Henning's Headquarters

[karlhenning]

Oh, I've never written with a quill . . . tomorrow I'll show you the ink draught of the new contrapuntal stuff, though.

Latest Cello Sonatina:

Just caught up with my old classmate, for whose young cellist I'm writing the Sonatina; the trunk of the piece has made a highly favorable impression on her teachers, and their musical enthusiasm for the piece may well help motivate the young musician.  Bottom line is, yes, I should go ahead and finish the piece, and no, there's no urgent deadline.

Another friend of mine, whom I got to know here in Boston, has been down in Nashville for, oh, a couple of years now, it must be.  She's now in a string quartet . . . I'm thinking of adapting the suite which I had written for Audrey Sabbatier's cello ensemble, for regular SQ.  Ought to go fairly smoothly . . . and who knows? Maybe this way, we'll get to hear it.

And an organist I met at a recital here in Boston (not his own, but a performance by his then-wife) is now over in England teaching.  We've refreshed contact, and I'm going to send him the recording of the Passion. Hey, you never know . . . .

[Wanderer]

Well. let's see if this works:

How to Tell (Chasing the Tail of Nothing) [ 19.v.11 ]

Love is the spirit [ 27.iii.11 ]

Keep up the good work, Karl! Very pleased to read about fortuitous recent developments, as well. Just make sure not to neglect including  the piano concerto among your future projects. 

[karlhenning]

I definitely hope that I am granted to write such a concerto, Tasos; I should have a great time at it!

[karlhenning]

Bogey's here in the Town of the Pulse. We haven't met up yet, but I am expecting so to do.  He was just doing maritime dances on the deck of Old Ironsides.  Possibly to the tune of the Sailors Dance from Petrushka.

[karlhenning]

The spell of Petrushka cast its fell glare upon our Bogey, and he went back for a more in-depth tour of Old Ironsides below decks.  We'll catch up with one another before too long.

[karlhenning]

And this morning I've officially resumed work on the Cello Sonatina.

[karlhenning]

I blush to report this, but a colleague spoke very warmly of How to Tell

Excellent work, Karl! Very playful and interesting. The performance was terrific, too!

...

I neglected to mention the great ingenuity with which you use the instruments. It would be easy for such a spare ensemble to become tiresome, but in your hands it never does.

[karlhenning]

My recent re-infatuation with Scarlatti reminds me . . . my buddy Paul once asked me for a harpsichord version of the Lost Waters suite. (All I should really need to do, is write final cadences that are more harpsichordly, less harpish.)  Back when we were discussing this (must have been about the time that Sine Nomine were finishing up rehearsals of the Passion), Paul played through some Scarlatti sonatas for me.

[karlhenning]

Can you believe it is only now that I'm "ripping" the Sine Nomine performance of the Passion onto mine own hard drive?

I've also got the 22 May sing of Bless the Lord, O my soul at last.

[karlhenning]

Waiting for Bill & family ...

[karlhenning]

Bogey comes to Boston:

[karlhenning]

A dear friend who's moved to Nashville seems to be gearing up to program a couple of voice recitals, and has asked for some Henningmusick. Now, back in the Deeps of Time, my Independent Study at Wooster was a short cycle of seven songs . . . there are ways in which it is obviously a student work.

There are so many music MSS. which, if I were to look for them, it would be quite the hunt. Curiously, I found this one the first place I looked.  Phooey, but it needs some work.  Now I know why Varèse and others completely destroyed early works.

[karlhenning]

Musically, I think I am inclined pretty much to own that set of old Wooster songs.  Texts have to go, though, no question.

I'm having fun with re-texting the songs. Quite a lark, really.

[karlhenning]

Quick-&-dirty Sibelius file of № 1

[PaulSC]

Based on other posts of yours, I gather you studied with Wuorinen? That song seems to show his influence, more so than more recent work you've posted here. Not that I'd mistake it for his own work, but the angular contours and dense working-out of small motivic cells bring that tradition to mind. But maybe I'm reading too much into it.

Anyway, coordinating the rhythms won't be easy (contrary to the message in the title and text), but if your performers are up to the task it looks like great fun!

[karlhenning]

Based on other posts of yours, I gather you studied with Wuorinen? That song seems to show his influence, more so than more recent work you've posted here. Not that I'd mistake it for his own work, but the angular contours and dense working-out of small motivic cells bring that tradition to mind. But maybe I'm reading too much into it.

Anyway, coordinating the rhythms won't be easy (contrary to the message in the title and text), but if your performers are up to the task it looks like great fun!

Thanks, Paul!  Yes, I studied with Wuorinen while doing my doctoral work in Buffalo (Charles was a visiting professor).  The music for this song, though, dates from before that . . . my I.S. for my senior year at Wooster was this set of seven songs.  Since I'm really creating a new cycle by swapping in fresh texts, I decided to allot it a current opus number.

[karlhenning]

Here's the second.

[Mn Dave]

All your headquarter are belong to us!

[karlhenning]

Roz won't let you sport a beard, lad?

Old mate from Buffalo (who had sort of fallen off the map), a new-music-voracious pianist, has just posted to my fb wall . . . he's finally read Gaze Transfixt, and he digs it.

[Mn Dave]

Roz won't let you sport a beard, lad?