Reginald Bain, Music

Featured Compositions

Selected compositions with program notes and links to online recordings

I dream of instruments obedient to my thought
and which with their contribution of a whole new world of unsuspected sounds,
will lend themselves to the exigencies of my inner rhythm.
— Edgard Varèse

When Particles Collide, (2026), for fixed media {Notes}

I. Cloud Chamber
II. Quantum Noise
III. String Theory
IV. Time Warp
V. Radiant Energy

Lift Up Your Eyes (2024), for SATB chorus and fixed media {Notes}

Melancholia (2024), for fixed media {Notes}

Genetic Variations (2022), for fixed media {Notes}

I. SINEs
II. Transposable Elements
III. Microsatellite
IV. Chain

Erasure (2021), for flute, bassoon, violin and cello

Double Helix (2019), for fixed media {Notes}

I. Major Groove
II. Biological Clocks
III. Seed{YouTube}
IV. Minor Groove

Totality (2017), for bassoon and piano {Notes; Apple Music | Spotify | Naxos}

I. Shadow
II. Bite - Baily's Beads - Diamond Ring
III. Corona
IV. Reappearance

Constellation (2015), for flute and interactive electronics {Notes}

Images (2014), for oboe and piano {Notes}

I. Chaconne
II. Partita
III. Canon
IV. Aria

Stained Glass (2014), for vibraphone and interactive electronics {Note}

Harmony (2013), for solo piano {Note}

I. Tetrahedron
II. Array
III. Permutation
IV. Imaginary Number

Iteration (2012), for alto saxophone, marimba and fixed media {Note; Spotify}

Frieze (2011), for cello and piano {Note}

I. Molecular Presentation
II. Mosaic
III. Constructed Resonance
IV. Identify
V. Lattice

Dark Energy (2011), for viola quartet {Note}

A Mathematical Offering (2010), for oboe and bassoon {Note}

I. Minimal Perterbation
II. The Stepping Stone Analogy
III. Cube Dance
IV. Partitions
V. Strange Loops
VI. Waterfall
VII. Hyper-Hexatonic Blues
VIII. Splitting and Fusing
IX. Ascending and Descending
X. Ladder Canon

Pi Day (2009), for fixed media {Note; YouTube | Spotify | Naxos}

Tiling (2009), for viola and piano {Note}

Chaos Game (for Nancarrow) (2009), for fixed media {Note; YouTube | Spotify | Naxos}

When Inspiration Came (2009), for fixed media {Note; You Tube | Spotify | Naxos}

Jovian Images (2008), for soprano saxophone and interactive electronics {Note; YouTube | Spotify}

Luminescent (2007), for alto saxophone and marimba {Note; Spotify}

The Music of the Primes (2006), for fixed media {Note; YouTube | Spotify | Naxos}

When I Consider the Heavens (2005), for SSATTB chorus and electronic sound {Note} - *

Illuminations (2005), for alto saxophone and piano {Note; Spotify}

May the Angels Take You Into Paradise (2004), for assembly, solo voice, liturgical choir and piano

Strange Attractors & Logarithmic Spirals (2001), for fixed media {Note; YouTube | Spotify | Naxos}

God Does Not Play Dice (1998), for fixed media {Notes; Naxos}

I. The Uncertainty Principle {YouTube; Spotify}
II. Schrodinger's Cat {YouTube; Spotify}
III. Sum Over Histories {YouTube; Spotify}

Two Voyagers (1998) for soprano voice, alto voice and piano
on two poems by Emily Dickinson

The Language of the Angels (1996), for fixed media {Notes; Naxos}

I. Whether one angel talks to another {Spotify}
II. Whether a lower angel speaks to a higher one {Spotify}
III. Whether an angel talks to God {Spotify}
IV. Whether distance has an effect on the angels' speech &
Whether all the angels know what one says to another {Spotify}

The Butterfly Effect (1994), for fixed media {Note; YouTube | Spotify | Naxos}

Piano Variations (1993), for solo piano

Not Speaking (1993, rev. 2004), for soprano saxophone, alto saxophone and vibraphone {Note} - *

Is/Ought (1991), for trumpet ensemble

In the Presence of Angels (1989), for soprano voice and piano
Text: Psalm 138 adapted by Reginald F. Bain, Sr.

Mirrors in the Mind (1988), for fixed media {Note}

Retreat from Quiescence (1986, rev. 2014), for fixed media {Note}

- A full-length recording of a live performance is available

* - A brief excerpt from a live performance is available

Performance rights management by BMI

* * *

Contact the composer at rbain at mozart dot sc dot edu.

A Spotify user account is required to listen to tracks on Spotify.

A USC network login account is required to listen to tracks on Naxos.