Most compositions listed here have already been performed and are readily available. Pieces that have been performed can be borrowed or purchased from the Canadian Music Centre.
I would also be happy to send you pdfs if I have them. Please get in touch.
(2023) for Soprano solo
In the Gatineau Woods was written for Rebecca Gray to perform at the 2023 Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition. Rebecca is an extraordinary musician and she requested that the piece be really difficult.
(2022) for Mezzo-soprano and piano
Afterword, for mezzo-soprano and piano completes my “cycle of cycles” on word sonnets by Seymour Mayne. This project began with Hail, commissioned by Doreen Taylor-Claxton in 2003 and continued with On the Cusp (2014) for baritone and piano and Wind and Wood (2022), written for Yanik Gosselin.
(2022) for Tenor and Piano
Wind and Wood, for tenor and piano, is the third in my “cycle of cycles” setting word sonnets of Seymour Mayne. This project began with Hail, commissioned by Doreen Taylor-Claxton in 2003 and continued with On the Cusp (2014) for baritone and piano and Wind and Wood (2022), written for Yanik Gosselin.
(2022) for Mandolin solo
I just don’t know . . . was commissioned by German mandolinist Daniel Ahlert with funds from the Canada Council. It is a short, single movement that tries to capture the essence of the mandolin without too much in the way of extended techniques.
(2021) for Guitar Trio
Games was commissioned by the Ottawa Guitar Trio – Nathan Bredeson, François Lacelle and Alexandre Bougie — with funds from the Ontario Arts Council.
(2020) for Violin and Guitar
Five Elements was commissioned by Duo46 in 2019 with the generous assistance of the Ontario Arts Council. I started with a musical fragment from Five Inspirations for solo guitar, written for Daniel Ramjattan in 2017, and developed that into Water”, the third movement.
(2019) for Marimba and Piano
The Angels’ Share was written for the Shhh!! Ensemble, Edana Higham, piano and Zac Pulak, marimba and percussion. The title refers to the amount of Scotch Whisky lost to evaporation during the aging process.
(2019) for String Orchestra
Kindred Spirits was written for Ottawa’s The Thirteen Strings. It was designed to be played on a Christmas concert, in between Corelli’s Christmas Cantata and Scarlatti’s Cantata Pastorale.
(2018) for Womens Choir (SSAA)
Light is a three-movement set of pieces for Women’s chorus (SSAA), inspired by the poetry of long-time collaborator Susan McMaster. In her words “In “Autumn Woods”, I wander through the complexities of love dying with the leaves in an Edmonton park, the shifting light that casts shade still whispering spring’s return.
(2018) for Solo Guitar
The five movements of Five Inspirations are my reactions to seminal books in my life. I read The Inner Game of Tennis as a teenager, looking for a way to improve my game, but absorbed the lessons on what would now be called “mindfulness” and have tried to use them in every aspect of my life.
(2017) for Woodwind Quintet
This is my latest, a quintet for Boston’s Solar Winds and, in particular, flutist Jill Dreeben. The premiere was on October 28 in Boston.
(2017) for 10-string Guitar
I wrote The Space Within in the summer of 2017. I was intrigued by the 10-string guitar, of which Julian Bertino is an enthusiastic proponent!
(2017) for Poet and Guitar
In the summer of 2017, I suggested to Susan McMaster that we switch roles. In four previous collaborations, I had worked with her texts to produce song cycles.
(2017) for Harp Quartet
Burst! was written for the harp ensemble at the University of Ottawa for an end-of-year concert with Emily Levin. The piece mixes a variety of elements – modernist sound effects, chromatic clusters, octatonic harmony with music that is diatonic and in four-bar phrases.
(2016) for Solo Piano
Remember was written for Patrick Armstrong with the intent that he would play it at his 4th-year piano recital. Unfortunately for that plan, it ended up 5 movements and 20 minutes — a bit long for the original purpose!
(2015) for SATB
Fragments was written for the Capital Chamber Choir with a Senior Arts Grant from the City of Ottawa. It uses five very short “fragments” of poetry by Susan McMaster.
(2014) for SATB and Piano
Gold and Glory was commissioned by Coro Vivo Ottawa to celebrate it’s 30th anniversary. My goal was to create a rousing piece that would be singable by a very good amateur choir.
(2014-16) for Orchestra (3333/3431/timp/perc/harp/strings)
This is a new orchestra piece written with a Senior Arts Grant from the city of Ottawa. The title appears to refer to the now-past Canadian sesquicentennial, but, in fact, a reference to my father, who was born in 1917, and to me, who will turn 65 this year.
(2013) for Guitar Trio
“Flight” is the final movement of The Stars Within Us for Guitar and Piano, written for Catherine Donkin and Louis Trépanier (2011). I made this arrangement for guitar trio shortly after the premiere in 2012.
(2013) for Mezzo Soprano and Guitar Quartet
I was delighted when I was approached by Phil Candelaria to write a piece for the Canadian Guitar Quartet. I had always wanted to write a piece for them and looked forward to the project.
(2012) for Orchestra (3332/4331/timp/2 perc/hp/strings)
Kaleidoscope reworks some of the musical materials from a piece I wrote in 1979 while a graduate student at the University of Michigan.
(2011) for Oboe Trio
Chants, Dances and Meditations is one my favourite pieces that has never been performed. It was commissioned by the (now defunct) Canadian Oboe Trio, with funds from the City of Ottawa.
(2011) for Soprano, Flute and Guitar
Ghosts 3 was written for the Continuum Consort in the summer of 2011. It is a piece I’ve wanted to write for years.
(2010) for Cello and String Orchestra
Élégie was written for my daughter Fiona at the request of John Pohran, to be played with the Canterbury High School Senior Strings.
(2010-11) for Guitar and Piano
The Stars Within Us (2011) was written for Catherine Donkin and Louis Trépanier. I wrote the first movement in 2010 and that movement was given its première by Catherine and Louis at Carleton University on May 12, 2011.
(2009) for Cello and Piano
Fair Ever Be Angels (2009) was written for a someone whose initials are FEBA. It uses those initials in a variety of ways, but, most directly, as a pitch set from which the notes of the piece are drawn; every note in this piece is part of a pitch set that is a transposition or inversion of FEBA.
(2007) for Mezzo Soprano, SATB and Orchestra
Uncommon Prayers is a setting of Ottawa poet Susan McMaster’s poetry from her 1997 collection Uncommon Prayer. It is an expansion of O God, which was commissioned by the Cantata Singers of Ottawa, then under the direction of Laurence Ewashko, with the combined support of the Laidlaw Foundation and the Ontario Arts Council, for a benefit concert in aid of the Cantata Singers and WaterCan.
(2005) for SATB
Spring is Here is the title of a song written by my daughter Fiona at the age of 8. One day, I came home to discover her at the piano with ms paper in hand, trying to figure out how to get some music that was in her head down on paper.
(2005) for Oboe and Harp
Càol MacAoidh is a free set of variations on an original theme. It was one of those pieces that in many ways composed itself.
(2004) for Solo Piano
As the name might suggest, Patrick’s Planets were written as pedagogical pieces for the composer’s son Patrick. He performed three of them before moving on to more advanced repertoire, including a movement of another Armstrong piece – Scorpio.
(2003) for Soprano and Piano
Hail was commissioned by Doreen Claxton as part of her Canadian Art Song project, an ambitious plan to unite Canadian poets and composers with a view to the creation of a distinctly Canadian Art Song repertoire.
(2002) for Solo Piano
Scorpio (2002) was written for friend, a fine pianist known for her brilliant collaborative abilities. After confessing that she had a great fear of playing solo, I wrote her a piece with a largely improvised first movement, a movement intended as an icebreaker; my own ImproVisions for guitar served a similar purpose for me a number of years ago.
(2000) for SATB and Piano
The Water Canticle is the second of two arrangements I did of music by Joanna Estelle, the other being Child of the Manger.
(2000) for SATB and Organ
O God is a setting of Ottawa poet Susan McMaster’s poem from her 1997 collection Uncommon Prayer. It was commissioned by the Cantata Singers of Ottawa, with the combined support of the Laidlaw Foundation and the Ontario Arts Council, for a benefit concert in aid of the Cantata Singers and WaterCan.
(1999) for SATB
Child of the Manger is one of two arrangements I did of music by Joanna Estelle, the other being The Water Canticle.
(1999) for Two Guitars
My original idea was to create something that could be played by one of the very active tango bands in the Ottawa region. To that end, I began working on tangos for solo guitar with the intent to transcribe them when finished.
(1998) for Saxophone Quartet
Listen Up! was written in the summer and fall of 1998 for Jean-Guy Brault and SaxArt, a saxophone quartet based in Ottawa.
(1998)
This was my first show with Odyssey Theatre and director Laurie Steven. I was offered the job because of they needed someone to create “Indian Electronic Music” like what I had created for Anjali with Prana Vrisksha.
(1997) for Harpsichord and Piano
La Guerre was conceived in the middle of the night, sometime in the months after November 11, 1996 (my son Patrick’s birthday). As I was lying on the couch in our living room with Patrick in his then favourite sleeping position — face down on my chest — my mind wandered… Why are some musics better received than others?
(1996)
PRANA VRIKSHA (Tree soul)
Choreography: Anjali
Music: original score by John Armstrong
Images: Anne-Marie Gaston
Head-dress: Andree Poulliot
This piece was inspired by a short Japanese “Noh” play concerning a tree that seeks salvation.
(1995) for Guitar Ensemble
In the Spring of 1995, I was discussing with Ray Sealey the possibility of writing a song cycle for the trio Girigonza (of which he was a member) when he asked if I would be willing to write a short piece for the University of Ottawa Guitar Ensemble.
(1995) for Soprano Voice, Recorder/Clarinet and Guitar
Although I had written seven previous song cycles, each of those was a response, by me, to an essentially completed text. My task was to interpret and express, to the best of my abilities, the meaning of those texts.
(1993) for Tenor Voice, Horn and Piano
When Christopher Lewis was killed in an automobile accident in September, 1992, four of his closest friends—myself, Lori Burns, Gordon Sly and Janine Gaboury—were living in the United States, close to each other but too far from Edmonton to attend Christopher’s funeral.
(1993) for Solo Horn
My musical language comprises an eclectic mix of expressive lyricism, humour and terse formalism, often closely juxtaposed. Trotte Vieille is a Premier Grand Cru Bordeaux, shared by me, the performer and our spouses in the summer of 1993.
(1992) for Baroque Violin, Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord
In Three was written for Trio Fantasia—Sophie Rivard (Baroque Violin), Mary Cyr (Viola da Gamba), Sandra Mangsen (Harpsichord)—in the Fall and Winter of 1991-1992.
(1992-1994) for Guitar
“ImproVision” was the name of a performance ensemble at the University of Michigan where I did my graduate studies in composition. That group, which gave me my first exposure to non-jazz improvisation disbanded soon after, but my interest in improvisation remained.
(1992) for Saxophone
Jouissance! was written for Craig Sylvern and first performed on November 9, 1993 in Weigel Hall Auditorium at The Ohio State University. The formal structure of Jouissance!
(1991) for Flute
Child’s Play was written in Boston for Jill Dreeben, who was expecting her first child, Simon, at the time. It attempts, in five contrasting movements, to explore the various shades of innocence evoked by children, and at the same time explores the capabilities of the solo flute.
(1990) for Clarinet and Guitar
Improvisations and Interludes was inspired by an exhibition of Australian Aboriginal Art at the Seay Gallery, Harvard University in the Spring of 1990.
(1990) for Contralto Voice, Clarinet and Piano
After the History was written for Dorothea Brinkmann, on texts by Chicago poet John Shreffler. The texts are a response to the events in Eastern Europe which culminated in the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent reconciliation of East and West Germany.
(1989) for Harpsichord
Crochets continues the composer’s exploration—begun in 1985 with Wind ~ Earth ~ Sea for soprano, violin and harp, and continued in 1988 with Abstracts for clarinet, violin and piano—into the combination of movements of varying lengths.
(1988) for Violin, Clarinet and Piano
Abstracts, written for and dedicated to Robert Riseling, was given its premiere by the Wellington Trio in October of 1988.
(1987) for Guitar
The Last Waltz in Boston was written for my friend, guitarist William Beauvais, with the support of the Ontario Arts Council. It is a free set of variations and “fantasies” on an original waltz in the style of Chopin.
(1987) for Guitar
Ghosts was commissioned by guitarist Norbert Kraft with the support of the Canada Council. It was designed to be used either as a set of individual studies (for intermediate to very advanced students) or as a virtuoso concert piece.
(1986) for Guitar and Strings
Circle’s End for guitar and chamber orchestra was commissioned by the Guitar Society of Toronto and the CBC, with additional funds from the Ontario Arts Council for use as the final test piece in the 1986 Guitar Canada Competition.
(1986) for Boy Soprano and Piano
Night Thoughts: Three Songs for Children was commissioned by the Sherbourne McCurdy Foundation and Alberta Culture for the 1987 Alberta Music Festival syllabus.
(1985) for Soprano Voice, Violin and Harp
Wind ~ Earth ~ Sea for soprano, violin and harp was written for my friend Elizabeth Volpé, principal harp with the Vancouver Symphony.
(1985) for Soprano Voice and Guitar
An die Musik II was written in 1985 for Eleanor Gang and Andrew MacDonald. Setting his own texts along with Shakespeare’s “If music be the food of love…” from Twelfth Night, he deals with the problematic question: “What should serious music be like in 1985?
(1983) for Guitar and Flute
Vistas for flute and guitar was commissioned by Entr’acte with funds from the Ontario Arts Council. It is one of my most performed works.
(1983) for Two Guitars
Two Rags for Two Guitars is a set of Rags in the style of Scott Joplin. The impetus to write these arose from several sources: As as student of William Bolcom and William Albright at the University of Michigan, I was under the influence of two “serious” composers who composed and performed rags.
(1983) for Soprano Voice, Flute and Guitar
Songs for Lyra was commissioned by Lyra—Constance Newland (soprano), Fiona Wilkinson (flute), Ray Sealey (guitar)—with funds from the Ontario Arts Council.
(1983) for Clarinet and Piano
Night Scenes was commissioned by the Fisher-Oliphant Duo with funds from the Ontario Arts Council. Unfortunately, they split up before performing the piece and I had to wait five years for the premiere!
(1983) for SATB
Three Scenes for Chorus was written in the summer of 1983, the same summer as Two Rags for Two Guitars and Vistas.
(1981) for Guitar and Strings
Three Pieces for Guitar and Strings was commissioned by the Woodstock Strings—Patrick Burroughs (conductor)—and Ray Sealey, with funds from the Ontario Arts Council.
(1980) for Guitar and Viola
Incantations was commissioned by The Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects for Guitar 1981 and premiered in June 1981 at the MacMillan Theatre, University of Toronto by Alan Torok and Douglas Perry.
(1978) for Three Flutes, Three Trumpets, Three Violoncelli, Two Percussion, Harp and Piano
Prism is the only piece from my student days that I will still admit to! It was a prize winner in the 1980 Sir Ernest MacMillan Competition sponsored by CAPAC (now SOCAN) and was subsequently read by the New Music Concerts Ensemble (Toronto) conducted by Robert Aitken in October 1982.
