2008 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composers Award
"...Rogerson's 'Four Autumn Landscapes' was the most overtly beautiful, a musical postcard about seasonal change, from autumn to winter." -The Oregonian
This piece is drawn from several images of autumn I have from growing up in Buffalo, New York. The change of seasons, especially autumn to winter, is particularly pronounced and beautiful in Buffalo. When I was writing the piece, I was a year into my undergraduate studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. I missed being at home.
The first movement, A Cold Clear Dawn, describes a moment in morning in early fall when the air is mysterious and crisp, and summer has clearly shifted into fall. When I was writing Maple Creek, the second movement, I thought of trees lining a creek, their leaves totally changed. The title of the third movement, Scattered Leaves is pretty straightforward: I just imagined the wind picking up the leaves on the ground and in the air, and scattering them everywhere. The last movement, December Woods, is the most programmatic in nature. The transition from autumn to winter is an extraordinary, special time in Western New York. All at once, one anticipates the harshness of winter and also the exquisite beauty and peace. This movement begins with stillness, out of which grows a storm. The storm quickly subsides and there is total calm: one may even be able to point out "the first snow." The very last section of the work depicts a moment when the snow has fallen, the air is still, and the last leaf falls from a lone tree.
Premiere performance below by Yao Guang Zhai and Lio Kuokman
2025
Co-commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music Houston, and Chamber Music Monterey Bay for the Escher Quartet
2022
This work was commissioned by La Jolla SummerFest and premiered at the Conrad in La Jolla, CA in August 2022.
2021
Written for Edgar Meyer and the Dover Quartet in 2021
2020
Commissioned by the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts
2018
Commissioned by Chamber Music America with generous funding provided by the Mellon Foundation
2018
Commissioned By Efe Baltacigil And Nicolas Kendall
2018
Commissioned By Chamber Music Northwest, With Support From New Music USA
2016
Written for Demarre, Anthony McGill, and Michael McHale
2015
Commissioned By Chamber Music Northwest
2014
Commissioned by the Ocean Reef Chamber Music Festival
2013
Commissioned by the Buffalo Chamber Music Society for the Attacca Quartet
2013
Commissioned by Orchestra 2001
2012
Commissioned by the Chamber Music Festival of Lexington
2010
Written For The Aspen Contemporary Ensemble
2010
Commissioned by the Curtis Institute of Music
2009
Commissioned By Curtis-on-tour for Benjamin Beilman and Yekwon Sunwoo
2009
Commissioned by Music From Angel Fire, Ida Kavafian, Director
2008
Commissioned By The Curtis Institute Of Music
2007
2008 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composers Award
