Tim Risher
Encyclopedia
Tim Risher is an American composer, trombonist, and pianist. Risher received his B.A. in Music at the University of Central Florida
and his M.M. in music composition from Florida State University
. While living in Tallahassee, Florida, Risher was a member of the new music ensembles Paragaté and Tallahassee Camerata.
Risher's output is typically tonal, with primary influences being minimal music
, American and Brazilian popular musics, early music, and American shape note
hymnody. Most works feature the use of conventional harmony, with great clarity of individual melodic lines. Risher's works transcend the superficiality
of much popular music, however, in their frequent use of complex canonic and polyphonic structures and additive rhythms.
Risher composes prolifically for ensembles ranging from concert band to Chinese traditional instrumental ensemble. He has also composed works for electronic media and incidental music for theatrical works. His most significant output, however, comprises works for brass instruments (a preference likely shaped by his experience as a trombonist) and for early (Medieval
, Renaissance
, and Baroque
) instrument ensembles.
Risher's works for early instruments have been commissioned by a number of major ensembles, including Palladian Ensemble, Baroque Northwest, Tintagel, and Trio Dolce. Although his works for early instruments are clearly composed from a twentieth (or twenty-first) century point of reference, Risher's writing for such instruments is surprisingly idiomatic, showing his great familiarity with early instruments and genres. Among Risher's favorite forms for such works are the ground bass and chaconne
.
His music has been released on the Index, PhonoStatic, and Discus record labels and his scores are published by Wehr's Music House.
Risher lived in Hamburg
, Germany
between the years of 1995 and 2005, and now lives in North Carolina
.
University of Central Florida
The University of Central Florida, commonly referred to as UCF, is a metropolitan public research university located in Orlando, Florida, United States...
and his M.M. in music composition from Florida State University
Florida State University
The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...
. While living in Tallahassee, Florida, Risher was a member of the new music ensembles Paragaté and Tallahassee Camerata.
Risher's output is typically tonal, with primary influences being minimal music
Minimalist music
Minimal music is a style of music associated with the work of American composers La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass. It originated in the New York Downtown scene of the 1960s and was initially viewed as a form of experimental music called the New York Hypnotic School....
, American and Brazilian popular musics, early music, and American shape note
Shape note
Shape notes are a music notation designed to facilitate congregational and community singing. The notation, introduced in 1801, became a popular teaching device in American singing schools...
hymnody. Most works feature the use of conventional harmony, with great clarity of individual melodic lines. Risher's works transcend the superficiality
Superficiality
'The principle of superficiality versus depth' has pervaded Western culture since at least the time of Plato: 'the dialectic of truth and appearance,' as the surface image of the latter 'competes with what Plato designates for us beyond appearance as being the Idea'.21stC urban parlance speaks of...
of much popular music, however, in their frequent use of complex canonic and polyphonic structures and additive rhythms.
Risher composes prolifically for ensembles ranging from concert band to Chinese traditional instrumental ensemble. He has also composed works for electronic media and incidental music for theatrical works. His most significant output, however, comprises works for brass instruments (a preference likely shaped by his experience as a trombonist) and for early (Medieval
Medieval music
Medieval music is Western music written during the Middle Ages. This era begins with the fall of the Roman Empire and ends sometime in the early fifteenth century...
, Renaissance
Renaissance music
Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance. Defining the beginning of the musical era is difficult, given that its defining characteristics were adopted only gradually; musicologists have placed its beginnings from as early as 1300 to as late as the 1470s.Literally meaning...
, and Baroque
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
) instrument ensembles.
Risher's works for early instruments have been commissioned by a number of major ensembles, including Palladian Ensemble, Baroque Northwest, Tintagel, and Trio Dolce. Although his works for early instruments are clearly composed from a twentieth (or twenty-first) century point of reference, Risher's writing for such instruments is surprisingly idiomatic, showing his great familiarity with early instruments and genres. Among Risher's favorite forms for such works are the ground bass and chaconne
Chaconne
A chaconne ; is a type of musical composition popular in the baroque era when it was much used as a vehicle for variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short repetitive bass-line which offered a compositional outline for variation, decoration, figuration and...
.
His music has been released on the Index, PhonoStatic, and Discus record labels and his scores are published by Wehr's Music House.
Risher lived in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
between the years of 1995 and 2005, and now lives in North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
.
Selected works
- 1978 - BIMAL, clarinet
- 1978 - 3 Songs for tenor voice and guitar
- c. 1978 - Flute Sonata, flute and piano
- c. 1978 - Tantamount, flute and guitar
- c. 1978 - Psalm 67, choir (SATB) and organ
- 1979 - Drinking Song of the Tomb, solo tenor and choir (SATB)
- c. 1980 - Folias, guitar and orchestra
- 1981 - Stylized Dances, flute and guitar
- 1981 - Second Grownde, string orchestra
- 1982 - Fill the Boll, Butler, choir (SATB)
- 1984 - Two Meditations, 12 trombones and 3 percussion
- 1985 - First Grownde, double string orchestra
- c. 1985 - Way Beyond the Looking Glass, piano
- 1986 - Upon Ut La, alto saxophone and piano
- 1987 - Nuclear Meltdown, electric guitar
- 1987 - Jerusalem, guitar and cello
- 1989 - My Way Is, baritone and cello
- 1990 - Broken Motet, baritone, oboe, English horn, and 2 bassoons
- 1990 - Private Music II, 2 pianos
- 1992-93 - Words and Deeds, oboe, string quartet
- 1993 - Kleine Stücke und große Dinge, flute, oboe, clarinet, alto saxophone, piano, electric bass guitar, and drum set
- 1994 - Ein Stern fiel in meinen Schoß, wind septet (flute, oboe, clarinet, trumpet, horn, trombone, and tuba)
- 1995 - Elysian, shengSheng (instrument)The Chinese sheng is a mouth-blown free reed instrument consisting of vertical pipes.Traditionally, the sheng has been used as an accompaniment instrument for solo suona or dizi performances. It is one of the main instruments in kunqu and some other forms of Chinese opera...
(Chinese mouth organ), 2 electric guitars, electric bass guitar, 2 pianos, and percussion - 1996 - Over and Under, early music quartet (baroque violinBaroque violinA baroque violin is, in common usage, any violin whose neck, fingerboard, bridge, and tailpiece are of the type used during the baroque period. Such an instrument may be an original built during the baroque and never changed to modern form; or a modern replica built as a baroque violin; or an...
, alto recorder, baroque guitarBaroque guitarThe Baroque guitar is a guitar from the baroque era , an ancestor of the modern classical guitar. The term is also used for modern instruments made in the same style....
, and bass viola da gambaViolThe viol is any one of a family of bowed, fretted and stringed musical instruments developed in the mid-late 15th century and used primarily in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The family is related to and descends primarily from the Renaissance vihuela, a plucked instrument that preceded the...
) - 1997 - Music from Nowhere, dizi (Chinese bamboo flute), sheng (Chinese mouth organ)
- 1997 - Sermon, solo voices, choir (SATB), and organ
- 2002 - Festina Lente, oboe, alto flute/bass flute, piano, synthesizer, viola, electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and darabukhaGoblet drumThe goblet drum is a hand drum with a goblet shape used mostly in the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe....
- 2004-05 - Preludes and Postludes, solo piano
- 2005 - Southern Harmony, wind band
- 2006 - Exultation, double a cappella choir
- 2006 - Gaudete, choir (SATB), string ensenble, woodwind quintet)
External links
- Tim Risher official site
- Reflection Field (Tim Risher blog)
- Next Contact (other Tim Risher blog)