GMG Classical Music Forum

The Music Room => Composing and Performing => Topic started by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on October 14, 2015, 01:37:37 AM

Title: Jess' Compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on October 14, 2015, 01:37:37 AM
Here it is folks. Stuff I've wrote on paper and fed into software/musicians to perform.

This first piece is something I had to whip up in a month for a school assignment so it isn't that great. Kudos to my soprano friend who basically sight read all of it (my voice is a bonus at the end) accompanied by Sibelius 7.5 software computer sounds attempting to recreate the accompanying forces of 2 cellos, harpsichord and guitar (classical).

It's called 'The Sand Timer' and it is set to a poem of the same title by my sis who is amazing!

I was gonna upload scans of the manuscript but the file was too big and the scan wasn't very clear  :-[

Anyhow, here is the audio:

https://soundcloud.com/composerofavantgarde/the-sand-timer

And the names and numbers and letters on the top of the final draft is unimportant stuff that means nothing apart from school stuff. REMEMBER: THIS PIECE IS JUST AN EXERCISE!


Anyhow...


Enjoy! Any and all feedback is welcome! I shall post more compositions in the future :3

Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on October 14, 2015, 03:31:12 AM
Welcome!  I shall take a look and have a listen later today  :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on October 14, 2015, 02:35:57 PM
Oh and btw, I didn't know how to make the note stems sprechstimme on Sibelius software so I opted for funny looking note heads.

Is there any way I can upload a photo to here? I am only allowed 500kbs which is extremely small and impossible to work with. Other forums seem to have a capacity for larger uploads.....just a small inconvenience really.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on October 14, 2015, 03:07:02 PM
OKAY here is the first page of the first version of The Sand Timer!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on October 14, 2015, 03:54:20 PM
Quote from: ComposerOfAvantGarde on October 14, 2015, 01:37:37 AM
Here it is folks. Stuff I've wrote on paper and fed into software/musicians to perform.

This first piece is something I had to whip up in a month for a school assignment so it isn't that great. Kudos to my soprano friend who basically sight read all of it (my voice is a bonus at the end) accompanied by Sibelius 7.5 software computer sounds attempting to recreate the accompanying forces of 2 cellos, harpsichord and guitar (classical).

It's called 'The Sand Timer' and it is set to a poem of the same title by my sis who is amazing!

I was gonna upload scans of the manuscript but the file was too big and the scan wasn't very clear  :-[

Anyhow, here is the audio:

https://soundcloud.com/composerofavantgarde/the-sand-timer

And the names and numbers and letters on the top of the final draft is unimportant stuff that means nothing apart from school stuff. REMEMBER: THIS PIECE IS JUST AN EXERCISE!


Anyhow...


Enjoy! Any and all feedback is welcome! I shall post more compositions in the future :3

As "just an exercise" goes, very nicely done.  And your soprano friend carries it off beautifully.

Bring us more!  :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on October 15, 2015, 01:19:45 AM
I'm currently working on a sonata for solo guitar....the third movement is finished and I'm working on the first now. I'll,leave the short second movement until the end. It's exhausting work and a complex piece written for my teacher who will perform if if he manages!

I have a commission of sorts from a local guitar quartet, seeing that I know half of the members well (my teacher and the teacher of a friend of mine) and sorta know another (but I haven't met the fourth) it seems pretty much logical to write them a piece anyway.

I'm thinking of quartal/quintal harmonies at the moment......
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on October 15, 2015, 07:45:21 AM
The Sand Timer will receive its world premiere (with all real musicians) on the 23rd of November.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on October 15, 2015, 07:58:56 AM
Quote from: ComposerOfAvantGarde on October 15, 2015, 07:45:21 AM
The Sand Timer will receive its world premiere (with all real musicians) on the 23rd of November.

Splendid!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: jochanaan on October 15, 2015, 04:26:01 PM
I like the Sprechstimme, and agree with Karl that it's a lovely "exercise." :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on December 18, 2015, 01:18:42 AM
As I am beginning my tertiary education at the end of February next year, I had applied for a composition scholarship to boost myself along. I am very excited to say that I have been awarded the scholarship for my composition The Sand Timer. ;D

It will be given a more public performance on the 23rd of February 2016. 8)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on December 18, 2015, 03:27:11 AM
Bravo!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on December 18, 2015, 05:17:13 AM
At the moment I'm stuck on ideas for the guitar quartet piece though.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on December 18, 2015, 05:21:05 AM
In the calm interval between Christmas and New Year's, I can [begin to] attend to your guitar piece.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on December 18, 2015, 05:28:35 AM
Oh! I am sorry! I forgot about that!!! I must set out to compose your clarinet piece immediately......after I sleep that is!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on December 18, 2015, 05:34:49 AM
If I haven't already advised you, no extended techniques . . . perhaps it's lazy of me, but I just work with our usual notes and in the usual methods  8)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on December 18, 2015, 02:50:58 PM
No extended techniques is fine by me! Writing idiomatically for solo guitar is a feat enough in itself!

I am underway with coming up with ideas for a little solo clarinet piece btw ;)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on December 19, 2015, 06:05:40 AM
Splendid!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on December 28, 2015, 01:39:56 AM
About to put pencil to paper for the Caprice for Karl! Writing for solo is something extremely daunting for me but I'm certainly up for the challenge. :

And I've started a new piece which my girlfriend and I have jokingly named 'chord absorption'

Here's the story:

It's a piece for two mixed quartets, each placed separately on a stage. In the first section, each quartet's harmonic and melodic material are derived from a different chord each. The 2nd quartet's chord gradually gets 'absorbed' by the first quartet like the first quartet is a sponge soaking up the second quartet's chord.

I'm writing this piece for a composition competition run by my local symphony orchestra. Each year four composers under 30 are selected to have their piece workshopped and performed, and then a couple of them have their piece performed once again at the following new music festival conducted by someone else, eg Olli Mustonen a few years back, Robert Spano next year and so on.

Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on December 28, 2015, 04:32:17 AM
Splendid. Write well!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 07, 2016, 01:45:15 AM
Unfortunately I'm not here to post Caprice for Karl (Kaprice for Karl) but I have something which has been trying to burst out of my mind and onto paper since last year.

So here's something (for that competition I mentioned) which I decided to put into the computer—feed the beast, as I like to put it—from a pile densely notated A3 sheets of manuscript paper. It was written with much gusto, lots of patience and attention to detail, because I'm trying to make something of mine actually good for once!

https://soundcloud.com/composerofavantgarde/work-in-progress-january-2016

It's the first three minutes of what is potentially a 10 minute piece....any ideas on what I should do next in the music and how it should end?
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 07, 2016, 01:11:59 PM
Oh and also, the quartets are:

Group 1: flute, vibraphone, viola, bassoon
Group 2: glockenspiel, clarinet, horn, cello

Any orchestration tips are welcome!

https://soundcloud.com/composerofavantgarde/work-in-progress-january-2016
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on January 07, 2016, 01:34:16 PM
Will have a listen soon!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 07, 2016, 04:47:10 PM
I'm looking forward to hearing what you think! :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on January 08, 2016, 05:31:59 AM
Quote from: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 07, 2016, 01:11:59 PM
Oh and also, the quartets are:

Group 1: flute, vibraphone, viola, bassoon
Group 2: glockenspiel, clarinet, horn, cello

Any orchestration tips are welcome!

https://soundcloud.com/composerofavantgarde/work-in-progress-january-2016

I enjoy it!  Just from listening to the MIDI, and with no view of the score, the only thought that occurs to me OTTOMH is, in the ostinato section (from about 00:35 to 01:05), if you have any of the winds involved in the repeated patterns, have you accounted for the need to take the occasional breath?  :)

Keep up the good work!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: (poco) Sforzando on January 08, 2016, 05:43:18 AM
Quote from: karlhenning on January 07, 2016, 01:34:16 PM
Will have a listen soon!

Me too. But if you want orchestration tips, you should provide a score, since only that way can one determine how idiomatically you are using your instruments. (MIDI, after all, can do anything.)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 08, 2016, 03:17:01 PM
I tried to upload a pdf of the score so far....but alas, the computer I was working on has lost its internet connection. I will have to be doing some detective work and then computer surgery in a little while to get it back up and running......
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 08, 2016, 03:19:48 PM
Quote from: karlhenning on January 08, 2016, 05:31:59 AM
I enjoy it!  Just from listening to the MIDI, and with no view of the score, the only thought that occurs to me OTTOMH is, in the ostinato section (from about 00:35 to 01:05), if you have any of the winds involved in the repeated patterns, have you accounted for the need to take the occasional breath?  :)

Keep up the good work!

The ostinati of which you speak are in overlapping groups of 3 quavers slurred. The horn and clarinet should be able to pop in breaths here and there without causing any noticeable disruption to the overall texture, but once I upload the score it would be great to have a second opinion from an actual woodwind player on this issue. The cello can breathe at any time. ;)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 09, 2016, 01:31:42 PM
Computer Made score as it stands....it is more completed in manuscript format but I can't scan A3.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on January 09, 2016, 01:38:00 PM
Will take a look!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 10, 2016, 02:41:44 PM
I've finally mapped out the entire fast section. It will end slow and grand.....but I need to write another few minutes before I get to the ending section!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on January 10, 2016, 02:49:49 PM
Quote from: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 09, 2016, 01:31:42 PM
Computer Made score as it stands....it is more completed in manuscript format but I can't scan A3.

The clarinet and horn have uninterrupted streams of eighth-notes for mm.10-22, but most players will need to breathe.  You might want to manage where they cheat that time (and quite possibly drop the odd note).  I speak not only as a composer;  Tuesday night I'm getting together with two wind players for beer and chat, and that is about the first thing that would catch their eye if you gave them a part . . . it would strike them as careless on the part of the composer.

And the sound of the piece is good;  I don't want what looks like notational inconsideration for the wind players to be an obstacle. Make sense?
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 10, 2016, 03:11:37 PM
Quote from: karlhenning on January 10, 2016, 02:49:49 PM
The clarinet and horn have uninterrupted streams of eighth-notes for mm.10-22, but most players will need to breathe.  You might want to manage where they cheat that time (and quite possibly drop the odd note).  I speak not only as a composer;  Tuesday night I'm getting together with two wind players for beer and chat, and that is about the first thing that would catch their eye if you gave them a part . . . it would strike them as careless on the part of the composer.

And the sound of the piece is good;  I don't want what looks like notational inconsideration for the wind players to be an obstacle. Make sense?
Thanks for the tip. I'll look over that section and revise it today. :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Monsieur Croche on January 10, 2016, 04:40:51 PM
Quote from: karlhenning on January 10, 2016, 02:49:49 PM
The clarinet and horn have uninterrupted streams of eighth-notes for mm.10-22, but most players will need to breathe.  You might want to manage where they cheat that time (and quite possibly drop the odd note).  I speak not only as a composer;  Tuesday night I'm getting together with two wind players for beer and chat, and that is about the first thing that would catch their eye if you gave them a part . . . it would strike them as careless on the part of the composer.

And the sound of the piece is good;  I don't want what looks like notational inconsideration for the wind players to be an obstacle. Make sense?

I second the above.

I would also second Karl's prior comment on that ostinato segment -- it runs too long, the same, using the same instrument in the same register, and therefore becomes quickly dulling. The breathing allowances for the players are also a real consideration.

There are any number of ways to re-approach that without having to re-write the activity above it. You can alternatively distribute it around the several instruments -- and not in the same register, and / or by leaving one note of the figure out without changing the overall placement or 'motor drive' of it. Since the activity over it is occasional and somewhat pointillistic, there are, then, instruments strategically free here and there to take on the ostinato figure and 'let it travel a bit.' It could also, so placed, appear in retrograde, inversion, retrograde inversion and the ear will still 'feel' it is present. Once it is briefly established and before it becomes dulling, there are plenty of ways to skin that cat while keeping the cat's presence.

Best regards.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 10, 2016, 05:27:27 PM
Quote from: Monsieur Croche on January 10, 2016, 04:40:51 PM
I second the above.

I would also second Karl's prior comment on that ostinato segment -- it runs too long, the same, using the same instrument in the same register, and therefore becomes quickly dulling. The breathing allowances for the players are also a real consideration.

There are any number of ways to re-approach that without having to re-write the activity above it. You can alternatively distribute it around the several instruments -- and not in the same register, and / or by leaving one note of the figure out without changing the overall placement or 'motor drive' of it. Since the activity over it is occasional and somewhat pointillistic, there are, then, instruments strategically free here and there to take on the ostinato figure and 'let it travel a bit.' It could also, so placed, appear in retrograde, inversion, retrograde inversion and the ear will still 'feel' it is present. Once it is briefly established and before it becomes dulling, there are plenty of ways to skin that cat while keeping the cat's presence.

Best regards.

I am thinking of rewriting it with more rests to make the subtle variety of colours a little less subtle, and the passage more breathable!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on January 10, 2016, 05:33:16 PM
Quote from: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 10, 2016, 05:27:27 PM
I am thinking of rewriting it with more rests to make the subtle variety of colours a little less subtle, and the passage more breathable!
Good!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Monsieur Croche on January 10, 2016, 06:45:44 PM
Quote from: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 10, 2016, 05:27:27 PM
I am thinking of rewriting it with more rests to make the subtle variety of colours a little less subtle, and the passage more breathable!

After Karl's good, good no. two!

For another time, and a 'breathless' ostinato or continually fleeting sixteenth-note passages from any winds [note the plural] look at the two bassoons in the last movement of Stravinsky's Octet.

That is how that is done, effectively, and if you think and hear 'wind instrument,' that usage has its own rather startling effect because it sounds like it could be one player, but does sound as if it is done without the player breathing.  ;)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 10, 2016, 07:53:00 PM
Quote from: Monsieur Croche on January 10, 2016, 06:45:44 PM
After Karl's good, good no. two!

For another time, and a 'breathless' ostinato or continually fleeting sixteenth-note passages from any winds [note the plural] look at the two bassoons in the last movement of Stravinsky's Octet.

That is how that is done, effectively, and if you think and hear 'wind instrument,' that usage has its own rather startling effect because it sounds like it could be one player, but does sound as if it is done without the player breathing.  ;)
One thing I was thinking about when writing those bars was keeping the entire chord pulsating underneath through the subtle but regular timbral shifts. Perhaps I'm attempting something I can't achieve in my most desired way, but breaking it up between the instruments and omitting notes here and there should work too.....would that still be too 'dulling' though?
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on January 11, 2016, 02:22:24 AM
Give it a try and let's have a look/listen.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Monsieur Croche on January 11, 2016, 02:53:13 AM
Quote from: karlhenning on January 11, 2016, 02:22:24 AM
Give it a try and let's have a look/listen.

A-yep. ^^^All good advice as per the situation / problem considered, there is nothing like running it up the flagpole to see if anyone salutes  :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 28, 2016, 09:45:03 PM
I'm about three quarters of the way through the piece now.....and I just called the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to find out that this composition I'm writing is purely an audition piece from which they will select young composers to commission for concerts next year. So yeah, it won't be performed any time soon....lol....I'll have to send it to a group like Elision or something like that. :laugh:

also! Just bee asked to perform my arrangement of 'Gee Officer Krupke' for three guitars on the 17th of February at my old school. I'll try and get someone to record it so I can upload it here...........................
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on January 29, 2016, 01:29:04 AM
Carry on  :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Monsieur Croche on January 29, 2016, 04:18:50 AM
Quote from: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 28, 2016, 09:45:03 PM
I'm about three quarters of the way through the piece now.....and I just called the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to find out that this composition I'm writing is purely an audition piece from which they will select young composers to commission for concerts next year.

It is utterly fantastic that your local symphony even has such a program and avenue for young composers.

Do your best, as most of us are certain you already do, and here is to the best of luck once it is in the hands of 'the Gods' who determine whose comps merit those commissions  :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on February 19, 2016, 05:01:30 PM
New update of my ensemble composition on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/composerofavantgarde/work-in-progress-february-2016

I'll put up a pdf soon.

I still think there's some work to be done on the problem section in the opening slow introduction........

Also, I've had a couple of rehearsals of The Sand Timer for a performance on Tuesday. The new lineup of musicians are fantastic and I'm looking forward to the concert on Tuesday. I'll see if I can record a run through...... :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on February 19, 2016, 05:06:30 PM
Good. Carry on :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on July 17, 2016, 06:40:37 PM
I changed my entire Soundcloud account because reasons. Little icon under my avatar should lead you to my stuff. I have uploaded my very very first experiment in electronic music (complete n00b here) so it isn't anything I of which I am especially proud. The only thing is that it is my very first foray in musique concrète and I hope to do more down the track. The other thing on there is the very brief third movement of a sinfonia concertante I once composed. Very simple composition, but it the largest scale work I have ever had a performance of so far. :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: (poco) Sforzando on July 17, 2016, 07:17:37 PM
Quote from: jessop on July 17, 2016, 06:40:37 PM
I changed my entire Soundcloud account because reasons. Little icon under my avatar should lead you to my stuff. I have uploaded my very very first experiment in electronic music (complete n00b here) so it isn't anything I of which I am especially proud. The only thing is that it is my very first foray in musique concrète and I hope to do more down the track. The other thing on there is the very brief third movement of a sinfonia concertante I once composed. Very simple composition, but it the largest scale work I have ever had a performance of so far. :)

Actually I think the electronic piece the more accomplished of the two, primarily because the rhythms and textures are handled much more subtly. In the Sinfonia excerpt, the Spanish influence with the guitar music sounds overly symmetrical, with all the downbeats falling predictably in unvaried triple meter. (At one point it sounds like you're directly quoting Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, and the pattern in the first couple of measures is also familiar.)

What else do you have?
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on July 17, 2016, 07:22:09 PM
Quote from: (poco) Sforzando on July 17, 2016, 07:17:37 PM
Actually I think the electronic piece the more accomplished of the two, primarily because the rhythms and textures are handled much more subtly. In the Sinfonia excerpt, the Spanish influence with the guitar music sounds overly symmetrical, with all the downbeats falling predictably in unvaried triple meter. (At one point it sounds like you're directly quoting Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, and the pattern in the first couple of measures is also familiar.)

What else do you have?
Yep the orchestral one is basically a musical satire of the Spanish repertoire!

I am trying to get a recording made of a recent composition using techniques of indeterminacy, but I also plan to upload a piece from quite a while ago which was recorded and released by my colleagues who perform as a guitar duo.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: (poco) Sforzando on July 17, 2016, 07:24:43 PM
Quote from: jessop on July 17, 2016, 07:22:09 PM
Yep the orchestral one is basically a musical satire of the Spanish repertoire!

The problem is then, how is the listener to determine whether something is "satire" or just a derivative composition?
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on July 17, 2016, 07:29:17 PM
Quote from: (poco) Sforzando on July 17, 2016, 07:24:43 PM
The problem is then, how is the listener to determine whether something is "satire" or just a derivative composition?
By the surrounding movements....which then makes this a problematic movement when heard on its own....  ::)

So I wrote a bit more in the description of the track, hoping not to sound like a justification in defence of the music! :laugh:
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Monsieur Croche on August 10, 2016, 04:29:02 PM
Quote from: (poco) Sforzando on July 17, 2016, 07:24:43 PM
The problem is then, how is the listener to determine whether something is "satire" or just a derivative composition?

When you get the reference(s) and / or simply find it funny/sardonic, etc.

A reaction like that may be due to the fact the music is -- inadvertently -- funny, but that is pretty much 'on the composer,' since listener reaction is a reaction.

(Re: 'references.' There is an inherent danger in relying on references and direct quotes; it anticipates your audience readily knowing those references.)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on August 10, 2016, 10:55:35 PM
Quote from: Monsieur Croche on August 10, 2016, 04:29:02 PM
When you get the reference(s) and / or simply find it funny/sardonic, etc.

A reaction like that may be due to the fact the music is -- inadvertently -- funny, but that is pretty much 'on the composer,' since listener reaction is a reaction.

(Re: 'references.' There is an inherent danger in relying on references and direct quotes; it anticipates your audience readily knowing those references.)
Yes and I couldn't agree with you more here. Perhaps this is the danger of having a mindset of being a composer for musicians (my guitar pals in this case) rather than composing 'to an audience.' Most people on first hearing Mozart's Musical Joke today on modern instruments won't understand 'the references' than if they lived in Mozart's day knowing the musical climate and at least a few things about compositional style and technique.

But then again, as you can see from thatfabulousalien's reaction, there will still be people who like it. :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on August 16, 2016, 05:41:56 PM
I just put up an old piece of mine on soundcloud
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on October 22, 2016, 07:53:16 PM
Upcoming works:

Makedonska Rapsodija for guitar quartet to be premiered 2017 by the Melbourne Guitar Quartet (recently finished)

Dreams Within Dreams (electroacoustic)

New work (working title 'Space Between') for flute, harp and percussion

Possible new work TBC for guitar duo to be premiered late 2017

I'll upload Dreams Within Dreams to my soundcloud hopefully in the next few days. I will also try to get a recording up of Makedonska Rapsodija around the time of its premiere.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on October 22, 2016, 11:28:43 PM
Ok here (https://soundcloud.com/jessop-maticevski-shumack/dreams-within-dreams) is Dreams Within Dreams.
Comments and feedback are more than welcome!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on October 23, 2016, 03:09:42 AM
Quote from: jessop on October 22, 2016, 07:53:16 PM
New work (working title 'Space Between') for flute, harp and percussion

What percussion?  :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on October 23, 2016, 04:36:17 AM
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on October 23, 2016, 03:09:42 AM
What percussion?  :)
Not yet finalised: marimba, bongos, small tuned gongs
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on October 26, 2016, 07:44:12 PM
I decided to upload something I recorded in high school, not one of my own compositions, but something I played on guitar

https://soundcloud.com/jessop-maticevski-shumack/shard-by-elliott-carter
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: EddieRUKiddingVarese on October 26, 2016, 08:11:46 PM
Nice
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on October 26, 2016, 08:34:12 PM
Quote from: EddieRUKiddingVarese on October 26, 2016, 08:11:46 PM
Nice
Thanks
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: bhodges on October 26, 2016, 08:39:57 PM
Quote from: jessop on October 26, 2016, 07:44:12 PM
I decided to upload something I recorded in high school, not one of my own compositions, but something I played on guitar

https://soundcloud.com/jessop-maticevski-shumack/shard-by-elliott-carter

Just listened to this, and it's quite good. (Have heard it a number of times by guitarists in NYC.) It also is a little inspiring to think that high school students (or at least one) are playing Elliott Carter -- gives me hope for humanity.  8)

--Bruce
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on October 26, 2016, 08:50:23 PM
Thanks very much guys! I might upload some more of my guitar playing soon :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on October 27, 2016, 03:21:12 AM
Very good :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Sergeant Rock on October 27, 2016, 03:52:16 AM
Great piece of music well played. Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed it.

Sarge
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: NikF on October 29, 2016, 12:46:32 PM
Quote from: jessop on October 26, 2016, 07:44:12 PM
I decided to upload something I recorded in high school, not one of my own compositions, but something I played on guitar

https://soundcloud.com/jessop-maticevski-shumack/shard-by-elliott-carter

I've just listened - and that was cool indeed. Bonus: doubles as my first time hearing anything by Elliot Carter. All in all, a pleasure. Thanks for sharing it.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on October 29, 2016, 12:57:45 PM
Glad you enjoyed it! :D
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on November 24, 2016, 05:01:14 PM
Just for a bit of fun I've decided to revisit a project I've been working on every now and then since 2011. It's taking the form of a chamber opera in five scenes for about 8 instruments and 9 or 11 singers (depending if anyone doubles roles) mostly in episodic roles apart from one main character who is in every scene except for the first. I recently finished the libretto for the first scene and decided to write a little bit of music.

I've actually discussed with a composer/singer friend of mine the possibility for it being staged with a chamber opera he will be working on as a double bill for a youth opera production. He seems to know the right people to make this happen...so let's see how it goes... :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Monsieur Croche on November 27, 2016, 02:38:45 PM
Quote from: jessop on October 23, 2016, 04:36:17 AM
Not yet finalised: marimba, bongos, small tuned gongs

Harp is percussion; one down, #xx to go ;-)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on November 27, 2016, 04:31:50 PM
Quote from: Monsieur Croche on November 27, 2016, 02:38:45 PM
Harp is percussion; one down, #xx to go ;-)
Harp will be used as percussion, yes, but please explain using the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system how harp is percussion. :P
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Monsieur Croche on December 02, 2016, 11:55:51 PM
Apart from its (somewhat) useful categories, you do know that the Hornbostel-Sachs system is a Teutonic 1930's anal retentive hairsplitting relativity, including grouping sound sources and their various means of sound production while attributing to them a hippy-dippy Rudolph Steiner influenced categorization of "Earth, Wind, Fire, Water" and sundry mystic/astrological flavors? LOL.  I do deem it 'mildly useful' as well as being somewhat of a quasi-science.  Others have made academic careers of it... go figure.

So, as cloudy as the categories are -- and aren't, in that system and wrong though it is, all idiophones (percussion in their book) exclude the chordophones... where in The Real World... you can never be wrong if you go by this criterion:
IF the instrument is primarily struck, plucked, beaten or slapped to initiate the sound, regardless if it has strings, membranes, wooden, glass, metal, plastic, etc. as the sound source -- it is a percussion instrument.  All of these share the trait of the player being completely unable to further sustain or alter that initiated sound from its initial volume and inherent subsequent decay, i.e. there is zero ability to alter that amplitude up or down once the sound is initiated.  The only 'control' a player has is in the length of that duration of decay dependent upon how strong the initial strike / pluck was.

That is where any and all like with this production and subsequent 'no sustain or change of volume control' are categorized and most usually end up placed in 'the kitchen' in world-wide standardized orchestral seating arrangements ~ even in German orchestras, ha haaa haaaa.

The sustain pedal of a piano is a bit of a oner in this group of chordophones, in that while it allows for sympathetic vibrations to add to the body of sound, those do nothing to in any way alter the actual volume once the key is struck -- by a hammer, no less.

Struck, plucked, slapped or beaten -- it is percussion.

The bowed string instruments (also chordophones) are temporarily in the percussion category whenever the strings are plucked (pizzicato) or the body of the instruments struck.  (I'll leave staccato col legno and spiccato passages to those inclined to debate how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, the argument pro or con entirely hinged on the individual passage(s) cited.)

I bet those rubbed sound sources, like the the South American Cuíca or 'singing' Tibetan bells, 'percussion' to most, are 'something else' in the world of Hornbostel-Sachs.

Well, that was a weird bit of fun.  Thank you :-)


Always best regards
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on December 03, 2016, 02:32:32 AM
Quote from: Monsieur Croche on December 02, 2016, 11:39:16 PM
Apart from its (somewhat) useful categories, you do know that the Hornbostel-Sachs system is a Teutonic 1930's anal retentive hairsplitting relativity, including grouping sound sources and their various materials and means of sound production while attributing to them a hippy-dippy Rudolph Steiner influenced categorization of "Earth, Wind, Fire, Water" and sundry mystic/astrological flavors that has it a distant cousin of a sort of Acoustic Kaballah? LOL.  I do deem it 'mildly useful' as well as being somewhat of a quasi-science.  Others have made academic careers of it... go figure.

So, as cloudy as the categories are -- and aren't, in that system and wrong though it is, all idiophones (percussion in their book) exclude the chordophones... where in The Real World... you can never be wrong if you go by this criterion:
IF the instrument is primarily struck, plucked, beaten or slapped to initiate the sound, regardless if it has strings, membranes, wooden, glass, metal, plastic, etc. as the sound source -- it is a percussion instrument. 
All of these share the trait of the player being completely unable to further sustain or alter the sound from its initial volume and inherent subsequent decay after the initial attack.  The only 'control' a player has is in the length of that duration of decay dependent upon how strong the initial strike / pluck was.


That is where any and all like with this production and subsequent 'no sustain or change of volume control' are categorized and most usually end up placed in 'the kitchen' in world-wide standard orchestral seating arrangements ~ even in German orchestras, ha haaa haaaa.

The sustain pedal of a piano is a bit of a oner in this group of chordophones, in that while it allows for sympathetic vibrations to add to the body of sound, those do nothing to in any way alter the actual volume once the key is struck -- by a hammer, no less. Strike and decay is the order of the day.

Struck, plucked, slapped or beaten -- it is percussion.

The bowed string instruments (also chordophones) are temporarily in the percussion category whenever the strings are plucked (pizzicato) or the body of the instruments struck.  (I'll leave staccato col legno and spiccato passages to those inclined to debate how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, the argument pro or con entirely hinged on the individual passage(s) cited.)

I bet those rubbed sound sources, like the the South American Cuíca or 'singing' Tibetan bells, 'percussion' to most, are 'something else' in the world of Hornbostel-Sachs.

Well, that was a weird bit of fun.  Thank you :-)


Always best regards

Hm...convincing argument but you must remember your citations and bibliography next time. Chicago style please.   
6/10
:P
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Monsieur Croche on December 03, 2016, 04:07:28 PM
Quote from: jessop on December 03, 2016, 02:32:32 AM
Hm...convincing argument but you must remember your citations and bibliography next time. Chicago style please.   
6/10
:P

Sad to report that authoritative citations, bibli, etc. or 'strong argument' Chicago Style, often involve guns and death.  In this year, 2016, 700 homicides, with another month + to go.  That 'us Amuricans' can say that almost casually speaks volumes :-/

So... best take my word for it, if ya know what's good for ya ;-)

Now, your turn. 
What is/are the Hornbostel–Sachs categorizations -- with citations and bibliography (Strine Style, natch) for these two 'percussion' babes:

The Cuíca:
"Brazilian friction drum" (a wooden rod is affixed in the middle of the membrane, in the drum; the rod is rosined and then rubbed with a damp cloth.  "with a large pitch range, produced by changing tension on the head of the drum."  {A a near standard included in a ton of South American Samba music, I'm pretty sure just about anyone on GMG has heard it, whether or not they know the name of it.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVOtE1qSymU
[Don't you love the lengths the human race goes to in imagining and then creating an instrument like this?]

Tibetan singing bowls: Metal bells, struck and / or rubbed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singing_bowl

One legitimate response is the question, "Does any of this categorization really matter?"
Haaa haaaaaa.
Best of luck to you ;-), and as usual,


Best regards (I here confess a relative frequency of the typo, "Beset regards.")
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on December 09, 2016, 03:04:35 PM
Quote from: Monsieur Croche on December 03, 2016, 04:07:28 PM
Sad to report that authoritative citations, bibli, etc. or 'strong argument' Chicago Style, often involve guns and death.  In this year, 2016, 700 homicides, with another month + to go.  That 'us Amuricans' can say that almost casually speaks volumes :-/

So... best take my word for it, if ya know what's good for ya ;-)

Now, your turn. 
What is/are the Hornbostel–Sachs categorizations -- with citations and bibliography (Strine Style, natch) for these two 'percussion' babes:

The Cuíca:
"Brazilian friction drum" (a wooden rod is affixed in the middle of the membrane, in the drum; the rod is rosined and then rubbed with a damp cloth.  "with a large pitch range, produced by changing tension on the head of the drum."  {A a near standard included in a ton of South American Samba music, I'm pretty sure just about anyone on GMG has heard it, whether or not they know the name of it.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVOtE1qSymU
[Don't you love the lengths the human race goes to in imagining and then creating an instrument like this?]

Tibetan singing bowls: Metal bells, struck and / or rubbed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singing_bowl

One legitimate response is the question, "Does any of this categorization really matter?"
Haaa haaaaaa.
Best of luck to you ;-), and as usual,


Best regards (I here confess a relative frequency of the typo, "Beset regards.")

Can't be bothered categorising these :P
But very very interesting! :)
I guess categorisation matters for some people and doesn't matter so much for others. As for me, it doesn't matter so much as I am more concerned with the varying lengths of sustain and decay of any produced sound and the timbre of it, rather than what 'type' of instrument it is.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on December 09, 2016, 03:05:25 PM
On a different note: here is me butchering some Bach

https://www.youtube.com/v/TcP4Hi-0CPs
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on December 12, 2016, 03:25:03 PM
Ah, I haven't really been composing much at all lately. I have things which I will end up doing next year as part of my course and I think for now if I do anything it would probably be some kind of composition using that video above as the sound source which I will edit and remix. A bit like eRikm's Corrélation 1.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on December 18, 2016, 07:37:02 PM
I abandoned that project for the time being, perhaps I will do a better job at it another time. The ideas I was having ended up morphing into a completely new idea which uses the following quote I saw Lucy Aharish say: 'Who is marching in the streets for the innocent men and women of Syria? Who is shouting for the children? No one.'

I tried to sort of imitate irregular breathing patterns, inspired by a sense of struggling to live, intense stress, a sort of feeling that I can't imagine at all due to where I live in the world.

https://soundcloud.com/jessop-maticevski-shumack/no-one
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Mahlerian on December 18, 2016, 08:30:18 PM
Quote from: jessop on December 18, 2016, 07:37:02 PM
I abandoned that project for the time being, perhaps I will do a better job at it another time. The ideas I was having ended up morphing into a completely new idea which uses the following quote I saw Lucy Aharish say: 'Who is marching in the streets for the innocent men and women of Syria? Who is shouting for the children? No one.'

I tried to sort of imitate irregular breathing patterns, inspired by a sense of struggling to live, intense stress, a sort of feeling that I can't imagine at all due to where I live in the world.

https://soundcloud.com/jessop-maticevski-shumack/no-one

Interesting.  What software did you use to create this?
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on December 18, 2016, 09:06:05 PM
Quote from: Mahlerian on December 18, 2016, 08:30:18 PM
Interesting.  What software did you use to create this?
Audacity just to edit the improvised sections together into a coherent piece. It's built from a few improvised phrases i played on a Roland Aira system 1 synth.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Overtones on December 19, 2016, 03:02:37 AM
Quote from: jessop on December 18, 2016, 07:37:02 PM
I abandoned that project for the time being, perhaps I will do a better job at it another time. The ideas I was having ended up morphing into a completely new idea which uses the following quote I saw Lucy Aharish say: 'Who is marching in the streets for the innocent men and women of Syria? Who is shouting for the children? No one.'

I tried to sort of imitate irregular breathing patterns, inspired by a sense of struggling to live, intense stress, a sort of feeling that I can't imagine at all due to where I live in the world.

https://soundcloud.com/jessop-maticevski-shumack/no-one

I like it!
Not sure about the final rain effect tbh, but all in all I think it's a great piece.
Well done (I've just now realized that you are... CoAG)!

Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on December 19, 2016, 04:33:29 AM
Quote from: Overtones on December 19, 2016, 03:02:37 AM
I like it!
Not sure about the final rain effect tbh, but all in all I think it's a great piece.
Well done (I've just now realized that you are... CoAG)!


Thanks for listening :)
Do you have any advice for avoiding the rain effect or changing the ending? I'd be interested to hear how you might do it differently
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Overtones on December 19, 2016, 07:47:14 AM
Quote from: jessop on December 19, 2016, 04:33:29 AM
Thanks for listening :)
Do you have any advice for avoiding the rain effect or changing the ending? I'd be interested to hear how you might do it differently

I am the furthest here from a position to give any composition advice.

It works, imo, in the middle of the piece, before the voiceover, as it does not stand out in the foreground and it sounds as a short inconscious introduction to the "real world" apparition of the voice.
At the end, instead, it is given too much prominence and it just stands out as a dull rain effect.
Maybe it'd be better even by simply removing it, as is, and leave those heavily manipulated "breaths" to do the work. There is a "dry" quality to those breaths, that fits the overall work better than the (obviously wet) rain effect.

Maybe manipulate it to make it sound (or replace it with something that sounds) like "drops of powder" instead?
I'm just typing out loud :)



Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Mahlerian on December 19, 2016, 08:02:45 AM
Quote from: jessop on December 18, 2016, 09:06:05 PM
Audacity just to edit the improvised sections together into a coherent piece. It's built from a few improvised phrases i played on a Roland Aira system 1 synth.

Nice.  I certainly understand wanting to capture the sentiment of the moment, too; maybe you should take the idea and expand it, though?
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on December 19, 2016, 11:38:25 AM
Quote from: Overtones on December 19, 2016, 07:47:14 AM
I am the furthest here from a position to give any composition advice.

It works, imo, in the middle of the piece, before the voiceover, as it does not stand out in the foreground and it sounds as a short inconscious introduction to the "real world" apparition of the voice.
At the end, instead, it is given too much prominence and it just stands out as a dull rain effect.
Maybe it'd be better even by simply removing it, as is, and leave those heavily manipulated "breaths" to do the work. There is a "dry" quality to those breaths, that fits the overall work better than the (obviously wet) rain effect.

Maybe manipulate it to make it sound (or replace it with something that sounds) like "drops of powder" instead?
I'm just typing out loud :)





Ah this all makes sense and is a good perspective I hadn't thought of. Thanks. To tell you the truth, the 'rain effect' is actually white noise....and I usually add some of that in if i don't really know what to do lol. Thanks for the comments. :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Overtones on December 19, 2016, 03:59:25 PM
Quote from: jessop on December 19, 2016, 11:38:25 AM
Ah this all makes sense and is a good perspective I hadn't thought of. Thanks. To tell you the truth, the 'rain effect' is actually white noise....and I usually add some of that in if i don't really know what to do lol. Thanks for the comments. :)

I'd be happy if it helps.
I wish I was able to use this kind of software...
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on December 31, 2016, 01:51:23 AM
hahahaha wow what a way to end the year! I just found out I have been selected for this http://www.plexuscollective.com/composers/

:o :o :o :o :o :o 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

So I will have about a month to compose a piece for this ensemble. It has been my dream commission since they formed in 2014 and their concerts are truly something! One of the best new music ensembles in my city. :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: North Star on December 31, 2016, 02:31:37 AM
Congratulations!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on December 31, 2016, 04:09:33 AM
Terrific!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Overtones on December 31, 2016, 05:54:49 AM
Wow! Congratulations!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on December 31, 2016, 06:34:54 PM
Thank you! Details are currently being put online.....

http://www.plexuscollective.com/concerts/

Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Mirror Image on December 31, 2016, 08:11:19 PM
Quote from: jessop on December 31, 2016, 01:51:23 AM
hahahaha wow what a way to end the year! I just found out I have been selected for this http://www.plexuscollective.com/composers/

:o :o :o :o :o :o 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

So I will have about a month to compose a piece for this ensemble. It has been my dream commission since they formed in 2014 and their concerts are truly something! One of the best new music ensembles in my city. :)

Congratulations, Jessop! I hope everything goes well and you'll be selected.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on December 31, 2016, 10:45:25 PM
Quote from: Mirror Image on December 31, 2016, 08:11:19 PM
Congratulations, Jessop! I hope everything goes well and you'll be selected.
Thank you. :) I was selected out of 18 applicants for this commission. I don't know exactly what piece I will have to compose, but this ensemble consists of violin, clarinet and piano. The premiere will be 9 Feb, so I only have a very short amount of time!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on January 01, 2017, 03:14:44 AM
Great opportunity!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 03, 2017, 12:47:36 PM
The piece I compose has to be between 5 and 12 minutes and the pianist of the ensemble has said they wish to give me as much freedom as possible..........that's always very daunting! I feel as if I am going to write a piece around 7 minutes in length which goes through a few different 'sections' all related by a common theme or motif. Not exactly like a series of 'variations' though....

Because this concert is actually during a local annual Beethoven festival I might quote a snippet of Beethoven as a unifying theme of the piece. What do you think?
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: aleazk on January 03, 2017, 01:35:01 PM
Quote from: jessop on January 03, 2017, 12:47:36 PM
Because this concert is actually during a local annual Beethoven festival I might quote a snippet of Beethoven as a unifying theme of the piece. What do you think?

I think the idea of a Beethoven homage is okay... but it really has to be that explicit?  ;) :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 03, 2017, 02:06:40 PM
Quote from: aleazk on January 03, 2017, 01:35:01 PM
I think the idea of a Beethoven homage is okay... but it really has to be that explicit?  ;) :)

Perhaps not especially explicit. I could just title the piece 'In Beethoven's Shadow' due to the idea that composers who were working just after Beethoven sometimes ended up with a feeling of slight inferiority when compared to the incredible music that Beethoven composed. Also, how will a concert of premieres really sit within a Beethoven festival? 'In Beethoven's Shadow' could be a potential title.....

Even an article written by Boulez begins by addressing the insane amount of comparisons there are with Beethoven and other classical music.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: aleazk on January 03, 2017, 04:15:58 PM
Yeah, it could be.

If it were me, I would take some other, less well known and perhaps subtle, musical aspect present in or characteristic of Beethoven's music and I would try to incorporate it into the piece. In this way, one shows that one has truly studied Beethoven's music in deep.

For example, that's what Ligeti did with african music: he, almost never, quoted african rhythms directly; instead, he used the rhythm technique present in the music to make his own original rhythmic combinations.

Or Ravel and Debussy. They both, inspired by oriental music, use the pentatonic scale. However, after some early attempts in which there's some mimic of that music, they start to produce their own stuff* based on that basic element (the pentatonic scale) taken from this other music.

And one can go on with many examples... Bach and other styles of Baroque, Boulez, etc.

*or, in some other cases, they make interesting, maybe parody, reinterpretations of those passages, which is not the same as mere quotation and then re-work.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 03, 2017, 05:19:53 PM
That sounds like a very good idea, aleazk! I'll have to go really have a look at some scores though, not sure exactly about even having any Beethoven reference at all any more though. :P
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 04, 2017, 03:06:02 AM
I've dropped the whole 'beethoven' thing........it seems as if there is a possibility for a few more performances after the world premiere :)

I have written just over a minute of music so far. Finishing this as well as completing a summer intensive course at the conservatorium is going to be a near impossible task...............
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on January 04, 2017, 03:24:22 AM
You've already written a minute against a seven-minute piece, and you think finishing it is impossible? Yoda himself slap you he would  8)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: aleazk on January 04, 2017, 05:05:22 AM
Quote from: jessop on January 03, 2017, 05:19:53 PM
That sounds like a very good idea, aleazk!

Quote from: jessop on January 04, 2017, 03:06:02 AM
I've dropped the whole 'beethoven' thing........

lol... oh, why do I even make the effort...  :(

As punishment, I hope your summer course is really hard and full of equations!  >:D :laugh:
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 04, 2017, 12:13:13 PM
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on January 04, 2017, 03:24:22 AM
You've already written a minute against a seven-minute piece, and you think finishing it is impossible? Yoda himself slap you he would  8)

One minute of crotchet = 40 in 4/4 time is probably a little quicker to compose than one minute of very very fast music....which is what will happen soon.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 04, 2017, 12:15:15 PM
Quote from: aleazk on January 04, 2017, 05:05:22 AM
lol... oh, why do I even make the effort...  :(

As punishment, I hope your summer course is really hard and full of equations!  >:D :laugh:
:laugh: :P
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Overtones on January 05, 2017, 09:48:13 AM
Quote from: jessop on January 04, 2017, 12:13:13 PM
One minute of crotchet = 40 in 4/4 time is probably a little quicker to compose than one minute of very very fast music....which is what will happen soon.

You can always write a Larghissimo marking at the beginning if you see you're stuck with too little music  ;D
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 10, 2017, 04:14:56 AM
Quote from: Overtones on January 05, 2017, 09:48:13 AM
You can always write a Larghissimo marking at the beginning if you see you're stuck with too little music  ;D
Ha, I do indeed have a two minute very slow introduction..........the entire first minute barely deviates from the note A flat.

A little update on the progress of the piece: I have finally come across an overall form that I like. What I am really trying to achieve is a natural progression from one section (as defined by the prominent textural and instrumental writing in each passage of music) to the next. The form is essentially just one idea which evolves into the next and continues to do so in a rather gradual fashion. All the while, some thematic material heard near the beginning of the piece holds it all together. I have called the piece 'Evolve' because I think it describes how the music happens.

EDIT: looking at an earlier post of mine in this thread, it seems as if my idea for the form of the work (the music going through different 'sections' in that gradually evolving way I described in this post) is the original idea I had for it anyway.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on January 10, 2017, 04:32:22 AM
Sometimes your initial idea is the right idea;  but it is also sometimes true that one sets aside the initial idea, only to return to it, thereby confirming that it is the right idea  8)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 18, 2017, 03:39:33 PM
Met up with the pianist yesterday to discuss some things about the composition and he tried out some of the effects I have written on his piano. Also, he gave me a  little piece of advice that he will need the score formatted so he can turn the pages without a problem in performance! I will meet up with him again on the 24th by which time the composition will be finished. It still doesn't seem realistic that my composition is being performed by such a highly regarded ensemble in the new music scene in my city.........but it isn't long now until the premiere!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 18, 2017, 03:56:43 PM
Quote from: Aguest on January 18, 2017, 03:47:21 PM
It'd be quite a surreal experience I imagine, I'm really happy few you. When is the premiere?  ;)

9 Feb http://www.plexuscollective.com/concerts/
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on January 18, 2017, 04:12:39 PM
Quote from: jessop on January 18, 2017, 03:39:33 PM
[...] Also, he gave me a  little piece of advice that he will need the score formatted so he can turn the pages without a problem in performance!

Oh, yes, indeed  8)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 18, 2017, 04:36:02 PM
Quote from: Aguest on January 18, 2017, 04:28:41 PM
:o That's a day before I officially move down to uni, it'd be a great house-warming gift for me?  ;)

How far are you through the piece now? last time I heard about it, it was 2 minutes... :)

......and did anything come of the Beethoven quotation you mentioned?

It's getting close to 6 minutes in length and I'm aiming for 7 minutes. I dropped the Beethoven idea because that seems unnecessary now.

I'll see if I can post a live recording of it next month!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on January 19, 2017, 01:15:30 AM
Progress seems to have been good, then.  Carry on!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 19, 2017, 04:50:07 AM
After a loooooong day of composing, I have reached the end of the final bar! Will be meeting up with the pianist again next week and the other musicians will be practising their parts leading up to the first rehearsal.

I might post the score here sooner or later
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on January 19, 2017, 05:20:07 AM
Great to hear!  And do post the score, please:  inquiring ears want to know!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Overtones on January 19, 2017, 07:41:59 AM
Quote from: jessop on January 18, 2017, 03:56:43 PM
9 Feb http://www.plexuscollective.com/concerts/

You certainly have the name du rôle.

It sounds Russian+Germanic+Jew.
What else is needed to be a great musician? :D
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 19, 2017, 03:21:10 PM
Quote from: Overtones on January 19, 2017, 07:41:59 AM
You certainly have the name du rôle.

It sounds Russian+Germanic+Jew.
What else is needed to be a great musician? :D

Haha, thanks, Overtones! :D

Also: link to score (https://www.dropbox.com/s/lexgdc479ilhhx0/Evolve%20-%20Full%20Score.pdf?dl=0) and link to mp3 file (https://www.dropbox.com/s/wjinyiwe4053a7n/Evolve.mp3?dl=0)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Monsieur Croche on January 19, 2017, 03:40:55 PM
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on January 19, 2017, 05:20:07 AM
Great to hear!  And do post the score, please:  inquiring ears want to know!

Congratulations, and ditto to all the above.  Delighted for you, too.

Earnestly looking forward to hearing this -- I think some of us almost as eager to hear it as the composer is, lol.

May everyone involved break the proverbial leg :-)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 20, 2017, 07:24:45 PM
I changed the ending slightly to make it a little less abrupt. I felt it wasn't quite working............I will post a new link to an mp3 file of Sibelius 7.5 Sounds 'performing' it shortly.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on January 20, 2017, 07:51:56 PM
Quote from: jessop on January 20, 2017, 07:24:45 PM
I changed the ending slightly to make it a little less abrupt. I felt it wasn't quite working............I will post a new link to an mp3 file of Sibelius 7.5 Sounds 'performing' it shortly.

Good. I added one measure last night (i.e., the last night of composing) to the third movement, for just that reason: without the additional measure, the ending was too abrupt.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 20, 2017, 08:15:51 PM
Here it is: 'Evolve'

Link to score (https://www.dropbox.com/s/lexgdc479ilhhx0/Evolve%20-%20Full%20Score.pdf?dl=0)

Link to mp3 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/eaxknniw7j762i9/Evolve.mp3?dl=0)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on January 21, 2017, 05:33:07 AM
A beautiful, fun piece, which the trio are going to have a great time playing for an audience, congratulations!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 21, 2017, 11:29:43 AM
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on January 21, 2017, 05:33:07 AM
A beautiful, fun piece, which the trio are going to have a great time playing for an audience, congratulations!
Thanks, Karl :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: aleazk on January 21, 2017, 03:59:34 PM
Love the piece, hate the name.  :)

Seems very fun to play, I can almost see the different facial expressions of the performers while playing it.  :P
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 21, 2017, 04:57:49 PM
Quote from: aleazk on January 21, 2017, 03:59:34 PM
Love the piece, hate the name.  :)

Seems very fun to play, I can almost see the different facial expressions of the performers while playing it.  :P

Thanks! Can you tell me more of your thoughts on the name?
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: aleazk on January 22, 2017, 11:28:37 AM
In my case, the name alone put some expectations that later were not realized exactly in the piece. But that, of course, has nothing to do with the piece itself! It has to do with the things I associate with the word in the title. At the end, it was all just distracting and a bunch of parallel and superfluous activity happening in my mind while listening. I would have preferred not to start listening the piece with those expectations.

In general, I think more poetic and less directly descriptive-wannabe names are better.  :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Mahlerian on January 22, 2017, 12:49:24 PM
Quote from: jessop on January 20, 2017, 08:15:51 PM
Here it is: 'Evolve'

Link to score (https://www.dropbox.com/s/lexgdc479ilhhx0/Evolve%20-%20Full%20Score.pdf?dl=0)

Link to mp3 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/eaxknniw7j762i9/Evolve.mp3?dl=0)

Like it a lot!   Thanks for sharing.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Crudblud on January 22, 2017, 01:50:03 PM
The part around 1:54-2:30 strikes me as particularly effective and promising, though in my estimation the following middle section does not capitalise upon that promise. If you look at the preceding section you have these great vertical dotted tripleted figures leaping all gangly about the violin drone, but following the drone's crescendo there is a casting out of the rhythmic profile previously established, and in its place this rigid, rather plain, almost pedestrian scherzando. I think this switch could be an effective denial of expectation if it were to come later, after some section which reinforced the expectation, but here it is out of place to my ear. Ultimately, though I sincerely congratulate you on your commission, I can't help but see this as an unordered list of materials awaiting a structure.

Those are my feelings. I wish you all the best for the premiere.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 22, 2017, 06:21:27 PM
Quote from: Crudblud on January 22, 2017, 01:50:03 PM
The part around 1:54-2:30 strikes me as particularly effective and promising, though in my estimation the following middle section does not capitalise upon that promise. If you look at the preceding section you have these great vertical dotted tripleted figures leaping all gangly about the violin drone, but following the drone's crescendo there is a casting out of the rhythmic profile previously established, and in its place this rigid, rather plain, almost pedestrian scherzando. I think this switch could be an effective denial of expectation if it were to come later, after some section which reinforced the expectation, but here it is out of place to my ear. Ultimately, though I sincerely congratulate you on your commission, I can't help but see this as an unordered list of materials awaiting a structure.

Those are my feelings. I wish you all the best for the premiere.

Thanks very much for the comments. I feel I can relate to your experience of listening to the piece......although I think with more experience at composing within such a short time frame I will be able to better execute this craft. The section of which you speak I still feel could be better incorporated into the 'scherzando' middle section. Then again, upon reflection, I do think that sometimes I put myself at risk of trying to cram in too many ideas into a short time period for the ideas to exist in. Thank you for pointing this out; it is much appreciated and it will certainly help me down the track. :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Overtones on January 23, 2017, 03:40:06 AM
I think it's awesome!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 25, 2017, 01:21:00 AM
https://www.newmusicnetwork.com.au/labmelbourne2

A little bit of info is now up on the New Music Network's website now
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on January 25, 2017, 03:14:31 AM
Although the caption reads (above), that's you in the pic below, yes?  8)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: aleazk on January 25, 2017, 01:13:16 PM
LOL he doesn't look at all like that... that pic must be quite photoshoped...  :laugh:
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on January 25, 2017, 02:13:16 PM
;)

There is no photo above, though . . . .
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 25, 2017, 08:14:50 PM
Quote from: aleazk on January 25, 2017, 01:13:16 PM
LOL he doesn't look at all like that... that pic must be quite photoshoped...  :laugh:
It's actually concept art for a future AI version of me. 8)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Overtones on February 03, 2017, 02:06:20 PM
So...?
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on February 03, 2017, 02:18:32 PM
SO! I went to a little workshop/rehearsal for 'Evolve' which lasted about an hour in which we discussed tempo and articulation mainly, but also ideas for musical interpretation and the kinds of expression markings I could add to the score in a later version. Also, I have worked out that it is impossible to make everyone happy with any solution we can come up with for notating rhythm in bars 12 and 13, so we are leaving it unchanged because at least it is specific in how the metric modulation works. One of the more established composers in my area who is having a new work premiered as well—Gordon Kerry—said in a twitter conversation that he is looking forward to hearing my composition. 8)

I will probably be there for the soundcheck on Thursday afternoon.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on February 05, 2017, 08:47:54 PM
I had to write a program note for 'Evolve' today. I never know what to write for things like that.  :-\
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on February 06, 2017, 01:18:56 AM
Quote from: jessop on February 03, 2017, 02:18:32 PM
SO! I went to a little workshop/rehearsal for 'Evolve' which lasted about an hour in which we discussed tempo and articulation mainly, but also ideas for musical interpretation and the kinds of expression markings I could add to the score in a later version. Also, I have worked out that it is impossible to make everyone happy with any solution we can come up with for notating rhythm in bars 12 and 13, so we are leaving it unchanged because at least it is specific in how the metric modulation works. One of the more established composers in my area who is having a new work premiered as well—Gordon Kerry—said in a twitter conversation that he is looking forward to hearing my composition. 8)

I will probably be there for the soundcheck on Thursday afternoon.

Back when you first posted, I meant to reply in congratulation. So congratulations!  :)

Quote from: jessop on February 05, 2017, 08:47:54 PM
I had to write a program note for 'Evolve' today. I never know what to write for things like that.  :-\

You'll get the hang of it.  My take on that process is . . . do write some about what is going on musically;  don't write in such nuts-&-bolts detail that only we fellow composers will follow you, but Don't underestimate the man in the street, buddy, as Sheldon Kornpett, D.D.S. observed.  Many people/organizations are going to want programmatic "what's it about?" copy;  if that is really "in there," by all means give the people what they want.  But if you were just imposing your will on notes (as many of us composers frequently do), my advice is, diplomatically resist the demand for "a program," but if you can compromise by relating something which is (in a word) reasonably genuine, that good will goes far, too.


So . . . what is your program note?
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on February 06, 2017, 02:30:29 AM
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on February 06, 2017, 01:18:56 AM
Back when you first posted, I meant to reply in congratulation. So congratulations!  :)

You'll get the hang of it.  My take on that process is . . . do write some about what is going on musically;  don't write in such nuts-&-bolts detail that only we fellow composers will follow you, but Don't underestimate the man in the street, buddy, as Sheldon Kornpett, D.D.S. observed.  Many people/organizations are going to want programmatic "what's it about?" copy;  if that is really "in there," by all means give the people what they want.  But if you were just imposing your will on notes (as many of us composers frequently do), my advice is, diplomatically resist the demand for "a program," but if you can compromise by relating something which is (in a word) reasonably genuine, that good will goes far, too.


So . . . what is your program note?

Thank you very much, especially for that advice :)

The ensemble usually puts up the program notes along with the biography on the 'composer profile' pages on their website......I will post a link once it is up.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on February 12, 2017, 07:22:15 PM
Quote from: Thatfabulousalien on February 12, 2017, 06:09:17 PM
Any news?  :)
Yes; the ensemble has expressed interest in giving the piece a second performance later this year. Could be as part of one of their Melbourne Recital Centre season concerts but idk yet.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on February 13, 2017, 09:16:52 AM
When is/was the 1st performance?
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on February 13, 2017, 11:09:19 AM
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on February 13, 2017, 09:16:52 AM
When is/was the 1st performance?
9 Feb
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on February 13, 2017, 01:13:31 PM
Well?!  And?!  8)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Mirror Image on February 13, 2017, 03:26:38 PM
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on February 13, 2017, 01:13:31 PM
Well?!  And?!  8)

Yes, inquiring minds want to know! :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on February 13, 2017, 03:33:28 PM
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on February 13, 2017, 01:13:31 PM
Well?!  And?!  8)

Funnily enough, a few lecturers/composers from university were there. I know that one of them, Elliott Gyger, will be having a work of his premiered by the same ensemble in an upcoming concert. Kevin March, my current theory lecturer, a remarkable composer and an extremely kind man (originally from the US but now is based here in Melbourne) spoke to me during the intermission about some other composition workshops and commissioning projects I should enter. Also got a chance to finally meet another composer with whom I have exchanged a couple of scores over a twitter conversation. He was very funny and his composition was very beautiful!

The ensemble told me that my piece was a lot of fun to play! They are such lovely people; I hope I can work with them again down the track. :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Mirror Image on February 13, 2017, 04:28:54 PM
Quote from: jessop on February 13, 2017, 03:33:28 PM
Funnily enough, a few lecturers/composers from university were there. I know that one of them, Elliott Gyger, will be having a work of his premiered by the same ensemble in an upcoming concert. Kevin March, my current theory lecturer, a remarkable composer and an extremely kind man (originally from the US but now is based here in Melbourne) spoke to me during the intermission about some other composition workshops and commissioning projects I should enter. Also got a chance to finally meet another composer with whom I have exchanged a couple of scores over a twitter conversation. He was very funny and his composition was very beautiful!

The ensemble told me that my piece was a lot of fun to play! They are such lovely people; I hope I can work with them again down the track. :)

Great to hear, Jessop. Was the performance recorded?
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on February 13, 2017, 04:50:13 PM
Quote from: Mirror Image on February 13, 2017, 04:28:54 PM
Great to hear, Jessop. Was the performance recorded?
Yes it was! I will post a recording here when it arrives. :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Mirror Image on February 13, 2017, 04:52:41 PM
Quote from: jessop on February 13, 2017, 04:50:13 PM
Yes it was! I will post a recording here when it arrives. :)

Sounds like a plan. 8)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on February 17, 2017, 01:11:05 AM
On to the next project!

(http://i.imgur.com/2zineo8.gif)

The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra hold an annual workshop for composers. I have to compose a short orchestral work between 5 and 8 minutes due on the 29th of May [2.2.2.2-4.2.3.1-timp+1perc-hp-str(8/6/5/4/3)] and then they will select five composers based on these works and composition stuff will happen and the orchestra will record the compositions. Sounds fun!

So far I have started a graphic outline of the opening section. Loud, low, slow and brassy so far.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on February 17, 2017, 04:34:45 AM
Carry on!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: aleazk on February 17, 2017, 09:02:48 PM
So... we are still awaiting the audio rec of the concert, you   $:) !
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on February 18, 2017, 12:17:22 AM
Quote from: aleazk on February 17, 2017, 09:02:48 PM
So... we are still awaiting the audio rec of the concert, you   $:) !
Yes yes I don't have it yet!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Overtones on February 18, 2017, 11:42:19 AM
So proud of you mister Maticevski-Shumack!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on February 27, 2017, 11:22:11 PM
New news: had my first composition lesson for the semester. This semester I'm having a future composition for harp recorded by Marshall McGuire (http://www.marshallmcguire.com/about/) which I should be able to post here once it's done! In the meantime I will also write a clarinet piece which I would like to also send off to Phil from Plexus and also our own GMG composer Dr. Henning, should they be interested in having a look at it.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on February 28, 2017, 01:35:46 AM
I've been wondering when you might get back to that clarinet piece :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on February 28, 2017, 01:45:25 AM
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on February 28, 2017, 01:35:46 AM
I've been wondering when you might get back to that clarinet piece :)
Well, the opportunity finally came! And I feel it will certainly be a better piece than what I could have written a year ago. :)

It's called A Shaped Wildness
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on February 28, 2017, 01:53:50 AM
Carry on  8)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on February 28, 2017, 05:19:17 PM
I've come up with a few fragments and ideas for A Shaped Wildness and I think I might call the harp piece  Time Arch.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on March 21, 2017, 11:28:32 PM
UPDATE ON THINGS THAT ARE HAPPENING

I now have a recording of Evolve from the world premiere performance.

I have 'finished' the first draft of the solo clarinet piece.

I have begun planning a piece for percussion ensemble.

I have begun working on a new piece for mezzo, piano and electronics, hopefully for a performance in May.

I am about to begin as a chorister in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on March 22, 2017, 01:29:42 AM
Splendid. Carry on  8)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Monsieur Croche on March 22, 2017, 02:15:27 AM
Quote from: jessop on March 21, 2017, 11:28:32 PM
UPDATE ON THINGS THAT ARE HAPPENING

I now have a recording of Evolve from the world premiere performance.

I have 'finished' the first draft of the solo clarinet piece.

I have begun planning a piece for percussion ensemble.

I have begun working on a new piece for mezzo, piano and electronics, hopefully for a performance in May.

I am about to begin as a chorister in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus.

Sounds like enough to keep you off the streets and out of trouble....

Truly, though, it is great that you are so engaged, and accepted into the choral ensemble.  Congratulations!


Best regards.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on March 22, 2017, 03:00:24 AM
I'll get a recording of Evolve up here once I get the thumbs up from Stefan The Pianist et al.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on March 22, 2017, 03:00:48 AM
Quote from: Monsieur Croche on March 22, 2017, 02:15:27 AM
Sounds like enough to keep you off the streets and out of trouble....

Truly, though, it is great that you are so engaged, and accepted into the choral ensemble.  Congratulations!


Best regards.
Thanks! I can't stand not being busy!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on March 22, 2017, 03:52:03 AM
Quote from: jessop on March 22, 2017, 03:00:24 AM
I'll get a recording of Evolve up here once I get the thumbs up from Stefan The Pianist et al.

Looking forward to it!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on April 09, 2017, 12:47:51 AM
https://soundcloud.com/jessop-maticevski-shumack/evolve
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on April 10, 2017, 03:59:31 AM
Great!  As soon as I get home, I'll listen (the office network nanny blocks SoundCloud).  Highly pleased for you!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: SimonNZ on April 10, 2017, 10:33:34 AM
Hope you saw the positive responses to that on the Current Listening thread, Jessop.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on April 10, 2017, 02:12:50 PM
Quote from: SimonNZ on April 10, 2017, 10:33:34 AM
Hope you saw the positive responses to that on the Current Listening thread, Jessop.

I did! Thank you all for your kind words. :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on April 10, 2017, 02:14:05 PM
Currently having a bit of trouble with regards to the form of my piano voice electronics piece.....it seems to be sort of strophic? But it meanders around a bit without really going anywhere. I'll ask for some feedback in my lesson today.......
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on April 11, 2017, 01:32:09 AM
Quote from: jessop on April 09, 2017, 12:47:51 AM
https://soundcloud.com/jessop-maticevski-shumack/evolve (https://soundcloud.com/jessop-maticevski-shumack/evolve)


Excellent piece (as I remarked earlier on seeing the score 8) ) and an excellent performance. Bravo!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Cato on April 11, 2017, 09:51:47 AM
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on April 11, 2017, 01:32:09 AM
Excellent piece (as I remarked earlier on seeing the score 8) ) and an excellent performance. Bravo!

Agreed, the performance and the structure of the work were both excellent.

Do you know As Quiet As by Michael Colgrass ?

https://www.youtube.com/v/VtKKoViSP_I
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on April 11, 2017, 03:09:01 PM
Thanks Karl and Cato! I'll have a listen to that piece. :)

Development with a composition for piano, voice and electronics: i have too many ideas for what I wanted to be a 3 minute song, so now it's developed into a much longer 3 or 4 movement miniature 'song cycle' or suite of some kind. Probably 9 to 12 minutes in length......hopefully I'll get the first song performed on the 16th of May once I manage to actually finish it ha ha ha
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on April 26, 2017, 05:15:40 AM
Currently working on the final performance scores for A Shaped Wildness and the first song of Insects. Organising time and place to rehearse the latter as well........getting rather quite nervous about whether the performance will go well because this is the first time I've ever tried to use a combination of electroacoustic music with live acoustic instruments.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on April 29, 2017, 06:35:23 PM
First rehearsal of the first song from Insects is tomorrow! First rehearsals are always interesting.............................
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on April 30, 2017, 02:41:42 AM
Good luck!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on April 30, 2017, 03:04:22 AM
Thank you! I'll probably record parts of the rehearsal on my phone so I can listen back to it and listen to what needs more work and stuff like that.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Overtones on May 02, 2017, 10:46:46 AM
Quote from: jessop on April 09, 2017, 12:47:51 AM
https://soundcloud.com/jessop-maticevski-shumack/evolve

Just heard it! Awesome piece of music. It'll be on my playlists often.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on May 02, 2017, 05:54:25 PM
Quote from: Overtones on May 02, 2017, 10:46:46 AM
Just heard it! Awesome piece of music. It'll be on my playlists often.
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on May 12, 2017, 12:52:14 AM
Quote from: Thatfabulousalien on May 11, 2017, 10:03:48 PM
:o

Why didn't I know about this?

How did it go? How long where you composing these? Did you get recordings too?  ;)
The performance is on the 16th of May. Yes I will get recordings. I spent less time than I would have liked composing them! Two to three weeks each.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on May 12, 2017, 01:21:02 AM
Quote from: Thatfabulousalien on May 12, 2017, 01:11:31 AM
Damn!  :o
That's a short time than when I even rush study pieces (disregarding my horrendously bad concerto I wrote in two days, lol)  :P

Are you happy with them? I'm really interested to hear your song cycle especially!   :)

Coincidentally, I've recently started planning a song cycle myself after recently going to a concert of songs and Lieder  8)
If only composed one song of the cycle so far. I'm not as happy with these pieces as I have been with....I did try to make sure these pieces have fewer notes than something like 'Evolve' which took about a month to write.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on May 12, 2017, 06:12:00 AM
Quote from: Thatfabulousalien on May 12, 2017, 01:11:31 AM
(disregarding my horrendously bad concerto I wrote in two days, lol)  :P

That may have been of some use as an exercise.

Personally, though:  If I were to write a concerto in two days, it must sound like a concerto I only took two days to write  0:)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on May 17, 2017, 11:17:08 PM
So the concert a few days ago went very well. Rocking Horse Fly was a surprise hit! Although personally I was utterly blown away by the performance of A Shaped Wildness for solo clarinet. Now that I've heard a performance of it, I'm actually feeling quite proud of it. :laugh:
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on May 18, 2017, 01:11:13 AM
Cool!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on June 06, 2017, 04:48:12 AM
Presented this new piece this evening to an audience of idk maybe 12? :laugh: electroacoustic music night isn't the most popular concert at the conservatorium but it's great fun nevertheless :)

https://soundcloud.com/jessop-maticevski-shumack/moments-of-space
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: aleazk on June 06, 2017, 09:39:50 AM
A bit meh to be honest... sounds just like an exercise for some subject you are doing in school, of no more interest than that...

Also, the name sounds a bit silly to me... what's with this cliché in electroacoustic music of using the word 'spaces' in the name of the pieces... we got it... sound explores spaces of different types... but it's an overused metaphor... the addition of "moments" makes it even more annoying... at least Ligeti's suggestion, to an still student  Michael Daugherty, of naming 'metallic spaces' is less irritable...

Edit: i would change it to 'moments of pause' or something... maybe too explicit, but still better than the damned word...
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on June 06, 2017, 10:51:48 PM
Quote from: aleazk on June 06, 2017, 09:39:50 AM
A bit meh to be honest... sounds just like an exercise for some subject you are doing in school, of no more interest than that...

Also, the name sounds a bit silly to me... what's with this cliché in electroacoustic music of using the word 'spaces' in the name of the pieces... we got it... sound explores spaces of different types... but it's an overused metaphor... the addition of "moments" makes it even more annoying... at least Ligeti's suggestion, to an still student  Michael Daugherty, of naming 'metallic spaces' is less irritable...

Edit: i would change it to 'moments of pause' or something... maybe too explicit, but still better than the damned word...

'Moments of pause' might be an idea, but then again it doesn't exactly point out that I was interested in learning about depth of field whilst mucking around on pro tools with this. I am extremely glad I did make this, however, because it gives me some kind of new framework of understanding sound in more of a 3D sense.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on June 19, 2017, 10:07:28 PM
Working on a new piece for guitar duo called 'Mountains.' I'm aiming for a ten minute piece hopefully.....will see how that turns out.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on June 20, 2017, 03:24:54 AM
If you are comfortable doing so, sling us a sketch to peruse now and then  :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on June 20, 2017, 04:29:09 AM
Sure thing. Here is everything I have done on it today..........

One is a slow opening and another is a little melody I would like to use in the second movement (fast)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on June 20, 2017, 04:30:05 AM
Nice.  Carry on!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Cato on June 20, 2017, 04:33:00 AM
Quote from: jessop on June 20, 2017, 04:29:09 AM
Sure thing. Here is everything I have done on it today..........

One is a slow opening and another is a little melody I would like to use in the second movement (fast)

Do you know the Carl Ruggles work, Men and Mountains ?

https://www.youtube.com/v/vf9wtC_8Cfc
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on June 20, 2017, 04:34:51 AM
Quote from: Cato on June 20, 2017, 04:33:00 AM
Do you know the Carl Ruggles work, Men and Mountains ?

https://www.youtube.com/v/vf9wtC_8Cfc


I do know and like that work :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on June 20, 2017, 04:43:58 AM
Also, I have been working on this for the past few days as well. Somewhat inspired by Alien's ambitious projects, I have decided to take a rather practical approach towards creating a cycle of works that I know I would easily be able to get performed. This cycle is called Oneironautics and the first piece is called Aware. This is a work in progress, just the opening minute or so as I have managed to figure it out. The first sounds as presented here are probably a kind of exposition from which the rest of the material will be somewhat derived. (https://www.dropbox.com/s/78m5ujgc0my5heu/Oneironautics%201%2C%20aware%20170620.wav?dl=0)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on June 21, 2017, 02:42:19 AM
Oneironautics I: Aware (https://www.dropbox.com/s/cmyb5ar2mbjjgtj/Oneironautics%201%2C%20aware%20170621.wav?dl=0) as of the 21st of June. Still quite a long way yet to go, but this is a start. And it feels like a nice chunk of music I think.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on June 24, 2017, 06:31:37 AM
Spent many hours over just a few seconds of rather busy music, but here is Oneironatics I: Aware (https://www.dropbox.com/s/6tuwut53oah1zy7/Oneironautics%201%2C%20aware%20170625.wav?dl=0) as of the very early hours of the 25th of June (in Australia). I am at a point where there are many possibilities I can think of for the next passage of music. I guess I just need to make a decision.....I will do that on Sunday night or Monday morning I think!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on June 24, 2017, 06:47:38 AM
Quote from: jessop on June 24, 2017, 06:31:37 AM
Spent many hours over just a few seconds of rather busy music, but here is Oneironatics I: Aware (https://www.dropbox.com/s/6tuwut53oah1zy7/Oneironautics%201%2C%20aware%20170625.wav?dl=0) as of the very early hours of the 25th of June (in Australia).

Sounds great.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Rons_talking on June 24, 2017, 07:09:49 AM
Nice! You've got some great sounds combos.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on June 24, 2017, 04:19:26 PM
Thank you!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on July 05, 2017, 12:44:18 AM
I haven't worked on 'Aware' for a little while, but I recently just completed my own version of the Amen fugue from Mozart's requiem for a bit of fun. Still working on everything else as well, just very sloooooowly......

I did have a performance of 'Please Do Not Feed The Fish' in Brisbane on the 2nd by my guitar friends who have just come back from Guitar Foundation of America ensemble competition  (they came third).
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on July 05, 2017, 01:08:33 AM
"Still working" and "just had a performance" is double-good news!  Carry on.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on July 11, 2017, 02:42:13 AM
The guitar duo are commissioning a new work now that they have confirmed a performance of a programme of Australian music in the salon of the Melbourne Recital Centre in February next year. The artistic director of the MRC is actually going to be doing a little workshop at uni of solo harp pieces next month, including one I wrote called Butterfly Wing, so that is cool and good.

I have to say, having a deadline to complete a piece by is the most effective inspiration to compose! Things are getting speedier; I may very well have one of the three movements of this guitar duo extravaganza ready in only a few weeks.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on July 11, 2017, 04:15:26 AM
Good to hear.  Carry on!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on July 30, 2017, 02:11:32 AM
Currently having fun with a string quartet, but I am actually here just to share with you a fun thing I did with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Richard Egarr a couple of weeks ago: Mozart's Requiem. Really happy with how the choir I am in turned out, so here it is if you are curious enough to take a listen. :)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w2tyu7yjc4q9w64/MSO%20-%20Requiem%20%28Mozart%29%20-%2014-Jun-2017.mp3?dl=0

Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on July 30, 2017, 03:42:54 AM
Excellent!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on July 30, 2017, 04:16:47 AM
Quote from: α | ì Æ ñ on July 30, 2017, 02:18:56 AM
Sounds good! Which completion is it?  :)
The standard Eybler-Süssmayr.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on September 30, 2017, 10:36:39 PM
I've really been trying to get the kinds of sounds I hear in my head onto the manuscript paper...I feel as if I am improving by writing these bagatelles for flute and guitar. Three completed, two more to go. I do want to know if the third bagatelle should be written in 10/32 rather than 5/16, what do you think?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kypg8y97fsu3jih/Bagatelles%20171001%20-%20Full%20Score.pdf?dl=0
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Monsieur Croche on September 30, 2017, 11:01:58 PM
Quote from: jessop on September 30, 2017, 10:36:39 PM
I do want to know if the third bagatelle should be written in 10/32 rather than 5/16, what do you think?

Of course this depends upon the psychological import you want to give the players along with the metronome marking(s).

Regardless of tempo, unless it is actually rather slow, 10/32 sounds way overly precious, and perhaps will be more in the way of the players rendering it than not. 

Everything truly depends as much upon the tempo and the metric as to how you want the sub-groups 'intuitively' felt and inflected by the performers -- which circles back to the psychological impact of what the players first see and continue to see and how they then perform it.

If you want the players counting/thinking '10' then go ahead.  I believe that will be at least a tiny bit laborious, and possibly (and perpetually) hamper their rendering of the piece.  The largest number we can imagine -- before it gets broken into sub-groups -- is FIVE. Ergo, I think counting five and rather intuitively feeling the 32nd values will do you, the score, and the players, in better stead.

Either one, along with tempo marking (and the fact they are called Bagatelles) should render something that feels "fleet."


Best regards.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on September 30, 2017, 11:21:24 PM
Quote from: Monsieur Croche on September 30, 2017, 11:01:58 PM
Of course this depends upon the psychological import you want to give the players along with the metronome marking(s).

Regardless of tempo, unless it is actually rather slow, 10/32 sounds way overly precious, and perhaps will be more in the way of the players rendering it than not. 

Everything truly depends as much upon the tempo and the metric as to how you want the sub-groups 'intuitively' felt and inflected by the performers -- which circles back to the psychological impact of what the players first see and continue to see and how they then perform it.

If you want the players counting/thinking '10' then go ahead.  I believe that will be at least a tiny bit laborious, and possibly (and perpetually) hamper their rendering of the piece.  The largest number we can imagine -- before it gets broken into sub-groups -- is FIVE. Ergo, I think counting five and rather intuitively feeling the 32nd values will do you, the score, and the players, in better stead.

Either one, along with tempo marking (and the fact they are called Bagatelles) should render something that feels "fleet."


Best regards.
Really the feeling I'm going for is two pulses of equal duration divided into five smaller pulses.....perhaps it could more sensibly be written as 2 lots of quaver-tied-to-demisemiquaver?
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: amw on September 30, 2017, 11:27:16 PM
I would go with 10/32.... although the beaming makes the phrasing clear, the way musicians tend to read 5/16 is looking for groups of 2+3/16 or 3+2/16.

Another option would be to keep the 5/16 time signature and double the note values, or keep the note values as they are and change to 5/32, specifying a tempo marking "in one" (quaver-tied-to-demisemiquaver = 64, in this case)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Monsieur Croche on October 01, 2017, 02:16:43 AM
Quote from: jessop on September 30, 2017, 11:21:24 PM
Really the feeling I'm going for is two pulses of equal duration divided into five smaller pulses.....perhaps it could more sensibly be written as 2 lots of quaver-tied-to-demisemiquaver?

Then the numerator ten makes complete sense, especially if, in the piano part, you mind the beaming so it looks like 'piano notation' vs. flute / choral notation, with each note with an individual flag.

I would tend to make it 10/8 vs. any lesser denominator, just to avoid what I think of as overly-fussy notation, a clutter of 'caviar' on the page by way of flags, rests.  No musician past the first few years training is senseless enough to think an 8th, 16th or 32nd has a tempo value or particular quality, after all;  we all rely upon metronome marks and perhaps other directives for that :-)

Especially looking forward to audio realizations of these scores...


Best regards. 
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on October 02, 2017, 06:13:45 PM
Thanks for the advice. I am actually opting to re-notate the groups of five as quintuplets in 2/8 time, considering I want the main beats to be in 2 above all. Having all the rhythmic information of each note provided in the flags, beams and stemlets allows for less confusion with the articulation and colours shown through use of different kinds of noteheads (such as empty diamond noteheads for breathy tone in the flute). My main concern with composing at the moment is to expand my knowledge and improve my composition of a wider variety of idiomatic timbres and techniques of instruments in a chamber music context.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Monsieur Croche on October 03, 2017, 06:05:51 AM
Quote from: jessop on October 02, 2017, 06:13:45 PM
Thanks for the advice. I am actually opting to re-notate the groups of five as quintuplets in 2/8 time, considering I want the main beats to be in 2 above all.

Lol, exactly my afterthought after my last post, when I stepped our for a smoke; its standard for some triplet notation, with the simple directive 'sempre.'

I agree, it seems the clearest for what you want, the intent (and actual reading) also the most direct and clear for the players.

Since you agree w me, good choice, lol.


Best regards.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on October 27, 2017, 07:37:15 PM
I am still going to change the time signature for no. 3 in a later version once I go back and edit these further, but for now here are all five bagatelles. (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/c94ojli5d8q04k1/AADWB1or2UyIZ_1xJN5Tzq6aa?dl=0)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Monsieur Croche on October 27, 2017, 11:39:59 PM
Quote from: jessop on October 27, 2017, 07:37:15 PM
I am still going to change the time signature for no. 3 in a later version once I go back and edit these further, but for now here are all five bagatelles. (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/c94ojli5d8q04k1/AADWB1or2UyIZ_1xJN5Tzq6aa?dl=0)

Dear Jessop:

These sound so completely self-assured and fluid.  They also sound, to me, very 'well,' lyric, graceful, and their being just really nice, and fun.
~ Hat doffed in show of respect. ~

I'm also delighted for you. 

Tweak away.  The last one seemed to hold me less, and perhaps it should have some quality of summing up and capping what went before.  This is slight: They are each already eminently listenable and engaging!

You and your colleague have also turned in an equally assured and convincing performance, which gets another tip o the hat.

Well on your way and in good time, it seems!


Best regards.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on October 28, 2017, 04:24:23 AM
Quote from: Monsieur Croche on October 27, 2017, 11:39:59 PM
Dear Jessop:

These sound so completely self-assured and fluid.  They also sound, to me, very 'well,' lyric, graceful, and their being just really nice, and fun.
~ Hat doffed in show of respect. ~

I'm also delighted for you. 

Tweak away.  The last one seemed to hold me less, and perhaps it should have some quality of summing up and capping what went before.  This is slight: They are each already eminently listenable and engaging!

You and your colleague have also turned in an equally assured and convincing performance, which gets another tip o the hat.

Well on your way and in good time, it seems!


Best regards.

Thanks for the kind comments! Yes, I was wondering how to make the final one sound a little more conclusive, but I somehow felt that giving a good ol proper 'summing up' could somehow be a little bit of a cliche.......a cliche I hoped to either avoid or to reference jokingly (the final two bars being almost the same as the penultimate bar of the first bagatelle).

And lol I am very happy with the MIDI playback for nos. 1, 3 and 5, they do certainly come somewhat close to an 'assured and convincing performance' as you say. ;D
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Monsieur Croche on October 28, 2017, 11:02:24 AM
Quote from: jessop on October 28, 2017, 04:24:23 AM
Thanks for the kind comments! Yes, I was wondering how to make the final one sound a little more conclusive, but I somehow felt that giving a good ol proper 'summing up' could somehow be a little bit of a cliche.......a cliche I hoped to either avoid or to reference jokingly (the final two bars being almost the same as the penultimate bar of the first bagatelle).

And lol I am very happy with the MIDI playback for nos. 1, 3 and 5, they do certainly come somewhat close to an 'assured and convincing performance' as you say. ;D

"...but I somehow felt that giving a good ole proper 'summing up' could somehow be a little bit of a cliche."
N.B.  the chasm-like space betwixt "A good ole proper 'summing up'" and "...some quality of summing up...." [ole school formalist : something other.]

BTW, re: the performances of Nos 1, 3, & 5; congrats then instead on owning or having access to some really good midi samples ;-)
Kudos on the acoustic performances as well....


Always best regards.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: aleazk on October 28, 2017, 12:03:41 PM
My favorite was the first one. Seconded by the last one. I found the others more like humoresque interludes and not that interesting in comparison with the ones I liked most. Nevertheless, the contrasting musical ideas in all of the pieces make a cohesive, lively and varied whole. Well done.

There's still something in the harmony and rhythm (both in reference to the context in which these passages are inserted in) of your typical rapid streams of notes (particularly in the second piece) that I don't tend to like... they sound a bit too naive and safe... I would like to hear, sometimes, something more unstable and sharp... keep some of the naive ones but make some others more sharp... also, in that way, there will be, perhaps, a vague reminiscence to the first piece, making the whole more connected.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Rons_talking on October 29, 2017, 06:56:41 AM
I'm impressed with these works. I too, prefer the first and last. You're taking too potentially florid instruments and creating excitement in your rhythms and gestures. If you can employ  more sul pont with the guitar as well as some additional pizzicato (muted) guitar, that will add to the interest factor.  i like the works and hear nothing "naive" about them but some are more predictable than others, and it sounds like that's something you don't really want. Well done!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: aleazk on October 29, 2017, 07:11:46 AM
Oh, yes, "naive" is a word I used in previous conversations with jessop, I just assumed he would know what I meant. Predictable, as you say, may be a better term. I find that descending chromatic line in the flute at the beginning of the second piece as a predictable and somewhat banal device from the part of the composer (particularly in the context in which this line is being put; banality is ok if well placed; here, after that very serious* first piece, it's just too abrupt, that's why I suggest to insert it later in the piece and replace the one in the second  bar by a similar line but with more interesting and varied intervals**). That's why I say it's naive, since it's a thing that a student composer would do rather than a professional. No offense to j! It's just a minor detail, but which always irks me when I hear his pieces. Of course, this is just my perception... one can take it or leave it...

*new complexity influenced perhaps?

**Maybe bB-A-G-bG-E?... I don't know, just throwing something. Although, since it's key tapping, I'm not sure how that would even sound.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on October 29, 2017, 02:59:10 PM
Oh yes I know what aleazk means :)

Thanks very much for the suggestion, aleazk. I hadn't thought so much about the pitches for the key taps; I only knew that descending lines are much more effective. Good thing you pointed this out, and predictability in general. I am not really that pleased that I tend to fall back on it so easily and it's an area I am still trying to work on. Hopefully I moved away from it a little bit more elsewhere in these bagatelles.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: aleazk on October 30, 2017, 01:04:50 AM
Keep the good work! These pieces are quite a jump in quality in your output and learning curve, I think. Also, as Mr Croche said, they sound very fresh and not academic, a very important thing.

Oh, oh I just remembered.... check Boulez's Notations, the original piano version, which he composed at more or less your age and are pretty similar in character and freshness to these bagatelles you did. Boulez is the master of good taste.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on November 05, 2017, 01:49:20 AM
Two new commissions:

One for solo drum kit which has to be a rather hefty 13'30" to 16'30" in duration and another short piece (three to five minutes) for women's choir. I plan on including some indeterminate elements in both, particularly the latter.

Also, I should soon begin working on a piece for guitar and string quartet for a competition due in April 2018. It has to be between 7 and 10 minutes, although I think I will lean towards 7, and I will probably even use some ideas drawn from the Bagatelles and re-contextualise them.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: You did it on November 05, 2017, 08:11:59 PM
Quote from: jessop on November 05, 2017, 01:49:20 AM
Two new commissions:

One for solo drum kit which has to be a rather hefty 13'30" to 16'30" in duration and another short piece (three to five minutes) for women's choir. I plan on including some indeterminate elements in both, particularly the latter.

Also, I should soon begin working on a piece for guitar and string quartet for a competition due in April 2018. It has to be between 7 and 10 minutes, although I think I will lean towards 7, and I will probably even use some ideas drawn from the Bagatelles and re-contextualise them.

Solo drum kit?  ???
Is this like a rock/jazz drum kit or a more classical assortment of percussion?
Choir piece too!  :o
Guitar/String Quartet too?

I'm shocked, really looking forward to hearing these man  8)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on November 06, 2017, 09:36:41 PM
Quote from: Le Moderniste on November 05, 2017, 08:11:59 PM
Solo drum kit?  ???
Is this like a rock/jazz drum kit or a more classical assortment of percussion?
Choir piece too!  :o
Guitar/String Quartet too?

I'm shocked, really looking forward to hearing these man  8)


Yes, a rock/jazz kit. He was very specific with the kit, nothing too fancy really.
As for the women's choir piece, I am getting a text written for it very soon..........hopefully today but it could be later in the week.

I have started on fluctus;discursus for guitar and string quartet already. Part of the brief is to write a piece inspired by some paintings of a storm over the sea (the 'fluctus' part of the title (waves, and that is a long u in fluctuuuus to make it plural)), but I am also taking some material from the guitar part of the bagatelles and elaborating upon it throughout the piece. 'Discursus' has a double meaning here; it draws on the English usage of the word when referring to logic and also the Latin meaning. The composition presents a musical 'argumentation' of each phrase from the source material, whilst also 'running about' with motific fragments.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on November 06, 2017, 09:59:45 PM
The piece so far.............for some reason the score is always two beats behind the audio. Very annoying.

https://www.youtube.com/v/hLesUXxansw
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: aleazk on November 07, 2017, 03:05:12 AM
Sounds good. Particularly the working of the short glissandos.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on November 15, 2017, 02:37:10 AM
Been working on a piece for a women's choir. The text seems to be inspired by some kind of internal pressure on tension that someone feels when very restricted, and possible harmful consequences. So far, I haven't explored a lot of the text. Beginning quite slowly and letting the text unfold and become more important as the piece progresses.

To be completely honest, I have no experience writing for a choir and I haven't thought much about anything structural for the piece........so it is a bit of a mess so far in terms of ideas.

Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on November 15, 2017, 02:46:05 AM
Oh I have also just found a solo clarinet piece I wrote earlier this year, for which a live recording actually does exist............I just need to get it off the computer it is stored on.......................

Mind you, the very first multiphonic was notated completely wrong!!!!!!

LINK (https://www.dropbox.com/s/zgm0jvhu4oq6do0/a%20shaped%20wildness%201.pdf?dl=0)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on December 05, 2017, 01:38:51 AM
Bergträume for guitar duo will receive its world premiere at the Melbourne Recital Centre on the 26th of February 2018; be there or be square! I will be around for a chat with the musos after the concert.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Rons_talking on December 06, 2017, 06:25:53 PM
Quote from: jessop on December 05, 2017, 01:38:51 AM
Bergträume for guitar duo will receive its world premiere at the Melbourne Recital Centre on the 26th of February 2018; be there or be square! I will be around for a chat with the musos after the concert.

Congrats on the forthcoming performance. Your work is always interesting and thoughtful. I'm sure it will go well!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: arpeggio on December 07, 2017, 07:06:24 AM
I have been checking out your thread.  As a veteran of another forum your departure is there loss.  Keep up the good work  ;)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Overtones on December 14, 2017, 04:29:59 AM
Quote from: jessop on November 06, 2017, 09:59:45 PM
The piece so far.............for some reason the score is always two beats behind the audio. Very annoying.

https://www.youtube.com/v/hLesUXxansw

This is very interesting.
Is there any further progress?
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 12, 2018, 08:08:08 PM
Quote from: Overtones on December 14, 2017, 04:29:59 AM
This is very interesting.
Is there any further progress?

Hm yeah there should be more soon I think. I am currently trying to see how I can create a more unified harmonic language with some more Boulezian 'pitch multiplication' and other tools and techniques that can help give this work some more coherency. At the moment, it's just that excerpt which I deleted the video for and some more sketches on paper.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 12, 2018, 08:14:21 PM
And oooh I found out the programme order for the concert https://www.melbournerecital.com.au/events/2018/australian-impressions/

Phillip Houghton
Wave Radiance

Richard Charlton
Refractions
Romanza
Spiral Eclipse

Phillip Houghton (Performed by Miles)
Stélé movement 1

Phillip Houghton (Performed by Ziggy)
God of the Northern Forest

Jessop Maticevski-Shumack
Bergträume

Nigel Westlake
Songs from the Forest

The programme was actually changed slightly due to the very unfortunate early passing of wonderful composer Phillip Houghton, whose music has shaped and influenced the classical guitar world in Australia more than anybody else's and whom I had hoped to meet at the concert as well. Even though I never did get to meet him, I played a lot of his works and his way of composing for guitar certainly influenced the way I thought about the resonance of the instrument when composing.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on January 13, 2018, 07:05:51 AM
Congratulations!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Rons_talking on January 13, 2018, 08:23:46 AM
Awesome!...Have I heard the piece?
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 13, 2018, 03:22:19 PM
Quote from: Rons_talking on January 13, 2018, 08:23:46 AM
Awesome!...Have I heard the piece?
Nope :)

The guitarists are recording the whole concert and once I receive a recording I will post it here.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on January 15, 2018, 07:26:05 AM
Very good.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on January 28, 2018, 01:59:48 PM
I have recently downloaded a free software from IRCAM called OpenMusic to see how this helps to formalise my composition process. I am curious to know if anyone here has used it and can tell me what their experience was like.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on February 17, 2018, 09:39:30 PM
lil update, been working on something. Here is three minutes of a new version of fluctus;discursus which is considerably different to a version I started working on last year. This time I feel I really needed to develop my understanding of harmony, so I used a little technique to create bigger versions of 3 and 4 note chords that are vertically symmetrical. It gave me a good, limited variety of notes to work with in passages where I want to explore the sound of a particular chord.

Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: aleazk on February 17, 2018, 10:47:46 PM
What technique? Explain yourself now.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on February 18, 2018, 03:01:21 AM
(I hope you can see these images)

Well I had some chords. One of the common ones I used was this one:

(https://scontent-syd2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t34.0-12/28233427_332876780451674_1649246934_n.png?oh=3e3443bbc2b0023947f30c1f45b4e3ab&oe=5A8C04D8)

So in order to simply get some more notes out of the ones I already have without bashing away at a piano, I simply inverted it as my step 1:

(https://scontent-syd2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t34.0-12/28233467_332876827118336_893571620_n.png?oh=c35971227e08f596c3d4a46181f774bf&oe=5A8BEC9F)

and then I stacked transpositions of the original chord on notes from the inversion:

(https://scontent-syd2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t34.0-0/s261x260/28190577_332876913784994_914211969_n.png?oh=b3311c5b9cafb66a412e7473e96ee30f&oe=5A8BE6FC)

And then deleting any pitches which appear more than once, I can end up with the following vertically symmetrical chord:

(https://scontent-mxp1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t34.0-12/28191068_332876943784991_2109267237_n.png?_nc_ad=z-m&_nc_cid=0&oh=3a152f701403e6a4026b046f68bd6b8b&oe=5A8BBB24)

Well, I guess even the much simpler Original and its Inversion played at the same time will be symmetrical, with the E flat right at the centre, but fleshing it out in this way provides nifty shortcuts to much richer harmonies in general. I have also used this tool with the original chord stacked on notes from other chords than just an inversion of itself.

Something I found interesting about that chord is that it leaves out three chromatic pitches. The remaining pitches gave me the potential to create another chord in the same way and that chord itself is pretty much just a smaller version of the earlier chord related through transposition. Having these two chords at my disposal gives me a pretty nice harmonic starting point to digress from later in the piece when I isolate certain chords within the chords as 'reservoirs' to develop even further.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on February 18, 2018, 12:41:17 PM
Oh I just realised there were only two pitch classes before aggregate completion and I simply added another one in so I could generate a second chord with an intervallic relationship to the first.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: aleazk on February 18, 2018, 04:14:25 PM
Seems legit. I do similar things. The only thing I would say is that your final chord seems to have just too many notes. I think it would be difficult to hear the intervallic nuances if you just play it at once... the risk is that it may end sounding close to a cluster, you don't want that. Maybe playing it arpeggiated, even as some sort of melodic line, could be the most effective way of using it. Or maybe play one half of the chord first and then the other. For example, one can hear the intervallic relations in Webern because the writing is very austere. On the other hand, sometimes in Boulez I often hear his chords as clusters because they have just too many notes.

Another thing I do is to apply similar operations to all the voices in a polyphony... in this way, you get a weave that evolves at the pace of the original melodies in the texture but which becomes richer and richer in harmony. Some sort of controlled successions of chords of the type you have here.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on February 18, 2018, 04:58:19 PM
Quote from: aleazk on February 18, 2018, 04:14:25 PM
Seems legit. I do similar things. The only thing I would say is that your final chord seems to have just too many notes. I think it would be difficult to hear the intervallic nuances if you just play it at once... the risk is that it may end sounding close to a cluster, you don't want that. Maybe playing it arpeggiated, even as some sort of melodic line, could be the most effective way of using it. Or maybe play one half of the chord first and then the other. For example, one can hear the intervallic relations in Webern because the writing is very austere. On the other hand, sometimes in Boulez I often hear his chords as clusters because they have just too many notes.

Another thing I do is to apply similar operations to all the voices in a polyphony... in this way, you get a weave that evolves at the pace of the original melodies in the texture but which becomes richer and richer in harmony. Some sort of controlled successions of chords of the type you have here.

Yep actually I never have all the notes playing at once. I agree that it can sound a bit too much like a cluster, but also, on the practical side of things, there is a maximum number of notes that a string quartet plus a guitar can play at any one time. Due to the physical impossibilities of having the entire chord sound at once it has indeed given me the opportunity to consider how I can split these chords up.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: aleazk on February 18, 2018, 07:29:29 PM
Ah, haha, I should have seen the score before saying anything  $:)

Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on February 19, 2018, 07:20:01 AM
Quote from: jessop on February 18, 2018, 12:41:17 PM
Oh I just realised there were only two pitch classes before aggregate completion and I simply added another one in so I could generate a second chord with an intervallic relationship to the first.

And your mind was engaged in the process.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on February 26, 2018, 03:43:01 AM
Cross post alert

Quote from: jessop on February 26, 2018, 03:41:53 AM
Just saw my amazing friends Ziggy and Miles Johnston play this programme of Australian works at the Melbourne Recital Centre

Phillip Houghton
Wave Radiance

Richard Charlton
Refractions
Romanza
Spiral Eclipse

Phillip Houghton (Performed by Miles)
Stélé movement 1

Phillip Houghton (Performed by Ziggy)
God of the Northern Forest

Jessop Maticevski Shumack
Bergträume (world premiere)

Nigel Westlake
Songs from the Forest

https://www.melbournerecital.com.au/events/2018/australian-impressions/

There will also be a video uploaded of the concert later. Probably none of these composers are familiar to anyone here as they are pretty only well known in the community of classical guitarists and their fans here in Australia, but I reckon they deserve to be better known elsewhere too. The world premiere wasn't as structurally good as a composition as a piece I wrote for the duo five years ago, but they played it so so well that I think the piece came off better than I expected. I am glad to say it was the most controversial thing on the programme, with audience opinion quite divided between fans of the work and non-fans. Man, I love that kind of engagement with new music.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on February 26, 2018, 05:49:09 AM
Were you pleased with the performance of your piece?
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on February 26, 2018, 11:55:06 AM
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on February 26, 2018, 05:49:09 AM
Were you pleased with the performance of your piece?

Yes I was. For a piece inspired by dreams it certainly cam across as quite surreal in performance.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Rons_talking on February 26, 2018, 12:51:40 PM
Quote from: jessop on February 26, 2018, 11:55:06 AM
Yes I was. For a piece inspired by dreams it certainly cam across as quite surreal in performance.

I've looked over the score and am eager to hear how it came out. I was reading your comments on harmonic structure above (but couldn't see the examples). One way to build new chords based on what you have is to use prolongation. In tonal music it might be the extension of of a secondary or tertiary harmony without abandoning  the tonic. In atonal music, you can break down an eg.  hexachord into its 3 and 4 (or 5) note subsets, then construct new chords or full-on series that will prevent the possible monotony of of a oft-repeated sonority yet still maintain structural integrity of your "tonic." Bartok often did this.  I personally dislike trying to keep a couple of pitch-classes concealed (1920s Hindemith did this). I feel like a hand is tied behind my back and let's face it, when that missing Bb and D-nat come out, it's not like the listeners will stand and cheer :)   You may know all about this already but there it is. Congrats on the performance! I can see why the reaction was divided; every work requires  a decision as to whom you're listener should be before the first notation. I write for people just like me :). You also, have a clear vision in those terms. Cheers.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on February 27, 2018, 03:48:22 AM
Quote from: Rons_talking on February 26, 2018, 12:51:40 PM
I've looked over the score and am eager to hear how it came out. I was reading your comments on harmonic structure above (but couldn't see the examples). One way to build new chords based on what you have is to use prolongation. In tonal music it might be the extension of of a secondary or tertiary harmony without abandoning  the tonic. In atonal music, you can break down an eg.  hexachord into its 3 and 4 (or 5) note subsets, then construct new chords or full-on series that will prevent the possible monotony of of a oft-repeated sonority yet still maintain structural integrity of your "tonic." Bartok often did this.  I personally dislike trying to keep a couple of pitch-classes concealed (1920s Hindemith did this). I feel like a hand is tied behind my back and let's face it, when that missing Bb and D-nat come out, it's not like the listeners will stand and cheer :)   You may know all about this already but there it is. Congrats on the performance! I can see why the reaction was divided; every work requires  a decision as to whom you're listener should be before the first notation. I write for people just like me :). You also, have a clear vision in those terms. Cheers.

Thanks so much, but that score you looked at was a different piece I am still working on, my friend. :)

I will definitely take your advice into consideration, though. I haven't looked at organising all 12 pitches in my composition in any particular way, but I have looked at some chord multiplication (symmetrically against itself) I described earlier and applied the idea to pitch subsets of the resultant chord. Keeping pitch-classes concealed in that way is rather boring to me as well. I think the only people who would get hard to an aggregate completion are hardcore composition students who have just discovered stuff like that.

One thing I might try to do more is turn the resultant 'big chord' from that chord multiplication process I got going earlier into a 4x4 pitch matrix and work with that melodically, generating harmony from melody in parts, as it all related back to that 'big ass chord' from before anyway.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on March 24, 2018, 08:50:29 PM
Quote from: jessop on February 27, 2018, 03:48:22 AM
One thing I might try to do more is turn the resultant 'big chord' from that chord multiplication process I got going earlier into a 4x4 pitch matrix and work with that melodically, generating harmony from melody in parts, as it all related back to that 'big ass chord' from before anyway.

And I have done just that in a piano trio I am currently working on, although not just one 4x4 matrix, with two of them! The second one is pretty much just the first one but flipped upside down. The lowest pitch of matrix 1 is also the highest pitch of matrix 2 and I have worked it out so that each pitch itself is fixed to a register. I only really use this as a way of controlling melodic lines for shorter sections of the overall piano trio, but I really like how it is turning out.

The trio itself is called "Es irrt der Mesnch so lang er strebt" and I have been interested in looking how different musical ideas can strive for prominence, attempting to influence the entire ensemble and subvert other musical ideas off track, sometimes successfully and sometimes unsuccessfully.

I am nearly halfway through the piece.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on March 24, 2018, 08:59:36 PM
One other piece I wrote recently was something for solo guitar which I've called peripeteia where I am really just looking more generally at how I can set up (perhaps quite suddenly, or perhaps you may hear it coming) a long coda which has a rather suddenly different mood to the rest of the piece, as if the music really is going through a change of circumstance.

There will almost definitely be a performance of this piece in late September in a concert hosted by the Melbourne Guitar Foundation featuring new solo works by Australian composers. They will upload the concert to youtube shortly afterwards.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on March 29, 2018, 09:05:10 PM
Pretty much finished the trio in its first version. In later works I think I want to find some better system for organising complex rhythms. This piece is unadventurous in terms of rhythm and I hope that makes it easier to rehearse. Performance is in early May. (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cp5d5epvrug7nqy/AACUr8apLXoL-jTVf8clNd5Ka?dl=0)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Manwithaplan on March 29, 2018, 10:44:11 PM
Wow!  :o

I'm highly impressed by that! Flawless development and form, with the materials you used! Great transition back into the opening part near the end too!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on March 30, 2018, 03:38:53 AM
I've been working on ways to create much more complex rhythms within the limitations of standard western music notation. Looking at non-retrogradable stuff, additive rhythms based on adding certain amounts (as dictated by certain numerical sequences e.g Fibonacci) of a 'base' subdivision to a beat-length duration in order to smoothly move from shorter to longer durations that don't sound particularly bound by a time signature. This kind of rhythmic detail isn't present in Es irrt der Mensch so lang er strebt so I hope to implement these ideas in future works.

I am curious to know which other composers have done this.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on March 30, 2018, 03:39:18 AM
Quote from: α | ì Æ ñ on March 29, 2018, 10:44:11 PM
Wow!  :o

I'm highly impressed by that! Flawless development and form, with the materials you used! Great transition back into the opening part near the end too!
Thank you very much, Alien :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on April 13, 2018, 02:23:10 AM
First rehearsal of 'Es irrt der Mensch so lang er strebt' was today and we have discovered the rhythms really do our head in. It's hard, and because we have uncomfortably few rehearsals before the first performance it might mean that I conduct the trio to help us keep together. Jumping from 11/16 to 2/4 to 11/16 to 7/8 unfortunately does not come naturally to these musicians! However, the first rehearsal was fantastic and we are going slowly through the whole piece, learning it together. I am learning about the piece as much as they are, to be frank.

World premiere of the trio is scheduled for the 8th of May

World premiere of a much simpler choral piece I wrote is scheduled for the 5th of May! Should be interesting to see how that goes.

Someone approached me recently to ask if I have any solo voice works (or voice plus instruments) for a concert in August or if I would like to compose one by mid July. Luckily, I am currently working on one to be sung by a good friend of mine!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on May 08, 2018, 04:50:34 AM
Quote from: jessop on April 13, 2018, 02:23:10 AM
World premiere of the trio is scheduled for the 8th of May

World premiere of a much simpler choral piece I wrote is scheduled for the 5th of May! Should be interesting to see how that goes.

Both happened! Although the choral piece was on the 6th of May, that was my mistake. It was written for a community choir, so it had to be singable specifically at the level the choir were comfortable, and these were very 'prim and proper' women so I felt a bit nervous writing a piece that emphasised semitone clashes, but they were able to sing it three times throughout the choral festival and it sounded quite good each time. One of the sopranos came up to me before the second and third performances of the piece (where I was present) and told me that the music and the words (written by my sister) felt very relevant to some difficult personal experiences she has had years ago and found a lot of personal meaning in that work more than any of the others. She didn't tell me what it was about her life, but I have never heard anyone say anything like that to me before but it was really fascinating to see the unintended effects that any composition can have on anyone.

The trio was performed tonight and it went very well indeed! Despite the constantly changing and often irregular/complex time signatures, the trio kept together perfectly well without needing to be conducted at all. By the final rehearsal yesterday we were simply running through the piece with only a few remarks from me on what can be improved. The concert was miles better and the audience turnout was unusually large for a student composition concert at the Conservatorium (seats filled approx. 25% to 30% capacity).
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on May 08, 2018, 05:26:38 AM
Bravo!  And let us know if there are documents of the pieces we all can enjoy!  :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on May 18, 2018, 10:32:18 PM
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on May 08, 2018, 05:26:38 AM
Bravo!  And let us know if there are documents of the pieces we all can enjoy!  :)

There is this https://www.dropbox.com/s/bkkem694v6awom2/Es%20irrt%20der%20Mensch%20so%20lang%20er%20strebt.aiff?dl=0
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: shirime on October 12, 2018, 12:25:21 AM
Another one for the pile of works:

Audio: https://www.dropbox.com/s/smlrzva9fn1awqj/Koan.wav?dl=0
Score: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zpd87i5wef3k64s/Koan-full-score.pdf?dl=0
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: North Star on October 12, 2018, 01:44:23 AM
Welcome back!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: shirime on October 12, 2018, 02:14:10 PM
Quote from: North Star on October 12, 2018, 01:44:23 AM
Welcome back!

Thanks! I hope you enjoyed the piece. :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: shirime on October 12, 2018, 03:58:06 PM
I've been listening to it again quite a few times this morning, and I'm very satisfied with how it is at this point in my development and understanding of music. It still feels quite fresh, young and naïve, so feedback would be greatly appreciated on how to 'mature' my style a bit more.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: schnittkease on October 12, 2018, 05:31:39 PM
Quote from: shirime on October 12, 2018, 03:58:06 PM
I've been listening to it again quite a few times this morning, and I'm very satisfied with how it is at this point in my development and understanding of music. It still feels quite fresh, young and naïve, so feedback would be greatly appreciated on how to 'mature' my style a bit more.

First off, I am for the most part a musical layman, so take my words with a grain of salt.

Points of interest for me:

As for maturity, don't sweat it. This didn't sound naïve to me at all -- that being said, it is tough for me to identify naïvety in this vein of music where composers are so secretive in showing their hand (so to speak). You may want to aim for something similar to what Ferneyhough did 18:30 into his 6th String Quartet; the sudden change of texture is breathtaking. (Though you already did that to an extent in m. 81.)

I am excited to hear what you come up with next!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: shirime on October 12, 2018, 07:26:14 PM
Quote from: schnittkease on October 12, 2018, 05:31:39 PM
First off, I am for the most part a musical layman, so take my words with a grain of salt.

Points of interest for me:

  • I really liked the beginning dialogue between the flute and clarinet and the unique textures it created.
  • The fff piano entrance against the accented clarinet and cello in m. 26 really peaked my interest. (I wish you had explored that further!)
  • I thought the start/stop idea explored m. 81 onwards was a nice change of pace.

As for maturity, don't sweat it. This didn't sound naïve to me at all -- that being said, it is tough for me to identify naïvety in this vein of music where composers are so secretive in showing their hand (so to speak). You may want to aim for something similar to what Ferneyhough did 18:30 into his 6th String Quartet; the sudden change of texture is breathtaking. (Though you already did that to an extent in m. 81.)

I am excited to hear what you come up with next!

Thanks for the comments. I'll have another listen to the Ferneyhough. :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: shirime on October 12, 2018, 11:05:07 PM
A few things that have happened recently. For these pieces, I no longer use a computer notation software to 'help' me compose or to hear how it sounds using the playback function. I don't use piano to test chords on. I only use instruments to test extended techniques. Here's what's been going on in the last few months.......................

6th of August: Premiere of a solo clarinet piece called Mit den Augen Kirchners. Performed by the associate principal clarinettist of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and commissioned by the MSO and National Gallery of Victoria for a special event concert that pairs modern music with visiting works of modern art from MoMA, NY.
Achievement unlocked: first successful composition of mine where I engraved it entirely on LilyPond without any audio playback to 'help'.
Achievement unlocked: I now understand clarinet multiphonics
Achievement unlocked: first, and hopefully not the last, commission through the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

16th of September: Premiere of Palimpsest in Hannover, Germany. It's a string quartet, written over the top of the basic structure and has themes derived from the fourth movement of Mozart's string quartet no. 19. Reviews (in German) here (http://www.haz.de/Nachrichten/Kultur/Musica-assoluta-spielt-I-killed-Mozart) and here (http://www.neuepresse.de/Nachrichten/Kultur/Beim-Jupiter!-Musica-Assoluta-startet-in-die-Saison).
Achievement unlocked: My first international commission and premiere (and I still haven't heard it yet because I wasn't in Germany for the concert, but they will send me a recording).
Achievement unlocked: Described as a 'murderous Australian' (mordlustigen Australien) in German press.
Achievement unlocked: Worked out how to accept money into my bank account from overseas.

18th of September: Premiere of Auditorium for choir back in Melbourne, as part of a student composition concert. I wrote the piece from 12:30am to 2am the morning of the performance, and the cobbled-together choir ran through it twice and then performed it that evening. I also performed a guitar improvisation called Playing Without Memory.
Achievement unlocked: Ink still wet on the page as musicians sight read for a concert the same night it was composed. (to be fair, this was a text score and very much a 'strict, guided improvisation').
Achievement unlocked: I can now improvise a coherent and cohesive composition on guitar and fool my composition teachers into thinking it's a notated composition!  >:D

23rd of September: Premiere of Peripeteia for solo guitar at the Melbourne Guitar Festival, performed by Dan McKay in a recital of recent Australian works for solo guitar. This was actually a piece I wrote back in April.
Achievement unlocked: First solo guitar piece I am actually feeling quite happy with! It's a beast of an instrument, and very difficult to write idiomatically for.
Achievement unlocked: Discussion about a commission from another guitarist whom I greatly admire, by the name of Harold Gretton........more on this to come.....

11th of October: Read-through and workshop of Kōan, written for some really fantastic local musicians who are a new music ensemble together. It's a 'pierrot plus percussion' ensemble and I have to say that this is probably my proudest achievement as a student composer. I have a lot to learn from here, but I think this is a good start in the direction I want to head.
Achievement unlocked: My best composition yet
Achievement unlocked: I can now hear densely contrapuntal, atonal works in my head and notate them exactly how I hear them on the page without having to work out any notes on piano or on the computer. After I composed it, I engraved in LilyPond after without any MIDI playback necessary.

16th of October: This one is a bit of a sad one. My recent piece A Spell Had Touched (for soprano, flute and xylophone) was cancelled for performance because of musicians being ill, transporting a xylophone to the venue being too problematic and ultimately not having enough rehearsal time. I'm hoping to reschedule the premiere for early 2019. In place of this piece, I am performing another guitar improvisation, probably called Playing Without Memory No. 2.
Achievement unlocked: First cancellation of a premiere.

So, after all this, and now that GMG seems to be running properly again and is getting busier, I am back on GMG to contribute some more and take part in discussions. After spending some time in life, forums really catch up on you sometimes!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: North Star on October 13, 2018, 12:16:26 AM
Quote from: shirime on October 12, 2018, 02:14:10 PM
Thanks! I hope you enjoyed the piece. :)
I did! Keep up the good work.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: shirime on October 15, 2018, 10:04:54 PM
By the start of November I will have a new electroacoustic piece finished that I can post..........got no clue when I'll start working on it but the due date is coming up! Tonight I'm giving a concert doing a guitar improvisation called Playing Without Memory no. 2 and I'll be wearing black shoes, beige trousers, a button up shirt with a pattern of multicoloured rhombus-shaped 'rings' on a navy blue background, a black jacket and red sunglasses.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: shirime on November 08, 2018, 11:22:27 AM
Also, starting work on a new piece for solo guitar (sorry I haven't been around too much lately, house caught fire) for one of the best musicians I've ever had the opportunity to compose for: Harold Gretton. It will probably be about 11 or 12 minutes long, looking at Scriabin sonatas for ideas on how to construct a single movement sonata of that length.

Also I have a piece about 5 minutes in duration for another guitarist friend of mine who will be performing it around Europe when he is over there at some stage later.

And also I've been fascinated with wind symphony/concert band (what's it called?) as an ensemble. There's a call for scores I have come across looking for new works for that ensemble due next year, I might compose something for that
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: shirime on November 11, 2018, 03:51:16 PM
There's a Wind Symphony nearby who have an annual call for scores! Looks like I'm gonna be composing something to submit to that over the next few months. I'm not too familiar with this repertoire, but I know that there's a great piece by Dai Fujikura I can have a look at. Does anyone know of any contemporary/experimental works for that ensemble worth checking out?
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on November 11, 2018, 04:07:58 PM
Quote from: shirime on November 11, 2018, 03:51:16 PM
There's a Wind Symphony nearby who have an annual call for scores! Looks like I'm gonna be composing something to submit to that over the next few months. I'm not too familiar with this repertoire, but I know that there's a great piece by Dai Fujikura I can have a look at. Does anyone know of any contemporary/experimental works for that ensemble worth checking out?

Great!  Good luck!

FWIW, this is my recent effort in that medium:

http://www.youtube.com/v/HAK0BwHRTxM
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: shirime on November 11, 2018, 05:39:23 PM
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 11, 2018, 04:07:58 PM
Great!  Good luck!

FWIW, this is my recent effort in that medium:

http://www.youtube.com/v/HAK0BwHRTxM
Thank you, I'll have a listen. :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: shirime on December 02, 2018, 08:25:29 AM
Recording of Palimpsest came through

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/e61u4r63qo0llh3/AADHgtvEHg3BrwhY8yGdm_Qra?dl=0

Honestly, not my best work, but I reckon that's definitely my best opening 45 seconds.  8)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: shirime on December 02, 2018, 08:27:30 AM
Actually, it's a good thing this recording came through today because I'm starting work on another piece for string quartet to send off to a call for scores/composer development programme run by Flinders Quartet back in Melbourne. There are many things I've learnt from Palimpsest that I can put towards writing an even better piece.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: schnittkease on December 02, 2018, 10:41:12 AM
Haha, that was great! I love the Schnittkesque blend of tonal centers and aggressive dissonance. It does seem odd, however, to end the piece on such a diatonic passage: is this 'light' at the end of a tunnel? Or is the etched off tonal material on your musical palimpsest still visible underneath all the chaos?
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: shirime on December 02, 2018, 12:14:39 PM
Quote from: schnittkease on December 02, 2018, 10:41:12 AM
Haha, that was great! I love the Schnittkesque blend of tonal centers and aggressive dissonance. It does seem odd, however, to end the piece on such a diatonic passage: is this 'light' at the end of a tunnel? Or is the etched off tonal material on your musical palimpsest still visible underneath all the chaos?

The 'etched off tonal material still visible' was the intention, yes, but 'light at the end of the passage' is also a valid interpretation of course. :) I'm very glad you enjoyed it!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: shirime on January 13, 2019, 12:10:25 AM
gaaahhh I am supposed to be working on a guitar sonata for this fella but I can't get started

I think he's amazing goddam what a musician

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88uII0G6tmQ

He's recorded Berio's sequenza so I know he can shred modern stuff really good too
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Rons_talking on January 15, 2019, 02:38:06 PM
Quote from: shirime on December 02, 2018, 08:25:29 AM
Recording of Palimpsest came through

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/e61u4r63qo0llh3/AADHgtvEHg3BrwhY8yGdm_Qra?dl=0

Honestly, not my best work, but I reckon that's definitely my best opening 45 seconds.  8)


I like this piece! Be careful not to be self-critical; Tchaikovsky considered his "Dutch Overture " to be his strongest piece. Never heard of it? Me neither. I like what you are doing rhythmically in conjunction with the musical lines. What do you do in terms of "pre-composition"? Are there numerical ratios or patterns...same with pitch and texture???
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: jess on November 22, 2019, 11:30:40 AM
Hello, dear moderators, is there a way to change the title of this thread to Jess's Compositions? And also perhaps de-activate the 'shirime' account?
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: jess on November 23, 2019, 06:01:01 PM
Anyway i do just want to mention quickly some updates:

Black Cat Sonata in its very first version was given a premiere at the Melbourne Guitar Festival in September this year and it was certainly fantastic to see! I will be composing two more short movements to this whenever I have time, fleshing the piece out to around 14 minutes I hope.

I also had a commission (I may have mentioned it before? i can't totally remember though) for a piece which I ended up calling Electric Revolution which was written for the theremin player Thorwald Jørgensen and the Acacia String Quartet and that was premiered in the Albury Chamber Music Festival a week ago. I was so so nervous with this piece because I had purposefully written something hard edged, raw and with a very violent energy creating a stark contrast with other pieces on the programme (which were more neo-romantic or minimalist in style), but the audience reception was shockingly and unexpectedly good! There will be more to come from this piece in further revisions: a revised version for theremin and string quartet as well as a version for theremin and string orchestra of that revision. The first revision I will be doing is really just to neaten out some of the transition sections; I'll probably be adding a minute to the total duration of the piece.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: jess on November 23, 2019, 06:04:41 PM
Next thing I am working on: Praxis for SATB choir and soloists, brass, percussion and electronics. A 20 minute cantata setting texts from revolutionary labour movements. Premiere will be in May 2020 (could be around May Day which would be very suitable!) in a concert whose central theme is social justice.

Next year there will also be a short orchestral piece in the works.....
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: GioCar on November 24, 2019, 12:32:58 AM
Hi Jess (Jessop, shirime, JMS, CoAG, ...  ;)) and welcome back!
I have been missing your posts.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: jess on November 24, 2019, 01:51:54 AM
Nice to see you again, GioCar! I've started coming out as female lately and it's begun to really fix a lot of things I have been struggling with for a while, but I should be around here more often. :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: jess on December 03, 2019, 03:47:31 PM
A couple of weeks ago I submitted Palimpsest for string quartet to this http://jackquartet.com/studio-readings and next week JACK Quartet will be giving it a little public read-through in NYC. Will there be anyone in that part of the world able to make it? If not, I will be able to get a recording from it and I'll see if I can post it here.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Crudblud on December 04, 2019, 12:42:32 AM
Quote from: jess on December 03, 2019, 03:47:31 PM
JACK Quartet will be giving it a little public read-through in NYC.
That's kind of a big deal. I hope it goes well, and I look forward to hearing the recording.
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on December 04, 2019, 09:09:57 AM
Terrific news!
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: bhodges on December 04, 2019, 09:29:40 AM
Quote from: jess on November 24, 2019, 01:51:54 AM
Nice to see you again, GioCar! I've started coming out as female lately and it's begun to really fix a lot of things I have been struggling with for a while, but I should be around here more often. :)

Just a brief word of support for what must be a stressful situation, at times, on the road to becoming the person you want to be. Hoping the good moments outweigh those that are less so.  :)

Quote from: jess on December 03, 2019, 03:47:31 PM
A couple of weeks ago I submitted Palimpsest for string quartet to this http://jackquartet.com/studio-readings and next week JACK Quartet will be giving it a little public read-through in NYC. Will there be anyone in that part of the world able to make it? If not, I will be able to get a recording from it and I'll see if I can post it here.

I have had both JACK concerts on my radar for some time, and will likely go to them. (A bit of an antidote to the endless holiday fare on offer.) Congratulations, in advance!

--Bruce
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: jess on December 04, 2019, 12:09:36 PM
Thank you very much! ;D
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: bhodges on December 07, 2019, 05:19:16 AM
Quote from: jess on December 03, 2019, 03:47:31 PM
A couple of weeks ago I submitted Palimpsest for string quartet to this http://jackquartet.com/studio-readings and next week JACK Quartet will be giving it a little public read-through in NYC. Will there be anyone in that part of the world able to make it? If not, I will be able to get a recording from it and I'll see if I can post it here.

For anyone in NYC who wants to go, here's the (FREE) registration for the event, which is Monday at 7, on the Lower East Side.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jack-studio-readings-tickets-78801696997

--Bruce
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: jess on December 07, 2019, 05:58:08 AM
Beautiful! Does this mean you will be going? :)
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: bhodges on December 07, 2019, 07:00:07 AM
Quote from: jess on December 07, 2019, 05:58:08 AM
Beautiful! Does this mean you will be going? :)

Oh yes, I'll be there -- actually reserved for two, in case a pal wants to come along. I'm a big fan of the JACK Quartet in general, and the venue is not far from me. I'll try to take a photo or two (if they allow that).

--Bruce
Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: Karl Henning on December 07, 2019, 08:00:33 AM
Groovy.
Title: Re: Jess' Compositions
Post by: jess on December 07, 2019, 12:20:07 PM
Quote from: Brewski on December 07, 2019, 07:00:07 AM
Oh yes, I'll be there -- actually reserved for two, in case a pal wants to come along. I'm a big fan of the JACK Quartet in general, and the venue is not far from me. I'll try to take a photo or two (if they allow that).

--Bruce
I will be there via Skype! Unfortunately it's too inconvenient for me to head over with a week's notice.
Title: Re: Jess' Compositions
Post by: jess on December 08, 2019, 02:40:52 PM
Things that will likely be given performances next year:

'ACAB' for Garklein and Electronics op. 18
'Praxis' cantata op. 19

idk when the former piece is going to be performed because I am relying on my recorder player and ELISION ensemble to find a time to perform it
but 'Praxis' is going to be premiered probably in May, 2020. I have so far written the final 'chorale' of it and I'm pretty close to having finished the rest of the text.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1I8jW6eeI1VQpqNIYMP1xnvoEOt2hlGox-DIBaE5dsNY/edit?usp=sharing
Title: Re: Jess' Compositions
Post by: jess on December 08, 2019, 02:49:55 PM
Also, here is a preview of one of the interludes from 'Praxis' that I have been working on https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y1GKF6tTS7gvUjk-LZplwEF7JsHHOKHG/view?usp=sharing

(might possibly use this one but I might make some better ones later on)
Title: Re: Jess' Compositions
Post by: jess on December 09, 2019, 05:38:19 PM
Wow! So JACK Quartet was a thing!
Title: Re: Jess' Compositions
Post by: bhodges on December 09, 2019, 08:44:59 PM
Quote from: jess on December 09, 2019, 05:38:19 PM
Wow! So JACK Quartet was a thing!

It was a fun evening, though I wish there had been just a few more people there, but then, this was their first outing like this, and they intend to do more. Also, when the musicians were talking to you, I almost leaned around to get in camera range and say "hi," but felt it wouldn't have been appropriate.  ;D

I liked your piece, Palimpsest, very much! Are the Haydn-esque interludes your own composition, or quotations from other works?

And here's a photo of when they were Skyping with you.

Thanks for letting me know about this. The other 6 composers were quite interesting, too, but your piece definitely stood out in the crowd.

--Bruce
Title: Re: Jess' Compositions
Post by: jess on December 09, 2019, 09:08:00 PM
Quote from: Brewski on December 09, 2019, 08:44:59 PM
It was a fun evening, though I wish there had been just a few more people there, but then, this was their first outing like this, and they intend to do more. Also, when the musicians were talking to you, I almost leaned around to get in camera range and say "hi," but felt it wouldn't have been appropriate.  ;D

I liked your piece, Palimpsest, very much! Are the Haydn-esque interludes your own composition, or quotations from other works?

And here's a photo of when they were Skyping with you.

Thanks for letting me know about this. The other 6 composers were quite interesting, too, but your piece definitely stood out in the crowd.

--Bruce

Thanks so much for coming along! I wish I could have been there, but alas, I have a cold coming on (and being on another continent doesn't help either)

Polystylism is, I think, something which comes into some of my pieces every now and then. I have a Palimpsest no. 2 in mind as well, which will have other quotations done in a similar way.
Title: Re: Jess' Compositions
Post by: bhodges on December 09, 2019, 09:19:19 PM
Quote from: jess on December 09, 2019, 09:08:00 PM
Thanks so much for coming along! I wish I could have been there, but alas, I have a cold coming on (and being on another continent doesn't help either)

Polystylism is, I think, something which comes into some of my pieces every now and then. I have a Palimpsest no. 2 in mind as well, which will have other quotations done in a similar way.

Well, heavens, even without a cold, I doubt they would have expected you to fly here from Australia. (Two of the other long-distance composers were in Santa Cruz, California, and Miami, Florida, which are obviously much closer.)

--Bruce

Title: Re: jess compositions
Post by: SimonNZ on December 11, 2019, 10:02:40 PM
Quote from: jess on December 03, 2019, 03:47:31 PM
A couple of weeks ago I submitted Palimpsest for string quartet to this http://jackquartet.com/studio-readings and next week JACK Quartet will be giving it a little public read-through in NYC. Will there be anyone in that part of the world able to make it? If not, I will be able to get a recording from it and I'll see if I can post it here.

Just catching up with this. I'd be very interested to hear that recording. Glad to hear it all went well.
Title: Re: Jess' Compositions
Post by: jess on December 11, 2019, 10:38:54 PM
Quote from: SimonNZ on December 11, 2019, 10:02:40 PM
Just catching up with this. I'd be very interested to hear that recording. Glad to hear it all went well.
I will definitely post it when I have it! Not sure when it will be coming through yet :)
Title: Re: Jess' Compositions
Post by: jess on December 11, 2019, 10:39:07 PM
My parents and younger sisters are refusing to listen to my latest electronic interlude for Praxis
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EsUD4cYpPI0kYl0QTDcddgZ_D3z4prv8/view?usp=sharing
Title: Re: Jess' Compositions
Post by: jess on December 13, 2019, 12:32:17 AM
more electronic stuff, here's the first piece from colours op. 20

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OmntwRhfgRjBQYf5AZm1CoF1NLxdcrxE/view?usp=sharing

the movements are blue 1, pink 1, white, pink 2, blue 2

I will make some of the other ones over the next month or two. I'm basically just using this piece as a way to help me get a feel for some longer forms. The whole suite will over 40 minutes in length.
Title: Re: Jess' Compositions
Post by: jess on December 13, 2019, 02:22:35 PM
blue 2 is literally just gonna be blue 1 in retrograde. By the time the listener gets around to that, I am hoping there will be a weird sense of 'oh I remember this, but it's...happening in the wrong order' which I have always thought is a nice way to conclude any long piece.

white is gonna be 15 minutes and the slowest paced movement in the suite, drawing heavily on more ambient, breathy sounds and probably also passages of pure white noise, and both pink movements will probably be fast paced and shorter than the blue movements. (I might include pink noise in the pink movements as well, but we will see)
Title: Re: Jess' Compositions
Post by: Alek Hidell on December 13, 2019, 05:22:01 PM
Great to see you back among us, Jess! Ah, I remember when you were just a wee lad pressing Ligeti on everyone (back on that other classical forum) ... ;)

And très cool to hear that the JACK Quartet performed your music! Best wishes to you.
Title: Re: Jess' Compositions
Post by: jess on December 14, 2019, 01:57:03 AM
Lovely to see you again too! A lot has changed since I was 14! But I am still a very big Ligeti fan, that's for sure.

I just made a preview of my upcoming colours op. 20 public

https://soundcloud.com/jess-maticevski/pink-1
Title: Re: Jess' Compositions
Post by: jess on December 15, 2019, 06:07:03 PM
aaaa oh my god I am actually a lot more proud of the white movement of colours than I thought I would be. I anticipate that I have the remaining fourth movement completed by the end of the week, and then I will release the full suite. :)
Title: Re: Jess' Compositions
Post by: jess on December 16, 2019, 04:46:04 PM
Done! https://jessmaticevski.bandcamp.com/releases
Title: Re: Jess' Compositions
Post by: jess on December 17, 2019, 10:25:15 PM
Aahhhh I am so excited to have finished this. I feel as if this is truly the first piece I have been able to successfully compose after making a recovery from some depression which held me back for pretty much an entire year. One of my friends told me it sounds powerful, which is a very nice thing to hear indeed! It will likely be some folio work I will be submitting for my degree along with my upcoming Praxis cantata (20 minutes) and an orchestral work (7 minutes), totalling about 67 minutes of music for a semester's work. I think that should be enough before I begin my final semester.
Title: Re: Jess' Compositions
Post by: jess on January 13, 2020, 10:34:29 PM
the JACK Quartet recording came through! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1svNstsqMRMUNLhLvlyqGALuWciYWhmEU/view?usp=sharing
Title: Re: Jess' Compositions
Post by: jess on January 15, 2020, 06:45:16 PM
Edited the recording slightly to compress the dynamics a little and make it sound a little less 'tinny' https://soundcloud.com/jess-maticevski/palimpsest-1
Title: Re: Jess' Compositions
Post by: Overtones on June 12, 2020, 10:21:24 AM
Hi Jess, why is it that all your links are not working any more?
Title: Re: Jess' Compositions
Post by: JBS on June 12, 2020, 10:52:25 AM
I believe "Jess" is no longer active here, and is going through a bunch of changes in life, and including name and sex/gender.

Maybe it's better to try this page as contact
https://m.facebook.com/composerlili
Title: Re: Jess' Compositions
Post by: Mirror Image on June 12, 2020, 11:17:06 AM
Quote from: JBS on June 12, 2020, 10:52:25 AM
I believe "Jess" is no longer active here, and is going through a bunch of changes in life, and including name and sex/gender.

Maybe it's better to try this page as contact
https://m.facebook.com/composerlili

The link doesn't work, Jeffrey. It takes you to a dead end.
Title: Re: Jess' Compositions
Post by: JBS on June 12, 2020, 11:23:18 AM
It works for me.....

:-[

If it doesn't the name on FB to look for is
Lilijana Matičevska
Title: Re: Jess' Compositions
Post by: Overtones on June 12, 2020, 01:38:52 PM
Quote from: JBS on June 12, 2020, 10:52:25 AM
I believe "Jess" is no longer active here, and is going through a bunch of changes in life, and including name and sex/gender.

Maybe it's better to try this page as contact
https://m.facebook.com/composerlili

Wow, I hope she gets back to writing here