Ottevanger's Omphaloskeptic Outpost

[lukeottevanger]

New composition from the Ottevanger stable this morning. My 6-year-old daughter's first go (as you can see, she toyed with quavers in 4/4, but the muse told her crotchets in 8/4 represented its intentions more precisely):

[lukeottevanger]

And 'The Composer Plays'....

[greg]

hehe..... 
not even 1' long 

[lukeottevanger]

A miniaturist, like her father....

[greg]

A miniaturist, like her father....

[Guido]

Great! It's quite lovely in its little way! What does the title refer to?

[lukeottevanger]

Well, you see, the first two notes skip from C to E, and it is for Mummy. Complex and cryptic, huh?

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

A tense and questing piece, Luke!

(Btw - could you point me to some of your own pieces? Saves me a frantic search...)

[lukeottevanger]

Most of them are linked to on the first page of this thread, but more recent ones are obviously scattered throughout the rest of it.

[karlhenning]

Luke: Ed and I had a bite to eat together after The Long Good Friday Spiel;  and one item which arose in the conversation is, he is planning to play your piano piece as a Voluntary before summer.

[lukeottevanger]

That is exciting news, Karl!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Luke, I have started to listen to your music ('Through the Year'). I'll react to them without reading, if I can, any of the reactions that already have come your way.

[lukeottevanger]

Naturally! Those pieces are amongst my favourites, but not representative of my other music, being rather intimate (well, that's not unusual for me!) tonal-traditional and child-centred.

[Guido]

Luke: Ed and I had a bite to eat together after The Long Good Friday Spiel;  and one item which arose in the conversation is, he is planning to play your piano piece as a Voluntary before summer.

Is this the nightingale sonata?

[lukeottevanger]

I'm assuming Karl means the plain-and-simple Sonata, not the clunky Nightingale one. The former is the piece he spoke about in this context earlier.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Okay. I listened to 'Through the Year' three times (the first time without the scores). What strikes me? These are very poetic miniatures, simple but not simplistic. The child in the composer is alive and well. They show imagination, humour and colour. A few remarks:

2. Something you could whistle whilst walking;
3. 'A Fallen Leaf' - very affecting;
8. One of my favourites, even at a first hearing;
10. My other favourite, because of its magical modulation (reminds me of Holst, 'The Perfect Fool');
13. Lovely and tender;
16. Rhythmically fine;
18. Most layered piece, Ivesian in its combination of musics.

It's not difficult to understand why 'Through the Year' is your favourite piece, Luke.

I'll explore your other, 'adult' pieces with great interest the coming days.

Johan

[greg]

It's not difficult to understand why 'Through the Year' is your favourite piece, Luke.

My favorite, too....... either that or the 4 Paz Songs.

[lukeottevanger]

Thanks for listening and for those comments, Johan - you've isolated some of my own favourites, I think, though I am fond of them all. The sequence from 5 - 11 (a kind of evening-night-morning sequence, also covering the end of Autumn, Winter and the beginning of Spring) might be my favourite part of the cycle, a sort of mini-cycle within the larger one.

I should point out that Through the Year isn't my single favourite work, just one of them. Of those available here, others include, in chronological order:

Four Paz Songs
Improvisations
Sonata
Canticle Sonata

but a Brianite like you will be used to listening-through ropey performances and dodgy recordings and might find something to like in the only orchestral piece available here, The Chant of Carnus (nothing very Brain-like about it, unless it be the underlying military menace, breaking out into march at points, and the roots in Greek myth).

[karlhenning]

And I, for one, eagerly look forward to the Canticle Sonata soon achieving a condition to the composer's satisfaction 

[lukeottevanger]

Actually, Karl, I'm awaiting your feedback on the version of the score I posted a while back, which I think might be an improvement on the previous one (though I haven't looked at it myself since January and can't quite remember what I've done!). Here it is again for your perusal!