Welcome to composer Matt Greene’s blog

Hello all,
I uploaded Topless the original version- it’s for cello and piano, and it will be alot more managable on the piano for some of you. As new chamber music is often difficult to perform the way the composer intended, I uploaded the entire piece as mp3, this might also help anyone learning the solo piano version as well. It is a romantic early 20th c. style piece and should be performed in a way somewhat close to that period.
I also put the individual part for the cellist who might want something to read. More chamber music to come…!

Topless Pdf

Topless-cello part

Topless Tango (cello-piano version) [MP3] 7.7MB

I thought I would upload a choir piece of mine. “Uguisu” is for Soprano, alto and piano. It may be sung with just two people or a full choir. It runs about 3 minutes and is not too difficult for young singers so it is very programmable. The text is in Japanese (from a Hitomaro poem) but the translation is something like this:
In the empty mountains
the leaves of the bamboo grass
Rustle in the wind.
I think of a girl
Who is not here.
In the Autumn mountains
The colored leaves are falling.
If I could hold them back,
I could still see her.
Gossip grows like weeds
In a summer meadow.
My girl and I
sleep arm in arm.

Uguisu-mp3

Uguisu-pdf

Here is another intermediate level piece that I thought I’d share. It is a good exercise in holding longer note values with your pinky and playing shorter quarter and eighth notes with the other fingers.

Song in F# minor pdf

F# minor mp3

You can also see me play some of these excerpts on youtube.
Here is the exposition to the g minor sonata:

Here is an intermediate piece that I always liked. It’s part of a sequence of Japanese preludes. This is the third. I plan on uploading many more for my students who like to play these shorter pieces. Also for those of you who find any notational errors in any scores PLEASE e-mail me! I will be happy to fix them, as I do not have an assembly line of people to proof read I will occassionally miss something.

Japan Prelude 3 [PDF] (63.8 KB)

Japan Prelude [MP3] (1.46 MB)

This one is based on the Tango except it has got a lot of romantic and classical influence to it. The middle section is more like Ravel or Debussy…very dreamy. It runs about 6 minutes.

PDF file

Topless Tango [MP3] (619 KB)

This piece is basically a sonata of the classical period. It follows in the footsteps of Mozart Beethoven and Haydn with a few 20th century additions. It is about 5 minutes.

g minor sonata pdf

Sonata (g minor) [MP3] (657 KB)

I wrote this piece after coming back from Japan. It is an imitation of the snow falling, coming and going with beauty-the clip says it all. It is between 2-3 minutes.

Snow [PDF] (130 KB)

Snow [MP3] (513 KB)

This piece is based on the 20th c ideas of Prokofiev and Bartok. It is somewhat percussive but at the same time uses a lot of Jazz rhythms as well. It is full of ii V I progressions and uses Jazz voicings all over the place. This one is between 4 and 5 minutes.

asdf pdf

asdf [MP3] (457 KB)