Dmitri Shostakovich, Christopher Rouse, Ludwig van Beethoven, Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, John Corigliano, Edvard Grieg, Johann Sebastian Bach, Alexander Grechaninov, Sergei Rachmaninov, Sergei Prokofiev, John Adams, Paul Creston, John Luther Adams, Hugo Wolf, Charles Ives, William Byrd, John Harbison, Sir William Walton, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Robert Schumann, Claude Debussy, Nikolai Kapustin, Gustav Mahler, Franz Schubert, Maurice Ravel, Johannes Ockeghem, Guillaume Dufay, Rick Sowash
Welcome to Stephen Estep's Classical Music MySpace /////////
Stephen Estep can be contacted at STOPgrinninglion@hotmail.comSPAM. Remove STOP and SPAM, of course.
I'm a pretty darn obscure classical composer, living in Xenia, Ohio, which is enough in itself to
account for the obscurity. I have a Bachelor's of Fine Arts in Piano Performance from Cedarville
University (1997), and a mostly-done Master's of Music in the same from Miami University. I've been
composing off and on since I was about 13. I studied composition privately at Miami with Dr C James
Sheppard and Dr G Roger Davis. Other than that, I'm mostly self-taught, which may also account for my
obscurity.
I hadn't composed anything since 2001, but my friend Matthew Walton asked me to write a piece for
his Master's recital at Wright State University in the fall of 2007. So,
"An Horror of Great Darkness" was written. I recently decided that "Horror" needed companion pieces, so it will be the center of my Abraham Triptych, along with "Between Bethel and Hai" and "God Hath Made Me to Laugh". Other projects include a possible Godless Killing Machines for tuba and piano...we'll see.
If you're interested in commissioning a piece, by all means, contact me. I'm more inclined to
compose when I have a deadline and somebody to write for.
Thanks for the listens, and be sure to add me as a friend.
Photos /////////
Music /////////
Eleventh Hour - score available
Eleventh Hour is the third movement of my Sonata for Clarinet in A and Piano, Technical Difficulties.
The sonata started life in 1994 as a theme and variations project, then morphed into a pretty lousy piano sonata in 1998. I
rewrote it as a clarinet sonata in 1999 and 2000. The entire piece was premiered at Rice University in February, 2001,
with Patrick Hanudel on clarinet and myself on the piano. This recording was made in 2000, before Patrick left Ohio to
become the principal clarinet of the Tuscon Symphony Orchestra.
Eleventh Hour is the result of listening to too much Klezmer and Eastern European folk music (specifically Bulgarian)
as a teenager.
For My Sister Shura
This is from a set of four songs for soprano and viola, on texts of Russian poet Sergei Yesenin, who drank himself to
death in 1922. The songs have the most emotional depth of anything I've written so far. Once again, they're in need of
a better performance. I also have to see about copyright clearance from the publishers before I can make the score
available. One more project for this summer....
The Ass and the Flute
The second of what is currently known as 3 Songs without Good Words, for soprano, clarinet and piano.
The first song in the set needs taken out and shot, because there will
soon be a much better replacement for it. The performance isn't that great - the soprano had a lot of trouble with the
rhythm. But, alas, this is the only recording I have. It really could use a better performance, hint hint. The text comes
from a Boston newspaper, issued in the 1840's. The third of this set of songs is a setting of a letter from Beethoven to
his younger brother, and it's quite a tasty piece also.
From Beethoven to his Younger Brother
Another from the 3 Songs without Good Words. This is sung a little better. I've got two versions of this song that I need to
conflate for one final one. This one doesn't have the lovable Alexander Nevsky quote that the first one does. Although,
I only noticed today, six years after I wrote it, that the clarinet quotes the first movement of my own clarinet sonata. I don't
look as dumb as I am, naw shucks!
Passacaglia
This was originally written for clarinet and harp, but the harp player I wrote it for kind of wigged out on me.
So it's only been played on piano. I composed this piece in 2000 for the International Clarinet Association
composition competition. It didn't win, and rightfully so. It's a healthy, solid piece, if a little stodgy, but
it's never going to draw any attention to itself. That said, it is still my child. Once again, Patrick Hanudel on
clarinet and me on the piano.
Dmitri Shostakovich Christopher Rouse Ludwig van
Beethoven Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji Florence Foster Jenkins!!! John Corigliano
Edvard Grieg Johann Sebastian Bach P.D.Q. Bach Alexander
Grechaninov Sergei Rachmaninov Sergei Prokofiev John Adams
Paul Creston John Luther Adams Anna Russell Hugo Wolf Charles Ives Meira Warshauer
William Byrd Elly Ameling John Harbison Peter Schickele Sir William Walton Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Robert Schumann
Claude Debussy Nikolai Kapustin Gustav Mahler Franz Schubert
Maurice Ravel
Johannes Ockeghem Guillaume Dufay Rick Sowash
Sister Rosetta Tharpe James Cleveland and the Angelic Singers
Mid South Boys
Sound Doctrine The King's Messengers The Abshire Family The Dixie Hummingbirds
The Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet
Blind Willie Johnson Northern Bound Mahaliah Jackson Marion Williams Hovie Lister and the Statesmen
The Song Masters The Forbes Family Marie Knight
Skip James Blind Willie Johnson Miles Davis Nat "King" Cole
Robert Johnson Tom Lehrer Aretha Franklin Reverend Gary Davis Don Ellis Holy Modal Rounders
Blind Boy Fuller Spike Jones Wilco Art Tatum Big Bill Broonzy Bob Dylan
Van Dyke Parks Tom Paxton Vernon Dalhart Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares
Varttina Uncle Tupelo Tannahill Weavers Allan Sherman The Beatles Flying Burrito Brothers
Emmylou Harris Janis Joplin Bright Eyes Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Over the Rhine Ben Ashman
Iron & Wine Davy Spillane Clannad Chetes
Books & Magazines/////////
King James Bible (God) A Walk Across America (Peter Jenkins) The Gulag
Archipelago (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn) Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov)
St Petersburg (Solomon Volkov) Civility (Stephen L. Carter)
Within the Context of No Context (George W.S. Trow) One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
(Alexandr Solzhenitsyn) A Lexicon of Musical Invective (Nicholas Slonimsky) Parliament of
Whores (P.J. O'Rourke) Escape from Freedom (Erich Fromm) The Act of
Creation (Arthur Koestler); In a Sunburned Land (Bill Bryson)
In Search of Schrodinger's Cat (John Gribbin) The Innocents Abroad (Mark Twain) Travels
(Michael Crichton) Roy Blakely books (Percy Keese Fitzhugh) Poetry (Sergei Yesenin)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) The Road to Serfdom (Friedrich von
Hayek) War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning (Chris Hedges) I See by My Outfit (Peter S. Beagle)
Liberty Reason Gramophon Dirty Linen The Onion Foreign Policy
Movies & TV /////////
Ulee's Gold Drop Dead Gorgeous Black Sheep (the zombie sheep one)
The Phantom of Liberty Ponette Monsoon Wedding
Pride and Prejudice (with Kiera Knightley) No Country for Old Men Cinema
Paradiso Treasure of the Sierra Madre Burnt by the Sun
Waking Life Chillicothe Top Secret The General (Buster Keaton)
Shaun of the Dead Resident Evil series Death at a Funeral
Naked Gun series The Comebacks The Darjeeling Limited Into Great Silence Black (Sanjay Leela Bhansali)
MST3K Scrubs Dirty Jobs
Monty Python Red Dwarf
Mr Bean Red Green The Daily Show The Colbert Report
Likes & Dislikes /////////
Likes:
Grilled cheese sandwiches Penguins Record players Nieces and newphews Sarcasm
Reading God Quantum physics Creativity Fireflies Thinking
Honesty Long drives Guns Politics Sophomoric humor Chili dogs
Color Silence Solitude Cheesecake Lolrus Homestar Runner Neologisms
Women fixing their hair Arms Laughing Chili dogs Estonia Spinners
Thanksgiving Atonality Cemeteries My mom Puns The Kansas prairie
Orange juice Public speaking Trains Mountain Dew Charlie the Unicorn Pun
Colorado Reese's Pieces Covered bridges Lamb saag with garlic nan Fireworks
Thunderstorms Flatulence Walking at night Explosions The Llama Song
Freedom Bananaphone Covered bridges
Dislikes:
Television Bossy people Telemann Hairs on counters Shaving Your mom Deception
Slow drivers Hurrying Tea Humidity Horses Eating in the car Insomnia
Tendonitis Melons (any kind) "Just friends" Asymmetricality Fingernails Lists Fame
Spider-Man 3 Serialism Bad grammar Censorship
The phrase, "the next level" Bragging about ignorance Failure Walking through crowds
Whining
7-Aug-07: New tunes uploaded
Eleventh Hour, live at the premiere, and Passacaglia for clarinet and piano
are now uploaded.
1-Aug-07: Piccolo and string quartet
So last night, under the influence of Nyquil, I sketched some ideas for a piece for
piccolo and string quartet.
28-Jul-07: Next projects
"Doleful Creatures" for piccolo and something else? Song cycles? "Godless Killing
Machines" for tuba and piano?
13-Jul-07: My music in a film?!
I just got an email today from a fellow in England enquiring about using some of my
music in a film.
11-Jul-07: "Darkness" score sneak preview
Here are pages 3 and 4, for your visual enjoyment. The piece will have palm clusters,
pedal stomps, glissandos on the strings, and other good stuff. At the end, the pianist
is required to stick his head inside the piano and drop the lid on it.
Scores to my music will be made available as I'm able to get them finished. You can order them
directly from me: Email me at grinninglion [at] hotmail [dot] com. I accept PayPal at that address, Western Union,
and USPS money orders.
Technical Difficulties (Sonata for Clarinet in A and Piano)
Printed copies: $20, which includes postage in the US and Canada.
PDF files via email: $10.
An Horror of a Great Darkness (Piano Solo - manuscript copy)
Printed copies: $15, which includes postage in the US and Canada.
PDF files via email: $8.
Well, excuse the delay. You can call me at 1 829 342 8892 and so I can give you more information on how get it because it is really hard being outside the country. God bless you more. await your call. carefully: the administration. happy to serve you.
Thank you for the text messages while I was in TN. Wish I could have had a little time and phone service to spend with you. Haven't even thought much about kidneys - beans or otherwise :) Keenly focused on my husband for now. That works.
Hey yourself. I posted a bulletin on here a couple weeks ago asking everyone to tell me about facebook, but not one person responded at all. So, I just assumed I should forget it. My husband says I can't have both... By the way, are you doing okay? I think about you every day as I pray through my list.
Sorry I didn't get back to you. Steven has some muscle strains in his torso from working in the active blast zone. Has to wear a brace, can't lift over 25 pounds, light duty and so on for a couple weeks. Has to follow up with a cardiologist for some other symptoms that started with the injury but can't be explained. I'm nervous about that. You know, I really appreciate you so much. I should tell you that more often.
Why do brothers antagonize eachother relentlessly (always when daddy is gone), but then snuggle together when the little one wakes up crying with a bad dream???? I'm so confused..... Sorry I didn't get back to you last night. How is today going for you so far? I prayed for you early this morning - as always.
