Stimmen and No Free Lunch now available

The following are now available on CreateSpace:

Stimmen: http://www.createspace.com/4097377
(fl, pf, 12 min)


No Free Lunch: http://www.createspace.com/4097416
(fl, va, vc, pf, 6 min)

Both will go live on amazon.com during the next week.

Tat

Having spent a few days on long drives to visit relatives, I've come to the conclusion that any music that begins with a prevalence of glockenspiel is tat.

Lately, we have begun listening only to NPR, and on travels, only classical NPR. Unfortunately, classical music in rural America is mostly big orchestral schmaltz. Today, we turned on the radio to be greeted by Leroy Anderson's Piano Concerto, a "weighty" piece consisting of nearly-show-tunes interspersed with Warsaw Concerto-like lyrical pseudo-angst. That bored us for a good 20 minutes or so. It was followed by the "great" Chicago composer William Force, a man who I had only stumbled across in crossword puzzles. This was a piece that he composed while teaching a class (I think at the New England Conservatory) to which no students turned up. (I wonder why!) While not teaching his class, he perused some Christmas Hymns/Poetry, namely In the Bleak Midwinter by Rossetti. Still bored, he decided to write a piece that incorporated his own setting of the poem. The result was a piece reminiscent of shlocky American concert band music, but for orchestra, that used way too much glockenspiel throughout, but it was very obvious right from the start. GAH!!!!!!!! Thank you Mr Force for extending your boredom to the rest of us.

The highlight of our holiday listening experiences was Frank Ferko's Festival of Carols that he wrote for the Dale Warland singers. (Warland was the special guest of the program.) We know Frank from our Chicago days, but haven't heard anything new of his in a long time.  (We've grown out of touch.)  His Hildegard pieces are sublime, and this is nearly as good.

Oddly enough, Frank's piece doesn't begin with lots of Glockenspiel. (What might that say about it?)

Scores in the post

Okay now, scores for Stimmen and No Free Lunch are in the post.  There weren't too many corrections.

I don't expect to see them before Christmas, but shortly after. Hopefully, I will approve them by the new year, and they will be available in early January.

If you want parts, just email me or comment here. There won't be any charge if you purchase the score.

Stimmen: fl, pf, 12 minutes ($9.99)

No Free Lunch: fl, va, vc pf, 6 minutes ($14.99)

Two new scores

Today, I uploaded two more scores onto Createspace: Stimmen (fl, pno) and No Free Lunch (fl, va, vc, pno). They need to go through the final checks still, but they should be available in the next couple of weeks.

Incidentally, I needed to pad No Free Lunch a little, so I included some samples of the opening pages of Symphony No 3, which I should probably finish setting sometime soon. I'm 70 pages into it, and there are about 50 more to go.

Scores on the doorstep

My first batch of scores for From Her Husband's Hand arrived today. They look great. Now it's time to put them in the hands of potential performers.

More Chaos Theory

I've been fumbling around with Chaos for almost 15 years now. It started as a wind ensemble piece and became a piano concerto. I've more or less decided to go back and finish the wind ensemble version.

Is it closer to being finished than the concerto version? Yes. The concerto is still waiting for an insert after the opening section. The wind ensemble version goes straight into the middle section, so all I really need to do is write the ending ... well, that is, except that I think that the opening section could use a little re-working.

Anyway, my rationale. Performance. I'm more likely to find a performance for a wind ensemble piece than an orchestral concerto. It's that simple. I have too many pieces that I wrote on spec that have never been performed, the biggest offender being my third symphony. The other is my 3 Pieces for Chamber Orchestra. Of course, the first two movements appear in different forms and have received multiple performances. The last, however, Paradisio has never even had a sniff of a performance ... except that it was on the SPNM shortlist way back in the 90's. Nobody ever showed interest, even with the carrot of an SPNM subsidy. It also has the problem of still being in manuscript form, as I wrote it before a viable music notation program was available. Should I typeset it? Probably not. I should be writing new things for living, breathing people who want to play something of mine.

From Her Husband's Hand available now

From Her Husband's Hand (original version for sax and chamber orchestra) is now available on Createspace, and should go live on Amazon.com with in the next week.

Here's the link: https:  www.createspace.com/4031574

Farewell to a thousand things

Well, it's happened again. I've woken up with new pieces before with new pieces of music or poetry in my head, but this one was a little different. It was a performance - that's not really new either, but this was a performance by none other that Ella Fitzgerald, and I feel like I've heard the song before. It's a standard.

Um, no it isn't. I googled the lyrics and there was nothing. I only remember the chorus from the dream, and not all of the lyrics. It sounded like something written in the 30's by Berlin or Kern. I've been teach so many standards in one of my sightsinging classes, I guess the style is in my head or something.

Anyway, there's something about "moonbeams and all the little things you are," and it finishes with the line, "farewell to a thousand things."

Anybody recognize it?

If I can't figure out what it is, should I write it? It's in a dated style, but one that lives on.

Publishing Latest

I think I've made the final corrections to From Her Husband's Hand for Saxophone and Chamber Orchestra. I should receive a proof this week and should approve it right away. I changed the postscript files to 2400 dpi to see if that makes the hairpins a little smoother. They didn't look bad, but I discovered that I can send them 2400 dpi files, so that might improve the look even more.

I think either Stimmen or the Violin/Piano version of A Point of Amber Light will be next. There is a possible performance for either coming up, so it is time to get them finalized.

I'll put up a link when From Her Husband's Hand is on sale.

Just thinking

Thinking.

I have to revise an arrangement over the holidays, but I'm thinking about the future now. I've got 70% of a piano concerto written, but with no prospect of a performance, I'm considering employing my energies elsewhere. Yes, I could try to finish it, but ...

I'm about to have a bunch of things broadcast on our local radio station. I'll let you know when the pieces are scheduled. I also have a possible performance coming up in the spring. I missed out on an opportunity to have Solomon's Seal performed a couple of weeks ago. I learned of the possibility late, and couldn't find a performer with enough free time to learn it. Now, I have more time, but the question is: What piece? Something with strings is probably best, although I may have a taker for Stimmen.

But that is all old stuff. I need to write something new.

I'm also considering an arrangement of From Her Husband's Hand for Cello and Sinfonietta. I've been considering a version for cello for a long time, and hearing Jakob Kullberg during the summer has solidified my desire to do this at some point. (Jakob are you reading this? We should discuss the possibility.)

It has also been suggested that I write a version for Sax and wind ensemble. (Anyone interested?)

Just thinking. You know ...

More publishing news

I've finally finished correcting the orchestral score for From Her Husband's Hand, and have uploaded it to CreateSpace. Now it will be a few days before they clear it, and then a week or so before I can approve the proof. That means in about 3 weeks, it will go up for sale on Amazon, provided it all looks OK.

Next on the list is the violin/pno version of A Point of Amber Light. I figure I'll never get another performance without it, so it's time.  Stimmen may come soon, too. It may even be ready, except for a few mechanical additions. That's flute and piano ... for all you flautists out there!

After that, who knows? Perhaps No Free Lunch, since it may also be ready, then maybe, just maybe, I'll finish setting my third Symphony and start peddling it around for a performance. Or maybe I'll finish Chaos first.

Muse, I'm waiting!

New life

I've been asked to revise the Concertino arrangement, this time orchestrating as I would prefer. The last one was constrained by the composer's instructions. Although I never actually heard it, I felt that it was rather sparse and out of the comfortable range of some instruments. I should also be able to add some octave doublings and thicken the texture to make it as dark as the original piano accompaniment. The percussion is kind of superfluous, too, so I'll have to revisit it.

I'm told that the publisher will have someone read and record for the composer to approve, and then I assume there will be a performance, but I don't know when yet. (I'll have to finish the arrangement first.)


I've also decided that I may have a go at finishing my piano concerto, just because I need to finish SOMETHING of my own (that isn't literary fiction).

I've also had thoughts of arranging my sax concerto (From Her Husband's Hand) for either cello and orchestra (slightly reduced from the original) or for sax and wind ensemble. Both would work well, I think, so it is just a matter of putting the time in ... but of course, I have a huge teaching load this term.

More disappointment

I went to Copenhagen last week to a concert which I expected would include two of my Nørgard arrangements, but one was cancelled weeks ago (and nobody told me) and the other was cancelled at the last rehearsal, although I knew that it was a possibility beforehand. It seems they hadn't scheduled enough rehearsal time to put together a Danish cellist, a Polish orchestra and a British conductor.

It appears that the first piece that was cancelled is going to be played later in the year (possibly as early as August) while I haven't heard anything about when the piece that was cancelled at the last minute would be rescheduled.

I did get to visit Hindsgavl Slot (see my Facebook acct for pics) and hear some fantastic cello playing. (I'm thinking of writing a piece for him, or possibly arranging my sax concerto for cello, since the full version still hasn't been performed. We'll see. I have yet to discuss either possibility with him.)

My teaching load this year is larger, so I don't know if I'll be able to attend either of the rescheduled concerts. We'll see.

Cold Turkey

Well, I haven't written a note since the disaster. I've had some thoughts about doing some more publishing. From Her Husband's Hand is at the top of the list. All I need to do is proof, correct, and pdf it. Unfortunately, it's in a box in the attic and will have to wait until we move again in June. I'm still looking for a premiere of the orchestral version.

I'm also thinking of publishing Inner Sanctum. I set it in Finale, so it doesn't look as good as the ones in Score, but I don't want to spend any time on it. It looks fairly good and is ready to go. I just need to have a quick peek at the parts. The reduction of A Point of Amber Light is nearly there, too, but I may transfer it to Sibelius, as it is in an old version of Finale.

I'm also considering transferring Oyre's Garden into Sibelius and publishing that. It's my most performed piece, so it is probably worth getting it out there.

Stimmen is actually ready - I just need to make pdfs - and being a chamber work (fl, pf), is probably the most performable at this point in time. I've never heard the revised version, and although it was scheduled for two performances, I don't know if they ever happened.

Crash: Burn

A week or so ago, I sent out a pdf of what I had (ca 70%) of the concerto to the conductor, so he could get an early start on the piece.

Today, I got some disappointing news back: the conductor loved it, but ...

... the orchestra cancelled the performance. Because:

1)  There was a section that was too hard. (It is still early enough to simplify.) 

2)  The string parts were too difficult. (Really? Anyway, ditto.)

3)  The committee felt that the piece wasn't something the Scarborough public would enjoy. (Dammit, they had recordings of my music. They knew what to expect!)

Yes, that was the bottom line. They'd been talked into programming the piece, not really wanting to play something "new." What did they want? Philip Glass? I've got news for you folks; his music is hard - I mean really hard - to play. It's not like I'm Uncle Milty (Babbitt).

I've offered them another piece, but it has already been played several times, and I'm not going to spend £1000 just to go hear an ordinary (at best) performance. I probably won't even receive any performance rights for it. (I didn't the last time it was played in St John's Smith Square, a major concert venue.) The Spa in Scarborough just doesn't rate that high. I doubt they will go for it anyway.

What now?

In the short term, I'm too busy to work on it. Will I finish it? I don't know right now. If anyone is interested, I will, of course.

What will happen to this blog? I don't know. I suppose I'll keep it for my composing thoughts (if I ever compose again).

<expletive:deleted>

Tentative thoughts

I need to get my Cantica arrangement done soon. I've had too many interruptions - mid-term exams, and other work. I have a set of parts to do before Wednesday, but then I'm going to knuckle down and do it, hopefully by the end of March.

I finally had some constructive thoughts about the concerto. I've been laying what I had down in Sibelius, just to do something productive, but I had some ideas while I was in the shower this morning. I haven't been happy with the beginnings of the piano interlude after the opening 3' section of the piece. It seemed too square. I need to loosen up the melody and make the accompaniment more like a murmur. That way it will flow better into the improvisatory section that follows and the subsequent aleatory music with - wait for it - a trombone solo.

I've also decided that the piece begins too abruptly. My original concerto sketches included a slow introduction, so I'm going to reinstate it, but within the new harmonic scheme.

Finally, the ending. The Parsifal-like theme needs to return, and I'm opting for a repetitive arpeggio accompaniment, sort of like Bruckner's Te Deum upside-down, but of course, using my harmonies. The orchestra will need something easy after the section they just played, so the ending doesn't end up a train-wreck.

Okay, now back to the arrangement.

Back to the grindstone

The paste-up arrangement is done now. I've spent the last couple of days arranging the third movement of Chaos for piano and orchestra. They aren't really defined movements because they are so short and the material from the first movement is transposed to the set of the last movement as a coda. It's all played straight through.

I had some Sibelius issues, partly related to transferring it from Finale, that I've finally fixed them (I think), so the next job is to set the middle movement and make the piano more prominent.

Rather than being a soloist, the piano is more like the engine of the structure. There are places where it dominates, but it rarely is completely independent. I'm hoping to rectify that in the middle movement and the closing section. At the end of the first "movement", there is a lyrical section with the piano alone, to be followed by an improvisation section where the piano improvises on given chords over an aleatoric tableaux. The aleatory continues as the second movement proper begins, but the piano is joined by the first trombone as a co-soloist, sort of like Nielsen's flute concerto. I still have to re-score that for orchestra, but I'll also be adding more piano music.

Hooky is just a game

Last night I straightened up my office. On my work table, I laid my Chaos sketches in the anticipation that I might work on them. Maybe today, but things will get dicey again in a couple of days. I have another rush reorchestration coming, and that's a paste-up job for performances in March.

Is that another arrangement? I guess it is. I also learned that Bach to the Future will be premiered March 27 and repeated in the July concerts. I've also started the other arrangement for those concerts.