Music Composition, Performance, & Audio Production

Brian Belet

Brian BeletBrian BeletBrian Belet

Brian Belet

Brian BeletBrian BeletBrian Belet
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Music Publications

Published music compositions are listed in reverse chronological order (publication date). 

Research publications are listed in a separate "Research" tab.

Fantasia: Nocturne

Fantasia: Nocturne

Flugelhorn, Violin, and String Orchestra


- Published on Inviting Worlds, Navona Records (PARMA Recordings), NV6435, 2022.   

Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, Jan Kučera, conductor.

 - Jakub Černohorsky, violin

 - Roman Buchal, flugelhorn


Three by Five

Three by Five

Three by Five

Three by Five

   Brass Quintet


 I. Two Short Fugues 

II. More Questions (Still Unanswered)

III. Fugal Reflections


Three by Five

Three by Five

Brass Tacks album cover.

- Published on Brass Tacks.  Navona Records (PARMA Recordings)  NV6428, 2022.

Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava Brass Quintet

 - Roman Buchal and Petr Kabil, trumpet & flugelhorn

 - Věra Bartošová, horn

 - Vladimír Ševčík, trombone

 - Jiří Král, tuba

Three by Five

Cover page: SCI Journal of Scores, Vol. 62.

- Score published in   

SCI Journal of Music Scores, Vol. 62, October 2022. Published for the Society of Composers, Inc. by Schott Music Corporation, New York, NY, 2022. pp. 33-51.

Stellar Nebulae

Stellar Nebulae

String orchestra

  I.  Emergence

 II. Contemplation

III. Expansion


- Published on Prisma, Vol. 4. Athens Philharmonia Orchestra, Michalis Economou, conductor. Navona Records (PARMA Recordings) NV6298, 2020.


- Score published (open access & free for viewing) by the  UCLA Music Library  (Contemporary Music Score Collection), 2020.


REVIEW:

Stellar Nebulae ... is an example of how the composer tends to seek formal abstraction. Belet’s melodies are like paths of hope that pour us into the deep valleys of our thoughts.

 -- Josep Bosch, Sonograma Magazine. September 29, 2020

Drei Kinderstücke

Drei Kinderstücke

Drei Kinderstücke

Drei Kinderstücke

     Piano solo    

   

I. Forest Path

                      II. Winter Stream Crossing

                III. Unexpected Clearing

Drei Kinderstücke

Drei Kinderstücke

- Published on Anton Webern: Complete Piano Music and works inspired by them, Janis Mercer, piano. Centaur Records, CRC 3771, 2020.

Drei Kinderstücke

- Published on Chroma: New Music for Piano, Jeri-Mae Astolfi, piano.

Capstone Records, CPS-8810, 2008.

Pacific Rim

Pacific Rim: Three Piano Preludes

Piano 


  I. Zephyr
 II. Beyond the Curtain
III. Earth Dance


-- Published on Contemporary Eclectic Music for the Piano, Vol. 15, Jeffrey Jacob, piano.
New Ariel Recordings, 2019.

Sufficient Trouble

Sufficient Trouble

Album containing ten B. Belet computer-music compositions. Ravello Records (PARMA Recordings) 

   RR7969, 2017.


Composition track list:

Lyra (2002)

Violin & Kyma

Patricia Strange, violin


Still Harmless [BASS]ically (2000)

Electric Bass & Kyma

Brian Belet, electric bass


Name Droppings (2008)

Voices & Kyma


difference (no doubt it queues) (1997)

Computer-processed Voice


an abstract (difference (queues)) (1997)

Computer-processed Voice


(Disturbed) Radiance (2003)

Piano & Kyma

Janis Mercer, piano


System of Shadows (2007)

Trumpet, Flugelhorn & Kyma

Stephen Ruppenthal, C trumpet & Bb flugelhorn

  I. Aurora Borealis

 II. Andromeda’s Dream

III. Zephyr Apparition


Sea Lion Mix (2009)

Sea Lions, Voices, & Kyma


Summer Phantoms: Nocturne (2011)

Piano & Kyma

Keith Kirchoff, piano


Remembering Allen (2008)

Voice & Kyma

Brian Belet, voice

CD cover: Sufficient Trouble

Sufficient Trouble CD cover. Original watercolor by Marianne Bickett. (© 2017, All Rights Reserved)

ALBUM REVIEW:

SUFFICIENT TROUBLE offers a degree of variety in timbre and musical content that is sometimes lacking in electronic music. In Lyra, the album’s opening track, Belet establishes an aural world in which the organic material and electronic content merge seamlessly, clearly defining the musical language to come as the album progresses.


A sense of musical humor and clear intent runs throughout Belet’s work, and one quickly concludes that the composer, while wonderfully fluent and virtuosic in his chosen medium, is not at all above poking fun at tradition. Name Droppings, assembled from fragments of spoken text, is crafted solely using quotations from program notes and biographies the composer encountered while attending concerts. The resulting piece, with narrative thrusts provided by unexpected textual content, succeeds as both a strong composition and humorous commentary on the concert going experience.


While Belet proves adept throughout this release at crafting strongly evocative electronic materials, his writing for acoustic instruments also shines through in the works that draw from mixed disciplines. In various pieces, strings, brass, and the piano all interact with electronic materials, often leading to shimmering textural content. By often utilizing responsive electronics and real time controls, as in (Disturbed) Radiance and Still Harmless [BASS]ically, Belet allows for the ‘performance’ element to remain a crucial, and often defining aspect, of these selections. Still Harmless [BASS]ically presents the electric bass in an electronic environment for which it is aptly suited. Harmonics and wide-ranging bass flourishes weave in and out of responsive electronic surroundings, creating an atmospheric palette that is at once intriguing and impressively emotive.


Remembering Allen, the final track on SUFFICIENT TROUBLE, is an audio miniature paying glowing tribute to the late Allen Strange, and, as the album’s final statement, reiterates Belet’s strong grasp of the emotive depths of which electronic music is capable. 

- PARMA Recordings (Ravello Records website)

System of Shadows

System of Shadows

Trumpet & flugelhorn, and Kyma processing.

   I. Aurora Borealis

  II. Andromeda's Dream

 III. Zephyr Apparition

 -- Published on Flamethrower, Stephen Ruppenthal, trumpet & flugelhorn. Ravello Records, (PARMA Recordings) RR7954, 2017.

 -- Also published on Sufficient Trouble, 2017 (see above).


Album REVIEW (excerpt):

The title of Misty Magic Land [composed by Allen Strange] reflects its sounds; chimes and high-end timbres create a mystical and mysterious atmosphere for Ruppenthal’s trumpets to explore. Brian Belet also appears on the track as producer and overseer of digital audio processing. He returns to these roles for his composition System of Shadows at the end of the album.


Speaking of FLAMETHROWER’s concluding track, System of Shadows returns to the frenzied, impassioned nature of the album’s opener, processing a Bitches Brew-inspired core with shimmering reconstruction achieved in tandem with the Kyma system processing. Quick loops sizzle under the surface long after Ruppenthal has released the notes from his trumpet, resulting in a hypnotic effect unlike anything else on the album. The hum of the lingering trumpet is a cathartic end to an innovative journey.

- PARMA Recordings (Ravello Records website)

CD cover: Flamethrower, Stephen Ruppenthal, trumpet.

Summer Phantoms: Nocturne

Summer Phantoms: Nocturne

Summer Phantoms: Nocturne

Summer Phantoms: Nocturne

 Piano and electronics (Kyma-processed piano sounds).

Summer Phantoms: Nocturne

Summer Phantoms: Nocturne

- Published on Insomnia, Kai Schumacher, pianist.

SWR Music/Hänssler Classic 093.334.000, via Naxos, 2015.

Also published on CD Sufficient Trouble, 2017 (see above). 

Summer Phantoms: Nocturne

Commissioned by Jeri-Mae Astolfi. 

- Published on her album Here (and there) - Innova 846, 2013.

Name Droppings

Name Droppings

Computer processed voices. 

Commissioned by the University of Illinois to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Electronic Music Studios at UIUC.
 -- Published on In Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the University of Illinois Experimental Music Studios (1958-2008), 2008.

 -- Also published on Sufficient Trouble, 2017 (see above).

Earlier Publications

Lyra

difference (no doubt it queues) -and- an abstract (difference (queues))

Roundabout: Four Canons and Something Else

Violin and Kyma 

 -- Published on Ghost Strings, Patricia Strange, violin. IMG Media, CD-02-01, 2006.

-- Also published on Sufficient Trouble, 2017 

(see above).

Roundabout: Four Canons and Something Else

difference (no doubt it queues) -and- an abstract (difference (queues))

Roundabout: Four Canons and Something Else

Score title page for Roundabout

Percussion ensemble (9 performers)
- Score published by Warner Brothers Publications / Belwin-Mills Publishing Corp., 2002.

difference (no doubt it queues) -and- an abstract (difference (queues))

difference (no doubt it queues) -and- an abstract (difference (queues))

difference (no doubt it queues) -and- an abstract (difference (queues))

Frog Peak cd cover.

Computer-processed voice (Chris Mann)
-- Published on The Frog Peak Collaborations Project, a double audio CD international compilation of 115 short compositions based on an audio reading by Australian sound poet Chris Mann, 

Frog Peak Music, FP007, 1998.

 -- Also published on Sufficient Trouble, 

2017 (see above).

[MUTE]ation

Refraction: Three Gestural Reflections

difference (no doubt it queues) -and- an abstract (difference (queues))

Computer-processed trombone mute sounds
-- Published on Music from the Center for Research in Electro-Acoustic Music, Consortium to Distribute Computer Music CD series, Volume 26, Centaur Records, CRC 2404, 1998.

Refraction: Three Gestural Reflections

Refraction: Three Gestural Reflections

Refraction: Three Gestural Reflections

Trombone Quartet

- Score published by the International Trombone Association Press (distributed by Warwick Music), 1997.

Four Proportional Preludes

Four Proportional Preludes

Four Proportional Preludes

Four Proportional Preludes

Piano


  I. Reflection

II. Metallica

                III. Modulated Cosine

   IV. Resonance

Four Proportional Preludes

Four Proportional Preludes

 -- Published on SCI CD No. 11: Chamber Works, Janis Mercer, piano. Capstone Records, CPS-8651, 1998.

Four Proportional Preludes

 -- Score published in SCI Journal of Music Scores, Vol. 24, European American Music/C.F. Peters, 1998.

Copyright © 2023 Brian Belet - All Rights Reserved.


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