Ottevanger's Omphaloskeptic Outpost

[mn dave]

Are all of these mp3s piano pieces? Sorry, but I haven't dug through the whole thread.

[lukeottevanger]

Most of them. I've been rather focussed in that area recently. Some songs too, and one orchestral piece. And some clavichord pieces  . Also links to lots of scores....most of the links are on the first page of this thread, others scaterred through the rest of it, but if you click on one and follow the links to my 'lukeottevanger's other stuff' esnips folder you can see everything in one place.

[lukeottevanger]

....Ottevangerine Dream......  0:)

[mn dave]

Most of them. I've been rather focussed in that area recently. Some songs too, and one orchestral piece. And some clavichord pieces  . Also links to lots of scores....most of the links are on the first page of this thread, others scaterred through the rest of it, but if you click on one and follow the links to my 'lukeottevanger's other stuff' esnips folder you can see everything in one place.

Thanks. Very helpful. Maybe I'll put an Ottevanger playlist on my iTunes. 

[lukeottevanger]

Beware poor quality recordings! Bad pianist + bad piano + bad recording equipment +  bad acoustics + little time for retakes = cringing on my part.

[mn dave]

Beware poor quality recordings! Bad pianist + bad piano + bad recording equipment + little time for retakes = cringing on my part.

  Now I'm scared.

[lukeottevanger]

I find it's best to dampen expectations before we even get started!  Then no one gets hurt....

[karlhenning]

When the composer cringes . . . .

[lukeottevanger]

Do you never cringe, Karl, when hearing your music played not quite as you wanted to hear it? 

In seriousness, Dave, I can give you some idea of places to start if you want, a little bit later. Minimising risk and all that.

[mn dave]

Do you never cringe, Karl, when hearing your music played not quite as you wanted to hear it? 

In seriousness, Dave, I can give you some idea of places to start if you want, a little bit later. Minimising risk and all that.

That would be swell. Maybe a disc's worth.

[karlhenning]

Do you never cringe, Karl, when hearing your music played not quite as you wanted to hear it? 

And I cringe all the more when I am one of the perpetrators performers.

[lukeottevanger]

That would be swell. Maybe a disc's worth.

OK, then. Here are the pieces of mine that seem to have gone down best here. You'll find links to all of them scattered around my esnips page, but many of them are also on the first page of this thread.

Four Paz Songs – 1997 – Greg's favourites, these ones have always been talked about gratifyingly, starting with the time Robin Holloway told me they were 'phenomenal' – a memorable moment for me, as you can tell.

Improvisations – 20203 – Ex-GMGer Eugene (Ugh) said these were his favourites, and that he played them often. These were the first pieces where I used a simple technique of semi-improvising the compositions, setting myself strict rules (e.g. if the first thing you play doesn't please you, don't compose a piece today) and composing them in a relatively short period.

Through the Year - 2003 – 20 pieces, 'for children' in the Kinderszenen sense. Specifically my children, of whom only the first was around at the time – these are misty, very English pieces in my mind. It's very important to me to keep the connection to childhood as alive and well as possible in my music.

Little Christmas Pieces – 2003 – similar to the above: nostalgic and English sounding, I think, but also simple and childlike. Guido is particularly fond of the above two sets, and so am I.

Individuation and Enlightenment – 2005-7 – no one else has said much about these, but despite their tiny size they are really important in my own development – the first pieces where I explored the use of modes, without the use of transpositions. A meeting of Zen and Jung, which is very significant in my mind – they represent a new and healthy start for me after a period of angsty difficulty!

Nightingale Sonata – 2006 - – a clunky, tonal piece, significant for me not so much in its music as in what lies behind that. Others seem to like it, however – Sforzando said it was as if I was composing like a contemporary Chopin, which I took rather well!

Sonata – 2007 - very important to me, this one – composed around the time my grandmother died and reflective of that (for me only, of course), it is also the first piece in which I used a technique of combining modes, and using their intersections and negations to provide new material.

Canticle Sonata - 2007 - with Karl in mind! A clarinet sonata in which that modal technique essayed in the Sonata enabled me to write a much larger, more formally complex and goal-oriented work. I think it succeeds well; Karl says it's his favourite of my pieces. At present it's only available in a horrible mocked-up version, though. I wouldn't download it yet - wait till there's have a better one!

There are other, single movement, short pieces which I think work well too – for instance the clavichord pieces Night Music, the Lullaby to Silence and the Improvisation in 4th, 5ths, 7ths and 9ths. Also there is the orchestral piece The Chant of Carnus (2000) – a very rough and badly spliced recording of a rehearsal. That piece is an equally rough, violent work – successful in many places, especially the second half (probably the first half too, but that bit is performed quite badly on the recording). I like it, but it isn't how I write now – as I have a current commission from the same orchestra, that fact is on my mind at present!

As mp3s, I imagine these ought to fit on a disc easily, with room to spare. Though I may have guessed wrong...

[mn dave]

Thanks for your time. That'll come in handy. I look forward to listening.

[lukeottevanger]

....just read that back. Don't think I've ever used the phrase '....for me' so much!   Some editing required...

Oh and - no problem! Hope you find something to enjoy in all that.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Through the Year - 2003 – 20 pieces, ‘for children’ in the Kinderszenen sense. Specifically my children, of whom only the first was around at the time – these are misty, very English pieces in my mind. It’s very important to me to keep the connection to childhood as alive and well as possible in my music.

Little Christmas Pieces – 2003 – similar to the above: nostalgic and English sounding, I think, but also simple and childlike. Guido is particularly fond of the above two sets, and so am I.

Don't forget me.

[lukeottevanger]

Well, obviously everyone of taste and discernment loves those pieces    0:) How could they not?  But Guido's been particularly vocal about it, I suppose. Appeals to the part of him that loves nostalgic, Englishy stuff, I think.

[mn dave]

I downloaded the 4 Paz songs. 32 kbps?! You must be joking. 

[lukeottevanger]

There was a reason for that, way back when I orginally uploaded them...perhaps I should upload a fuller version. OTOH, the recording quality is so poor in the first place I'm not sure you lose much! Watch this space - I'm going home in a while, so I might do it then.

[mn dave]

There was a reason for that, way back when I orginally uploaded them...perhaps I should upload a fuller version. OTOH, the recording quality is so poor in the first place I'm not sure you lose much! Watch this space - I'm going home in a while, so I might do it then.

Who's singing on those? I haven't listened hard yet, but I will soon.

[lukeottevanger]

Who's singing on those? I haven't listened hard yet, but I will soon.

It was about 11 years ago. Her name was Abi Boreham - she was about 19, a soprano in the choir of a neighbouring college. She lost her voice the morning of the recording!     Didn't hinder her top Cs, as you can hear! I've since seen her name on high-profile CDs by the Holst Singers and the Choir of London - I did a search on her to see if I could find a link, and I discovered that she's married now - Abi Hooper.