Original Compositions by Michael Kimbell, DMA

Ricercar for 3 trumpets, 2 horns, 2 trombones and tuba

Fantasia for Two Clarinets

Five short, witty pieces for advanced players. “The five short duets were quick-witted and imagistic, partners chasing and tripping each other with sharp trills and nymphic panpipes.” — Adam Broner

Commissioned by the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble (6 min)

Variations on Springfield Mountain for Flute and Piano, 1993

“On Springfield Mountain there did dwell / A lovely youth, I knew him well-eye-ell.”

These lively variations, based on one of America’s oldest folk songs, retell the story of the young couple who die of snake poison; an ironic twist is given to the ending.

The harp parts in both versions are identical.

Purchase Either Version from:

The Hot Iron, Opera in One Act for Three Singers (SAB) and Piano

Short chamber opera in one scene for three singers and piano;

Libretto by Ross Halper, based on the German play by Hans Sachs.

First performance 11 April 1997 at the Cinnabar Opera Theater, Petaluma, CA:

Kamala Stroup (Wife)

Rosalee Szabo (Auntie)

John Rose (Husband)

Elizabeth Lee (Pianist)

Arcadian Symphony, 1997

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1) Overture

2) Scherzo

3) Variations

4) Gavotte

5) Tarantella

The title Arcadian Symphony refers to that mysterious and rustic paradise, the idyllic classical haunt of poets and musicians where past and future intersect. Accordingly, the symphony uses formal, harmonic and contrapuntal gestures from classical and romantic suites and symphonies and juxtaposes them with a modern sensibility and idiom. The work is in five movements: a central slow Theme and Variations is flanked by two dance-like intermezzi (Scherzo and Gavotte), while the atmospheric Overture and energetic Tarantella frame the Arcadian scene. The music explores the tensions between light and shadow, playfulness and seriousness, fantasy and taut structure. At the same time the work is a contemporary response and reflection on the works of Carl Reinecke (1824-1910), particularly his evocations of fairy tales.

Arcadian Symphony was awarded First Prize by the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra in 1998.

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Pavan — Aria — Fantasia  (played without pause)

The Pavan and Fantasia are based on melodies by John Dowland (1563-1626).

Lacrimae Symphony was premiered in 2023 by the Golden Gate Symphony Orchestra.

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Rondino Capriccioso (a “small capricious rondo”) was composed in October 2001 and premiered by the CMC Orchestra at the end of that year. This short piece is a tongue-in-cheek quodlibet or assembly of popular tunes that are interwoven throughout its entirety. Most of the melodies can be found in Carl Reinecke’s Musical Kindergarten, an 1890 anthology of short pieces and arrangements for beginning pianists. The primary theme is based on a Turkish march written by the deposed Sultan Mustafa V for his younger brother, the notorious Abdul Hamid II “The Red”. Other tunes that flit in and out of the texture include Haydn’s tune Austria and Home, Sweet Home; the latter is superimposed on the Dies Irae.

Incantation (Desert Landscape)—Countdown/Voyage/Landing—

Exploration (Mars Rover Fugue)—Vision 1: Gardens—

Vision 2: Romance—Vision 3: Destruction—Epilogue

Taklamakán, which means “You go in, you don’t come out,” is the name of the great central Asian desert in Xinjiang (Sinkiang or Chinese Turkestan, north of Tibet). Oasis-cities, many now half-buried in the sand, once lined the fabled “Silk Road” caravan routes along the mountain perimeters of the desert. Throughout central Asia, archaeologists have painstakingly recovered the remains of “lost” civilisations, their languages and ways of life; sadly, many artifacts have been plundered or destroyed in recent wars, not only in central Asia but in Europe, where “rescued” art was bombed. The exploration of other planets arouses in us similar feelings of mystery: the wonder of discovery, along with intimations of the impermanence of natural conditions which might foster life, as well as the fragility inherent in both the means and the results of discovery.

See Time Does Not Move Above

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(also in a version for Eb clarinet, bassoon and piano)

See Rondino Scherzando Above

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Version A: 2(pic)2(EH)22 2130 2perc str

Version B: 2(pic)1(EH)13(Cbsn) 1110 2perc str

Michael Kimbell’s Golden Gate Barcarolle is a tone poem, celebrating the name of the Golden Gate Symphony Orchestra, that paints a musical picture of the Golden Gate. Over a gentle, rhythmic ocean swell (hence the piece’s title), the music suggests fog and mist, rocks and cliffs, hills and clouds, the great bridge and the city lights beyond. Individual instruments and sections of the orchestra are showcased throughout.

Fantasy Sonata

See Poème for Flute or Violin & Harp, 2011

See Three Sonnets from the Portuguese

1) When our two souls stand up erect and strong

2) I lived with visions for my company

3) Beloved, thou hast brought me many flowers

1) Auf eine Lampe (Eduard Mörike)

2) Abendständchen (Clemens Brentano)

3) Mondnacht (Josef von Eichendorff)

Three 19th century American songs with new piano accompaniments

1) The Spinning Wheel (traditional, reworked into a dramatic art song excerpt

2) America, Commerce and Freedom (sailor’s song by Alexander Reinagle)

3) Do They Think of Me at Home (Charles W. Glover & J.E. Carpenter)

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Version for tenor and piano, 2005

Six Lieder in the tradition of Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss; poems by the great German satirist and cartoonist Wilhelm Busch (1832-1908). Lyrical vignettes and ironic musings on life, love, loss, resignation and reconciliation. Optional English singing translations by Edith & Michael Kimbell.

1) Es sitzt ein Vogel auf dem Leim

2) Seid mir nur nicht gar so traurig

3) Es flog einmal ein muntres Fliegel

4) Ferne Berge seh’ ich glühen

5) Sie war ein Blümlein hübsch und fein

6) O du, die mir die Liebste war