COMPOSITIONS
" . . . music . . . wrenchingly touching . . . dazzlingly exciting . . . " Newhouse Newspapers
Woodwinds
Bird (sopranino sax)
Calling for Flute, Oboe and Piano
Concerto for Low Flute 8' 24" (piccolo, flute, alto flute, bass flute, contrabass flute) - Mvt. 1 - Agile Gigant; Mvt. 2 - Just Another Movie Love Song; Mvt. 3 - The Neverending Ending
Flute Loose in the Big Easy (flute choir) 3' 15"
Funk and Variations (flute choir) 3' 10"
Ruminations (contrabass clarinet)
My Contra Blues (duet for two low flutes) 4' 40"
Sauntering Down the Boulevard Duet (low flute and high flute) 4' 0""
Sauntering Down the Boulevard (flute choir)
Transfigurations for Flute Choir
Brass
Remembrances (ten brass instruments)
Solo for Trombone
Transformare for Horn Quartet 4' 14"
Transgressions and Permutations (double trombone quartet) 4' 0"" (selected by and performed at the International Trombone Festival 2019 in Muncie, Indiana)
Fanfare for a Floundering Nation - for trombone choir
Voice - Choral
Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep (SATB) (lyrics by by Mary Elizabeth Frye)
Reach for the Sky (SATB) (lyrics by Dale Johnson) 2' 50"
Walk Softly (SATB) (Shaker hymn - Anonymous) 3' 18"
When All the Laughter Dies in Sorrow (SATB) (lyrics by Kendrew Lascelles) 2' 25"
Voice - Solo
Birth is a Beginning (based on poem “Life is a Journey” by Rabbi Alvin Fine)
Mezzo Soprano - Donna Breitzer
Pianist - Mark Wagner
Epitaph (poem by Merrit Malloy); performed by Christian Mark Gibbs, pianist Mark Wagner
Bury Me in a Free Land (voice and jazz quartet) (lyrics by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper)
Home Sweet Home/God Bless Our Native Land (voice and jazz quartet) (lyrics by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper)
Lift Every Voice and Sing (voice and jazz quartet) (lyrics by James Weldon Johnson)
She Walks In Beauty - poem by George Gordon Byron (tenor and piano)
Written for this terrific singer, Christian Mark Gibbs. Mark Wagner is the accompanist.
Miracle of LIght - a new song about the deeper meaning of Chanukah. Sung by Cantor Ayelet Porzecanski.
The Measure of a Person (voice and piano or guitar) (lyrics by Anonymous) 2' 40"
Mezzo Soprano - Donna Breitzer
Guitarist - Kevin Sherwin
Silent Prayer (soprano and chamber ensemble) (lyrics by Anonymous)
Soliloquy (baritone and piano): Opening number for chamber opera The Cask of Amontillado (based on the short story by Edgar Allan Poe) 4’ 22”
Baritone is David Murray
Pianist is Mark Wagner
Thank God For Little Children (voice and jazz quartet) (lyrics by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper)
A Grain of Sand (voice and jazz quartet) (lyrics by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper)
Solo Instrument and Chamber Music
First Dance (piano and orchestra)
I Tend a Nomadic Fly (piano) 5' 36"
Suite for Two Clarinets, Piano, and Harp
Loss (woodwind quintet, piano, string quintet) 4' 28"
Pastorale for Piano, Clarinet, and Violin 3' 0''
Two Movements for Piano Trio (piano, violin, cello) - Mvt. 1 - Serenade 3' 32"; Mvt. 2 - I Promised You We'd Go Dancing 3' 3" - performed by members of the American Chamber Ensemble
Two Movements for Piano Trio - another interpretation performed by Ensemble 132.
Pavane for a Lost Love for Piano Trio - performed by Ensemble 132
Piece for Flute, Percussion and Tape
Salvation (string quartet) 6' 0"
String Symphony for Young Adults 4' 6"
We Can’t Find Our Bows Blues (Flute, Harp, Violin, Viola, Cello) 3’ 4”
Winter Solstice (chamber orchestra) 3' 46"
Woodwind Quintet - Mvt. 1 - Dusk 2' 42"; Mvt. 2 - Dancing in the Moonlight 5' 26"
World premiere performance of Woodwind Quintet by Laurence Dresner, commissioned
and performed by the Monmouth Winds at the NJ Flute Society concert, March 29, 2015
at the First Baptist Church in Westfield, NJ. Jenny Cline, flute; Nicholas Gatto, oboe;
Richard Grossman, clarinet; Richard Sachs, horn; Linda Balavram, bassoon
Cabaret & Theatre Songs
" . . . upbeat dance numbers and songs of dreams for the future . . . " The Villager
" . . . big Broadway sound with a catchy insistent rhythm . . . a now sound . . . " Back Stage
(unless otherwise indicated, lyrics are by me)
Ask Me No Questions, I'll Tell You No Lies (lyrics by Dale Johnson)
A Little Place Called Earth
Contest Degenerate
Do You Still Think of Me?
Early Autumn (lyrics by Eben Keyes)
Fantasies I and II (lyrics by Roberto Monticello and Laurence Dresner)
I Won't Give Him My Tears
I Won't Live Without His Love (Duet) (lyrics by Dale Johnson)
If I Could Paint Our Love (Duet) (lyrics by Dale Johnson)
I'm Not Really Dressed Without A Man (lyrics by Nelson Jewell)
It Will All Work Out (lyrics by Nelson Jewell)
I’ve Been Through That Town Before
Mistakenly Taken (lyrics by Allen Dion) - performed by Christian Mark Gibbs; pianist Mark Wagner
Monsters Beneath My Bed
Lyrics and Music by Laurence Dresner; performed by Stephany Goulart
No More Tears
Something's Not Right
There Won't Be Any Band (lyrics by Eben Keyes)
To Have Had A Son (lyrics by Allen Dion)
Where Do We Go From Here?
Scores are available from Alry Publications, Scorevivo, Subito Music Corp., and Laurence Dresner.