Henning's Headquarters

[TheGSMoeller]

Great looking score, and  poem!    Excited to hear it performed.
Thanks for the post, Karl.

[Cato]

Great looking score, and  poem!    Excited to hear it performed.
Thanks for the post, Karl.

I have had the delight of watching the score grow: here is a litany of things particularly striking to the ear and evocative of the text.  (Of course, in one sense, the entire work is striking to the ear and evocative of the text!)

Bar 10 - "Pumpkins" motif
14 - "Imagination" motif
19-22 D natural "Be patient and sit"
27-28 Triplets, A# "Fall"
29-32 Both the marimba part and the melody: exquisite
35-37 The marimba part
41-42 "highly eccentric" 5/8 to 5/4
63-83 Love this atmosphere
102-104 The marimba's clarion calls
119-125 the G minor/major sound
133-134 - "my orchard"
135-137 - Variation on opening bars
139-141 "confiscation" "frustration" and the muted marimba
146 - the enigmatic comment in the  marimba
165 - "Hammer"
183 ff. - the echo of sections E and F earlier
191-192 - "Poisoned"
221 ff. - Excellent melody!
250-251 - the marimba chords
279-282 - Great melody
303 - 304 the marimba part
328 ff.- the sextuplet
346-347 "Holiness"
363 ff. - the muted marimba
402-405 "spiteful" and the D#
421-422 - Again, nice touch
443 - "Taxed!"
470 ff. - Perfect ending!

[Karl Henning]

Thanks, gents;  it's a fun text (which I got to select, though there was the additional collaborative step of the congenial author converting the original prose to verse) and suggestive of a great deal of the musical matter.  When I was discussing the piece with the marimbist last night, she told me (with particular warmth) that she thought the quintuplet passages (rehearsal mark K, e.g.) "beautiful"; so the composer is overall gratified.

One funny thing . . . since of course they need to plan their program (the plan is to perform a number of times and at various venues, but I have no details as yet) Carola wrote (and cc'd Sylvie) asking how long the piece would be.  At that point, I was not quite half-finished with the piece, and (since I could hardly say, I wish I knew, myself) I replied speculatively 12'-14' ... when Sylvie & I spoke last night, she had been working from a draught which ran to 20pp., and she asked me how much more there would be? "Ten pages," I replied (I suppose I might have eased her mind by remarking that some material in those 10pp. is more or less recapitulatory).  Are you trying to kill us? she asked . . . .

But of course, as long as Carola is game to do the singing, Sylvie will have no complaint as the accompanist/partner 

I don't see any difficulty with fitting the piece in their program (so long as they do not collectively balk at the scale of the piece), since much of what they were thinking was either arrangements of earlier lit, or a few marimba solo works.

[Karl Henning]

Hey! More Henningmusick on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/v/tfRmlsVS92A

[Cato]

Are you trying to kill us? she asked . . . .

Possible responses:

"No, there are too many witnesses right now!"

"Uh, well, yes, yes, I really am trying to kill you."

"No, Mr. Bond, I actually am killing you!"

[Karl Henning]

"Are you trying to kill us?"

--"Do you mind, awfully?"

[Cato]

"Are you trying to kill us?"

--"Do you mind, awfully?"

I like that!

Composers are supposed to stretch the abilities of performers and the limits of instruments!

[North Star]

I like that!

Composers are supposed to stretch the abilities of performers and the limits of instruments!

Schumann took that advice too literally..

[Karl Henning]

And . . . now all five of These Unlikely Events are now arranged for clarinet and cello.

In the event, will they be performed? Not likely . . . .

[Karl Henning]

Just had a nice talk with Carola.  For now, the only thing I'll relate is:  she has two children, a boy and a girl, who of course hear her practicing the piece.  Carola tells me that when her son comes home from school, more than once he comes in singing, "Once I knew a farmer with fruit trees of all kinds ...."  And that her daughter, who generally (just with a child's waywardness) refuses to sing in front of her mother, joins in singing with her brother, and actually remembers even more of the piece.

[Karl Henning]

Oh!  And the first performance will be Sunday, 15 March at 4:00 PM at First Church Boston!

[springrite]

Oh!  And the first performance will be Sunday, 15 March at 4:00 PM at First Church Boston!

One of these days, I will be in Boston for one of the concerts, preferably a premiere!

[Karl Henning]

I count on you!

[North Star]

Children are the best critics.

[Karl Henning]

Makes me think of a Bertie-&-Jeeves story . . . .

[springrite]

Children are the best critics.

Kimi's comment on Boulez (Pli selon Pli), Feldman (For Philip Guston) and Carter (Boston Concerto): "This is SO COOL!"

My favourite, when she asked for Beethoven and I played some Tchaikovsky instead: "Dad, this is NOT Beethoven. This music is so nagging, and Beethoven never nags!"

[North Star]

Makes me think of a Bertie-&-Jeeves story . . . .

You don't have a dog, though? 

[Cato]

Just had a nice talk with Carola.  For now, the only thing I'll relate is:  she has two children, a boy and a girl, who of course hear her practicing the piece.  Carola tells me that when her son comes home from school, more than once he comes in singing, "Once I knew a farmer with fruit trees of all kinds ...."  And that her daughter, who generally (just with a child's waywardness) refuses to sing in front of her mother, joins in singing with her brother, and actually remembers even more of the piece.

A greater presage of success cannot be imagined!  And yes, I would say that the children's reactions are an indication of the excellence of the composer.

[Karl Henning]

I'm almost afraid to go back to the first five, for fear of finding I've just repeated myself here:

[Karl Henning]

Think I may try to add a cello to the October piece.