Henning's Headquarters

Started by BachQ, April 07, 2007, 12:21:26 PM

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Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

JBS


Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

Rons_talking

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on June 09, 2020, 03:09:20 PM
My friend and colleague Robert Jan August will play my Op. 34 #3 Fancy on Psalm 80 From the Scottish Psalter as the Prelude for First Church in Boston's service this Sunday.  the service begins at 11:00 Chowder Time and will be broadcast on WERS 88.9 FM Boston available on line at https://www.wers.org/
[/quote

Great! Congrats. I'd like to hear it.

Karl Henning

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on April 11, 2020, 11:05:48 AM
Best Get the Ax (Variation on a doggerel), Op.167

About the music:

There is no full score
Taking my experience with various fixed media mixes as a point d'appui,
I composed a setting of the text; and then shook and shuffled things around to create 6 voice parts (SSATTB)
I attach the Soprano I part as representative.
Each singer selects a part to suit his or her voice. In preparing and recording the part,
The singer is welcome to any artistic liberty which to him or her feels true to the piece,
and then sends the sound file to me for assembly/treatment.  The piece is thus somewhere in the midst of improv, composition-mixage
and Renaissance partbooks
About the text:

An old friend of mine (in fact, the person who helped me figure out how to go to college, decades ago)
to help amuse his friends in these dour days, sent the text of a song he used to sing at camp as a boy.
I enjoyed the playful reckless imagery, and felt it would be a good text to set.
Although my friend is sure the song is P.D., I felt that I should create what is clearly my own variant.

To get my feet wet, I prepared what I dubbed a "proto-mix on 24 Apr with the first of the soundfiles to come in. I did like it, so I figured I would build out therefrom.  I then dawdled right through the Independence Day weekend.  Finally did up a "final draught" last Thursday to which response was generally good, with discreet observations that I had allowed it to be treble-heavy.  On Friday, I addressed that and had a fresh mix ready yesterday.  I've been living with it just shy of "listen to destruction," and I found myself singing fragments while at the supermarket today.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot


Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

I've sent some scores to a couple of calls

For another call, I think I shall write a new organ piece (I have until 1 Sep)

And I believe Quijote and the Saltmarsh Stomp will serve for two other calls.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Mahlerian

Best of luck with all of those!
"l do not consider my music as atonal, but rather as non-tonal. I feel the unity of all keys. Atonal music by modern composers admits of no key at all, no feeling of any definite center." - Arnold Schoenberg

Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

aligreto

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on July 21, 2020, 06:07:43 AM

For another call, I think I shall write a new organ piece (I have until 1 Sep)


Hi Karl, does writing for the organ pose any particular technical issues or problems for you?

Karl Henning

Quote from: aligreto on July 22, 2020, 01:12:01 AM
Hi Karl, does writing for the organ pose any particular technical issues or problems for you?

It helps a lot, Fergus, that I have worked with several organists over the years;  at first, I was certainly daunted.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on July 21, 2020, 06:07:43 AM
I've sent some scores to a couple of calls

For another call, I think I shall write a new organ piece (I have until 1 Sep)

And I believe Quijote and the Saltmarsh Stomp will serve for two other calls.

The Stomp was ready as is.  I figured, for the other call, on the Pierrot-plus version of Quijote. However my percussion part was too lavish (including timpani and tam-tam) for this call, so I had a bit of a chore, modifying that in Sibelius.  Still, I love the piece, so the task was not horribly onerous.  I also learnt that this other call will accept two submissions per composer, and I already have a string quartet adaptation of Kurosawa's Scarecrow which will fit.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot


aligreto

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on July 22, 2020, 11:20:24 AM
It helps a lot, Fergus, that I have worked with several organists over the years;  at first, I was certainly daunted.

Cheers Karl. I would have thought that would be your answer.

Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on July 24, 2020, 04:50:30 PM
https://www.youtube.com/v/3gAkWbkF-MM

I owe Carson thanks, too, so the Op. 169 will be a set of five pieces.

I took it easy after a hard-working therapy session today ... but at this point, I will probably alternate between work on the soprano/alto flute piece, and the organ pieces.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

aligreto

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on July 24, 2020, 04:50:30 PM
https://www.youtube.com/v/3gAkWbkF-MM

That is an interesting, meditative piece Karl, very suitable for contemplative Sunday morning listening.