Henning's Headquarters

[DavidW]

A violinist in town has kindly expressed interest in a violin version of Irreplaceable Doodles, which involves among other things a judicious transposition.  I've finished the initial draught of this adaptation today.

Karl you know what you need?  A blog.

[greg]

hm...... have you written anything for acoustic or electric guitar, Karl?

[karlhenning]

No, although Andy has shredded his way into the Doodles, I understand :-)

[karlhenning]

Last night was the first choir rehearsal of the new season. We're some 17 strong, of whom we had five new singers last night; so there is good 'institutional continuity' (where so much of the choir was brand-new last year, we were two or three months basically learning to sing together). The new bass seems a good addition to the section.

First off, and quite flattering, one of the pieces we are singing this coming Sunday, the first of the choir's return, is my Alleluia in D. Also in this initial sheaf of music for the choir's folders are Nuhro and Bless the Lord, O My Soul. Not sure when Ed is planning to do the latter, but he mentioned All Saints as the occasion for the Nuhro (and since the Cathedral will not have a full service on Thursday, 1 November, we will observe the Feast of All Saints on Sunday, 4 November).

Violist Peter Cama-Lekx (who has now been officially 'migrated' from the bass to the tenor section) and I will play a lunchtime recital on Wednesday, 5 December. In the tradition of presenting All Henning, All the Time, Whenever the Traffic Will Bear It, the program will be:

Sonatina sopra Veni, Emmanuel, viola sola
Blue Shamrock, clarinet solo
The Mousetrap, clarinet & viola

(Blue Shamrock was approvingly labeled "funky jungle music" by one listener at the piece's premiere.)

We'll also play The Mousetrap as the Prelude for the 9 December service; for that auspicious occasion, I have already devised a theological alternate title: Meister Eckhardt, or, The Cheese Which Baits the Divine Mousetrap.

So far, The Mousetrap contains (apart from genuinely original material) allusions to the music of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms & Shostakovich (you know: all the religious composers). Aye, 'Tis a knavish piece of work, but what o' that? your majesty and we that have free souls, it touches us not . . . .

[Cato]

We'll also play The Mousetrap as the Prelude for the 9 December service; for that auspicious occasion, I have already devised a theological alternate title: Meister Eckhardt, or, The Cheese Which Baits the Divine Mousetrap.

Eckhardt!  (With a T!)  Verrrry interesting!   

[karlhenning]

Recital: John Rasmussen
Saturday, 15 September 2007, 7:30pm

Program:

Karl Henning: Studies in Impermanence for English horn solo
Richard Rodney Bennett: Sonata for oboe and piano
Eugene Hartzell: Workpoints 4 for flute and oboe
Francis Poulenc: Sonata for oboe and piano
John Rasmussen: Dissolution (for soprano and piano)
Antal Doráti: Cinq pièces pour le hautbois (unaccompanied)

St Barnabas Episcopal Church
1280 Vine Street
Denver CO 80206

[Bogey]

Recital: John Rasmussen
Saturday, 15 September 2007, 7:30pm

Program:

Karl Henning: Studies in Impermanence for English horn solo
Richard Rodney Bennett: Sonata for oboe and piano
Eugene Hartzell: Workpoints 4 for flute and oboe
Francis Poulenc: Sonata for oboe and piano
John Rasmussen: Dissolution (for soprano and piano)
Antal Doráti: Cinq pièces pour le hautbois (unaccompanied)

St Barnabas Episcopal Church
1280 Vine Street
Denver CO 80206

Looking very forward to the concert Karl.  I will post here upon my return from it. 

[karlhenning]

Splendid, Bill!

And this morning the St Paul's choir did a creditable job with the Alleluia in D.  I hope to learn that it will be used for next week's broadcast. So Watch This Space.

[karlhenning]

Choir rehearsal again last night.  We had a no-frills read-through of Bless the Lord, O My Soul (which I think we may be singing on 7 October).  We also had a good twenty minutes of solid rehearsal on Nuhro, culminating in an read-through, with no train-wrecks of note;  the piece is slated for 4 November.  I was really pleased with how good it sounded, even last night . . . it sounds more like a piece we worked on a lot last year, and not so much like a piece we haven't sung together for several months.

Composition has taken a smaller slice of the time-pie lately;  but I am still making progress on The Mousetrap . . . got a good jump on a passage described in my notes simply as "unison dance";  and I have been crunching pre-compositional notions for an abstract arabesque section of some three minutes.  Formally (in abstract terms) it is not at any great remove from the Studies in Impermanence, a fanciful composition-qua-stage-improv.  I suppose that what these pieces are for me, is something like this:  with a number of other pieces I've written, I have often had a very clear 'global' design of the piece, and in a number of these cases, one of the first sections (or at any not, not the last section) of the piece that I've composed, was the end, so that I knew 'where to go'.  So in The Mousetrap, as in the Studies in Impermanence, instead I am engaging in a 'working from inside the narrative' perspective, playing with the relation of the parts, keeping a not-entirely-drooping eye on the whole, but largely trusting the 'formative' powers of the parts and of the narration.

And, of course, the English horn version of the Studies in Impermanance is on John's program this Saturday evening.

This past Sunday's performance of the Alleluia in D, although Ed approves and will use it for the radio, will not go on this week!  Stand By . . . .

[Cato]

Yay team!   

You have some good company in that recital, Poulenc, et al.!

Let the Gospel of Karl   0:)   spread across the land!

[karlhenning]

Working on The Mousetrap today;  I've got the "unison dance" section wrapped up to my satisfaction.

[Bogey]

Working on The Mousetrap today;  I've got the "unison dance" section wrapped up to my satisfaction.

Well it is no Castelo dos Anjos , but all composers heve their Rodeo to deal with on a daily basis.    But in all seriousness Karl, I quite enjoyed this.  The one thing that I am always amazed at when it comes to the compositions I have heard of yours is their freshness....there I believe lies your true connection with the likes of Copland.

And speaking of Castelo dos Anjos, has that hit the stores yet?

[bhodges]

Working on The Mousetrap today;  I've got the "unison dance" section wrapped up to my satisfaction.

Delightful, Karl!   

--Bruce

[karlhenning]

Daily rodeo! No wonder I'm so sore! 

Castelo hitting the stores has some timeframe to step through erewhile;  but as soon as I know anything, Bill! 

[Kullervo]

Good job, Dr. K! 

[Daidalos]

Working on The Mousetrap today;  I've got the "unison dance" section wrapped up to my satisfaction.

Very nice!

[Haffner]

Excellent Karl!

I can't help but remember the movie "Mouse Trap" (love it)!

[Lethevich]

Well, this certainly ranks as the first piece I've heard for solo clarinet and viola

It was worth listening to several times over, and will be cool to hear it in context eventually - I assume that each movement will be a sort of character piece, to contrast with each other?

[karlhenning]

Thank you, all!

Yes, Lethe, the piece unfolds as a series of passages of contrasting character, with some 'material references' to other sections.  When it winds towards the end, it will return to some of the "unison dance" material;  but I've got more to compose before I quite get there :-)

[BachQ]

Working on The Mousetrap today;  I've got the "unison dance" section wrapped up to my satisfaction.

More!  More!