Henning's Headquarters

[Karl Henning]

Carola & Sylvie did beautifully! I recorded the entire concert, though I have not yet checked the audio.

[Karl Henning]

And this evening is my first rehearsal as part of ye Boston Choral Collective (is that really going to be our name?) https://www.facebook.com/bostonchoralcollective

[Karl Henning]

I've found some sketches I made at the time when I was first at work on In the Artist's Studio, but which I never got around to folding into the piece . . . this year, I have already decided on how to end the piece, so the question for me is, do I want to make room for this other material (does the material compel inclusion)?

I shan't seriously attend the matter until after tonight's chorus rehearsal.

[North Star]

Carola & Sylvie did beautifully! I recorded the entire concert, though I have not yet checked the audio.

Excellent, Karl.
I sure hope the recording went well, too.

[Karl Henning]

Thanks, Karlo!

Not a bad experience, considering that no one can really say anything new musically ever again . . . .

[North Star]

Thanks, Karlo!

Not a bad experience, considering that no one can really say anything new musically ever again . . . .

Luckily, what's worth saying once, is worth saying twice - and thrice.

[Karl Henning]

Luckily, what's worth saying once, is worth saying twice - and thrice.

Aye!

[Karl Henning]

Partly because I was absent from last Monday's inaugural rehearsal, I expect, I get 25 minutes to rehearse Hariyu tonight.  I'm planning to cover the first four pages.

Of course, I have not worked with this group before, so it is a challenge for me to gauge what I may hope to accomplish in 25 minutes;  but they are all good singers, and most of them good readers.  So I am sure that we can get those four pages sounding close to polished.  What shall I do if we reach that state of polish, and I still have time on the clock?  Pages 5 & 6 are essentially a repetition of material, so they will be an easy additional gain.

[Sergeant Rock]

Hey, Karl. Thanks for the link to Discreet Erasures. I've listened to it a half dozen times. Love it. In fact, along with Viola Sonata, it is my favorite of your works. I hope we'll someday hear it played with a real orchestra.

Sarge

[Karl Henning]

Hey, Karl. Thanks for the link to Discreet Erasures. I've listened to it a half dozen times. Love it. In fact, along with Viola Sonata, it is my favorite of your works. I hope we'll someday hear it played with a real orchestra.

Sarge

Many thanks!

[Karl Henning]

Partly because I was absent from last Monday's inaugural rehearsal, I expect, I get 25 minutes to rehearse Hariyu tonight.  I'm planning to cover the first four pages.

Of course, I have not worked with this group before, so it is a challenge for me to gauge what I may hope to accomplish in 25 minutes;  but they are all good singers, and most of them good readers.  So I am sure that we can get those four pages sounding close to polished.  What shall I do if we reach that state of polish, and I still have time on the clock?  Pages 5 & 6 are essentially a repetition of material, so they will be an easy additional gain.

Delightful and energizing rehearsal last night.  I spent far the greater part of it as part of the choir, of course, which was great fun;  they are all, as we expected, fine singers.  The greatest challenge for them in Hariyu was the changing meters, and my conducting was clear enough (— I don't want to sound as if my part of the rehearsal was perfect:  it was my first time rehearsing this piece with a group of singers, and I made the odd mistake here and there, and of course when the conductor makes the mistake, probably it throws the group off —) that 94.5% of the time, we proceeded smoothly.  So very smoothly, in fact, that although I had not dared to presume that we could attend to more than the first six pages, in the course of the 25 minutes which I had for the piece, we did in fact manage to sing it through entirely — twice.  The composer, Sarah Riskind, is part of the group, and she was highly pleased — again, in all due modesty, as much with the group of singers as with the direction.  She told us all that she had conducted the piece herself, but that even in this "rough-&-ready" first rehearsal of ours, the piece sounded better than she had managed on that first occasion.  So we are all doing our job.

[Karl Henning]

The group is on an altogether higher musical plane than my own church choir, of course.  And the fact that I am apparently out of practice, in terms of requiring finer things, more musical refinements from a choir (since, without disparaging their earnest music-making, I cannot expect to do so with my lot at the church!) that I rather felt I was wasting time, searching in my mind for things to fix.  But the sound and the music-making were good, so as long as I had them singing, I gave the impression of doing good work.  And now, I can do informed homework with the score so that in my next rehearsal, I can work with complete self-assurance.

[Karl Henning]

Random Moment of Nostalgia:  Before I had ever heard The Beatles' original song, I played "Norwegian Wood (This Bird has Flown)" in my high school Stage Band . . . .

http://www.youtube.com/v/EK02VOCYEd0

[Karl Henning]

Random Moment of Nostalgia:  Before I had ever heard The Beatles' original song, I played "Norwegian Wood (This Bird has Flown)" in my high school Stage Band . . . .

It was this Bill Lowden arrangement (I distinctly remember that trumpet comment at 1:01 — how's that for the persistence of memory?)—:

http://www.youtube.com/v/TGja00jPRMs

[Karl Henning]

Yesterday I was rather pooped, and so I neglected the audio from Sunday's concert.  However, I did (part whimsy, party spec) arrange the Canzona from the Op.77 for viola and string orchestra, and sent it to a Belgian violist (who mentioned that she has such a concert in December).  She has acknowledged receipt, but has not had a chance to look it over, yet.  I think this arrangement will be apt enough, that future musicologists may consider it a more "definitive" version of the piece than the original.

[Karl Henning]

The organ solo version of the Canzona & Gigue (Op.77a) was to be performed at King's Chapel in February, but was a casualty of the blizzards. I've reached out to Carson Cooman to see if he has plans for its resuscitation.

[Karl Henning]

For the Op.77b, I think I shall need to be a little creative with the accompaniment to the Gigue.  For the original, ease and speed of preparation were the important considerations, so that the organ accompaniment being light was not necessarily a drawback;  but clearly I do think I should make for better employment of the string choir as accompaniment.

[Karl Henning]

I have an appalling bit of news:  I managed to record the entire concert, with the curious exception of my own piece.  I have no explanation, other than good old-fashioned stupidity.

[Karl Henning]

The organ solo version of the Canzona & Gigue (Op.77a) was to be performed at King's Chapel in February, but was a casualty of the blizzards. I've reached out to Carson Cooman to see if he has plans for its resuscitation.

Carson does mean to perform the Op.77a at some point, date and venue as yet t/b/d.

[Karl Henning]

For the Op.77b, I think I shall need to be a little creative with the accompaniment to the Gigue.  For the original, ease and speed of preparation were the important considerations, so that the organ accompaniment being light was not necessarily a drawback;  but clearly I do think I should make for better employment of the string choir as accompaniment.

The violist has asked for audio of the Canzona;  I have furnished mp3s of both a live performance cl/org, and the MIDI of the present arrangement.