Ottevanger's Omphaloskeptic Outpost

[lukeottevanger]

I'm getting there Karl! But I must be honest - if finances eventually allow, I'm looking longingly at a return to simple ol' piano teaching/accompaniment work.

[karlhenning]

In ways, I understand.  Though I largely enjoyed my experiences in front of classes as a teaching assistant, I really haven't found any powerful pull to go back there.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Any luck with the Nightingale piece, Johan?

Yes! I must say you have 'aural imagination', Luke. I like the Nightingale Sonata very much, and I can't see where you might improve it - structure and trajectory are clear and relatively straightforward.

When I look back/hear back across the pieces I have heard so far - and I am still in my Ottevanger infancy - there is an obvious delight in sonority and atmosphere. Your talent is unmistakable.

[karlhenning]

Well deserved tribute, Johan, well spoken.

[lukeottevanger]

Yes, thank you, Johan. And for taking the time to listen, too.

[lukeottevanger]

Just come fresh from - at last - being able to play through those Decaux Clairs de lune (quite pleased with my sightreading today, I think I did some approximate justice to them anyway).  My fingers are still buzzing!

Interestingly enough, the first two especially reminded me of nothing so much as some of the music of my own Improvisations (though vastly superior, of course), particularly my own no 12, which like those two Decaux pieces features a kind of 'litany' - a short motive projected through various changing harmonies (the harmonies in the Decaux are vaguely similar to mine too) - before a spiralling upwards to a textural climax. (Links to these pieces of mine are in the first post of the thread for those interested)

[Joe_Campbell]

You were able to make it through 'la mer?' >>bows<<

I find it interesting that two titles in this piece were already used by Debussy (Clair de lune & la Mer)

I found similarities in the first two pieces to 'Impressions of the Tames' by Ornstein. So, indirectly, I'm comparing Luke to Ornstein!

[lukeottevanger]

You were able to make it through 'la mer?' >>bows<<

Well, I won't pretend it was note-perfect - some things got a little more sketchy towards the end! The interesting thing about that one, I thought, was that the 5:3 which looks like it's going to blight anyone trying to sightread the piece, actually turns out to be quite gratifying to play. Decaux introduces it very adroitly, so that the hand just slips into it - one of the harder things was to force the hand out of the 5:3 into the supposedly much easier 6:3 and back again at later points in the piece! Nice early use of complexity-ish 'nesting' too, though not exactly Ferneyhoughian in its fearsomeness! But actually, I thought the earlier three pieces were even more interesting - he makes such resourceful use such a tricky premise: three very slow pieces which only episodically quicken in figuration. Extremely impressive music!

I find it interesting that two titles in this piece were already used by Debussy (Clair de lune & la Mer)

I found similarities in the first two pieces to 'Impressions of the Tames' by Ornstein. So, indirectly, I'm comparing Luke to Ornstein!

Have you looked at Ornstein's Arabesques yet? Or his Songs of 1917? I think they are the best of his really wild, freely atonal stuff, and they too are reminiscent of the Decaux in their powerful ostinati and outrageous technical and harmonic writing.

For more brooding, elemental virtuoso piano seascapes, don't forget things like Ireland's Song of the Springtides (third movt of Sarnia) or Bridge's The Midnight Tide - somewhat easier, both of them, especially the Bridge, but still a nice challenge. The Ireland is a masterpiece (the whole set)

[karlhenning]

@ Karl

I have - I'm working and want to get home to check my files before I answer. But, briefly - I put a revised verson of the score up at the Outpost a while ago, and I'm waiting for your clarinetly feedback on it. I think (though, as I say, I need to check) I'm happy with it. Will get back to you more definitively later on....

Ach! Well, when you do get definitive, give me a pointer, old thing!

[lukeottevanger]

What's your opinion of it? - the revised version is on the bottom of page 22 of this thread.

[karlhenning]

I.

Quite substantial reworking of mm. 66-78, works nicely.

I really like the expansion of the gesture resulting in mm. 96-101, and I think the revised passage that follows much stronger.

For the new mm. 107-115, I like the new version better again, I think reducing the registral range of the clarinet for that passage better matches the stillness of the accompaniment.

II.

m. 62, the fix is simple, and perfect.

I liked it very well before, and now it's better still.

Clarinet in B-flat, right? When do I get a transposed part? 

Edit :: typo . . . cannot have a clarinetist misspelling clarinet

[lukeottevanger]

Excellent - thank you!

I will get the clarinet part worked up in the next few days. I need to be at another computer to do it, or I'd be at it right now!

[lukeottevanger]

A nice phone call today - asking me to write an orchestral work to be performed (hopefully) February next year.  Same orchestra/conductor as did The Chant of Carnus (the conductor said he's still haunted by the imagery of that piece 6 years later, which is rather gratifying).

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

A nice phone call today - asking me to write an orchestral work to be performed (hopefully) February next year.  Same orchestra/conductor as did The Chant of Carnus (the conductor said he's still haunted by the imagery of that piece 6 years later, which is rather gratifying).

This is terrific news, Luke! 'A feather in your cap' and all that. Congratulations. It will be interesting to see/hear what you will come up with...

[karlhenning]

Go, Luke!

[greg]

That's what I like to hear, Luke! 
I honestly can't wait to hear the piece.....
any idea what the title will be?

[Guido]

This sounds great Luke! Where might it be performed?

[lukeottevanger]

It will be in that glamorous hub of British cultural life, Leicester. 

And Greg, no, no idea on the title yet, though I do have some ideas about the piece itself. Still in the very first stages, though - nothing to report yet.

[Guido]

It will be in that glamorous hub of British cultural life, Leicester. 

And Greg, no, no idea on the title yet, though I do have some ideas about the piece itself. Still in the very first stages, though - nothing to report yet.

Well for one it will need a long cello solo with orchestra that can also act, almost miraculously, as a stand alone piece!

[lukeottevanger]

Not a million miles from what I was pondering anyway, in fact....