That Saxophone Quartet ...

... is officially finished - for real, this time. 

A long time ago (in a far away land) Paul Bro asked me to write a quartet for the Chicago Saxophone Quartet. I never got a confirmation from him that they would perform it if I wrote it, nor was there any talk of a commission fee. At some point, I got some ideas and wrote them down. There was enough for a whole movement there, but I never got around to assembling it.

Several years ago, when I was teaching students how to use Sibelius, I gave each member of the class a page to typeset as an exercise in expanded techniques - all but the last page for some reason - either that or the person assigned the last page never turned in the assignment. About a year later, I appended the files together and considered it finished, but I didn't think I liked it enough to try to peddle for performances.

Lately, I have been reorganizing my manuscripts, and ran across it. I figured I had a little time to play with it, and decided to clean it up. I'm not sure I really like the beginning - I need to hear it - it's a style I was exploring in the mid-90s, but I've decided that I do like most of it.

It's not easy. Part of it is very fast (possibly too fast) and there are a number of quarter tones.

It's also too short to publish on CreateSpace - and not close enough to pad it with blank pages. I'm not sure what to do with it yet - add a title page and performance notes to get it up to 14 pages, and then put a 10 sample pages of From Her Husband's Hand and Inner Sanctum? I could put a few pages of Remembering the Night Sky in, too, but that isn't published yet, and I'm thinking of revising it first.

If anyone is interested in playing it, just send me an email.

The New Sibelius

I don't get it. The new Sibelius doesn't really have any significant new features. Yes, there is annotation and being able to write with a pen (on a Surface Pro), but for those who have a mega setup and huge (non-touchscreen) monitor, that's nothing.

You can pay $89 for the upgrade for a perpetual license now. And then another $89 next year, and the following year for "free" upgrades and support. Sounds like $267 to me. I've been using Sibelius since version 1. I don't need support. If they are promising multiple annual upgrades, that's different - and by upgrades, I don't mean maintenance fixes. I don't like the subscription model.

Have they stopped developing Sibelius? Sounds like it. I can think of a lot of things they could fix, but it doesn't sound like they have made any changes in the notation direction.

Until I see a compelling reason to buy it, I guess I'm sticking with 7.5.

Finished!

I finished Chaos today.

Yes, I FINISHED Chaos today. I'll probably have another look through it, and may not publish it for a while - after it has been given the OK by a couple of pianists that I've sent it to. I also need to have a look through the harp part. Some of the tunings may be impossible. (Chilali, do you want to look through it?)

Time to start doing all the stuff I'm supposed to be doing!

Long past due for an update

Chaos is nearly finished. I had a couple of urgent typesetting jobs that meant putting off the final work on the concerto. Over the past couple of days, I've filled the partial gaps. (There were no real gaps, just three places where not all of the material was present.) Today, I've bridged the last one, although I'll put the last few notes in when I key the last section into Sibelius. I've made annotations what to do there.

I have a few small amendments to put in earlier in the piece - in what you might call the second movement, and then I need to sculpt the dynamics.

In any case, I'm now to the 99% mark on the first draft. Sibelius says it is only 15 minutes long, but I think it's actually more like 20, since it said Chaos Theory (the middle section of Chaos, plus a new beginning) was 8 minutes, and it was almost 11.

Once I finish tinkering, I'll send it out to my pianist friends (and acquaintances), including the pianist for whom I was originally writing, in case she is still interested. I'll also send it out to the conductor who commissioned it, with the understanding that the orchestra who withdrew the commission will never play it.

I must also confess, this isn't an ordinary concerto. It's more like a piece for piano and orchestra, where the two are relatively equal. There is too much in the piano part to call it an orchestra piece, and it really needs to be out in front. The second movement is more concerto like, for part of it anyway.

If anyone is interested in taking a look at it, I'd be happy to send a pdf.