I have a surprise performance coming up in January. It was a surprise to me as I hadn't written the piece yet, and it hadn't been discussed at all, except that the SNM had expressed interest in performing something of mine on their winter series.
As I have to deliver a score and parts by Dec. 1, I decided to arrange a piece of mine that has never been performed, Paradisio. I know I was going to arrange it for band, but this came up, and it seems that it can be reduced easily for the required forces: cl, str qt, pf, pc, and steel pan. I've never written for steel pan before, but the concert features a steel pan specialist, and it seemed to be appropriate to include him. Anyway, I'm about a quarter of the way through it, and it's going quickly when I have time to work on it.
New Notations Computer Services Ltd is finished now. I sent my final accounts in to my accountant, and except for paying their invoice and submitting my final VAT return, it is closed. It served me well over the years. The new US company is Notagraphia LLC, and I'm too busy with it to build more than a rudimentary website. That is, combined with teaching, composing, and typesetting, there is no free time. (I really do need to do some work on the house!)
Speaking of teaching, I'm now directing the Syracuse University Contemporary Music Ensemble, and we will perform on our Nov. 8 concert the Stravinsky Octet, the first complete performance of Bill Brooks' The Kitchen Sink and The Water In It, as well as Pitch City by William Duckworth.
Also on the program will be two directed improvisations, for which I'm providing the framework. The first is called Night Visions, and will be based on a rearrangement of Pitch City that instead uses my rows. Over the top will be improvised material, using sets from those rows, as well as interpolated material from a "not-jazz" combo suite (Visions) that I began about 10 years ago. Rehearsals are going well.
The second improvisation is The Sky at Night, which uses the same sets accompanying the saxophone solo part from Remembering the Night Sky, which was originally supposed to be part of the Visions set. No Free Lunch is also part of that set, but it was originally supposed to be a much larger work. There is another "movement" that was never finished, since I was already 4 minutes over the commissioned length. I may finish it and revert the NFL material to the original ordering, and the re-insert it into Visions.
That would make the new Visions:
Night Visions: Improvisation I (fl, as, 2pf, pc, 10')
No Free Lunch (fl, va, vc, pf, current version, possibly reordered?, 5')
The Sky at Night: Improvisation II (fl, as, 2pf, pc, 10')
Remembering the Night Sky (as, pf, 18')
(untitled): Improvisation III ((fl, as, 2pf, pc, va, vc, probably based on unused NFL material, 12')
My original plan had a different instrumentation (as, tpt, tbn, pf, elect. bass, pc), but I'm not bothered about that. It's around the same length, and the instrumentation of the improvisations is flexible.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Silence
It's been a while since I last posted. The reason? I'm busy. Since my return from the UK ... really since just before I left for the UK, I've been buried under typesetting work. My new company that is forming as we speak (hopefully) and finally has a name, which I will announce as soon as it is finalized by my attorney. Many of you may have voted for it on my Facebook page, so it won't be a mystery to you.
I've sorted out a few of my computer problems, but not completely. I've replaced my clean, but limited, Creative X-Fi with a Xonar DG, which is a nice inexpensive ASIO sound card. Unfortunately, it isn't well shielded, so my hard disk activity bleeds into the output. That isn't as bad as it was on my onboard chip, but it is annoying anyway. If I decide to do any recording, I may have to build another PC that will tolerate my X-Fi card and more than 4 GB of RAM.
My latest problem is that my Score computer has died. While I was away, there was a power surge, and while my main PC was protected, it seems my Score one was not. Now I have everything plugged in through my UPS, so there shouldn't be any further problems. I'll receive a new power supply on Friday, which should fix the problem.
Hence, there has been no work on my Piano Concerto, nor the parts for my sax concerto.
It appears that I'll be conducting/directing the SU Contemporary Music Ensemble this year, so I'm thinking about reviving my work on Night Vision, which is a directed improvisation. I like the idea of having one improvisation on each concert, so I would like to start with something that is a little more codified than what they used to do at York, which was supposedly completely free, but unfortunately didn't really satisfy musically.
Please do attend my Cazenovia Counterpoint concert on 20 July if you can.
I've sorted out a few of my computer problems, but not completely. I've replaced my clean, but limited, Creative X-Fi with a Xonar DG, which is a nice inexpensive ASIO sound card. Unfortunately, it isn't well shielded, so my hard disk activity bleeds into the output. That isn't as bad as it was on my onboard chip, but it is annoying anyway. If I decide to do any recording, I may have to build another PC that will tolerate my X-Fi card and more than 4 GB of RAM.
My latest problem is that my Score computer has died. While I was away, there was a power surge, and while my main PC was protected, it seems my Score one was not. Now I have everything plugged in through my UPS, so there shouldn't be any further problems. I'll receive a new power supply on Friday, which should fix the problem.
Hence, there has been no work on my Piano Concerto, nor the parts for my sax concerto.
It appears that I'll be conducting/directing the SU Contemporary Music Ensemble this year, so I'm thinking about reviving my work on Night Vision, which is a directed improvisation. I like the idea of having one improvisation on each concert, so I would like to start with something that is a little more codified than what they used to do at York, which was supposedly completely free, but unfortunately didn't really satisfy musically.
Please do attend my Cazenovia Counterpoint concert on 20 July if you can.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Cazenovia Counterpoint concert
Family Arts Day: Bells & Bees
Saturday, July 20, 5:00 PM
Stone Quarry Art Park,
Stone Quarry Rd.,
Cazenovia
Tickets: $15 regular, $12 seniors/students, free for ages 18 and under (available at the door or email tickets@societyfornewmusic.org to reserve) Concert of music by regional composers and Syracuse natives Edward Ruchalski Bell Song, Douglas Quin A Lotta Night Music, Sean O'Loughlin Origins, Stephen Ferre Stimmen, Diane Jones Iago (2nd performance) and Open Space (premiere this version).
www.societyfornewmusic.org
Saturday, July 20, 5:00 PM
Stone Quarry Art Park,
Stone Quarry Rd.,
Cazenovia
Tickets: $15 regular, $12 seniors/students, free for ages 18 and under (available at the door or email tickets@societyfornewmusic.org to reserve) Concert of music by regional composers and Syracuse natives Edward Ruchalski Bell Song, Douglas Quin A Lotta Night Music, Sean O'Loughlin Origins, Stephen Ferre Stimmen, Diane Jones Iago (2nd performance) and Open Space (premiere this version).
www.societyfornewmusic.org
Saturday, June 8, 2013
On the radio tomorrow...
Tomorrow afternoon on WCNY (2pm) is the last of my series of broadcasts on Fresh Ink.They will play the version with piano of From Here Husband's Hand. The playlist says "eve", but I don't know what that means. It's possibly that they didn't have time for the whole thing, so they are excerpting a movement. Which movement is "eve"? Got me, possibly the first.
This is the saxophone concerto that will have its full premiere in February.
This is the saxophone concerto that will have its full premiere in February.
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Today is F-day
Today was supposed to be completion day for my concerto. Unfortunately, I haven't written a single note since the last time I posted. I've been very busy here with teaching and work, plus I am thinking about something new, possibly a string quartet. (I had dinner with the Kronos Quartet last week, if you haven't already heard.) I've also been considering a sinfonietta piece. I have a couple started already, which I may continue, but maybe I'll start from scratch.
A string quartet? Yes, I have three already, and none have been properly performed. No. 1 was played in a workshop-concert in Aspen back in 1987. It has some good things about it, and a lot of it I really like, but it needs a rewrite in the middle. I was working on the second quartet at the same time, and it's more complex. It's a little longer, and I've had the quartet that I was writing for read it, but again, there are some things I'm not happy with. It probably needs a complete rewrite. The third quartet was originally meant as a joke, a piece "in C" for a competition. Again, it has some things I really like, but there are some parts in the middle that just seem a little square. It was performed on a workshop-concert in Dartington in 1990.
Do I fix one of them, or do I start afresh? That's my dilemma for this summer.
Meanwhile, the second movement of my Symphony No 2 is on WCNY's Fresh Ink at 2 pm ET TODAY. If you aren't near Syracuse, you can listen on wcny.org, live only as I don't believe the station has listen-again facilities.
A string quartet? Yes, I have three already, and none have been properly performed. No. 1 was played in a workshop-concert in Aspen back in 1987. It has some good things about it, and a lot of it I really like, but it needs a rewrite in the middle. I was working on the second quartet at the same time, and it's more complex. It's a little longer, and I've had the quartet that I was writing for read it, but again, there are some things I'm not happy with. It probably needs a complete rewrite. The third quartet was originally meant as a joke, a piece "in C" for a competition. Again, it has some things I really like, but there are some parts in the middle that just seem a little square. It was performed on a workshop-concert in Dartington in 1990.
Do I fix one of them, or do I start afresh? That's my dilemma for this summer.
Meanwhile, the second movement of my Symphony No 2 is on WCNY's Fresh Ink at 2 pm ET TODAY. If you aren't near Syracuse, you can listen on wcny.org, live only as I don't believe the station has listen-again facilities.
Friday, April 26, 2013
Another performance
I've just had some clarification on my Cazenovia concert this summer. It's a little sketchy, but I've had the performer (Kelly Covert) tell me she is slated to perform Stimmen on July 20. That will be the premiere of the revised version, as far as I am aware. Over the years, I've sent it out to several performers, but none of them has told me that they've performed it. Of course, there have been at least 2 performances of the original version, and maybe 2 others by the dedicatee. They were scheduled, but I don't know if they ever happened. I've since lost touch with him.
The pencil has been silent on the concerto this week. I've been busy preparing for final exams and grading papers. Hopefully, I'll get things together this week. Needless to say, I'm unlikely to meet my self-imposed deadline which is next Saturday. It's possible, but not likely.
The pencil has been silent on the concerto this week. I've been busy preparing for final exams and grading papers. Hopefully, I'll get things together this week. Needless to say, I'm unlikely to meet my self-imposed deadline which is next Saturday. It's possible, but not likely.
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