Henning's Headquarters

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

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Maciek

Looks like a nice concert! Wish I could be there. Good luck, Karl!

karlhenning

Thanks, Maciek!  That Song of Mary, BTW, is an earlier setting than you have on the disc I sent . . . in fact, this will at last be this canticle's premiere . . . .

karlhenning

And, more immediately, of course:

Music of Karl Henning

Prelude on « Kremser », Op. 66 (clarinet and organ)
Canzona & Gigue, Op. 77 (clarinet and organ)
Irreplaceable Doodles, Op. 89 (clarinet unaccompanied)
Handeliana, Op. 83 (clarinet and organ)

Karl Henning, clarinet
Heinrich Christensen, organ

Tuesday, 22 May
12:15pm

King's Chapel
Tremont and School Streets, Boston

Cato

I have just spent some time with a new CD with music by Prof. Karl Henning!

Irreplaceable Doodles and Out in the Sun are what I listened to this morning: I had seen the opening page of the first work, for solo clarinet, and so had some idea of the opening, which is fun and spritely and matches the title.

What I was not prepared for were the fascinating monologues or soliloquies in the heart of the piece.  I fear to present my personal program, lest other potential listeners be biased, but I imagined the melancholy clown as a symbol for the work.  While zipping around to entertain you, the clown has a serious story inside for you to hear, and he stops, in between his leaping dancing moments, to tell you this story.  If it is not quite melancholy, it is at least serious, and its expressivity of various emotions allows you to understand his light-heartedness even better. I listened to Irreplaceable Doodles 3 times in a row, and was ever more charmed by those mysterious monologues.  The composer is the performer, and the echoing effect of where it was performed helped maintain this arcane atmosphere.

If transcribed for violin, I can see where world-class violinists would want to play it, perhaps as an encore.

Out in the Sun is for a wind orchestra, including saxophones, and partially shows the composer's version of a kind of pointillistic minimalism.  Chattering, hectic and insectic, the work intersperses calmer, lazier moments "out in the sun" for contemplation, sometimes with the same kind of marvelous monologues mentioned above, but also of course multi-voiced conversation.  The funky saxophone dialogue sticks in my mind, and of course there are clarinet sections of great beauty.  The composer also gives the tuba a good work-out toward the end!  And then apparently the sun sets unwillingly on this illuminated and illuminating scene. 

There were war whoops of approval from the audience!
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

karlhenning

Yes, and the whoops did not originate from my own guests in the hall!

karlhenning

T minus four hours 22 minutes.

Cato

"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Cato

I have listened to Sonatina Sopra ("Veni Emmanuel") and to Studies in Impermanence twice: both are for solo clarinet.

Both works have a wonderfully mysterious vox clamans in deserto atmosphere.  The Sonatina uses hints of the Christmas hymn throughout, and represents a kind of meditation on the theme, rather than a specific theme and variations style.

Studies in Impermanence is the longer work, at first full of long, longing phrases which are occasionally punctuated by little figurations, triplets or melismata.  These latter figures turn out to be a major voice as the work progresses, and one hears that there is a gentle struggle between the slow, wandering lines and the faster, happier figures (triplets grow to quintuplets and so on), and the tension builds as one wonders which voice will dominate, or if some sort of compromise or equilibrium will be reached.  Occasionally one hears the slightest scent of Russia or "the East" in it, coming mainly from the little triplets now and then.  ("Vox clamans in Siberia" might be more appropriate occasionally!) Toward the end there is also a jazzy flavor, but it is fleeting...impermanent.

Certainly the work remains fascinating throughout: composing with just one line might seem easy, but try keeping the ear entertained with it for more than a few minutes!

There is no doubt that Karl deserves a contract with a CD company!  And I don't mean Burpee!   :o

"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

karlhenning

T minus one hour 55 minutes.

karlhenning

(Just got the Burpee reference! Color me slow today! Concentrating on The Music!)

Cato

Quote from: karlhenning on May 22, 2007, 06:22:15 AM
(Just got the Burpee reference! Color me slow today! Concentrating on The Music!)

Here in Hotlanta we are concentrating on breathing: southern breezes have brought up smoke from swamp wildfires from Georgia and Florida, where people are usually concentrating oranges instead of music.

And somewhere in there you can find a joke about an orangutan!   8)
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

karlhenning

Recital went very well, and we had 48 out in the audience (which is excellent turnout for this sort of thing).

And of course, now I can play even better for next month's recital.

greg

Yay!
Maybe next time you can get 50 in there!

karlhenning

You could have been 49, and then maybe Harry could have been 50!  :)

karlhenning

You know, I think the last time I played at King's Chapel, The Bend of Time was on the program  :)

greg

Quote from: karlhenning on May 22, 2007, 10:00:47 AM
You know, I think the last time I played at King's Chapel, The Bend of Time was on the program  :)
wow, it's been over a year, hasn't it?
i still have those programs you sent me  ;D

Maciek

Quote from: karlhenning on May 22, 2007, 09:45:31 AM
Recital went very well, and we had 48 out in the audience (which is excellent turnout for this sort of thing).

And of course, now I can play even better for next month's recital.

Great! :D

karlhenning

Well, Maciek, and (for good or ill) tape wil be running at next month's recital.

(Is Rose ready?)  ;D

Maciek

Oh, yes she is - she absolutely loves your clarinet playing! :D

Cato

Quote from: MrOsa on May 22, 2007, 11:16:22 AM
Oh, yes she is - she absolutely loves your clarinet playing! :D

Great picture of the baby, "Mr. Osa."  (Which makes me think of Mr. Moto, the Japanese detective, played by German actor Peter Lorre: how politically incorrect was that?!) 

Anyway, great to hear about the turnout!

Did they pass the hat and dig so deep it hurt?   $:)
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)