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 Five or More 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.

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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: Five or More 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.

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Adouane / violin, cello, 4 horns, contrabass, timpani / 5 minutes

One of a set of chamber songs for orchestra (each one has a slightly different orchestration), Adouane is a recomposition of another work. Though it will eventually be one of 14 songs when the set is complete, it stands alone as an easy sort of interlude for chamber ensemble.

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Architects / violin, 3 celli, 2 horns, contrabass, timpani / 10 minutes

Another of the set of chamber songs for orchestra (each one has a slightly different orchestration), Architects is an extended meditation. Though it will eventually be one of 14 songs when the set is complete, it is a unique interlude for chamber ensemble.

MP3 file

Ash Wednesday / 12 performers / 25 minutes / pencil; awaiting production

Word file Commissioned by and premiered at Vermont Public Radio, this work for very mixed ensemble of solo and choral voices and instruments (piano, sax, Peruvian flutes, ring modulator, etc.) evokes the T. S. Eliot text circularly rather than directly.

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Aurora Cagealis / 12 performers / variable time

I had three compositional heroes -- Stravinsky, Zappa, and Cage. When Cage died, I created this 15- to 30-minute aleatoric piece in graphical notation, and it was premiered by a dozen Vermont composers in their annual festival in Middlebury. This requires a set of transparencies; please inquire for copies, or download the PDF file and print the concentric circles to transparencies at the size that matches the circle outlines on the individual 12 parts. (The original cover and notes are included at the end of the PDF file.) Available from Frog Peak Music

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Binnen / oboe, clarinet, soprano sax, bass clarinet, bassoon / 4 minutes

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) Soprano Sax Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Bass Clarinet Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Bassoon Part
A nifty wind quintet with echoes of Ars Nova turned upside down. Available from Frog Peak Music

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Build, Make, Do / violin, clarinet, marimba, & 2 keyboards / 10 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) Marimba Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Keyboard Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Drone Part
Il Gruppo Nuke Jitters was performing a concert entitled "Clusters", and Build, Make, Do was composed for the occasion. Using offset themes and hypnotic streams, the music is gentle but virtuosic. A timekeeping drum is optional. Available from Frog Peak Music

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Chopin: Prelude No. 28 (arr.) / picc, fl, ob, cl, bsn, hn, vcl, cb / 2 minutes

An arrangement of the famously quirky prelude by Chopin, done as a classroom example. Parts on request.

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Dancing Despite Despair / brass quintet / 3 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trumpet 1 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trumpet 2 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Horn Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trombone Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Baritone (Bass Clef) Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Baritone (Treble Clef) Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Tuba Part
Based on the early American tune "Despair", these bouncy variations were written for The Brass Menagerie who, alas, broke up before the premiere. They await a group with great lips and no fear of seven. Available from Frog Peak Music

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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) MP3 file 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

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Feet First, Face First / brass octet and timpani / 2 minutes

Unleash the silly. This fanfare for many brass and timpani lasts only a few minutes and can be garishly offensive or brilliantly dramatic, depending on where the tongue rests in relationship to the cheek. Written for the 100th show of Kalvos & Damian's New Music Bazaar. Available from Frog Peak Music

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Five Hungarian Folksongs / brass quintet / 20 minutes

Trumpet 1 Part
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Trumpet 2 Part
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Horn Part
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Trombone Part
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Tuba Part
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These five folksongs were commissioned by Charles Mayhood for the Green Mountain Brass Quintet. The five songs above are "Katika Csárdás", "Nyári este furulyázom sokáig", "Bihari Hatarszélén - Megy A Gözöslefelé - Csárdás", "Megugrattak Hortobágyon A Káramból Egy Csikót" and "Decreczeni Csárdás Friss". These are extraordinarly demanding on both technique and endurance! Get 'em and play 'em! Available from Frog Peak Music

Four Sharks / string and wind quartets, piano / 30 minutes / hand-inked

First Shark: Johann Sebastian's Shark
Second Shark: Sammy's Shark
Third Shark: Fred & Suzie's Shark
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file Fourth Shark: Lone Shark, i.e., Claire's Shark
The four movements of this chamber work, written for the Craftsbury Chamber Players, are each cast in a quasi-minimalist style, major/minor tonality, and familiar harmonic territory. Together they form a miniature symphony of colors and textures, ending in the last, quiet shark that fades into harmonic purity.

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Garbanzo Bean / wind quintet / 6 minutes

Too thick in its original orchestration for recorders, Garbanzo is lyric music set under the influence of Carl Nielsen. Fortunately, it doesn't sound like Nielsen; it sounds like me. For good amateurs. Available from Frog Peak Music

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Gardens, A Love Song / English horn & string quartet / 8 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) English Horn Part
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
Written for my wife Stevie as a wedding gift, Gardens is the most extensive of the set of 14 orchestral songs, Cold Stones, an cycle still unfinished. This piece is lovely, lyrical, and combines my interest in pulsing rhythm and bittersweet melody. Available from Frog Peak Music

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Genial Music / picc., fl., glock., strings / 5 minutes

A fractal study for chamber ensemble, creating a brief cloud of sound. Written for demonstration purposes, and open to extension by improvisation in the middle (not noted in score, but noted here). Available from Frog Peak Music

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

Giè / a.fl., b.cl., bsn., guitar, djembe / 9 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Alto Flute Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Bass Clarinet Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Bassoon Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Guitar Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Djembe Part
Written for the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble for their concert of world influences. This piece is mysterious, lyrical, and asks for the players to sing toward the end. Available from Frog Peak Music

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Graag / ob., e.hn., clar., fr.hn., b.clar., & bsn. / 15 minutes

This is music that is too lovely for its own good. In fact, those who know my music believe Graag to be an accident. In reality, it is an artifact of looking for beautiful, curving lines with winds and brass. For sensitive players only. Available from Frog Peak Music

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Horizon (Ocean) / string quartet, wind quartet and piano / 11 minutes

Horizon (Ocean) is a complex piece that turns in on itself, almost fractal-like, as long phrases shorter and twist. Ensembles spiral around each other, soloists finish each other's phrases, the illusion of counterpoint is stifled by an inner stasis. Commissioned anonymously for the 2007 We Are All Mozart project.

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In Winter, Not Still / 8 strings / 12 minutes

This was a present to the composer's wife for Christmas. Winter in Vermont is a tough time, with short days and very cold nights (as low as -40C/-40F in the deepest weeks). This bittersweet piece for chamber string orchestra mirrors the glistening snow in that slow-motion season. Parts are available on request. Available from Frog Peak Music

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Into the Morning Rain / two bass clarinets, violin, cello, percussion / 7 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) First Bass Clarinet Part, C bass and B-flat treble
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Second Bass Clarinet Part, C bass and B-flat treble
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Both Bass Clarinet Parts on One Staff, B-flat treble
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Violin Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Cello Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Percussion Part
Word file Commissioned by the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble, this songlike duet was written in the warm sun in the south of France at Moulin du Cap. Available from Frog Peak Music

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Jetlude / small ensemble / 4 minutes

Created for the on-line music cooperative La Musique Petite, this is one of the 14 Cold Stones set for chamber ensembles within an orchestra. It is energetic and lyrical, an ongoing search of mine for resolution in the threaded pace of modern life. Available from Frog Peak Music

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Kibble & Timbrals / 2 mewbowls, Eng.setter, basset hound, Tom bone / 4 minutes

Yet another part of Cold Stones for orchestral chamber groupings, Kibble was a pleasure to write with its trombone solo inside a breath of winds. A tricky piece for all involved ... and, oh yes, it's for two oboes, English horn, alto clarinet, and trombone. Available from Frog Peak Music

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Loyalcat Motet / flute, oboe, horn, 2 voices / 3 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Alto Flute in G
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Oboe
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Horn in F
Composed for the Kalvos & Damian Komposer Kombat, Loyalcat Motet is a vocalise for two voices and winds. Note: This mp3 is a rehearsal reading at the Kombat. Available from Frog Peak Music
Loyalcat Motet
Preparing "Loyalcat Motet" for performance during Komposer Kombat on WGDR-FM, 2005.

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Marche des Saladiens / 2 trumpets, 2 saxes & bass / 3 minutes

Got a couple good players in a band? This is for them, with its quirky little tunes. Actually, I wrote this for the Audevard family in France, where we stayed for part of our honeymoon -- created it on my computer and played it through their stereo. There was a lot of wine subsequently served. Why the title? Don't ask. Available from Frog Peak Music

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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

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Melisma / voice or English Horn & small ensemble / 5 minutes

It was the birthday of Sandy Mond's daughter, and Sandy wanted a song for her. This was the result, a sweet little piece written on her husband's poetry. Available from Frog Peak Music

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MiddelBurd / fl., b.cl., pno., 2 elec. guitars, playback. / 3 minutes

Sits between LowBirds and HighBirds, and makes a transition from one to the other in order to create a single, half-hour-long quasi-meditative, quasi-confrontational bird piece developed from thrushes. Available from Frog Peak Music

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Mouth Piece (Peace) / tantric voices, tuba, 2 trombones / 30 minutes / hand-inked

Using texts by Allen Ginsburg, this extended chantlike mantra has no antecedents in my work. The tantric voices require very talented singers, and the trombones are played with reed mouthpieces.

MP3 file

Murkee's Lament / 2 pianos, cello quartet, double bass quartet / 7 minutes

The Lament is a dark and somber piece requiring especially good counting and tenacity, and influenced by the deep sounds of some good string players I'd recently heard. The score is in the proofreading stage.

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Near Greensboro Bend / brass quintet / 5 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trumpet 1 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trumpet 2 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Horn Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trombone Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Tuba Part
Variations on The Coventry Carol (the name is a local joke on the idea that Coventry, Vermont, is not far from Greensboro Bend), this elegant quintet was written for Heritage Brass, who played it first as part of their 2012 holiday concert. Non-streaming (downloadable) MP3. Available from Frog Peak Music

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

New Granite / flute, bass clarinet, violin, violoncello and piano / 31 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Flute Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Bass Clarinet Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Violin Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Violoncello Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Piano Part
This work came to be after seeing a blank monument to soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. The composer writes, "A few days ago I was doing some business in town -- propane bill, electric bill, bank deposit, ash bucket, chocolate -- when I passed a former restaurant turned into a Veterans of Foreign Wars post. I'd never taken notice, until this time. Its granite monument had been extended with another panel. On its grim grey blankness were engraved two words: Iraq Afghanistan. It was chilling. It was like the dogs of war had their mouths open, empty, hungry, salivating, waiting to be fed. I don't know how the VFW works, whether they always anticipate the dead. But there it was, a monument once again to folly and hubris, waiting patiently for the names of the fallen to erase its blankness. I hope it stays blank, but the image wouldn't leave. For all my anger over this war, I hadn't felt this, this whatever-it-is that sucks the life out of its surroundings with an artistic de-animation akin to death itself. The piece I had planned for the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble, itself a lament, simply sputtered to a stop. (You can hear how far I got in this rendering.) It was overwhelmed by a sense of the disjointed but slow instrumental sounds, a kind of nonpop Albert Ayler Ghost, not classical in shape, but endlessly interwoven in simple shapes." Commissioned by the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble for the 2007 We Are All Mozart project. An optional video is available on DVD to accompany the music.
New Granite frame
A frame from the accompanying video to "New Granite"

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Quince & Fog Falls / flute, cello, piano, 2 glockenspiels with knee drums / 16 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Flute Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Cello Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Piano Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Glockenspiel/Knee Drum 1 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Glockenspiel/Knee Drum 2 Part
Composed for Essential Music, one of the premier new music ensembles in the United States, Quince & Fog Falls is created on the sound and shape of the brook and rocks behind my home in Vermont. Available from Frog Peak Music

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Recalling Mississquoi Falls / 8 horns / 3 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Horn 1 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Horn 2 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Horn 3 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Horn 4 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Horn 5 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Horn 6 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Horn 7 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Horn 8 Part
This fanfare and chorale was written for the Green Mountain Horn Club, and is in memory of Bea Phillips, the oldest and most rural Vermont composer. The first half is a tricky, rhythmic fanfare, and the second half is an echoing chorale. Available from Frog Peak Music

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Roundelay / brass quintet / 5 minutes

Parts for trumpet, 2 horns, 2 trombones
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trumpet Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Horn 1 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Horn 2 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trombone 1 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trombone2 Part
Parts for 2 trumpets, horn, trombone, tuba.
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trumpet 1 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trumpet 2 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Horn Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trombone Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Tuba Part
The Roundelay originally had text, but I discarded this because it ony served as a kind of cantus firmus to create the contrasting trombone solo in this energetic and non-stop dramatic work. For very good players. Available from Frog Peak Music

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Sing To Me (The Blood Scene) / voice, clarinet, cello, guitar, percussion, toy piano / 10 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) B-flat Clarinet Score
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) C-sharp Toy Piano Score
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Cello Part
Composed as a demonstration scene for the Discovery Channel's special "Deadly Women", Sing to me was performed on the cable program by Lisa Jablow, David Gunn, Marco Oppedisano, Bob Blais, and Rob Goodman. Available from Frog Peak Music
Sing to Me for Discovery Channel
"Sing to Me" being sung for a Discovery Channel special entitled "Deadly Women".

MP3 file

A Time Machine / violin, clarinet, cello, 2 pianos, percussion, dance, computer screens (optional) / 45 minutes / hand-inked

Word file This is a set of through-composed songs (with algorithmically generated texts) and interludes, plus quasi-aleatoric 'time machine' sections -- three large movements composed of 11 alternating sections each. Commissioned by the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble, the music generated the first standing ovation the group ever received. Recording here is of Part I.

A Tool Alphabet for Children / open orchestration / about 2 minutes each

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file A is for the Axe
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file B is for Buzzsaw
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) MP3 file Chisel is a Handy Tool
David Gunn is relentless in his humor. He wrote a grim "Tool Alphabet for Children" -- all the letters from A to Z. I set three of them and decided a hit this would not be. Buzzsaw is my favorite.

Triple Quartet / three string quartets / 40 minutes / pencil; in production

A powerful work in five movements (the fourth in quarter-tones), the Triple Quartet was commissioned by Marjorie Goodman Graff for the New Jersey State Museum. The score's difficulty and performing forces required have kept the work unheard, and it awaits premiere by 12 talented and adventurous musicians.

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Tuba Marcato / 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba and timpani / 2 minute

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trumpet 1 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trumpet 2 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trombone 1 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trombone 2 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Tuba Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Timpani 1 Part
A short fanfare composed to feature a talented young tuba player, commissioned by the Green Mountain Youth Symphony for the 2007 We Are All Mozart project.

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Under the Aurora / clarinet and string quartet / 24 minutes

An intense and compelling exploration in three movements (At the Edge of Forever, Events and Horizons, and UpReach Over DownSlide) commissioned by David Goodman, Fran Richard & ASCAP, and Richard Fredette for the 2007 We Are All Mozart project.

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Walls of Walpurg / 4 horns, 4 trombones, 3 tubas / 3 minutes

Short, dark fanfare for Walpurgisnacht 2014, it broods and then broods some more.

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Wormholmusik / tuba quintet /12 minutes / three movements

MP3 file First Movement
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Tuba and Tuba 1 treble clef Parts
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MP3 file Second Movement
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Tuba and Tuba 1 treble clef Parts
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) Tuba 2, 3, 4 and 5 Parts
MP3 file Third Movement
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Tuba and Tuba 1 treble clef Parts
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) Tuba 2, 3, 4 and 5 Parts
The (then) Trenton Tuba Ensemble was looking for a showpiece, and this would be it. The group wasn't up to the challenge, so it lay fallow for many years, and is now republished. Download this score and test your mettle and metal. Available from Frog Peak Music

MP3 file

Zonule Glaes II / string quartet & electronics / 64 minutes

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
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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

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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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