Henning's Headquarters

[karlhenning]

Word from Brett on the ceremony is all most gratifying.

[karlhenning]

And, coincidentally, the Wedding Palace on the banks of the River Neva in St Petersburg where Maria and I were joined in holy matrimony:

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Beautiful, Karl! (And it's good to know everything went well at the other wedding.)

[Cato]

So what is the status of White Nights, probably the only Dostoyevsky ballet in existence, or at least one composed by an American, albeit a Russophile in more ways than one!   

There is also that highly curious story about the non-Russian Moscow!   

[karlhenning]

In a holding pattern while I learn Sibelius.

Good news is, a chum at the Museum who recently bought Sibelius was sent an extra copy of the Comprehensive Guide to Sibelius . . . he graciously made me welcome to this, and I started reading it on the train this morning.

I realized at an early stage that I was not simply going to learn what is different in Sibelius by keeping at work on the ballet;  I've got to make my way along the learning curve, first.

[Cato]

In a holding pattern while I learn Sibelius.

Good news is, a chum at the Museum who recently bought Sibelius was sent an extra copy of the Comprehensive Guide to Sibelius . . . he graciously made me welcome to this, and I started reading it on the train this morning.

I realized at an early stage that I was not simply going to learn what is different in Sibelius by keeping at work on the ballet;  I've got to make my way along the learning curve, first.

Frustrating to some extent: you want to spend time directly on the composition rather than the mechanical tool to write it down.  But I suppose all composers had to spend time buying ink and nibs and paper, and occasionally it took months to do all that: ask Liadov!

[greg]

ask Liadov!

well, he could, but i don't think he'd answer back 

[karlhenning]

Not really news, but I was reading through the scores of the Sinfonietta and of Moonrise for brass quintet this morning.

[Cato]

Not really news, but I was reading through the scores of the Sinfonietta and of Moonrise for brass quintet this morning.

Any second thoughts, or third thoughts, or even bird thoughts...for flights of fancy...or fancy flights?!

[karlhenning]

The Sinfonietta I hadn't looked at in . . . a long time.  One group, outside the Commonwealth, once performed it and made cuts which they only informed me of after the fact;  they wanted to excise some of the 'repetition'.  Though it is an "old" piece of mine, I don't seem to find any faulty repetition in it.

Anyway, the new thoughts are all pleasant;  I still like both scores, and gladly own them.  I am sorry that Moonrise is still waiting for performance;  parts of it ring with especial sweetness.

[Szykneij]

In a holding pattern while I learn Sibelius.

Karl, the BSO gives workshops every year on Sibelius that you might want to look into. They're usually held at Berklee's midi-lab and are relatively inexpensive. I've taken a couple, but unfortunately I didn't retain much because I didn't have an immediate need to use what was covered. Here is a link to last season's offerings. They should be posting workshops for the 2008-9 school year soon.

http://bso.org/bso/mods/toc_01_gen_images.jsp;jsessionid=LQMIP2X4ZEU3WCTFQMGCFEQ?id=bcat5220083

[karlhenning]

Thanks, Tony! Will investigate.

[karlhenning]

I was searching for something else, but stayed to re-read this:

On the whole, yesterday's premiere of the Passion went well.  Of course, I could readily draw up a list of 50 items which want improvement, or modification, or just plain wanted happening, and I wish there had been the opportunity to address these (in many cases, preventively) in rehearsal -- and the opportunity simply was not made available to me. But nothing that went amiss was 'fatal'.  And considering it was the first public performance of a 40-minute piece for unaccompanied choir, and that it did not get started until the choir had already been singing off-&-on for 3 hours (the call was 11, and the Good Friday service started as 12), and that it was scheduled in Holy Week when there's a lot else on the choir's plate . . . truly, the composer is well content to say, "on the whole, good."

One added bonus is, that a friend of mine kindly agreed to operate a video camera, so that in addition to the audio recording, there is a visual document of the event.

Unfortunately, I doubt that the video record will ever be made available to me.  No further comment.

Except that in no case would the sound on the video have been as good as the audio recording (with its particular shortcomings), anyway.

If anyone would like a copy of the Passion, send word.

[karlhenning]

A fellow former chorister at St Paul's (indeed, a fellow bass) is heading up to Ithaca next week where he will be doing his doctoral work (musicology). Yesterday after work we took dinner (and curiously light Thai beer) to catch up and compare notes. He will be visiting Boston again from time to time; for one thing, he's been part of an editorial team in Cambridge working on a C.P.E. Bach edition. Intelligent and affable fellow; he has a future.

[karlhenning]

There's a Russian saying, If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.

I was hoping to spend this evening burning discs, but for 4-1/2 hours now (and counting) my computer has been taken up with security and systems updates.  I got two discs burnt in that time, but they're both just four of the five tracks.  What a discomfiture in the botty.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

There's a Russian saying, If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.

I was hoping to spend this evening burning discs, but for 4-1/2 hours now (and counting) my computer has been taken up with security and systems updates.  I got two discs burnt in that time, but they're both just four of the five tracks.  What a discomfiture in the botty.

You seem to be the first mortal, Karl, whose posterior needs regular security and systems updates.

[karlhenning]

( Oh my . . . . )

[karlhenning]

I elected to be more pig-headed than usual yester night, and I was determined to wait out the various (or, serial, rather) modifications/updates which were commandeering my PC, and burn the number of discs which I had planned.  Normally I am abed between 9 and 10 in order to be well rested for the next day's work;  I did at last get the work done at the computer, which I wished to have done, but it was almost two in the morning by the time I hit the hay.  Sort of running on fumes this morning, but it's going to be all right.

[karlhenning]

[greg]

Ha, you need to show that to all of your singers!