Rube Goldberg Variations (Bridge Records, 2018)

Rube Goldberg Variations Cover

Rube Goldberg Variations contains three chamber pieces from 2014: "I Cannot Follow" for tenor saxophone, electric guitar, percussion and piano; "Rube Goldberg Variations" for Brass Quintet and prepared piano, and "S Sensation Something" for piano quintet. The three pieces are linked by the sound of the piano, which is set in very different sonic contexts over the course of the album. The music is tonal and eclectic, aiming to be accessible and cerebral at the same time.

The music has been described as "foot tapping," "sassy," the product of "an intriguing musical voice that should interest anyone in search of a new auditory experience" (Limelight), "whimsical," "ingenious," and with a "rich emotional arc" produced by a "warmth of personality that is distinctive" (SFGate).

I Cannot Follow (2014), performed by Flexible Music

  1. Structures of Loss
  2. Respite
  3. I cannot follow
Rube Goldberg Variations (2014), performed by the Atlantic Brass Quintet with John Blacklow
  1. To a Leaf
  2. Stravinsky Fountain
  3. Homage
  4. Father Makes the World
S Sensation Something (2014), performed by the Amernet Quartet with Matt Bengtson

Flexible Music
Timothy Ruedeman - saxophone
Daniel Lippel - guitar
Haruka Fujii - percussion
Yegor Shevtsov - piano

Atlantic Brass Quintet with John Blacklow
Tom Bergeron - Trumpet
Andrew Sorg - Trumpet
Seth Orgel - French Horn
Tim Albright - Trombone
John Manning - Tuba
John Blacklow - Piano

Amernet String Quartet with Matthew Bengtson
Misha Vitenson - Violin
Marcia Littley de Arias - Violin
Michael Klotz - Viola
Jason Calloway - Cello
Matthew Bengtson - Piano

Recorded by Andrés Villalta at Taplin Auditorium, Princeton University
Mixed by Andrés Villalta and Dan Nichols
Mastered by Charlie Pilzer at Airshow Mastering

This recording was made possible in part from the Barr Ferree Foundation Fund for Publications, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University.

Available from Amazon & iTunes.

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About Me

Dmitri Tymoczko (b. 1969, Cambridge, Massachusetts) is a composer and music theorist who teaches at Princeton University. His book A Geometry of Music (Oxford) has been described as "a tour de force" (The Times Literary Supplement), a "monumental achievement" (Music Theory Online), and, potentially, a modern analogue to Schoenberg's Harmonielehre (The Musical Times). His first three CDs, Beat Therapy ("far reaching yet utterly entertaining," Newmusicbox), Crackpot Hymnal ("ebullient ... polystylistic ... kinetic ... vividly orchestrated and vibrantly paced," Sequenza21), and and Rube Goldberg Variations ("foot tapping," "sassy," Limelight), are available from Bridge Records. A fourth, Fools and Angels is available from New Focus.