Henning's Headquarters

[Karl Henning]

There is no full score (with indication of electronic component) as such.

Attached is the score we read from; and Pam wrote to us:

We'll play from score. The score is divided into parts, each for a major
section of the audio soundtrack. Each section is free and rather
improvisatory. Only Part 1 is measured.

In the birdsong sections, musical gestures should be like birds, and
should answer back and forth, sometimes overlapping. The notation tries
to show this overlapping alignment, but it is freer than the notation
implies. Improvising on the suggested songs is welcome. Birds do it too,
or at least from bird to bird, the species song can be quite various.

[Karl Henning]

And Avrohom's piece, which opened the program:

http://www.youtube.com/v/1H6O4OSTmJY

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

There is no full score (with indication of electronic component) as such.

Attached is the score we read from; and Pam wrote to us:

We'll play from score. The score is divided into parts, each for a major
section of the audio soundtrack. Each section is free and rather
improvisatory. Only Part 1 is measured.

In the birdsong sections, musical gestures should be like birds, and
should answer back and forth, sometimes overlapping. The notation tries
to show this overlapping alignment, but it is freer than the notation
implies. Improvising on the suggested songs is welcome. Birds do it too,
or at least from bird to bird, the species song can be quite various.

Oh I see this was someone else's composition! This looks like a very effective solution to the problem of combining live instruments (particularly an ensemble) with fixed media electronics without falling back on the electronics as a metronome.

[Karl Henning]

Yes, it was very nice to be able to be musically free, notwithstanding the "fixed" accompaniment!

[Sergeant Rock]

And Avrohom's piece, which opened the program

Great concert. Enjoyed all four pieces. Congratulations to you and your ensemble.

Sarge

[Karl Henning]

Thanks so much for listening, Sarge!

[Karl Henning]

I had a go at creating the fixed media component for A Heart So White.

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

[Karl Henning]

I've registered with the Rapido! contest. You might wish to, as well.

[Cato]

I've registered with the Rapido! contest. You might wish to, as well.

Best Wishes on this!

To increase your  acceptability a la the recent Pulitzer Prize in Music, you apparently will need to have some rappy words reflecting the reality of our situation today with the poor and downtrodden.  And no jive man, make sure it's all real!

And what is meant by "real" ?    Allow me to present a quick example.

Cato in the Hippy Years (which came right after the  Beatnik  Years ) once had an exchange that went roughly like this:

Cato (approaching a hippy lying across a sidewalk by the downtown library): "Having fun turning your brain into oatmeal in public?"

Hippy (only somewhat bombed out on drugs): "C'mon man, you ain't bein' real man, you gotta get real!"

Cato: "You don't understand.  The only way for me to be real, is to be unreal!   So when I summon the police about a drunken vagrant outside the library, that will be so unreal, man*, that it will become real!"

Unlike the police in San Francisco, Dayton police back then really would arrive in a paddy wagon to haul away such characters littering the library's park. 

*Spoken with a slightly withering sarcasm  0:)

[Karl Henning]

A local outfit, Juventas, has a call for scores for voice-plus, looking for an art song or chamber work related to themes of hope and resiliency.  I have gone ahead and submitted The Mystic Trumpeter.  I do not normally respond to a call for scores requiring a fee . . . but since it is a local outfit, and the fee is only $10, I decided to make an exception.

Not sure just when we shall learn whether that $10 was a sound investment.  The deadline for the call is 7 Dec.

This went nowhere.

[Cato]

This went nowhere.

Sigh!  "Hope and Resiliency" are obvious in The Mystic Trumpeter (they are in the title!)!

Best Wishes for this attempt!

[Karl Henning]

The Rapido! contest is the sort of thing which seems to play into my strengths.  On 4 June, we get an email message with the specs for a piece, and we have 14 days to write a 5'-6' work and submit score and audio.  Nothing may yet result for me there, but at least, it's just the sort of game I like.

[Karl Henning]

Re-post & refresh:

Variations on Wie lieblich est, S.10 (oboe & organ)

Time Was, Op.4 (pf solo)
№ 1: Prelude (Charlottesville)
№ 2: Dance (Barefoot Amid Dandelions)
№ 3: The Myth of Motion II:  Toccatina (on the Ekaterininsky Canal)

Pictures Only I Can See, Op.11 (pf solo)
№ 1: Spring in Her Step
№ 2: The Bronze Girl's Spilt Milk
№ 3: The Myth of Motion I:  Chorale
№ 4: The Sleep-Pavane at the Foot of Frozen Niagara
№ 5: Petersburg Nocturne || MIDI on YT

Little Towns, Low Countries, Op.18 (pf solo)
№ 1: Invention (Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester)
№ 2: Aubade (Lake Canandaigua)
№ 3: Gigue (Glasgow Street, Cornhill)

Night of the Weeping Crocodiles, Op.16 (cl/vn/pf)

Night of the Weeping Crocodiles, Op.16a (cl/pf/prc)

To Melt From a Distance, Op.21 (pf solo)

Gaze Transfixt, Op.23 (pf solo)

Lutosławski's Lullaby, Op.25a (organ solo)

Lutosławski's Lullaby, Op.25 (pf solo)

Fancy on Psalm 80 from the Scottish Psalter, Op.34 № 3, performed by Carson Cooman, on YouTube.

O Beauteous Heavenly Light, Op.34 № 2, performed by Carson Cooman, on YouTube.

The Allegro grazioso from the Sinfonietta, Op.38 for brass quintet (some shaky moments)

Journey to the Dayspring, Op.40 on YouTube

'Tis Winter Now (Danby), Op.45a (mezzo-soprano, flute & organ) at Amazon

Initiation of Barefoot on the Crowded Road, the former Op.41 (now the Discreet Erasures, Op.99, below)

Danse antique, Op.44

The Wind, the Sky, & the Wheeling Stars, Op.46 for orchestra

http://www.youtube.com/v/als-l2BI0xs

O Gracious Light, Op.50c (two-part choir, piano & organ)

The original Born on Earth to Save Us, Op.52 for Bill Goodwin.

Born on Earth to Save Us, Op.52a for HTUMC.

Joseph and Mary, Op.53a for HTUMC.

Score of The Wind, the Sky, & the Wheeling Stars, Part I

Score of The Wind, the Sky, & the Wheeling Stars, Part II

Counting Sheep (or, The Dreamy Abacus of Don Quijote), Op.58a for Pierrot-plus ensemble [ score, part I ].

Counting Sheep (or, The Dreamy Abacus of Don Quijote), Op.58a for Pierrot-plus ensemble [ score, part II ].

I Look From Afar, Op.60 for choir, brass quintet, organ & optional timpani

Blue Shamrock, Op.63 for clarinet unaccompanied, at Amazon.

Three Things That Begin With "C", Op.65, clarinet & horn :: Original | Revised

Sweetest Ancient Cradle Song, Op.67 for choir, brass quintet, organ & optional timpani 1^st half | 2^nd half

Sweetest Ancient Cradle Song, Op.67 for choir, brass quintet, organ & optional timpani ::  Choral Score 1^st half | 2^nd half

14 Dec 2014 performance of Sweetest Ancient Cradle Song, Op.67

14 Dec 2014 performance of The Snow Lay on the Ground, Op.68a

Timbrel and Dance, Op.73 [ St Paul's choir plus ].

21 Nov 2015 Triad performance of Nuhro, Op.74:  https://www.youtube.com/v/ftFJdcXz7lg

23 Nov 2015 Triad performance of Nuhro, Op.74.

Scene 1 from White Nights, Op.75 № 2

Scene 2 from White Nights, Op.75 № 3

Scene 3a from White Nights, Op.75 № 4

Intermezzo I from White Nights, Op.75 № 6

Intermezzo I from White Nights, Op.75 № 6, arr. for saxophone choir

Scene 4 from White Nights, Op.75 № 7

Scene 5 from White Nights, Op.75 № 8

Before-&-after, Finale-VS.-Sibelius exhibits from the Op.75 № 8| A | B | C | D

Scene 7 from White Nights, Op.75 № 10

Scene 8 from White Nights, Op.75 № 11

Scene 9 from White Nights, Op.75 № 12

Scene 10 from White Nights, Op.75 № 13

Intermezzo II from White Nights, Op.75 № 14

The White Nights playlist on YouTube

Canzona, Op.77a № 1 (org solo)

Gigue, Op.77a № 2 (org solo)

26 February De profundis, Op.78 [ Jaya Lakshminarayan & friends ]

Mirage, Op.79a (alto fl, cl, pf)

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, Op.80 carol for choir, brass quintet, organ & timpani

Moonrise, Op.84 for brass quintet. And MIDI

Moonrise, Op.84a for flute choir in six parts. And MIDI

15 March Passion rehearsal A [ Sine Nomine ]

15 March Passion rehearsal B [ Sine Nomine ]

15 March Passion rehearsal C [ Sine Nomine ]

Conclusion of the 19 Mar 2010 performance by Sine Nomine of the St John Passion, Op.92:

http://www.youtube.com/v/8netMuAHFkI

12 May recital [ k a rl h e nn i ng Ensemble (Bloom/Henning/Cienniwa) ]

18 May recital [ Bloom/Henning ]

23 May pre-concert rehearsal [ Sine Nomine ]

22 June recital [ N. Chamberlain/B. Chamberlain/Henning ]

Love is the spirit of this church, Op.85 № 3

Nicodemus brings myrrh and aloes for the burial of the Christ, Op.85 № 4 for cello & piano | Recording on SoundCloud

For God so loved the world, after Op.87 № 9 {Would you like the Doxology with that?} Yes | No | Recording on SoundCloud

The Passion According to St John, Op.92 (on MediaFire, courtesy of Johan)

Lutosławski's Lullaby, Op.96a № 1 (string quartet)

Marginalia, Op.96a № 2 (string quartet)

Après-lullaby, Op.96a № 3 (string quartet)

Score of Fair Warning [Viola Sonata, mvt 1]

MIDI of Fair Warning [Viola Sonata, mvt 1]

Score of Suspension Bridge (In Dave's Shed) [Viola Sonata, mvt 2]

MIDI of Suspension Bridge (In Dave's Shed) [Viola Sonata, mvt 2]

Score of Tango in Boston (Dances with Shades) [Viola Sonata, mvt 3]

MIDI of Tango in Boston (Dances with Shades) [Viola Sonata, mvt 3]

Cato's analysis of the Viola Sonata

Johan's MediaFire folder, including the whole of Dana's première performance of the Viola Sonata

Discreet Erasures, Op.99 for orchestra

Angular Whimsies, Op.100a (bass clarinet, percussion [two players] & piano)

Whimsy brevis, Op.100b (bass flute & piano)

http://www.youtube.com/v/OAp3w15ISl4

How to Tell (Chasing the Tail of Nothing), Op.103 (alto flute, clarinet & frame drum); 7 June 2014 performance

These Unlikely Events, Op.104 № 4

These Unlikely Events, Op.104 № 5

Kyrie, Op.106 № 1

Gloria, Op.106 № 2

Rehearsal take of the Gloria

http://www.youtube.com/v/X0RIh--9uR4

Credo, Op.106 № 3

Sanctus, Op.106 № 4

(The Sanctus, arranged for tuba quartet)

Agnus Dei, Op.106 № 5 || Première by Triad

Brothers, If They Only Knew It, saxophone quartet (after Op.106 № 5)

In the Artist's Studio, Op.107, for 17 winds & harp

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

Organ Sonata, Op.108
Mvt 1: Eritis sicut Deus
Mvt 2: . . . scientes bonum . . .
Mvt 3: . . . et malum

Thoreau in Concord Jail, Op.109 for clarinet solo

http://www.youtube.com/v/OnLYQ748aEg

http://www.youtube.com/v/Fa_q4yX9CIs

http://www.youtube.com/v/JYfkHcTI25s

Airy Distillates, Op.110 for flute solo

Annabel Lee, Op.111 for vocal quartet

http://www.youtube.com/v/tN3aMOrzEb8

Misapprehension, Op.112 for clarinet choir

Misapprehension, Op.112a for strings

The Mystic Trumpeter, Op.113 № 1 for soprano & clarinet

Après-mystère, Op.113 № 2 for flute & clarinet And MIDI

http://www.youtube.com/v/7RhH161HhlA

just what everyone was expecting, Op.114 № 1 for clarinet & marimba

(very nearly) what everyone was expecting, Op.114 № 5 for bass clarinet & marimba

just what everyone was expecting, Op.114a for clarinet, mandocello & double bass

http://www.youtube.com/v/PukHe2RswrY

My Island Home, Op.115 for percussion ensemble

http://www.youtube.com/v/hlh61D6COvU

Plotting (y is the new x), Op.116 for violin & harpsichord

http://www.youtube.com/v/2vKGfppo0o8

Jazz for Nostalgic Squirrels, Op.117 (fl, cl in A, gtr & cb) [ and at Soundcloud ]

When the morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy, Op.118 № 1 (shakuhachi, drum & handbell choir)

http://www.youtube.com/v/79tPHWpH3UI

Divinum mysterium, Op.118 № 2 (choir unison & handbells)

http://www.youtube.com/v/MPr7NhE2-Bs

Easter Stikheron, Op.118 № 3 (choir SATB & handbells)

Welcome, Happy Morning!, Op.118 № 4 (handbells)

My Lord, What a Morning, Op.118 № 5 (choir & handbells)

http://www.youtube.com/v/AJzV-RxXiIk

Hymtunes Moscow & Te Deum, Op.118 № 6 (handbells)

Musette, Op.118 № 7 (handbells)

Psalm 130, Op.118 № 8 [ I think ] (clarinet & bass voice) [work-in-progress]

The Crystalline Ship, Op.119 № 1 (mezzo-soprano & baritone saxophone)

I Saw People Walking Around Like Trees, Op.120 (flute, clarinet, double-bass & frame drum)

http://www.youtube.com/v/E0_-CTvtSS8

... illa existimans quia hortulanus esset ...., Op.121 (vc/pf)

14 Dec 2014 performance of Le tombeau de W.A.G., Op.122

Le tombeau de W.A.G., Op.122a (flute, clarinet, double-bass & frame drum) Audio

A Song of Remembrance, Op.123 (mixed chorus SAB & pf)

http://www.youtube.com/v/kU682jFNG4w

The Mysterious Fruit, Op.124 (mezzo-soprano & marimba)

The Mysterious Fruit, Op.124a (mezzo-soprano & pf)

Tiny Wild Avocadoes, Op.125 (2 vn/va)
№ 1 "Children's Song"
№ 2 "Autumn Leaves (Wind Effect)"
№ 3 "Scampering Squirrels"
№ 4 "Pond at Twilight"
№ 5 "The Gnomes (Paul's Garden)"
№ 6 "Cheerful Song on the Wing"
№ 7 "The Avocado in Winter"

In the shadow of the kindly Star, Op.126 № 1 (violin solo and handbell choir)

I Want Jesus to Walk With Me, Op.126 № 2 (choir SATB unaccompanied) NEW & IMPROVED !! [ Version for brass quintet ]

Variations on a Basque Carol, Op.126 № 3 (clarinet unaccompanied)

Variations on a Basque Carol, Op.126 № 3 (flute unaccompanied)

Beach Balls (Red) , Op.126 № 5 (org solo)

Pat-A-Pan, Op.126 № 6 (handbell choir)

Gabriel's Message (Basque Carol), Op.126 № 7

Little Suite, Op.127 (vc & pf)
№ 1 "Summer Song"
№ 2 "Valentine"
№ 3 "Sparrows Hopping on the Wet Sidewalk" || MIDI on YT

Notebook for Elaina & Anna, Op.128 № 1 "Out for a Walk" (fl/a sx)

From the Pit of a Cave in the Cloud, Op.129, soprano & chamber group

http://www.youtube.com/v/H1GX6gAmom8

The Young Lady Holding a Phone in Her Teeth, Op.130 (double wind quintet) || The première on SoundCloud

Visions fugitives de nouveau, Op.131 (pf solo)
№ 1: One Leaf
№ 2: Versuch eines Milonga
№ 3: Beneath the Clear Sky
№ 4: That Tickles!
№ 5: Stephen Goes to California
№ 6: Kay's Blue Crabs
№ 7: Questionable Insistence
№ 8: Morning Prayer

https://www.youtube.com/v/FfL_20Sksc8

№ 9: Bunny Keeping Still
№ 10: Gamboling Squirrels
№ 11: The Street Musician
№ 12: The Shade of an Oak
№ 13: "Could you change one more thing?"
№ 14: Waiting
№ 15: Bicycling in Boston Common
№ 16: Mist on the Harbor
№ 17: Peter Moves to Montréal
№ 18: Seeing a Long-Since-Cancelled Stamp
№ 19: ... but his mind is elsewhere
№ 20: Starless Summer Night || MIDI on YT

Neither do I condemn thee, Op.132 for flute duet

Sleepyheads, Wake Up!, Op.133 № 2 for brass quintet

A whimsical Canon:

http://www.youtube.com/v/B6xeqrcavUQ

Mussing Beethoven's hair:

http://www.youtube.com/v/3Oz5PbcpghY

Saltmarsh Stomp, Op.134 for clarinet choir in 15 parts

http://www.youtube.com/v/7DCc2sD2KAk

Ear Buds (The dream of a young man in the woods, listening), Op.135 for symphonic band

http://www.youtube.com/v/ZSMo90L5xJA

Darkest Doings {work-in-progress} ... or not

Clarinet Sonata, Op.136, movement 1: Another Think Coming

Clarinet Sonata, Op.136, movement 2: « Boulez est mort » (Wounding Silence)

Clarinet Sonata, Op.136, movement 3: Unanticipated Serenity

Clarinet Sonata, Op.136, movement 4: Ambiguity and Overlap (Something or other, if not something else entirely)

Clarinet Sonata, Op.136, movement 5: After a reading of "The Mysterious Stranger"

Op.137: A Sheaf of Bliss

Things Like Bliss, version 1, Op.137 № 1a

Things Like Bliss, version 2, Op.137 № 1b

Considering My Bliss Options, Op.137 № 2 (clarinet & horn in F) work-in-progress

Liv Plays Scrabble, Op.137 № 3 (shakuhachi & toy piano)

Out From the Unattended Baggage, Op.137 № 4 (flute, clarinet & bassoon)

sand dance, Op.137 № 5 (flute  & harp)

Oxygen Footprint, Op.138 (flute, viola & harp)

Brightest and Best, Op.139 № 1 (mixed choir)

Precious Lord, Op.139 № 4 (mixed choir and organ)

Paschal Carillon, Op.139 № 5 (handbell choir)

What Wondrous Love, Op.139 № 6 (mixed choir and handbells)

http://www.youtube.com/v/dXMra6BvZew

Mistaken for the Sacred, Op.141 (percussion solo & fixed media)

http://www.youtube.com/v/dcofMh91_7M

In dulci jubilo, Op.142 № 1 (fl, hn, handbell choir, youth and adult choirs, organ)

In dulci jubilo, Op.142 № 1a (2 fl, ob, cl, hn, ta, handbells, glock, strings, youth and adult choirs)

New Year's Carol, Op.142 № 2 (unison choir & organ)

O Traurigkeit, Op.142 № 7 (clarinet, choir SATB & organ)

Song of the Empty Tomb, Op.142 № 8 (flute & handbell choir)

I Want Jesus to Walk With Me, Op.142 № 9 (unison choir, pf, optional fl or vn obblig.)

Pavane (Memories of Packanack Lake), Op.142 № 10 (handbell choir)

Symphony № 1 (mercy!), Op.143

i. Allegro molto

http://www.youtube.com/v/-WCZ77mt2aE

ii. Larghetto

http://www.youtube.com/v/JpI9Zr8rqW4

iii. Vivo assai

Nun of the Above, Op.144 (cl/gtr/db)

Kurosawa's Scarecrow (Memories of Packanack Lake), Op.145 (2 fl, cl, hn & fixed media)

Just a Smoother Glide With Thee, Op.146 № 6 (cl unaccompanied)

Paschal Carillon Games, Op.146 № 9 (handbell choir)

http://www.youtube.com/v/Rw_foQ0FeD4

The start of The Nerves | in progress
Score

http://www.youtube.com/v/xAu8jmII5rk

Down Along the Canal to Minerva Road, Op.149 (C fl, alto fl, cl, hn)

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

A Heart So White, Op.150 (2 vv, 3 winds, fixed media) | in progress)

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

Wistful Weed Whacker, Op.151 № 1 (brass quartet | in progress)

8 Oct 2013 recital at King's Chapel

Henningmusick at ReverbNation.

Henningmusick at Instant Encore.

About an hour's worth of Henningmusick, too, at SoundCloud

The 9^th Ear at SoundCloud.

http://www.youtube.com/v/Ehy8k3cRLXM

And: Maria appears on the evening news in DC.

Maria's harpsichord

[Mahlerian]

The Rapido! contest is the sort of thing which seems to play into my strengths.  On 4 June, we get an email message with the specs for a piece, and we have 14 days to write a 5'-6' work and submit score and audio.  Nothing may yet result for me there, but at least, it's just the sort of game I like.

Best of luck!  I won't be entering myself, because I think I'm too busy this year with other considerations.

[Karl Henning]

Thanks!

[Cato]

Here it is: my analysis of Karl's Viola Sonata:

In the first movement, you hear the shadow of Alban Berg in the Viola: a mysterious yearning arises from a kind of struggling non-tonal tonality.  Note that even in the first bar, in the 5:4 figure of 16ths, one hears a kind of tonality in the broken D# (= Eb) Bb (= A#) Eb (= D#) chord, and then again in bar 2, note the broken up D major scale in the 5:4 figure, nearly emphasized by the accent mark on the D after the 16th rest.  Bar 3 has the little march figure which again has an aroma of traditional tonality (F minor, starting with the C-F figure at the end of bar 2), and tells us that maybe the Viola has been wanting to be in F minor from the start, but cannot decide.  The seeming chaos in the piano, with its B/A# and D/C# in the bass, and similarly wide-spaced dissonances in the treble, would apparently not be involved, but listen carefully to the odd E major in the piano in bars 3 and 4, which the Viola picks up in its partially contrary figure at the beginning of bar 4.

The chord at the end of bar 4, with its open fifths in the piano and the Viola's minor second G#/A stubbornly refusing to accept the engagement ring from either suitor, will become very important motivically, as it is paralleled in bars 28-31, and in bars 203-205, repeated nearly verbatim in bar 41, and paralleled again in the conclusion. The minor second in the Viola can of course be heard as a variation on the major 7ths in the piano's bass at the beginning.  This idea is reinforced in bar 7 in the piano, where the bass ascends from Bb to Bb to G#, while the treble and the Viola hold an A.

Lest ye think that the little minor second is just a moment's hesitation, let me send you to bar 14, where for a moment both instruments play G#, but then the piano plays F#2/G# on the last beat, and to the Meno mosso section at bar 45, where things are seemingly in accord, with a unison on B in both instruments, but immediately we get a disagreement (Bb in the piano/A# in the Viola), followed by a C/Db and then in bar 46 we hear that G#/A, resolved into a unison to be sure, but then note the minor seconds in bars 49 and 50 (nicely played in the performance).  This is one of the more comically poignant, or poignantly comic parts of the work.

The Piu mosso section at bar 59 shows a variation on the 5:4 motif from the opening melody.  The motif is now legalized with a time signature of its own (5/16), but does return in the piano for a moment in bar 64.  Of interest rhythmically and motivically are bars 66-72: the music struggles upward through major and minor seconds for a while.  In bar 69 the 5:4 figure in the piano sets the stage for an erratic ascent from B to C, with a minor ninth crescendo in bar 72.

The delicious Slow (but with life) part (bars 83-108) shows variations on the previous motifs (bar 86 develops the 5:4 figure, and the double open fifths in bar 87),  and I like how the wide leaps in the piano presage the sudden drop in the Viola in bars 97-98.  Octaves abound, but not for long, as the music fragments to a kind of pointillism in bars 109-132.  The open-fifths-vs.-minor-second debate is heard in the piano in bar 122, just to make sure you are paying attention, and that 5:4 figure now appears as a 5:6 in the base.

And then my favorite part: the completely schizoid Piu mosso ancora! (Bars 133-176) The section continues to play with items already established, e.g. hear the bass part of the piano continue the minor/major 2nd/7th/9th patterns, while the treble plays around with the motifs introduced back in bar 95ff. and 106-107.  Listen to how they contrast with the melodic line in the Viola, with trills (136-137), emphatically accented 16ths, the 5:4 and new 6:4 figures, while the piano obediently avoids such rhythmically complexities, allowing only some syncopations.  And I must remark upon how well the premiere performance handled this section!

In bars 177 the music develops the earlier Piu mosso (bars 59-82) and drives toward a climax where a variation of the opening is proclaimed beginning at bar 201.  During this drive, note again the presence of those minor/major 2nd/7th/9th patterns: bars 189 and 194-195 are especially impressive here, the latter two bars show a minor second expanding to a third and then a fourth, leading to the open fifths in the treble in the next two bars.

As mentioned earlier, those Beethovenian chords from bar 4 return in bars 203-205.  We then hear a brilliant, condensed, and varied recapitulation of the most important parts of the entire movement (e.g. listen to the piano in bars 212-214 and in the bass only to 218 and compare it to bars 95-102, while above one hears a near apotheosis of the 5:4 figure interspersed with continual variations on it: check out e.g. bar 219 where the Viola plays an eighth-note triplet with a duplet, as well as the bass part in the piano in bars 220-221.  Bar 221 is particularly fascinating with the way motivic and rhythmic elements coalesce in the piano, before our Beethovenian chords put an end to this serious yet playful and highly expressive movement! 

Suspension Bridge: Karl has pointed out two of the building blocks of this bridge movement.  The first is a scale (see e.g. bar 85 in the piano) spanning two octaves, allowing both dissonance and a pentatonic warmth.  The second block is a "periodic rhythmic pattern which needs 73 measures of 3/2 to play out."  The listener certainly does not need to recognize either of these, but the composer sets such limits for himself as guideposts toward continual inspiration.

Ever since hearing the opening to Mahler's Tenth Symphony (on the violas!), and the long chant-like phrases in the Tenth of Shostakovich, I am a sucker for long, lonely, unaccompanied themes!  So you can predict that the unadorned 20-bar Viola theme at the start of Suspension Bridge, the Second Movement of the Viola Sonata, is something which would appeal to me.  The theme almost has a hymn-like character, and is in G with only a few, but very delicious, chromatic wanderings (e.g. the Ab-Abb in bar 5, carrying forward the minor-second motif from the previous movement). 

The piano offers an ascent from a "G" abyss in bar 20, with notes often rising in 6ths (e.g. bars 20-33) until the end of the section, where some leaps of a 7th occur.  The 6ths can be heard as inversions of the 3rds in the Viola theme (e.g. from the half-note in bar 32 to 38), providing thematic-harmonic unity in a section where the long, Adagio-Largo line needs stabilizing.  The section ends with an open fifth D-A to which A an octave lower and then a deep B octave are added.  We then hear our 5:4 friend (in assorted guises) from the First Movement, while the piano revisits (again beneath various masks) the 7th and 9th chords (e.g. bars 50-54).  The piano's music recalls bars 83-94 from the First Movement.  Of interest are the insistent duplets and triplets in the Viola, which link the music rhythmically to similar insistent figures found throughout the First Movement (bars 42-43, 56, 72, and the final bar). 

Of course, these figures are also presaging similar things in the last movement, which makes one wonder if the first two movements are not elaborately inventive variations on elements from the Tango in Boston.  As befits a middle movement named Suspension Bridge the music connects itself most impressively to both of the outer movements. 
 
To return: the piano attempts to raise the bridge with the help of the 5:4 figure going up eccentric scales, but things fall apart by bar 64, where the piano reminds us that the minor-second motif has not disappeared!  And speaking of insistent figures, there is a nearly constant F/E 7th in the bass between bars 64 and 78, while our friends (the major and minor seconds in 66-67 and 75-76, the 5:4 figure) frolic back and forth, ending with the return of a variation in Eb minor of the Viola's opening statement.

Then in bar 80, starting on G in the bass (the key of the Viola's opening), the piano starts charging upward, while the Viola also rises up a D major-minor scale played in octaves.  The section leads to a Maestoso with a series of (mostly) hexachords in the piano, wherein one picks up open and diminished fifths, 7ths, and 9ths, (e.g. bar 95 C/G/B/A#/C#/G#). These point backward (e.g. bars 83-94 in Fair Warning) and forward (e.g. bars 105-113 in the Finale).

Bars 101-120 present an enigmatic dialogue with the Viola speaking pizzicatoly and the piano playing 5 8th notes against 4 (cf. the 5:4 motif), with an emphasis on our motivic intervals of 2nds, 5ths, 7ths, and 9ths.  And a cadenza for the Viola – starting on G – parallels both the heaven-storming of the piano in bars 80-92 and the preceding dialogue: note how the louder triplets form one voice contrasting with a second voice of soft 16ths. 

Punctuated by the piano (fortissimo) with a hexachord (Db/Ab/C in the bass, Eb/F/Cb in the treble), the cadenza continues now with large chords on the Viola, harkening back to the piano's Maestoso section: check bar 142-143, where the minor second (C#/D) "resolves" into a F#/C/E 7th chord.  The chords also presage a similar section in the Finale (e.g. bars 105-114 in the Tango in Boston), which even occasionally uses the same chordal sequences (cf. the two chords at the beginning of bar 147 with bars 105-106 in the Tango in Boston.  A repeated chord (D/B/F#/E) ends the cadenza, and brings us to another dialogue between the two instruments, even more antiphonal than before, with an exotic array of rhythmic figures repeating the same notes, as if a Martian Morse code were being transmitted.  In fact, however, one tastes here some of the "tango-ish" aspects of the last movement. 

From this exotic soundscape we plunge downward on the piano – starting on (a high) G – while the 5:4 motif is heard in the Viola, and is soon echoed in the piano.  After the ff climax, the Viola plays a Largo version of the opening Adagio, again in a kind of key of G, with which the piano quietly and sweetly (dolce) disagrees in the final bar with a D#/C# 7th in the bass, which we easily understand, since a 7th has been heard in the bass before (on F/E in bars 64-78).  We have gone full circle, but discover that circle is actually a Möbius strip, so that we are no longer back at the beginning but somewhere else...maybe we are in Boston and ready to tango! 


For the Tango in Boston, the subtitle Dances With Shades is perhaps instructive: one can assume the reference is not to guys in sunglasses, but to ghosts and the pirouettes they might be making.  (Of course, maybe the ghosts are wearing sunglasses!)  In either case, one hears a rather mysterious and ghostly opening with our melodic and harmonic friends from earlier: the assorted seconds/sevenths/ninths and assorted fourths and fifths.  In the very first bar, an Ab in the bass of the piano is answered by a C/F# and then a D/C#, and soon a G in the Viola joins that bass Ab.  This opening section reminds one of an earlier sequence in Fair Warning (cf. bars 82-90).  And the melodic motif at 24-27 in the piano's treble evokes the spirit of Erwartung.  After dancing up a quasi E major scale, the Viola sings on C# and D# while the piano provides a tango beat with a chord of B/C/F leading to A#/D/F#.  Of interest is the bass rocking back and forth on the fourth-fifth pattern of A-E-E-A, providing a temporary "E" background and a yearning in the Viola line with that C#-D# theme.

At bar 33, the piano begins a bass ground in C-Db-Ab (or A)-F, while the Viola again struggles up that quasi E major scale, finally arriving at the theme from bars 19-22 now played in octaves.  Deliciously evocative is the end of the section (bar 47) where the Db octave on the Viola fades away with a chord of Db/G/C in the piano.  This continues the minor-second element (Db/C) heard in the first two movements.  Also, as part of a final movement's summation of previous material, the Viola's music here might be heard as a variational reminiscence of bars 55-62 from the second movement.

And speaking of bass grounds, in the next section (bars 49-69) listen to the "Scott Joplin Channels Schoenberg c. 1915" in the piano's left hand, where our 5:4 figure dances "with intensity" with (or against) the Viola's dance played mainly in thirds. and using 5 8th notes tangoing on top of the piano's 5:4 notes, thereby creating a giddy contrast for the ear.  There is also an occasional 7:8 figure with 16ths in the piano: it begins on a low G# and rumbles upward to F (bar 54), then on D to B (bars 58 and 66) before reaching G# again at the end of bar 69.  (See Karl's previous comment on the multi-octave scale in the opening comments about Suspension Bridge.)  Our destination is not G#, but (of course) the A, a minor ninth higher (bar 70).  But the Viola has been busy during all this too!  The 5-patterning is also heard in the descending figure in the Viola (beginning at the treble clef bars 66-67) and later in its ascending figures (bars 68-69).  And the 7-pattern is heard in a 7-note descending motif (bars 62-63, 65, 67-68).

The unison on A (bars 70-71) is quickly disturbed by a Bb and G#, which is right in character!  We then return nearly to the beginning of Fair Warning with a startling variation on the Viola theme from that movement (cf. bars 71-80 with Fair Warning's bars 7-18).  The piano continues its 5:4 motif interspersed with groups of 7 notes (e.g. the  bass in bars 73-74, 77, 79 vs. the treble in bar 80).  Suddenly at bar 81we enter an A minor/major area, with a simple pizzicato theme, which strikes my ear as evocative of an ancient Greek melody.  Then after the piano intones a mysterious 9th chord (A/F/B), we hear a transposition of some of the opening bars (24-30) with some variations: rather than the rising pizzicato of bars 33-41, we now have a very lugubrious theme (from the last beat of bar 89 to 104): if it is not quite a danse macabre, it is Herrmannesque, where octaves are just as disconcerting as 2nds, 7ths, or 9ths.  This leads to a Largamente where the Viola returns to its cadenza chords of Suspension Bridge, but this time the piano adds its voice (cf. bars 137-142 of Suspension Bridge with bars 105-114). 

The Adagietto (bars 115-132) takes us back to Fair Warning's Meno mosso (bars 45-58) section: if it is not quite a variation, it is certainly a reconfiguration of that earlier section.  Two massive hexachords chords conclude the section, leading to a Vivo finale which the piano insists must be in C, while the Viola plays rhythmic elements heard earlier which emphasize a strident B minor (e.g. the D/B in bars 133-135 along with the C#-B/F# figures throughout the finale). 

A purely personal and no doubt idiosyncratic reaction to the final page: I was reminded of the thunderous finale to Rachmaninov's First Symphony.  Perhaps it was the repetition of the motifs in the bass of the piano, but the connection was immediate.

If the essay has helped to illuminate some things for a listener, then its purpose has been fulfilled.  Ultimately, Karl Henning's Sonata for Viola and Piano Opus 102 sings for itself and will illuminate the listener with its tour through an unknown soulscape.   

Have over four years gone by since I wrote this?!   

Time to check out Karl's Viola Sonata Opus 102 again!

[Karl Henning]

Have over four years gone by since I wrote this?!   

Time to check out Karl's Viola Sonata Opus 102 again!

I should revisit that, myself.

And . . . 400 views.  Zowie.

Five years ago tonight, the Libella Quartet sang this, bringing the piece to an audience for the first time ever.

http://www.youtube.com/v/tN3aMOrzEb8

[Karl Henning]

Ladies & gentlemen, we have a response from the Icelandic Geological Society.

Av sent the link to our performance Tuesday of Bárðarbunga dreymir undir ísnum to the Icelandic Geological Society, who today replied:

Dr Avrohom Leichtling

thank you for sending us the link to your music, which I have forwarded to several colleagues.

We all like it.

Bryndís Brandsdóttir

I believe this may mark the first occasion that Icelandic ears have heard Henningmusick.  Celebration!

[Rons_talking]

Ladies & gentlemen, we have a response from the Icelandic Geological Society.

Av sent the link to our performance Tuesday of Bárðarbunga dreymir undir ísnum to the Icelandic Geological Society, who today replied:

I believe this may mark the first occasion that Icelandic ears have heard Henningmusick.  Celebration!

Good for you, Karl!

[Karl Henning]

Thanks, Ron!

And the latest . . .

http://www.youtube.com/v/20G-C9qxUMA