustle & Blaze / viola, horn, violoncello & piano / 8 minutes [OK for broadcast]

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Horn Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Viola Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Violoncello Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Piano Part
With strong intimations of minimalism, this lushly tonal quartet was commissioned by Lydia Busler-Blais and The New Leaf Ensemble for the 2007 We Are All Mozart project.

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) YouTube link

Underside / 1 minute [OK for broadcast]

Created for the "Hard 8" concert in the Vox Novus "15 Minutes of Fame" series, this creation can be performed from the single image or, preferably, from the video (without sound). Available from Frog Peak Music

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file

Unisons / violin, clarinet, marimba, percussion / 10 minutes [OK for broadcast]

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Violin Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Clarinet Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Marimba Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Diskklang (set of identically tuned 5-inch computer hard disks in C-sharp) Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Forkklang (set of identically tuned tuning forks in C-natural) Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) HarmoniVoice (optional) Part
I am an inveterate builder of unique instruments. When I received a few identical tuning forks in the mail as a publicity gag, and came upon a few hard disk platters, a piece was born. Bells can replace the forks and platters, though they didn't when Il Gruppo Nuke Jitters premiered this last gasp of simple minimalism. Available from Frog Peak Music

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file

Variations on Justin Morgan's 'Amanda' / violin, two cellos, & harpsichord / 15 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Variations on Justin Morgan's 'Amanda' 2 violins, cello, & harpsichord / 15 minutes / No. W891
Parts for original version (violin, 2 celli, harpsichord)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Violin Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Cello 1 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Cello 2 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Harpsichord Part
Parts for second version (2 violins, cello, harpsichord)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Violin 1 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Violin 2 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Cello Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Harpsichord Part
Expectations are hard to overcome. This lovely set of variations was reviewed in astonishment by a gent who wondered how someone so avant-garde could produce something so, well, beautiful. Goes to show. For very good players. Available from Frog Peak Music

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form)

VoxN / violin, clarinet, cello, piano / 63 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Violin Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Clarinet Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Cello Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Piano Part
VoxN is one of my most difficult pieces, both long and instrumentally intimidating. It's been called unplayable. The music was written for the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble, and intended to be performed with a reading of the short story "The Voice in the Night" by William Hodgson. A revised version is in composition (2002). Please note that the parts are prepared on 11x17 format for easy "sliding", as page turns can music density can be very complex..

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form)

Y2K-Compliant Music / flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, piano / 10 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Flute Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Clarinet Part (C)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Clarinet Part (B-flat)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Bass Clarinet Part (C bass clef)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Bass Clarinet Part (B-flat bass clef)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Piano Part
Written for The Downtown Ensemble in Manhattan, Y2K-Compliant Music moves from aleatory to precise positioning before breaking into chaos. Quarter-tones in the opening and some later sections. Available from Frog Peak Music

MP3 file

Zonule Glaes II / string quartet & electronics / 64 minutes [OK for broadcast]

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Full score
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Violin 1 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Violin 2 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Viola Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Cello Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Cues Sheets to Accompany Sequence Score
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Electronic Sequence Score Pages 1-4
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Electronic Sequence Score Pages 5-8
Written for installation at the Manes Museum in Prague, to accompany the sculpture of Pavel Kraus. Electronic part available on CD from the composer or Westleaf Edition. A limited-edition version of the premiere on CD with the Styx Quartet is available from the composer. Available from Frog Peak Music
Rehearsal of Zonule Glaes II
A rehearsal of Zonule Glaes II by the Styx Quartet before its premiere in Prague, 1990s

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form)

The Big Fipple / 25 pieces for recorder ensembles

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Almost Not in Progress arranged for quartet
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file Cakewalk for duet
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Curtain for quartet, from Incidental Music to "Lysistrata"
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file Doo-Be-Doot Duet
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file Garbanzo Bean in its original quintet arrangement
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file Miniature for soprano solo
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Numa arranged from the piano piece
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file Rag Rag for duet
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Saba arranged from the vocal piece
Sanonic Conatas for duet in five movements
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file Conata #1
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file Conata #2
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file Conata #3
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file Conata #4
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file Conata #5
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) The Two-Minute Sneeze arranged from the wind trio version
MP3 file Suite for quartet in six movements
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) No. 1
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) No. 2
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) No. 3
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) No. 4
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) No. 5
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) No. 6
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file Table Scraps for duet
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Unopposed Duet
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Waltz in No Time in the original trio version
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file when there are no words in its original soprano solo version
A collection of my favorite pieces composed for my own ensembles, Fipple has dances and songs of all kinds, and a six-movement suite as well. A downloadable version will be available soon, but don't hesitate to order the score. A bargain -- a quarter a piece! Available from Frog Peak Music Note that the mp3 demos are arranged for a variety of wind orchestrations -- a little fun.

A Booklet of Performance Bits 30 performance pieces, 1972-1994 / No. W950

There are two versions of this -- the limited edition in a box, and the bound version. Many of the pieces are unplayable by the squeamish (like friend eggs on your chest?) or take quite a while (Cat Music and Gendarme take 12 months each), but it's worth it for the fun alone. Downloadable version coming soon.

Dennis Báthory-Kitsz

Reviews and Comments

General Comments
  • "In case you've not heard Dennis Bathory-Kitsz's music - he's on soundcloud now. I know that the relentlessly hip claim that there's no real composers anymore and that everything written large is for movies or commercials - but this fellow is a living composer that does a wide range of excellent work. Take a bit of time to check out what he does and reassure yourself that art is alive."

    --Pamela Zero, composer, on Facebook

  • "Dennis Bathory-Kitsz is an eclectic listening station all by himself!"

    --David's Eclectic Listening on mp3.com

  • "Wow. Here is a wildly eclectic, erratic, difficult, staggeringly prolific contemporary composer with 500 pieces to his name. His music ranges from medieval-influenced brass quintets to elaborately staged Avant-Garde multimedia experiences. One piece is exclusively performed by an army of forty car and truck horns honking away to a score on a flatbed truck! Bathory-Kitsz also writes in a more identifiably modernist classical vein, with harp duets, oboe solos, and choral passages. Some pieces incorporate drone with classical counterpoint techniques. He's written a suite for quarter-tone violin; it sounds almost like a Western scale, but ever so different...and eerie. He's even written a chamber opera, whose regular, pounding drumbeats and choral passages evoke a witches' sabbat. Finally, he has written some works for electronic instruments, which in their repetition of vocal snippets, percussive noises, and electronic drone recall early Steve Reich. Bathory-Kitsz's music encompasses the entire European classical tradition in its scope; it's well worth the listen."

    --Noah Enelow, on Listen.com

Specific Compositions (alpahbetical)
  • Air: "I think that is a particularly wonderful piece. I like every second of it, and I do not at all mind the repetitions. These are not gratuitous repetitions. Air is a most inspired, imaginative, successful piece. All kinds of wonders unfold all the time, from start to finish. It's my favorite new piece of yours."

    --Noah Creshevsky, composer

  • Ave Verum Corpus: "It's a work of great beauty. It's moving and it's wonderful. Very beautiful, plus an entire course in voice-leading and harmony could be taught from this piece, and I would be happy to teach that course. Most of all, it's wonderful to hear (and certainly a pleasure for them to perform, too)."

    --Noah Creshevsky, composer

  • bellyloops: "According to my personal interpretation, this is a 'field recording' of someone being chased by a chupacabra. Just when he thinks he has lost the monster and everything will be okay, it reappears suddenly and pounces and...the rest is pretty grisly, so I will leave it up to your imagination (as does the composer)."

    --Rain God's Picks on mp3.com

  • Brand 9 From Outer Space: "Journey to this fellow's page, and you'll find --among much else, a lot of it very tasty-- a couple of car horn symphonies, which (if I'm reading the notes correctly) were performed and conducted in a parking lot in Trenton, New Jersey, with an orchestraconsisting of... parked cars. THIS piece isn't like that. But it's real good anyway, despite the fact that the musicians are all playing actual musical instruments. And if you'd like to play along, there's a link that will allow you to download the score."

    --Radio Plan 9 on mp3.com

  • Car Horn Symphony No. 1: "beep beep beep. you CAN make music out of ANYTHING, anywhere."

    --myra ellen moo's fluffy thingie on mp3.com

  • Car Horn Symphony No. 2: "I own a CD featuring a Car Horn Organ. This is not that, not even similar in fact, but the point is that yes, car horns make perfectly good musical instruments. The evidence accumulates, in spite of the not entirely pleasant circumstances under which we often hear them. Dennis says he had a lot of fun writing this. It sounds like the players and conductor had a lot of fun. Now the only missing ingredient is YOU. Listen and I think you will have fun, too!"

    --Rain God's Picks on mp3.com

  • Crosscut: "Crosscut is a 20-minute concerto for piano and winds with a gratifying shape: the three movements are loud/soft/loud, but contain enough recurring figures to suggest the sense of a one-movement work. Once again, the piece starts off with rather minimalist repeated chords and arpeggios, but becomes so rhythmically complex in the piano and dissonant in the brass as to gradually give a more muscular impression. Then, after an abrupt cutoff comes an almost stationary slow movement with a couple of rhythmically complex figures that keep recurring every few measures. The unity they produce is remarkable, though the repetitions are too complex to become predictable. The third movement smoothly quotes material from both its predecessors. If Bathory-Kitsz’s style varies considerably from work to work, each movement is always unified by a clear concept.".

    --Kyle Gann, Chamber Music Magazine

  • Csárdás: "Immediately compelling ... The almost demonic qualities and grand proportions of the work evoke memories of ... Franz Liszt."

    --Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus

  • Detritus of Mating: "Adding to the [Pavel Kraus at Bond Gallery] show's ambience was a sound component, an almost ecclesiastical compositon with several movements of altered voices by new-music composer and frequent Kraus collaborator Dennis Bathory-Kitsz"

    --Edward Leffingwell, Art in America

    "At the deepest level this music lulls and intrigues, irritates and begs your answers. Ambient for sure ... further than that, always. Growing and moving, wiggling in your ears, this sound creates a basket of safety and insecurity. Knowledge of gods and goddesses way back coming through present life."

    --Difficult Listening on RTR Radio, Perth

    "Those addicted to the new-music radio show and Web site Bathory-Kitsz cohosts will find interest in his sound sculpture, a sample of which is caught here. Glistening tones ring in the air, bits of deconstructed voices float by, a dark bass pulse starts up that's more felt than heard, in large-scale periodic cycles that would replicate the opening if allowed to continue for some 27 years. You don't get a distinct idea of his creative personality from this first disc, but it's enjoyable how the exquisite rings continually modulate even when nothing seems to be happening."

    --Kyle Gann, The Village Voice

  • Emerald Canticles, Below:
    "There is an ethereal quality to the accompaniment resulting in an effect that is indeed surreal. But, rather than atmospheric, the work is made of clearly delineated lines that, with the work's tightly knit rhythms, lead it to a dramatic climax and coda. The new work proved difficult listening..., but ultimately fascinating."

    --Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus

    "What can I say but nice music!"

    --Contemporary New Music Radio on mp3.com

  • Erzsébet: "A powerful new one-woman opera... The overall effect was powerful, due in large part to the evocative music. The soprano vocal line ranged from lyrical to edgy to forcefully spoken. This was accompanied by a score that ranged from Medieval and Renaissance styles to Hungarian folk melodies to uncomfortable edgy atonal atmospheric moments, all woven itno a very effective whole. The production was sophisticated and elegant."

    --Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus

    "It sounds terrific: colorful, mysterious, and very operatic."

    --Lisa Hirsch The Iron Tongue of Midnight

  • L'Estampie du Chevalier: "Bathory-Kitsz can also exhibit intense single-mindedness. One of my favorite of his works is his third string quartet titled L’Estampie du Chevalier (2005), a breezy essay in endless melody. Two of the strings (and which two they are keeps changing) are always playing a duo melody in ever-changing note values with insouciant disregard for the bar line, while the other two appear and disappear, punctuating or filling in with running eighth notes or pizzicato double-stops. It’s a single thirteen-minute idea played out with very little change yet continually self-renewing variety, one of the most unified quartet movements you’ll ever hear."

    --Kyle Gann, Chamber Music Magazine

  • Eventide: "Perhaps the most colorful use of the instruments was by ... composer Dennis B&aathory-Kitsz ... the three pieces form his eight-part "Eventide" employed piccolo, small clarinet and contrabassoon. The composer explored the contrasting sounds emanating from this unusual combination in a surprisingly consonant and attractive way. The moods ranged from hauntingly beautiful to exciting."

    --Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus

  • Exequy: "A dark and powerful homage ... a strident brass shell driven from within by quieter, more complex and precise sounds."

    --Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus

  • Fanfare:Heat: "Bathory-Kitsz's "Fanfare: Heat," written for the VYO, was also complex. At some 11 minutes long, it's a short work but a lot happens. Opening brilliantly, it begins a journey, first a turgid one, then a more joyful one, building all the time to a brilliant finale. The harmonic language and rhythms were spicy and occasionally jarring, but Peters and his young players managed them with feeling. It was quite exciting."

    --Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus

  • For Fog is the Promise of Cloud: "It's very beautiful. There's a wonderful sense of acceptance at the end, and i would not have been surprised if that had not happened, although it's encouraging (and beautiful) that it does move to that resolution. I often think 'glacial' in connection with your music, but I don't mean cold. I mean massive, like sculpture. Worldly and other-worldly too. That is, of this world and also of another (hypothetical) world. This piece has quite an overt schizophrenic aesthetic, simultaneously aligning contrasting kinds of musical gestures."

    --Noah Creshevsky, composer

  • Fuliginous Quadrant: "Fuliginous Quadrant for violin, cello, clarinet, and piano is written almost entirely in the A-harmonic-minor scale, yet every one of its texturally varied phrases cadences on a high F in the violin, which really messes with your large-scale perception of the tonality."

    --Kyle Gann, Chamber Music Magazine

  • I think of thee!: "It’s most unusual, when there is music by justly famous composers on a program, that the highlight of a concert is a new work by a local composer. But that’s just what happened at Friday’s Vermont Virtuosi concert, “Poetic License,” at Montpelier’s Bethany Church. Northfield composer Dennis Báthory-Kitsz’s “I Think of Thee!” which received its premiere, proved a beautiful and powerful experience. Báthory-Kitsz set the Elizabeth Barrett Browning poem, from “Songs of the Portuguese XXIX,” unusually for soprano, bass flute and guitar, hence a truly exotic feel. More importantly, the work exudes the rich depth of emotion of the poem. Soprano Gail Whitehouse delivered the simple lyrical melody line with a quietly nuanced expressiveness. Underscoring that line was the soft bassoon-like warmth of Laurel Ann Maurer’s bass flute and the driving punctuation of Peter Matthews’ guitar. What made this largely tonal song riveting were the richly undulating sounds of the bass flute and guitar behind the haunting but inviting vocal line."

    --Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus

    Your song is a beauty! I like everything about it, like the melody, harmony, florid rhythms (how masterfully you do that), and the exceptional degree of independence between the parts.

    --Noah Creshevsky, composer

  • Icecut: "He was full of energy and excitement, which would be a good way to describe his piece "Icecut," too. The music had some demanding string writing, which the players handled like a shortstop making a tough play look easy. I was really thrilled to hear such high quality music."

    --David Ludwig, composer, in his blog

    "It was Bathory-Kitsz's 10-minute work, commissioned by the VSO, that proved most striking. Beginning with a darkly driving force of strings, the brass introduces a haunting melody, then taken up by the strings; the strings subside, becoming a restless bed for the exuberant brass; the cellos take over, receding to a quiet but relentless agitation so a gentle woodwind melody can be heard above; the violins take over with cellos and basses continuing to provide a driving rhythm; all builds to a grand moment – then subsides and fades out. ... The work proved compelling, and its nature could easily have been inspired by Vermont's difficult winters. The work is largely tonal and accessible despite some intricate writing. But most important, its driving force – loud or quiet – compels the listener to go along for the ride, a quite exciting one."

    --Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus

  • Into the Morning Rain:
    "A masterpiece worthy of Stravinsky."

    --Louis Moyse

    Broadcast January 17, 2001, on Dutch Radio 4 Live, "A New Stage"
    "A fascinating and earthy work ... its quiet drive and gentle rhythm seduced the listener into an almost primal state. Báthory-Kitsz continues to be one of the state's most fascinating and sophisticated composers."

    --Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus

    "This is an A-1 Blue-ribbon piece of music. Download it!"

    --Psycronic Oscillations on mp3.com

  • The Lily and the Thorn: "The audience warmly applauded the difficult and modern work ... after the concert, people could be heard talking about the new work throughout the hall."

    --Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus

  • LiquidBirds: "LiquidBirds proved beautiful in its sound and sound movement. ... This work, like most of the composer's, had the feel of form, and gave the listener something to hold onto. The result was beautiful music."

    --Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus

  • Llama Butter: "Nothing even comes close to the uniqueness of Llama Butter... It is a fascinating study in multi-media for the tuba... New music fans would love this work and it deserves more performances."

    --Mark Nelson, Tuba Review

  • LowBirds: "Wind and piano gestures flit through this 'mysterious soundscape.'"

    --Chamber Music Features on mp3.com

  • Meta-Dream Twice: "Although a knotty work, its linear simplicty and straightforward nature made it attractive and rewarding."

    --Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus

  • Mirrored Birds: "It would be possible for a 30-minute piece that lacks the formal trappings of melodic development (or even much melody at all) to be, well, boring. But [the composer's] 'Mirrored Birds' didn't strike us that way at all. ... the horns and especially the timpani were extremely busy (in a quiet way) ... the flute solo was a virtual sonic aviary of birdcall."

    --The Herald of Randolph

  • Mountain Dawn Fanfare: "Start your day the mountain way, with this serene fanfare for winds."

    --Symphonic Features on mp3.com

  • Mountains of Spices: "Lovely!"

    --Alison Cerutti, pianist.

  • No Money (Lullaby for Bill): "A symphonic piece made entirely out of a speech by bill gates by a very talented composer."

    --Recombinant Sounds on mp3.com

  • O
    "En perle fra øresneglen! Marvellous collaboration & a masterpiece!"

    --Anne Sophie Bertelsen, composer

    "Dennis Báthory-Kitsz ... known for his thorny music, surprised with the premiere of his ethereally beautiful 'O: 11 Choruses,' of which seven were performed. Here again, a wide variety of styles was employed in these settings of poems by Gary Barwin. ... interior machinations — often very complex — flowed under the music’s seemingly tonal flow. 'The Birds' was hauntingly lyrical; quietly clashing harmonies made 'Sparrow’s Song' haunting; a sustained bass by the men with lyricism from the women above made 'Fish' 'swim'; and the music of the text created the final chorale of 'Regret.'

    --Rutland Herald

  • O Vox Pop
    "The VCME premiered one of its own commissions, 'O Vox Pop,' a spicy confection by Northfield composer Dennis Báthory-Kitsz. Klimowski on bass clarinet and Elliott on bassoon enjoyed the wonderful colors of the lyrical first part, as well as the light chase of the second. It was more than fun it was expertly written."

    --Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus

    "Largely uncharacteristic of the skillful composer, best know for his well-crafted but complex and difficult music, the two-movemente work ... was lovely and lyrical -- but, of course, not all that simple."

    --Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus

  • Somnambula: "The best works [at the New York Avant-Garde Festival] were the biggest and the smallest... [The composer] sat far out in a field playing a recorder, accompanied by a tinny cassette machine... The effect was like a Chinese Pan."

    --John Rockwell, The New York Times

  • Sourian Slide:
    "Sublimely beautiful is the only way to describe Sourian Slide for strings ... also heard for the first time ... it builds quietly and achieves a quiet but powerful drama with ne'er a loud note. Pretty tonal for Bathory-Kitsz, who frequently writes difficult and cutting-edge music, Sourian Slide is splendidly written."

    --Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus

    "Lose yourself in this..."

    --Consolations on mp3.com

  • Starry Night "Another big success was the premiere of Northfield composer Dennis Báthory-Kitsz’s hauntingly beautiful 2007 “Starry Night.” The atmospheric work opens with dark bass notes setting the scene, with “stars” appearing and “sparkling”, asymmetrically working their way through the night. Pepper showed real sensitivity toward this short but attractive work, using excellent tonal control descriptively.

    --Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus

  • Teething Rings: "A room full of screaming babies and a nanny with not enough teething rings to go around. An avant-garde 'classic' in the fluxus tradition."

    --There is No Radio on mp3.com

  • Thièle: "Clearly the work that stretched its audience the most was Kitsz's powerful Thièle for quarter-tone violin. [It] took some getting used to. People do get used to it: Some even thought that the slow movement was traditionally whole- and half-tone..."

    --Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus

  • A Time Machine: "[The] composer went for broke with [the] ambitious work for nine musicians that alternates sung verse with orchestral improv, ancient sounds and avant-garde ones."

    --Burlington Free Press

Dennis Báthory-Kitsz (ASCAP) is recorded on Ursa Minor, Frog Peak Music, Malted/Media, Three's Film Works, PressTheButton, and Capstone Records

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