Henning's Headquarters

[Cato]

Double or nothing 

I see that Holmes has caught up with Professor Moriarty!  0:)   Or the sinner has been forgiven!   In either case, the flute-players should be thrilled and amused!

I know I was! 

[Karl Henning]

Some progress from this morning's bus ride.

[Karl Henning]

My quietude (and relative inactivity) have been partly related to tomorrow's Triad repertory committee meeting, as each member of the committee has been assigned a small (manageable!) sheaf of submissions to examine and evaluate.

[Cato]

My quietude (and relative inactivity) have been partly related to tomorrow's Triad repertory committee meeting, as each member of the committee has been assigned a small (manageable!) sheaf of submissions to examine and evaluate.

Does anything strike you as particularly ingenious?

[Karl Henning]

Four pieces were assigned to me; in alphabetical order by name of composer:

#1 is a set of four very short folk riddles, unaccompanied choir, often divided into eight parts.  Whole piece runs maybe six minutes.

#2 is a set of five Thomas Hardy settings, choir accompanied by bass clarinet and piano.  12 minutes total duration.

#3 is the only "whole piece" in my allotment, a Latin motet for unaccompanied choir, much of it set as antiphonal double-choir.  I need to calculate the duration on this one, but I'll guess 5 minutes.

#4 is a set of three pieces for "wordless choir" and piano.  Whole piece runs nine minutes.

The strongest pieces in my view are #2 and #4.  They both happen to have the richest pitch-worlds, and the most engaging rhythmic profiles, but I do not think my preference here is solely a matter of these.

In practical terms, #2 is a piece we could program only if we engage a crack bass clarinetist.  (I do not own a bass clarinet, and I have not played one in more than two decades, so I am in no position to volunteer.)  The text setting displays an excellent ear for prosody, the tone of the pieces is engaging and poignant (befitting the texts), and I'd certainly keep it in consideration for future programs.

#1 is by a composer whom I know, though not a Triad composer.  I have wanted not to have other pieces of his that I have heard bias me against this one.  Nevertheless, this feels to me more exercisely than masterly.  Overall (and the committee can check my work, so I feel that the opinion is defensible) this piece is rather easily the weakest in my allotment.

#3 is good writing, though perhaps not great.  Of course, "not great" is in the first place certainly a matter of opinion, and not binding;  and in the second, not an absolute negative.  We might say the same of (say) the Beethoven Second Symphony, but that's no reason not to program it.  Depending on the rest of the pieces strewn among the committee, this might well be selected for the next program, and be a perfectly satisfying success.  The antiphonal writing is very nice.

#4 is by a Triad composer, and even though it may have the appearance of "preferring one of our own," my sense is that this is genuinely the best of the pieces I've been asked to consider.  They are three choral vocalizes with piano accompaniment, the first and second are both memorials (though completely distinct musically) and the third is brightly songful, the choir singing sostenuto while there is generally running figuration in the piano.  The memorial movements are both quite chromatic, but an incisively specific pitch-world;  the last, effortlessly diatonic in D major.  I am going to suggest we sing this, and I want to conduct it.

[Cato]

#4 is by a Triad composer, and even though it may have the appearance of "preferring one of our own," my sense is that this is genuinely the best of the pieces I've been asked to consider.  They are three choral vocalizes with piano accompaniment, the first and second are both memorials (though completely distinct musically) and the third is brightly songful, the choir singing sostenuto while there is generally running figuration in the piano.  The memorial movements are both quite chromatic, but an incisively specific pitch-world;  the last, effortlessly diatonic in D major.  I am going to suggest we sing this, and I want to conduct it.

Memorials via wordless choir!  That is intriguing! 

[Karl Henning]

I think he will not mind if I post the score here for our select band:

[jochanaan]

I think he will not mind if I post the score here for our select band:

That does look interesting and potentially beautiful!

[Karl Henning]

Okay, I did actually make some marginal progress on the flute duet yesterday.

[Karl Henning]

So, I need to finish Orlando's flute duet, and get properly back to work on the Schulte setting . . . the back-burner task has been, what to do for the Christmas concert?  Last year's concert made a very good impression through the parish, and was a challenging-though-ultimately-satisfying experience for the choir.  Being able to hire the brass quintet and getting a full performance of Sweetest Ancient Cradle Song was a great personal accomplishment for me.  On one hand, I should love to engage the quintet again this year;  on t'other, with the Sweetest Ancient Cradle Song "out of the way" for the moment, I don't really have employment for them, unless I write something new . . . but of course, my plate is full with other writing this summer.


I do have another piece or two for choir and brass for Christmas, but:


1.  I think that might be a challenge for the choir . . . and though I am sure they can rise to the challenge again, I do remember (rather vividly) how much resistance there was, the first month or so we worked on the Cradle Song;  and I don't mind putting off even so ultimately manageable a confrontation until December of 2016.


2.  The choir's budget does not meet the expense.  The quintet deserve to be paid, and they were very gracious to accept rather less than they might demand on the market.  (Partly, they were engaged musically by the quality of the work.)  But I had to make up the shortfall from my own pocket (in essence, it wound up reducing my revenue from that job that month).  Of course, it was worth it, to get the Cradle Song ringing in an audience's ears!  But my feeling is . . .

2a.  To hire instead two professional musicians whom we can pay well from the budget.  There will thus still be a sense of special musical occasion, and unusual, beautiful sounds for the concert.  The audience will then naturally think "Gee, wonder why we didn't have a brass quintet this year?" and we can get the conversation started with how we might modify or supplement the choir's 2016-17 budget so that we can hire the quintet, and pay them a bit more fairly.

So . . . I have a few pieces yet from the WAG (Wm A Goodwin) Era, pieces written for First Congo, so the choral writing will fit my lot well, and where the accompaniment was other than brass quintet . . . so let me take a look, and see what we might use . . . .

[Karl Henning]

Frankly, I was ready to goof off a bit:

http://www.youtube.com/v/B6xeqrcavUQ

[Sergeant Rock]

Frankly, I was ready to goof off a bit:

Nice! I love the orchestration, especially the percussion and...the mandolin (at 1:44)?

Sarge

[Karl Henning]

Nice! I love the orchestration, especially the percussion and...the mandolin (at 1:44)?

Sarge

Aye, mandolin it is.  Thank you!

[Karl Henning]

I may tweak the Pachelbel arrangement a little.  Why?

• Although I populated the score at will with various exotic instruments, it then turned out that the sound library invoked quite normal Western counterparts . . . although I selected bansuri and oud, or instance, the instrument sounds are garden-variety flute and guitar.  Such tweaks will be "invisible" to the listener.
• More importantly, I contemplate tweaks which will be audible.  What are those about?

My idea here was (we might say) nothing practical.  My arrangement was not governed by any consideration of how few or how many instruments might be available;  I simply wanted to produce a sound-file (strictly speaking, rather than recording).  So the whole idea was simply a sound-file which sounds good.

That is why, as I was working on it, when I tried using violin at one point, I discarded that right away:  because it sounded inadequate.

So I feel like going back, and listening to every little bit (I'm thinking of the trumpet in a passage or two, particularly), and seeing if I cannot find a substitute which sounds yet better.

[Karl Henning]

I may tweak the Pachelbel arrangement a little.  Why?

• Although I populated the score at will with various exotic instruments, it then turned out that the sound library invoked quite normal Western counterparts . . . although I selected bansuri and oud, or instance, the instrument sounds are garden-variety flute and guitar.  Such tweaks will be "invisible" to the listener.
• More importantly, I contemplate tweaks which will be audible.  What are those about?

My idea here was (we might say) nothing practical.  My arrangement was not governed by any consideration of how few or how many instruments might be available;  I simply wanted to produce a sound-file (strictly speaking, rather than recording).  So the whole idea was simply a sound-file which sounds good.

That is why, as I was working on it, when I tried using violin at one point, I discarded that right away:  because it sounded inadequate.

So I feel like going back, and listening to every little bit (I'm thinking of the trumpet in a passage or two, particularly), and seeing if I cannot find a substitute which sounds yet better.

Another idea which occurs to me this morning:  Although I never meant it to serve as other than a "virtual score," i.e., as the source for a sound-file, perhaps moderate tweaking would render the score realizable (by what would need to be an unusually enterprising conductor . . . .)

[Cato]

Another idea which occurs to me this morning:  Although I never meant it to serve as other than a "virtual score," i.e., as the source for a sound-file, perhaps moderate tweaking would render the score realizable (by what would need to be an unusually enterprising conductor . . . .)

Preferably from the South Pacific?      Or maybe the Caribbean?  Did I hear steel drums in there?

[Karl Henning]

You did! They would not be an outrageous supposition for a Pops concert . . . .

[Karl Henning]

Frankly, I was ready to goof off a bit:

http://www.youtube.com/v/B6xeqrcavUQ

I must admit to enjoying the fretless bass glissandi . . . .

[jochanaan]

A very enjoyable arrangement of the Taco Bell Canon!

[Karl Henning]

Thank you! Some pico de gallo for the road?