Ubi Caritas: for Vocal Trio, Piano, and Electric Guitar 

Music by Stephan Carlson
This Ubi Caritas comes out of work I did during my doctoral program, where I took a course on Counterpoint before 1600. The opening fugal materials are right out of an assignment I did for that course. The vocal materials throughout are rather reserved and somber, in the spirit of the sacred music of that day. The music for the other instruments, however, ranges from static and sparse to dense and animated, even brash at times. Their materials are rooted in more contemporary idioms.
I was interested in exploring the relationship between the voices and the other instruments, in creating a fluid relational dynamic between them in which moments of both cooperation and tension might seem to emerge organically from the whole. I was interested in the effect this might have on both the listeners sonic perception as well as their contemplation of the complexity of a spiritual experience.