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


The Big List has the Latest Scores and Downloads



Music for Young Performers Available Through 2015

All skill levels



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



For Young Performers

Note that these pieces were created for young or amateur performers.
Much music in other sections is playable by skilled amateurs or younger players.
Have a look!



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

Autumn Dig / for student orchestra / 5 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) Flute 3 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Oboe Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Clarinet 1 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Clarinet 2 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Horn Part
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 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Tuba Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Timpani Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Percussion 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) Violoncello Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Contrabass Part
Robert Blais, conductor of the Green Mountain Youth Symphony, commissioned Autumn Dig for his young players so they might learn the sound of minimalism. The worked hard on learning how to fade parts in and out and repeat them effectively, and did a brilliant job! Available from Frog Peak Music

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

Chelsea Moods / for bass clarinet & band / 8 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Piccolo Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Flute 1-2 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Oboe 1-2 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Clarinet 1-2 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Clarinet 3 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Bassoon Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Bass Clarinet Solo 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
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) French Horn Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trumpet 1-2 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trumpet 3 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trombone 1-2 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trombone 3 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Tuba 1-2 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Baritone Horn (Treble Clef) Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Timpani Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Percussion Part
The Johnson State College band is a hard-working college/community group, but it's the bass clarinet that made this piece happen -- my own first instrument. The piece is written for bass clarinettist Chelsea Rood (hence the name). Available from Frog Peak Music

MP3 file

Choral Metamorphosis on Effervescence / chorus SSA / 6 minutes

A little absurdity based on a Girl Scout campfire song, this three-movement work has no redeeming value, but nevertheless was premiered by the Trenton State College Singers in Roumania. Go figure. Score in preparation, if anybody cares.

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form)

Counting Myself / cello duo (student and teacher) / 5 minutes

A duet for a teacher and student, commissioned by Lydia Busler-Blais for her husband Robert for their son Tristan, for the 2007 We Are All Mozart project.

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form)

Earth, Air, Water, Sleep / vocalise and piano / 5 minutes

With an interestingly deceptive melodic and harmonic shape, this vocalise with piano is a lullaby, commissioned by Canary Burton for the 2007 We Are All Mozart project.

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form)

Étude / piano / 3 minutes

One of the few pieces of juvenilia I keep active, this Étude is a Chopinesque exercise. For fun. Play and toss.

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form)

Evidently Skittles / children's flute and piano / 3 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Flute Part
A serious but funny do for children's flute and piano, commissioned by Christopher Smith for his children, for the 2007 We Are All Mozart project.

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

Fanfare:Heat / for orchestra / 6 minutes (VYO version left PDF; Windham Version right PDF)

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Flute 1 Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Flute 2 Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Flute 3 Part (VYO Version only)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Oboe 1 Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Oboe 2 Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Oboe 3 Part (VYO Version only)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) B-flat Clarinet 1 Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) B-flat Clarinet 2 Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) B-flat Clarinet 3 Part (VYO Version only)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Bassoon 1 Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Bassoon 2 Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Bassoon 3 Part (VYO Version only)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) F Horn 1 Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) F Horn 2 Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) F Horn 3 Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) F Horn 4 Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) B-flat Trumpet 1 Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) B-flat Trumpet 2 Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) B-flat Trumpet 3 Part (VYO Version only)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trombone 1 Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trombone 2 Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Trombone 3 Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Tuba Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Timpani Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Percussion 1 Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Percussion 2 Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Piano Part (VYO Version only)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Harp Part (VYO Version only)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Violin 1 Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Violin 2 Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Viola Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Violoncello Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Contrabass Part (VYO ver. left; Windham ver. right)
Fanfare:Heat is a dramatic and energetic irregular dance and fanfare. It was commissioned by the Vermont Youth Orchestra for their annual spring concert. Two versions. VYO Version: 3333.4331 timp perc harp piano strings. Windham Version: 2222.4231 timp perc strings. 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) MP3 file

A Fragment / chorus SATB / 4 minutes

Written on the text of high school student Patrician Guerieri, A Fragment used the twelve-tone system to create rather than lose tonality. The piece was first sung a cappela by the Ewing (New Jersey) High School Chorus. Synth demo version in link to the left. Available from Frog Peak Music

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

The Galley / march for band / 3 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 1 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Clarinet 2 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) Bari Sax 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
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Percussion Part
The second of the "generic" marches, The Galley was composed for a performed by the Vermont Governor's Institute Band during the July 4th parade. Drunken sailor music -- for good players. Available from Frog Peak Music

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

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen (arr.) / school band / 3 minutes

As simple as it gets for a junior high school band ... except the fact that it's in 5/4. Fun to do. Please use the contact form for copies of the parts.

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

How Can I Keep From Singing? / chorus SACt / 2 minutes

Arranged for the Roxbury (Vermont) Union Congregational Church Choir. The melody is in the middle line. Each verse is sung with that successive voices louder. The first verse is repeated with all voices equal in volume. Three male voices may sing this an octave lower. The counter-tenor part can be sung by a ringing alto. This is sung without vibrato, and perfect (not tempered) intonation is needed in open fifths and major chords. Available from Frog Peak Music

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form)

Incanta / solo instrument / 1 minute

For collaborative source material for one of her compositions, Incanta was commissioned by Alex Shapiro for the 2007 We Are All Mozart project.

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form)

Invention / piano / 3 minutes

Another earlier piece I still enjoy, the Invention keeps its quirky internal rhythms going all the way to the harmonically unexpected ending.

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form)

Lowing in Coventry / 3 low horns / 5 minutes

Based on the Coventry Carol, as requested and commissioned by Lydia Busler-Blais for the 2007 We Are All Mozart project.

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form)

The Nine Rabbits of Valladolid / cello duo (student and teacher) / 4 minutes

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Cello 1 Part
Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form) Cello 2 Part
A student-teacher duet commissioned by Nati Plasencia "Dedicado a Nati y a Amarilis", for the 2007 We Are All Mozart project.
Nine Rabbits video
Still from a video by Nati Plasencia using her performance of "Nine Rabbits".

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

Noma / easy flute / 2 minutes

Word file Noma was written for a flutist and composition student, Renya Larsen, after an intense two-week workshop in Vermont. I am not sure she ever played it. Available from Frog Peak Music

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form)

Numa / easy / 3 minutes

Totally naive, Numa was part of a series of pieces for young folks. This, for an 11-year-old Lila Bennett, imitates the simple Bach pieces, but with a twist or two.

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) MP3 file

Psalm 84 (How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place) / chorus SATB / 3 minutes

This Psalm is one of a long series of compositions created for the Roxbury Union Congregational Church Choir when I was its director. How Lovely celebrated the installation of Ed Fisher as minister in East Randolph, Vermont. Singable for all choirs. Available from Frog Peak Music

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

Psalm 100 (Jubilate Deo) / chorus SATB / 4 minutes

Also written for the Roxbury choir, Psalm 100 is a kind of quodlibet of styles from baroque and classical eras -- but a serious piece nonetheless, so much so that it's been heard many times, including in Vienna ... but never got a good recording, so synth demo version only in link to the left. Available from Frog Peak Music

Rock of Ages / chorus TTBB / 4 minutes

MP3 file During Service
MP3 file In Studio
Arranged for the Grace Baptist (Trenton) Church. The melody is in the tenor. Simplistic 19th century/barbershop harmonies, but very effective when taken seriously. Original group and 15 years later.

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

Specimen / 6 performers / 6 minutes

Word file The most-played performance piece in the composer's opus, Specimen has been performed seriously and laughingly by groups of all ages and in many locales -- once in hazmat suits. Do it! Here is an excellent different performance.

Adobe PDF file (Please fill out info form)

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.

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

A Waltz: When There Are No Words / bassoon / 5 minutes

The original of this piece is for soprano recorder, written for Claire Manfredonia, but its mood suits the bassoon much better. It is very lyrical and can be played by any sensitive musician.



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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