Concert Music — Thomas Palmer

O Vos Angeli (2023)

for SATB Choir, Countertenor Solo, and Baroque Cello

Commissioned by The Evangelical Church of the Holy Trinity and written for John Popham and Luke Paulino

Text: O Vos Angeli by Hildegard of Bingen

Actions Constituting Grave Matter (2023)

for Organ

ACTIONS CONSTITUTING GRAVE MATTER comes from the idea of Purgatory, or the place a soul goes to wait (for an indeterminate amount of time) for purification after death. The piece follows these events, which all come from various religious writings and descriptions of the post-death waiting room that Purgatory is often described as: Dissolution of the Body Introduction of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities Intermediary State Intermediary State Intercession Intermediary State According to the Catholic church, an Action Constituting Grave Matter is a mortal sin which can lead to damnation.

UnMake (2022)

for solo violin

Written for Miranda Cuckson

Throughout what’s considered the western classical canon, the violin has, for hundreds of years, been placed in the position of the most important instrument in the orchestra, and it has been venerated as a solo instrument alike. UnMake responds to that notion, and asks the performer to subvert or “unmake” several of the characteristics of a virtuosic solo performance—for example, by starting the piece with the ending of another, by asking the performer to perform detailed music almost inaudibly, and by quoting, copying, and translating what were once virtuosic lines down to a repetitive texture.

Don!t! Pa!nic! (2022)

for orchestra and vocalists

Premiered by the Manhattan School of Music Composers Orchestra

with Elizabeth Gartman, Susan Botti, and Lucy Shelton

Conducted by Danielle Jagelski

Gr8 (2021)

for saxophone quartet

Commissioned by the Manhattan School of Music Saxophone Studio

Gr8 ("great") draws material from two Christian songs. The first, Great is Thy Faithfulness, which is a well-known hymn from the early 20th century, is one I grew up very familiar with. Because of this, I can't help but associate it with the Christian church and the religious beliefs I was surrounded with growing up.

The second song, Hallelujah, is a much older song from 1759 that was written by Charles Wesley, the founder of Methodism—the denomination I largely grew up in. Hallelujah was published in The Sacred Harp, which was a hymnal filled with shape-note songs that were meant to be accessible to everyone.

Both songs are marks of large religious and social communities that strive to care for their members and communities and provide for their needs, but so often act as groups of hate or exclusion and harm members and outsiders alike with intolerance and demands for conformity.

While writing this piece, I considered my disillusion with these communities, my own history within them, and the marks they've left on me culturally and personally.

"And let this feeble body fail, and let it faint or die."

All at once, quite alone (2021)

for woodwind quintet

Premiered by Windscape

All at once, quite alone was commissioned by the Windscape Ensemble at the Manhattan School of Music in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Carl Nielsen's Wind Quintet.The theme from the third movement of the quintet is woven throughout the thread of this piece.

The title, All at once, quite alone, is derived from one of Nielsen's program notes where he describes his characterization of the instruments--He writes that "at one moment they are all talking at once, at another they are quite alone."

You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby (2021)

for wind ensemble

Commissioned by the University of South Carolina Wind Ensemble

You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby is comprised of 14 short movements titled after real quotes from 1980’s magazines.

The original sources for each of the titles are varied—some were headings and catchphrases from advertisements (generally for cigarettes), and others were in the text of columns and articles. Each title is a direct quote, but all the quotes are entirely recontextualized in the structure of the piece.

I’ve always been fascinated by eye-catching and sensational advertising, especially advertising that makes earth-shattering claims and uses absurdly dramatic imagery. While writing this piece, I was thinking of flashing lights, crowded shopping malls, larger-than-life billboards, and call-now-to-receive-a-second-one-free television commercials—all images that are part of the perhaps tasteless, perhaps insincere, but ever-so-exciting American consumerist culture.

Rest in me, too (2021)

for saxophone quartet

Commissioned by Josh Tuttle

Rest in me, too is about grief, denial, memory, and the perception of loss.

The title comes from the lyrics to the folk song/hymn, The Lone Wild Bird, which originally appeared in The Southern Harmony Songbook of 1835. Its tune, (known as Prospect), is used throughout the piece.

Halogen (2020)

for alto flute and cello

Commissioned by Philip Snyder and Jordan Bartow

Maintain and Stay Afloat (2020)

for woodwind quintet

Commissioned by the University of South Carolina School of Music