Thomas L. Read

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Thomas L. Read

The Composer's Home Page
Commentary on Corrente in RealAudio3 format, 1:02/123K. (RA2/14.4 version)
RealAudio version of Conclusion of Corrente for winds, 1:04/65K
TrueSpeech version of Conclusion of Corrente, 67K.
MPEG-2 version of Conclusion of Corrente, 1:04/252K
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Thomas L. Read, composer and violinist, was born in 1938 in Erie, Pennsylvania. He studied violin, theory and conducting at the Oberlin, New England, Mozartium and Peabody Conservatories with such noted musicians as Andor Toth, Daniel Majewski, Leon Fleisher, Benjamin Lees, F. Judd Cooke, and Bernhard Paumgartner. As a violinist, he has been a member of the Baltimore Symphony, Boston Festival Arts Orchestra, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, and the Saratoga Festival of Baroque Music. He is now Professor of Music at the University of Vermont and continues to appear as violin soloist, conductor and clinician.

Read has composed over ninety works for small ensembles as well as for full orchestra, chorus and musical theater. His music is published by C.F. Peters Corp. and by the American Composers Alliance. Most of the works in his catalogue were written for specific occasions or on commission from solo performers and ensembles such as Michael Arnowitt, David Cowley, Pam Guidetti, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Raphael Piano Trio, Royall Tyler Theatre, Bertram Turetzky, the Vermont Symphony, and the Burlington Friends of Music. Active in national and local music organizations, he is a member of the Vermont Composers Consortium, BMI, ACA, and has served as an officer in the American Society of Composers.

Representative musical compositions:

• Solo Music for Clarinet (1984), 16 minutes. C.F. Peters No. 67286. Three movements; employs multiphonics.
• Suite for Solo Violin (1985), 17 minutes. C.F. Peters No. 67258. Serenade; Caprice di canon 1; Moto perpetuo; Caprice di canon 2; Arabesques.
• Corrente for oboe clarinet, bassoon (1980), 12 minutes. C.F. Peters No. 66967. "Read displays a keen understanding of woodwind instruments in his Corrente... has his own distinctive voice." (MLA Notes).
• Piano Music Vol. II (1981), 26 minutes. ACA. 7 pieces; Nos. 3, 4 and 7 recorded by Michael Arnowitt, Ursa Minor Records.
• Meet These People for four tubas (1987), 7 minutes. ACA.
• Light After Light for clarinet, violin, cello and piano (1990), 29 minutes. ACA. Recording VCME Records, VCME 001. Kalvos's Top 100
• Piano Trios 2, 3 4 (1994), 36 minutes approximately. Available from the composer.
• Through the White Door (1992), 14 minutes. Six lyric reflections for mezzo soprano, clarinet, violin, cello. Text: Gerhard Dorn and William Blake.
• Adventura, symphony orchestra (1985), 16 minutes. ACA. Expressive ambiguities inherent in a multi-dimensional form.
• Symphonic Episodes, symphony orchestra (1984), 9 minutes. ACA. "...highlight was the premiere of Symphonic Episodes... a first rate soundscape..." (Donoghue, Burlington Free Press).

To reach the composer: [email protected], telephone 802-862-3650
By physical mail: 32 Cliff Street, Burlington, Vermont 05401