Procrastinating

My last post was around the time of my concert at CCM. It went well. The recordings are now all on YouTube.com. If you want the full concert, listen to them in this order:

Remembering the Night Sky
Labyrinth
From Her Husband's Hand

Meanwhile, I've been teaching and setting a new arrangement of Paradiso for orchestra. It's similar to the unperformed original version, but I needed to remove the piano and soprano saxophone. I had already removed the harp in the two smaller versions, but I was able to reinstate the tuba part. Like the original, this version is essentially for chamber orchestra, rather than sinfonietta.

Coming up, I am still working on the piece for Tenor Sax and string quartet. At one point, I had a name for it, but I never wrote it down, and I've since lost that train of thought. Maybe it will come back to me.

During the next few months, I'll be setting parts for an opera (not mine), so composing time will be hard to come by. I've had some more thoughts on the wind ensemble piece and Temps. I still have a desire to write my 4th symphony and another piano concerto (a real concerto this time), but I'm hesitant to start on either before I have a sniff of a performance, or a performance of Sym. No 3 or Chaos.

And, of course, there is that two minutes of Bass Trombone Concerto or Concertino that is waiting to be continued.

I'm supposed to be working on that opera, so I guess I need to get back to it...

I hadn't realized that it's been so long ...

Lots has happened since my last post. Self-funding a recording is currently off the cards, for non-musical reasons which I won't go into. I'm still thinking about it, but I'll need to find considerable funding before I can take the plunge.

I have a faculty recital scheduled for Sept. 30 at 4 pm in the Werner Recital Hall at CCM (University of Cincinnati). Featured on the program will be a new chamber version of From Her Husband's Hand, with Diane Hunger on Alto Sax. She will also play the chamber version of Remembering the Night Sky. These two works will be split by Labyrinth, which was recorded last January by the Society for New Music. I made the first edits during the summer, and I look forward to hearing the rough cut.

I recently discovered NotePerformer3 and have made good quality audio files of Symphony No. 3 and Chaos. Although there are some minor balance issues (software related, I think), both recordings sound almost real at times. I've also embarked on a revision of Symphony No. 1, basically to take away the embarrassing bits in the third movement and clean up some other spots that sound a little square. I don't know if it will ever be as good as the second or third symphonies, but I there are some good things in it which deserve to be heard. It should sound pretty good in NotePerformer, since there isn't anything unusual in it, like aleatorics. FWIW, Dystopian Sunset sounds really good, too, except for the "Clouds" which seem to no longer be a 1/4-tone after the first cloud. I don't know why it resets and I can't seem to un-reset it. The balance between the two ensembles is wrong, too. Again, I can't seem to adjust it.

I've got a few projects on: a piece for Tenor Sax and string quartet for Diane Hunger. I'm not entirely sure about another project. I have some piano concerto sketches and more symphonic sketches, one of them being part of the piano concerto, before the piano comes in. It may be two pieces, a second piano concerto and Sym. No. 4 (or a concerto for orchestra), since I'm not sure the material goes together.

I must go teach now, so I'll post more when I have time.

State of play

I did finally pull the plug on a recording of Inner Sanctum, however I'm still negotiating with them. We discussed briefly a recording of Oyre's Garden, but that is an old piece, and I'm not sure an 8 minute piece on a compilation is good value for money with where I am at now.

As I am known mostly for my saxophone music, we are now discussing a recording of From Her Husband's Hand. There are a lot of things still up in the air on it, but I'm awaiting their proposal. Then comes the ugly task of financing it. Some of that will depend on who performs it and where. So far, our discussions have included at least one live performance (on a regular concert) along with the recording. It would still be a compilation, but the piece is more substantial and about twice as long. And it will probably cost more.

Any recommendations on crowdfunding sources?

Aside from that, composing ...

I think my next piece will be a short orchestral work - and I mean really short - for a small competition. I've been wanting to write for orchestra, so this might be a way back in. There is no money or even a performance in it, but I have an idea, so I might give it a go. The contest theme is the Elements. Mine will be water. I've got a sound world in my head, and a tentative title: The Black Pool. (Not to be confused with the city of Blackpool in England.) It may eventually become something larger, and that probably means it won't win the competition.

After that, I don't know. I would like to write some piano music, but I may arrange From Her Husband's Hand for the same size ensemble as Remembering the Night Sky to increase the performance possibilities. Otherwise, I seem to have ground to a halt. I'm just way too busy with teaching and typesetting work.

I still have a recording session coming up in Syracuse - Labyrinth - followed by another performance of it on Feb. 16. Half the ensemble is different from last time, so we will see how that goes. I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it to the rehearsal before the recording session. (That would mean flying out and back on the same day.)

Well, that is where things stand now.