Seven Scenes for Four Violins (2011)

First performance: New York Chamber Music Festival at Symphony Space, NYC, 2011.
Instrumentation: Amplified Flute Quartet (12:30)
Denis Bouriakov, Bart Feller, Maron Khoury, Patircia Zuber, flutes

Seven Scenes for Four Flutes was written at the behest of a commissioning consortium headed by Patricia Zuber. The movements are titled I. Build II. Swirl III. Echo IV. Weave V. Drift VI. Jagged VII. Shimmer. Premiered at the New York Chamber Music Festival at Symphony Space, NYC.

A recording by Patricia Zuber multi-tracking all four parts appears on the album A Quiet Madness.

Originally written for four flues, Seven Scenes for Four Violins was recorded by by Dylan Hamme on May 5, 2025 at the Power Station BerkleeNYC for the album Scattered Threads.

Duo Montuño (2004)

Instrumentation: clarinet and piano (7:00)
First Performance: The Knitting Factory, New York City, 2007

Instrumentation: alto saxophone and piano (7:00)

Instrumentation: viola and piano (7:00)

Instrumentation: violin and piano (7:00)

Much of Susman’s music of the 90s and beyond explores the repetitive rhythms heard in Afro-Cuban music. One such gesture is the montuño, a repeated syncopated line or ostinato, often assigned to the piano, which outlines the harmony of a passage. In Susman’s music, any instrument can play a montuño. He also uses medieval rhythmic and contrapuntal devices called hocket and isorhythm. What results is an episodic conversation between the instruments.

Motions of Return (1996)

First Performance: San Francisco, Old First Church, 1996
Commissioned by Xanaduo, Esther Landau, flute and Lee Nolan, piano.

Instrumentation: flute and piano (9:00)

Instrumentation: violin and piano (9:00)