I’ve been fortunate to have my pieces played by some terrific ensembles and musicians, such as the Quintet of the Americas, the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, the American Wild Ensemble, pianist Ian Hobson, pianist Margaret Kampmeier, violist Rudolf Haken, cellist Scott Kluksdahl, cellist Mimi Hwang, and hornist Peter Kurau.

My music is very much grounded in the “common practice”—classical and Romantic music. At the same time, it’s nothing that an 18th- or 19th-century composer could have written. Popular music has been a huge influence—rock rhythms and chord progressions. And there are bits of West African rhythm, neo-classicism, and things that I think (I hope) you won’t have heard anywhere.

Just as my chamber music is influenced by popular music, my songs are classically-influenced pop: The two come together. Some people say my songs sound like musical theater; this wasn’t my intent, but I think there’s some truth to it.

People sometimes ask whether my composing is influenced by my music theory/cognition research, or vice versa. In my conscious thought, they’re very separate: my composing is very intuitive—really a kind of controlled improvising—not at all “theory-driven.” But I’m sure they do influence each other. Sometimes when I’m thinking about a musical idea—say, a harmonic progression or melodic pattern—in my research work, I find it turning up in my compositions. Or perhaps I’ll find it in something I composed many years earlier.

All music and lyrics are © David Temperley. Some scores and parts are posted here; others are available on request.

My Violin Sonata No. 3 was written in 2017. It was performed at Eastman’s Washington Square Concert Series in October of that year, featuring Soo Yeon Kim, a terrific Eastman DMA student, on violin, and me on piano.

The piece is in three movements. The first piece mixes major and minor—from the very first measures—giving it a sort of bittersweet quality. The second movement is a theme and variations, with rather a dark, somber mood. The third movement is more lively.

Score | Violin Part

I started this piano duet sonata (one piano, two pianists) way back in the 1990s and completed it in 2017. I first played it (or parts of it) with my father, Nicholas Temperley, who passed away in 2020. More recently, I’ve been playing it with my dear wife, Maya Temperley. The recording here is of me (primo) and Maya (secondo). We performed the second movement in 2020 on WXXI as part of their Homestage series (see video). (Score: sonata-for-piano-duet)

My Sonata for Viola and Piano (2015) was premiered by me and Rudolf Haken at two concerts in October 2018, first at the University of Illinois and then at Eastman School of Music. Rudolf played it on a five-string viola, but it is written for a conventional four-string viola.

At one point in the first movement, the piano goes off by itself in what seems to be a completely unrelated direction. In the middle of this, the viola comes in with the main theme—and the piano has to find its way back into the piece.

The score and viola part can be downloaded here:  vapson-score  vapson-viola-part

A video of the Eastman performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSMQqvqfRus

My second woodwind quintet was performed at a Society for Chamber Music in Rochester concert in February 2022 by members of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Eastman faculty: Hayley Grainger (flute), Erik Behr (oboe), Michael Wayne (clarinet), George Sakakeeny (bassoon), and W. Peter Kurau (horn). The piece is in three movements. A link to the score and parts is below.

Woodwind_Quintet_No2_Score_and_Parts