Henning's Headquarters

[Karl Henning]

Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/v/vI2K5V7C49I

[Karl Henning]

And the score:

[Karl Henning]

Many moons ago, conductor Yoichi Udagawa commissioned me to write The Wind, the Sky, and the Wheeling Stars for the Quincy Symphony Orchestra;  and it was my fortuitous pleasure to renew our acquaintance at a Melrose Symphony concert not long ago (and an event which I attended at the kind invitation of our own Tony from Massachusetts).  My Symphony made a favorable impression upon Yoichi, but a large-scale new work is not a practical project with his orchestra at present.  He did, however, make me welcome to send anything in the 7- to 9-minute "sweet spot."  So I have sent him Il barbiere ladro, and we shall see.

I have also sent the Visions fugitives de nouveau to a concertizing pianist in New York.  We shall see, again.

[Sergeant Rock]

Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/v/vI2K5V7C49I

This is brilliant, Karl. I love the way you end it (the last two, two and a half minutes) with Henningmusik becoming dominant.

Sarge

[Karl Henning]

A sort of return to the narrative, back from the inset scene. Many thanks for your warm words!

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[Karl Henning]

I've now brought the layout of Scenes 1, 7 & 8 into Lux Nova compliance 

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[Karl Henning]

The gentleman who commissioned I Sang to the Sky, and Day Broke for the winds of his Clemson Univ Symphony, Andrew Levin, has listened to about half of Il barbiere ladro, and asked for a score, with a promise to listen closer next week.

[Rons_talking]

This is brilliant, Karl. I love the way you end it (the last two, two and a half minutes) with Henningmusik becoming dominant.

Sarge

I agree! I only wish you had a little more Henningmusic interspersed throughout.

[Karl Henning]

I agree! I only wish you had a little more Henningmusic interspersed throughout.

Thanks!  As this is a "scene-within-a-story-within-the-ballet" the heavy Rossini content is by design 

And the start I have made on Scene 9....

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[Karl Henning]

Good progress on Scene 9 today.

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[Karl Henning]

I think Scene 9 may just be done.

[Karl Henning]

The present mp3 "playlist" for White Nights runs 1:32:36, and the plan for the remainder of the ballet is for 45 minutes of music (some small portion of which is already composed, in full or in part, whenever I reach the point of those numbers).  At last, I think it is fair to say that the piece is two-thirds done.

(I'm not going to get hung up on whether I really finish the piece before 1 January 2018.  It's an entirely realistic goal;  but I shall be content if I simply continue to make steady progress.)

While I am thinking of composing (the very short) Scene 10, I am already taking thought for getting all the numbers of the ballet laid out and ready for publication . . . and this is a benefit drawn from the completed Symphony.  Thought alone am I not taking, but Action also;  I am going back to all the individual Sibelius files, and changing the paper size to 10"x15" and confirming the staff size of 5mm, which is what Lux Nova prefer for the conductor's score of an orchestral piece, so long as the orchestra is not huge;  and although my practice has favored "optimizing" the systems, so that instruments which are not playing in a given system of the score are 'dropped out', the nature of my music makes such a score an unnecessary burden on the conductor, who will not know from system to system what the fourth staff from the top is (e.g.).  So with the exception of an extended passage from which (say) the entire brass choir can be omitted with visual clarity, we'll have all the staves on every page.  That will take a little bit of layout massage for the existing numbers, but it actually simplifies things for all the number here on out (actually, from Scene 8 on, since I took the lesson earlier this year.  The White Nights orchestra is large, but not genuinely huge;  space only really gets squeezed when I divide the strings much (quite a bit in Scenes 7 & 9).

So the first phase of the work is massaging the Sibelius files on screen;  the second phase, printing out and proofing from hard copy – because I know my eye is going to miss things, if I plan on only reading on screen.

There is no reason why this work cannot be concurrent with continuing composition of the further numbers.

[Karl Henning]

It's all got to be brought into harmonious order . . .

[Karl Henning]

The flutist for whom I drew up the Airy Distillates, Meerenai Shim, wrote to say that she hopes to play the piece this year.

Just a note to correct this to, Nope.

0:)

[Karl Henning]

Okay, last night I got no work done on the ballet! None!  None whatever!

There: I've made a clean breast of it.

We had an excellent and productive Triad meeting last night, five of us got together at the invitation of (as it turned out) the host, who gamely faced an important issue head on:  inefficiencies in rehearsals.  The meeting was entirely positive, taking it as a genuine given that the group consists of talented musicians, and focusing entirely on how to make the process(es) better.

[Karl Henning]

The fever is past:  the organist has tendered her resignation, effective 1 Sept 2017.

Deo gratias.

These two weeks I started with discreet back-channel queries of various organists I know in the area.  This morning, I had two fairly substantive chats with two of them.  A general bit of fundamental good news, which various conversations in this interval affirm:  there is a good talent pool in the area, still.  One good specific piece of news:  they have confirmed that the compensation is reasonable for the job.  A second good specific piece of news:  one of them recommended an individual, and I have reached out.  If this lead is available for the job, that will be just the situation I am looking for:  a musician known well at one remove, for whom HTUMC is geographically convenient.

[Karl Henning]

Scene 10 is about half-done.

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[Karl Henning]

Scene 10 is about half-done.

Although, even this start will want refinement, mind you.

[Karl Henning]

These two weeks I started with discreet back-channel queries of various organists I know in the area.  This morning, I had two fairly substantive chats with two of them.  A general bit of fundamental good news, which various conversations in this interval affirm:  there is a good talent pool in the area, still.  One good specific piece of news:  they have confirmed that the compensation is reasonable for the job.  A second good specific piece of news:  one of them recommended an individual, and I have reached out.  If this lead is available for the job, that will be just the situation I am looking for:  a musician known well at one remove, for whom HTUMC is geographically convenient.

That lead is not, in fact, looking for an annual position.

But I did follow up with another organist, and now at last I have contact info for the Placement Chairman of the Merrimack Valley Chapter of the AGO.  And I have just now been given a couple of people to call who may know someone &c.

[Karl Henning]

Scene 10 is about half-done.

I've brought the Scene to the final double-bar (!!) and it is very close;  I do need to improve two of the joints, and the final cadence, which are not quite what they ought to be.  That is work which will be done at some point today.