Publication news

I've just corrected my proof for Symphony No. 2. I've made a few revisions and simplified some notation. I'm going to look through it once more, since I'm using the Vienna font on it. That's one that is supposed to look like Score. Unfortunately, it doesn't map the same as Opus (Sibelius' native font), so I have to manually change a few things, and a couple of things still don't look perfect (but they are very minor). Musegraph (the font designer) is going to re-map the font to be compatible with Sibelius and that will make a few things easier. At the moment it is mapped to match Maestro (Finale's default font). At very small staff sizes, I've found that increasing the font size from 19.5 to 22 or 23, makes the noteheads larger. I've never liked the shape of Opus noteheads, and this is much more agreeable.

That means the publication of Symphony No. 2 is still a couple of weeks down the road. Nearer is The Master's Hammer (also using Vienna). I'm waiting for Createspace to supply a printed proof, which should come in the next few days, along with a new version of Paradiso, ostensibly for sinfonietta, but with multiple strings preferred. I've kept the Steel Pan from the chamber version, but unfortunately the Soprano Sax, Tuba, and Harp had to go (for the purposes of this arrangement). There were a few other instruments that became doublings. I was allowed double winds, horns, and trumpets, but I wanted to make this orchestration different enough from the original that they could both stand as separate entities.

Another piece in the pipeline is my saxophone Quartet, which I have a group reading next month. (I'm extracting parts this weekend.) It's too short for Createspace, so I may publish it with Mirage and/or the sax and piano version of Remembering the Night Sky.

So, what is next?

I'm itching to write another big orchestra piece, but I need to write Labyrinth for early next year. That's an octet (fl, cl, tpt, pf, string quintet). I'm planning for it to be like a double concerto for the violin 1 and cello, but we will see, once I get going on it.

I should probably get Symphony No. 3 and Chaos premiered before tackling another orchestra piece, so probably after Labyrinth is a wind ensemble piece and a set of songs.

So nobody understood my Libera-etto joke (except Steve Taylor)?