Kyle Gann: List of Compositions by Genre
For recordings, scores, and program notes,
visit the music index page

Genres listed below:
Opera/Music Theater
Chorus
Orchestra
String Quartet
Chamber Music with Voice(s)
Other Chamber Music
Solo Piano
Other Solo Instrument
Disklavier and other mechanical instruments
Electronic Music
Songs
Arrangements/Transcriptions

Opera/Music Theater:

Scenario (2003-4)
for theatrical soprano and virtual orchestra (soundfile); text by S.J. Perelman, "Scenario"; 17 minutes

The Watermelon Cargo - acoustic chamber orchestra version (2003/2018)
Libretto by Jeffrey Sichel
four singers (SATB), small SATB chorus (12 singers), flute, oboe/EH, three percussion, accordion, string quartet (or strings), electric bass; 45 minutes

Cinderella's Bad Magic - acoustic chamber orchestra version (2002/2018)
Libretto by Jeffrey Sichel
five singers (SSATB), flute, oboe, vibraphone, accordion, piano, string quartet (or strings), electric bass; 43 minutes <

The Watermelon Cargo (chamber opera; 2002-3)
Libretto by Jeffrey Sichel; four singers (SATB), chorus, flute, three synthesizers, fretless bass, drums; 43 minutes

Cinderella's Bad Magic (2002; opera)
Libretto by Jeffrey Sichel; five singers (SSABarB), flute, three synthesizers, fretless bass; 43 minutes

Custer and Sitting Bull (1997-99)
Custer: "If I Were an Indian..."
Sitting Bull: "Do You Know Who I Am?"
Sun Dance / Battle of the Greasy-Grass River
Custer's Ghost to Sitting Bull
for speaking voice and computer tape; 35 minutes

Incidental Music for Alice in Wonderland (1991-92)
flute, clarinet, electronics (keyboard sampler and synthesizer)

Chorus:

In Silence (2015)
for SATB chorus and piano; poem by Thomas Merton; 5 minutes
Commissioned by James Bagwell and the Cincinnati May Festival Youth Chorus

my father moved through dooms of love (2005)
for SATB chorus, violin, piano; text by e. e. cummings; 12 minutes

Transcendental Sonnets (2001-2)
The Son
Enoch
Love
Faith
The Word
Chorus, two soloists, and orchestra (2, 2, 2, 2; 2, 2, 1 [no tuba]; perc [timp, glock]; strings; soprano and tenor soloists; SATB; also version for chorus and piano) - commissioned by the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir; poems by Jones Very (1813-1880); 34 minutes

Orchestra:

Piano Concerto No. 2 (2023)
for piano solo, orchestra (2-2[EH]-2-2; 2-2-2; 2 perc [vib, wdblk, glock], harp, strings); three movements, 29 minutes
Commissioned by Emanuele Arciuli

Cap Rock Wind (2016)
for mezzo-soprano and chamber orchestra (1,1,1,alto sax,1; 1,1,1; el gt, vib, pno; strings); text from House of Earth by Woody Guthrie (1947); 18 minutes
Commissioned by Contemporaneous

Symphony, "Implausible" (2014)
for orchestra, 3-2-2-2; 2-2-3-0; piano, harp, vib., perc., strings; five movements, 40 minutes

Scenario (2003-4/2012)
for soprano and orchestra (3-2-oboe d'amore-2-3; 2-3-2; harmonica; acoustic guitar; timp, xyl, mar, tam-tams, drum set; celesta; strings); text by S.J. Perelman, "Scenario"; 17 minutes

Serenity Meditation (2011)
for chamber orchestra (2 2 2 BsCl 2 - 1 0 0 0 - cel - chimes - timp - strings); 13 minutes

Sunken City (Concerto for Piano and Winds in memoriam New Orleans; 2007)
for piano solo with flute, alto sax, tenor sax, baritone sax, 3 trumpets, horn, 3 trombones, bass; 25 minutes

The Disappearance of All Holy Things from this Once So Promising World (1998)
for orchestra (winds 2221, 2 hns, 1 trp, 1 perc, strings); 11 minutes

String Quartet:

Concord Spiral (2010)
for string quartet; 8 1/2 minutes

Hudson Spiral (2010)
for string quartet; 13 minutes

The Light Summer Land (2010)
for string quartet; 25 minutes
commissioned by Carson Cooman

Love Scene (2003)
for string quartet in just intonation (based on Act III of The Watermelon Cargo); 6 minutes

Chamber Music with Voice(s):

Proença (2015)
- Be.m pac d'ivern - poem and melody by Peire Vidal (late 12th century)
- Na Audiart - poem by Ezra Pound
- Alba (En un vergier sotz fuella d'albespi) - anonymous medieval poem, translation by Ezra Pound
- Estat ai en greu cossirier - poem by the Comtessa de Dia (late 12th century)
- L'aura amara - poem by Arnaut Daniel (late 12th century), translation by Ezra Pound
- Near Perigord - poem by Ezra Pound (excerpted)
for alto voice, flute, vibraphone, electric piano, and electric bass; 47 minutes
Commissioned by Michelle Allen McIntire

Your Staccato Ways (2014)
1. Couplets
2. Flatland
3. Little Womb
4. Hotel Minor
5. Takeoff

for female voice, flute, clarinet, trumpet, vibes, piano, violin, viola, cello; text by Karen Schoemer; 14 minutes

Street Music (2009)
for clarinet, tenor sax, drum(s), voice, violin, cello; 4 minutes

The Stream (Admonitions) (1987)
for female voice, vibraphone, and four percussionists; text by Henry David Thoreau; 7 minutes

Cherokee Songs (1983)
for soprano and percussion; 12 minutes

Oil Man (1981)
for 2 flutes, clarinet, piano, drums; text by Kyle Gann from letters by Marvin Gann

Song of Acceptance (1980)
for three female voices, flute, French horn, trombone, tuba, celeste, two violins, and cello; length indeterminate; texts from Lao-Tzu, Walt Whitman, and Ecclesiastes

Satie (1975)
for female voice, violin, flute, harp, celesta; texts by Erik Satie

Other Chamber Music:

Trieste (2023)
for cello, vibraphone, piano; 19 minutes
Commissioned by House on Fire

Amateur California Prune-Picker (2022)
for Harry Partch instruments; 10 minutes

But Even So (2022)
for flute, clarinet, string quartet, and piano; 14 minutes

Lagniappe (2018)
1. One movement too many...
2. ...and another one thrown in
for Disklavier (computer-driven piano), Ondes Martenot, harp, vibraphone, and contrabass; 15 minutes
Commissioned by the Americas Society

Apparition (1999/2016)
for viola and piano (arrangement of third movement of the "Last Chance" Sonata); 8 minutes

Catskill Set (Songs without Words) (2013-14)
1. Rocks
2. In the Fields
3. The Pond
4. Roadside
5. Summer

for flute, clarinet, trumpet, vibes, piano, violin, viola, cello; 14 minutes

Sang Plato's Ghost (2013)
for flute, oboe, harp, percussion, accordion, viola, and bass; 11 minutes
Commissioned by the Ghost Ensemble

Romance Postmoderne (2012)
Version for two live pianists on electric pianos; 8 1/2 minutes

Scene from a Marriage (2010)
for viola and piano; 9 minutes
commissioned by Marka Gustavsson

Snake Dance No. 3 (2009-10)
for microtonal keyboards, four percussionists, and fretless bass; 11 minutes
commissioned by the Sam Houston State University Percussion Ensemble, John Lane, director

The Planets (Astrological Studies) (1994-2008)
Book I: Sun, Moon, Venus, Mars (1994)
Book II: Jupiter (2001), Mercury, Saturn (2008)
Book III: Uranus (2007), Neptune (2001), Pluto (2008)
for flute, oboe, alto saxophone, bassoon, synthesizer, percussion (tom-toms, cymbals, vibraphone), viola, and double bass (movements performable separately); 75 minutes
commissioned by the Relache Ensemble

Composure (2007-8)
for four electric guitars; 14 minutes
commissioned by Tim Brady

Kierkegaard, Walking (2007)
for flute, clarinet, violin, cello; 16 minutes
commissioned by the Seattle Chamber Players

Implausible Sketches (2006/2011)
1. The Desert's Too-Zen Song
2. Mediating Daydream
3. The Goodbye Fugue
4. Frigid Azure
5. Don't Touch My Pint
for piano, four hands; 32 minutes

The Day Revisited (2005)
for flute, clarinet, keyboard sampler, synthesizer, electric bass (microtonal, 27-tone just-intonation scale); 13 minutes

Minute Symphony (2004)
1. Passionate, with energy
2. Sustained, thoughtful
3. Jaunty
4. Exuberant
for flute, clarinet, violin, cello; 1 minute

New World Coming (2001)
for solo bassoon with flute (or oboe), violin (or viola), and piano; 6 1/2 minutes

Hovenweep (2000)
for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano; 11 minutes; commissioned by the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble

"Last Chance" Sonata (1999)
1. Flowers
2. Snake Dance
3. Apparition
4. Dance of Indeterminate Ethnicity
for clarinet and piano; 19 minutes

Arcana XVI: Homage to Joan Tower (Tuning Study No. 5) (1998)
for three synthesizers (24-tone scale); 7 minutes

Snake Dance No. 2 (1995)
for percussion quartet with optional sampling keyboard; 12 minutes

Snake Dance No. 1 (1991)
percussion quartet with optional keyboard sampler; 12 minutes

Chicago Spiral (1990-91)
for flute, clarinet, soprano saxophone (or three flutes), drums, violin, viola, cello, and synthesizer; 9 minutes

Cyclic Aphorisms (1988)
for violin and piano; three movements; 8 minutes

I'itoi Variations (1985)
for two pianos; 26 minutes

Hesapa ki Lakhota ki Thawapi ("The Black Hills Belong to the Sioux") (1984/9)
for flute, trumpet (or saxophone), synthesizer (or accordion), and drum; 9 minutes

Baptism (1983)
for two flutes, two drums, glockenspiel, and synthesizer; 12 minutes

Mountain Spirit (1982-83)
for two flutes, two drums, and synthesizer; 12 minutes

As the Day Is Long (1982)
for flute, synthesizer, drums, and computer tape; 13 minutes

To the Fount Be the Glory (1981; completed 2016)
for brass, woodwind, or string quartet; 3 minutes, or extendible (furniture music)

Long Night (1980-81)
for three pianos; ca. 22 minutes

Tempo Canon (1979)
for harp, piano, and harpsichord

Lord Thomas and Fair Annie (1978)
for alto flute, clarinet, viola, harpsichord, celesta

Siren (1978)
for five flutes

Untitled, 1977 (1977)
for two flutes, marimba, violin, contrabass

Solo Piano:

Nocturne No. 11: Managing Expectations (2023)
for piano; 7 minutes

Nocturne No. 10: The Eddying River (2023)
for piano; 6 1/2 minutes

Nocturne No. 9: Am Grab von Bruckner (2023)
for piano; 6 1/2 minutes

Nocturne No. 8: Homage to Clementi (2023)
for piano; 6 1/2 minutes

Nocturne No. 7: Night Sky (2023)
for piano; 7 minutes

Nocturne no. 6: Spectral Dance (2023)
for piano; 6 minutes

Nocturne No. 5: The Argument of Innocence (2023)
for piano; 6 minutes

Nocturne No. 4: Nora in the Night (2022)
for piano; 4 minutes

Trois Nocturnes Ambiants (2022)
- Collines de lavande (Lavender Hills)
- Souvenirs d'un tango (Memories of a Tango)
- Crepuscule sans fin (Twilight without End)
for piano; 22 minutes
commissioned by Francois Mardirossian

Inexact Tango (2022)
for piano; 4 minutes

Whispers (2020, in progress)
for retuned electronic keyboard; seven movements, 40 minutes (so far)

Surrealities (2012-13)
1. Axioms of the Wind
2. Deep Denial
3. Disaggregated Harmonies
4. Circling the Horizon
5. Unaccommodating Polka
6. Incommensurate Quantities
7. Mistimed Adieu

for three-octave toy piano or celesta; 17 minutes

Going to Bed (Homage to Philip Glass) (2012)
for piano; 6 minutes
Commissioned by Nicolas Horvath

Earth-Preserving Chant (2010)
for piano; 11 minutes
commissioned by Emanuel Arciuli

War Is Just a Racket (2008)
text by General Smedley Butler; for speaking pianist; 9 minutes
Commissioned by Sarah Cahill

On Reading Emerson (2006)
for piano; 8 minutes
Commissioned by Sarah Cahill

Triskaidekaphonia (Tuning Study No. 6) (2005)
for (electronically simulated) microtonal piano; 5 minutes

Private Dances (2000/4)
1. Sexy
2. Sad
3. Sentimental
4. Sultry
5. Saintly
6. Swingin'
for piano; 25 minutes
Commissioned by Sarah Cahill

Time Does Not Exist (2000)
for piano; 16 minutes

Desert Sonata (1994-95)
for piano; two movements; 19 minutes

Untitled Phase Study 1993 (1993)
for piano; 3 minutes

Paris Intermezzo (1989)
for toy piano; 6 1/2 minutes

The Convent at Tepoztlan (Homage to Nancarrow: Canon 23:24) (1989)
for piano and computer tape, or two pianos; 7 minutes

Sweeney Out West (Four Vacation Mishaps for Piano) (1986-88)
for piano
Straddled in the Sun
The Ocotillo's Message
Questionable Company (The Transformation Tango)
Satori Canyon

Windows on Infinity (1987)
for piano; 12 minutes

The Question Answer'd (1983)
for piano; 4 minutes

The Mercy of the Storm (1981)
for piano; 11 minutes

Other Solo Instrument:

Two Creatures (2015/18)
- Reticent Behemoth
- Affable Denizen

for quarter-tone accordion; 9 minutes
Commissioned by Veli Kujala

Summer Serenade (2014)
for organ; 15 minutes

Echoes of Nothing (Tuning Study No. 11) (2011)
I. Nothing
II. Something

for retuned virtual piano; 15 minutes
commissioned by Aron Kallay

New Aunts (Tuning Study No. 9) (2008)
for retuned keyboard sampler; 5 minutes

Olana (2007)
for vibraphone; 8 minutes
commissioned by Andrew Bliss

Fugitive Objects (Tuning Study No. 7) (2007)
for keyboard sampler in just intonation; five minutes

Laredo (1988)
for snare drum; five minutes

Dakota Moon (1982)
for clarinet

Desert Flowers (1979)
for flute

Works for Disklavier and other mechanical instruments:

Bedazzlation (2024)
for mechanical piano (Disklavier); 7 minutes

Consolatio Solitudinis (The Comfort of Solitude, 2021-22)
for computer-run piano; 12 1/2 minutes

Happy Ending (for David Garland) (2019)
for Disklavier (computer-driven piano); 5 minutes

Hyperchromatica (2012; 2015-17; 2020-21)
a collection of twenty-one pieces for three microtonally retuned, computer-run pianos; three hours and 23 minutes

Andromeda Memories (2016-17); 8 minutes

Futility Row (2015); 9 minutes

Orbital Resonance (2015); 11 1/2 minutes

Pavane for a Dead Planet (2016); 9 minutes

Star Dance (2015-16); 6 1/2 minutes

Ride the Cosmos (2016-17); 6 minutes

Dark Forces Signify (2016); 8 minutes

The Lessing is Miracle (2015-16); 9 1/2 minutes

Busted Grooves (2017); 7 minutes

Rings of Saturn (2016-17); 13 minutes

Pulsars (2017); 10 minutes

Delta Oracle (2020); 9 minutes

Neptune Night (2017); 14 minutes

Spacecat (2017); 4 1/2 minutes

Extravehicular Activity (2021); 9 minutes

Reverse Gravity (2016-17); 6 minutes

Romance Postmoderne (2012); 8 1/2 minutes

Geometry (2021); 17 minutes

2.7 Kelvin (2020); 12 1/2 minutes

Liquid Mechanisms (2016); 13 minutes

Galactic Jamboree (2015-16); 7 minutes

Unquiet Night (Mechanical Piano Study No. 10) (2004)
for Disklavier; 16 minutes

Petty Larceny (Mechanical Piano Study No. 9) (2003)
for Disklavier; 6 minutes

Imaginary Island (2003)
for nine computerized toy pianos; 2 minutes

Tango da Chiesa (Mechanical Piano Study No. 8) (2002)
for Disklavier; 6 minutes

Cosmic Boogie-Woogie (Mechanical Piano Study No. 7) (2000-2001)
for Disklavier; 8 minutes

Bud Ran Back Out (Mechanical Piano Study No. 6) (2001)
for Disklavier; 3 minutes

Texarkana (Mechanical Piano Study No. 5) (2000)
for Disklavier; 4 minutes

Folk Dance for Henry Cowell (Mechanical Piano Study No. 4) (1999)
for Disklavier; 2 minutes

Nude Rolling Down an Escalator (Mechanical Piano Study No. 3) (1997/99)
for Disklavier; 5 minutes

The Waiting (Mechanical Piano Study No. 2) (1997)
for mechanical piano (Disklavier); 7 minutes

Despotic Waltz (Mechanical Piano Study No. 1) (1997)
for mechanical piano (Disklavier); 2 minutes

Electronic Works:

Anaconda (2022)
for retuned electric keyboard; 17 minutes

The Insomnia of Lilacs (2018)
for virtual flutes, vibraphone, and piano (with 58 pitches/oct.); 31 minutes

Nursery Tunes for Weird Children (2012/15)
1. Down to the End of the Town
2. Up the Hill and Up Again
3. Tiger, Tiger, Turning Right
4. The Cracked Bells of St. Swithun's
5. Jack Ate a Blackbird

Virtual piano, 33 pitches/octave; 10 minutes

Mystic Chords (Rhythm Study) (2012)
for soundfile; 6 1/2 minutes

The Unnameable (2012)
for keyboard sampler and soundfile; 12 minutes

Nonexistent Landscape (2012)
for keyboard sampler and soundfile; 11 minutes

Solitaire (2009)
for retuned keyboard sampler and soundfile; 14 minutes

The Aardvarks' Parade (Triskaidekaphonia 2: Tuning Study No. 10) (2009)
for retuned keyboard sampler and soundfile; 10 minutes

Charing Cross (Tuning Study No. 8) (2007)
for keyboard sampler in just intonation, and soundfile; 8 minutes

How Miraculous Things Happen (Tuning Study No. 4) (1997)
for synthesizer (24-tone scale) and tape; 11 minutes

Fractured Paradise (Tuning Study No. 3) (1995)
for synthesizer (16-tone scale) and tape; 4 minutes

Homage to Cowell (Tuning Study No. 2) (1994)
for keyboard sampler (just-intonation scale); 5 minutes

So Many Little Dyings (1994)
for keyboard sampler; text (and sampled voice) by Kenneth Patchen; 6 minutes

Ghost Town (1994)
for synthesizer (seven-limit just-intonation scale) and computer tape; 10 minutes

Superparticular Woman (Tuning Study No. 1) (1992)
synthesizer (22-tone scale) and computer tape; 4 minutes

Canso (1981)
computer tape; 3 minutes

Songs:

Songs from Proença (2015/16)
- Be.m pac d'ivern - poem and melody by Peire Vidal (late 12th century)
- Na Audiart - poem by Ezra Pound
- Alba (En un vergier sotz fuella d'albespi) - anonymous medieval poem, translation by Ezra Pound
- Estat ai en greu cossirier - poem by the Comtessa de Dia (late 12th century)
- L'aura amara - poem by Arnaut Daniel (late 12th century), translation by Ezra Pound
- Near Perigord - poem by Ezra Pound (excerpted)
for alto voice and piano; 47 minutes

Et Faim Sallir les Loups des Boys (2015)
for male voice and piano; poem by Ezra Pound (1915); 2 minutes

Transcendentalist Songs (2014)
- Enosis+ - poem by Christopher Pearse Cranch
- To the Face Seen in the Moon+ - poem by Margaret Fuller
- The Rhodora* - poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson
- The Columbine* - poem by Jones Very
- Indeed, Indeed I Cannot Tell+ - poem by Henry David Thoreau
- The Garden - poem by Christopher Pearse Cranch
- Questionings (The Idealist)* - poem by Frederick Henry Hedge
for female+, male* voice, piano; 26 minutes

Your Staccato Ways (2013)
1. Couplets
2. Flatland
3. Little Womb
4. Hotel Minor
5. Takeoff

for female voice, piano; text by Karen Schoemer; 14 minutes

"Mr. Eliot's Sunday Morning Service" (1985/93)
female voice and piano; text by T. S. Eliot

"I Slept and Dreamed that Life was Beauty" (1991)
female voice and piano; text by Ellen Sturgis Hooper

"Faith" (1984)
for female voice and piano; text by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

"In the Busy Streets" (1983)
for female voice and piano; text by Henry David Thoreau

"The Hippopotamus" (1979)
for baritone and piano; text by T.S. Eliot

Arrangements/Transcriptions:

November, by Dennis Johnson (2007-9; the original 1959)
for piano, reconstructed from the improvisatory score and a partial recording

Children on the Hill, by Harold Budd (2008-9; the original 1982)
for piano, transcribed from a recording

Symphony No. 3, "The Camp Meeting," by Charles Ives (2000-1)
for piano

Wedding Day at Troldhaugen, by Edvard Grieg (1983)
for clarinet and string quartet



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