Ottevanger's Omphaloskeptic Outpost

[Guido]

Looking forward to it!

[Maciek]

Yes, yes, so am I!

[karlhenning]

Gosh, aren't we quite the fan club?  But then, of course, Luke deserves it!  Let us be shameless, then.

[Luke]

OK, it's done, I think - true to form, at the last minute I decided to finish it in a way I really hadn't been expecting to do! I won't put it here yet though, for a couple of reasons - 1) I want to live with it a little longer, partly to be sure about it, partly just to get a few more details into the score; and 2) before I record it, I'm going to have to practise....there's a fairly hard page in there somewhere! But it shouldn't take me too long to do both of these things, I hope.

[greg]

Looking forward to it, Luke! 

[Sean]

Hi Luke. Hope you're okay...

[Luke]

Hi Sean, thanks. I'm doing a bit better than I have been doing, anyway! How about you?

Just recorded and edited the whole piece; it clocks in at just over 10 minutes. Now to listen to it through a few times.....

[Guido]

Don't tantalise me like this! Should I stay up and wait for it? Or will it be posted tomorrow?  0:)

[Luke]

No, don't stay up - the score needs editing, and I'm too tired to do it tonight!

It's very much in the same vein as that sonata I wrote in April - you remember, the psychotic one  and in fact it's a pair for that piece in many ways. So you know what to expect. Steer clear if you are of a nervous disposition 

[Guido]

Ok! (to all)

[Luke]

OK, I think I am officially pleased with it. Just listened to it on proper speakers for the first time, lights off, focusing on it entirely....it held me to the end, including the deliberately painfully slow 'development' section, and I found I was holding my breath as it finished      like its companion sonata, this one is affecting its composer in ways he didn't expect...which is something I relish. Or maybe it's a sign of a composer who doesn't know what he's doing!!

[Luke]

Here we are, score and recording to my new piece. Click here for recording. As I said, this sonata belongs with the previous one (written last April) in every way, and as both are 'about' absence of various sorts, I've given them both a related name, to emphasize the connection.  Which is why I've uploaded the scores to both sonatas here, not just the new one. Hope you like them/it....well, maybe 'like' isn't the word...

[Luke]

...clearly not! 

[Guido]

I've downloaded each of the files 2 times, but my computer's being a retard so I haven't been able to hear it yet. The score looks lovely! I'll keep trying.

[Luke]

That's OK, I was only kidding (though I can't imagine the piece will be to all tastes...)! Not a problem with the file itself, is it?

[Guido]

no I don't think so - my computer's sound has just given up. It's been on the blink for a while. I hope the others are able to comment on it for me!

(I'm getting a new computer in a few days anyway, so hopefully then I'll be able to hear it!)

Annoying!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

A healthy, happy and productive 2010, Luke! I am looking forward to listening to your new pieces (and re-listening to some of your classics, perhaps)!


Okay. I have listened to 'The Dove' and to the new Sonata. 'The Dove' is, as Guido already said, lovely. It's quite deep for all its apparent simplicity, though, and there is darkness there. You must have been in a 'Sonata' frame of mind already... Speaking of which - you really plumb the depths, there. A very affecting piece. I was reminded of Hopkins's 'terrible sonnets', especially 'where (...) thoughts against thoughts in groans grind'. I now should listen to your first 'psychotic' piece, too. I think that what was held back in the earlier Sonata, really explodes here.

[karlhenning]

Bravo, Luke! I've at last had a look (won't be able to listen for a bit). Lovely work!

(You've probably got your own backlog of pieces to write as it is, but I must ask:  Might you be game to write a piece for harpsichord?  I know a chap who will gladly take a look at such a piece.)

[Luke]

Thanks, guys 

Johan, perceptive listening, I'd say. The Dove was the only piece I wrote all year, apart from those two sonatas, and, yes, there is something a little dark in it. I was surprised myself, at the effect of the way the 'semplice' opening grows more complex and ambivalent in tone at its unliteral repeats...

Re the sonata - Hopkins is a very apt comparison to draw, for the odd reason that the one other piece I did make some headway with last year was that flute sonata I've mentioned....which took as its starting point some lines from Hopkins' The Blessed Virgin compared to the Air we Breathe. And yes, now I remember how you talked about there being something ready to burst out in the first Sonata...and burst out it certainly did, in the intervening months. If the piece is true to its composer, you are very right to perceive it in the new sonata.

And Karl - thank you, I hope the piece doesn't disappoint when you get a chance to listen! I don't really feel a backlog of pieces at the moment, - the long list of want-to-writes I had before last year doesn't press on me the way it did - it seems so long ago. A harpsichord piece might be just the way to refresh the palate...

[karlhenning]

Excellent!