Henning's Headquarters

[Karl Henning]

Thanks, John, glad you like it!

[Karl Henning]

As Luke has hinted . . . two of the "games" I played with Things Like Bliss are, trying to maintain rhythmic interest while keeping the entire piece in the same time signature;  and a fresh attempt at a "white-note" composition (a bit of Augenmusik, since it is the clarinet in A which reads everything in C).  There is but a single non-A-Major tone in the whole piece . . . not structural, per se, but only ornamental (I think).

[Karl Henning]

Karl, I know these are the MIDI versions, but I can really imagine this piece going over well for an audience. It has an immediate accessibility and it puts the listener into a sort of hypnosis. The repeated patterns remind a bit of Reich --- is this a fair comparison?

Quite possibly.  I've not listened to much Reich in a while, though I do not mind repeating that The Desert Music made a powerfully positive impression while I was in Charlottesville.  The more immediate models I am aware of, are King Crimson and The Penguin Café Orchestra.

[Karl Henning]

Well, it looks as if there will, at last, be a 9^th Ear meeting this Wednesday.  Will report . . . .

[Monsieur Croche]

As Luke has hinted . . . two of the "games" I played with Things Like Bliss are, trying to maintain rhythmic interest while keeping the entire piece in the same time signature;  and a fresh attempt at a "white-note" composition (a bit of Augenmusik, since it is the clarinet in A which reads everything in C).  There is but a single non-A-Major tone in the whole piece . . . not structural, per se, but only ornamental (I think).

If you don't know of these, I think you would not only enjoy hearing them, but technically, since at least Hymn II is a sustained work which stays entirely within the limits of a diatonic scale [white note music, indeed] and imo quite successfully, there is that aspect of technical interest as well.

Nikolai Korndorf ~  Hymn II and Hymn III.

Hymn III is an hommage to Mahler, and without having written anything directly 'Mahler like,' has an wonderful essence of that composer. [I think this, too, sits rigorously within the limits of 'diatonic only'.. a lovely piece, too, imo.

I haven't found any of these available to audition in part or full on youtube, so that leaves either a library, or take the plunge and purchase...
http://www.discogs.com/Nikolai-Korndorf-A-New-Heaven-Hymn-II-Hymn-III/release/7053408


Best regards.

[Mirror Image]

Thanks, John, glad you like it!

You're welcome, Karl. Keep up the good work!

[Mirror Image]

Quite possibly.  I've not listened to much Reich in a while, though I do not mind repeating that The Desert Music made a powerfully positive impression while I was in Charlottesville.  The more immediate models I am aware of, are King Crimson and The Penguin Café Orchestra.

Very nice indeed. Need to seriously revisit The Desert Music (it's been years). Didn't know this work made an everlasting impression on you.

[Karl Henning]

If you don't know of these, I think you would not only enjoy hearing them, but technically, since at least Hymn II is a sustained work which stays entirely within the limits of a diatonic scale [white note music, indeed] and imo quite successfully, there is that aspect of technical interest as well.

Nikolai Korndorf ~  Hymn II and Hymn III.

Hymn III is an hommage to Mahler, and without having written anything directly 'Mahler like,' has an wonderful essence of that composer. [I think this, too, sits rigorously within the limits of 'diatonic only'.. a lovely piece, too, imo.

I haven't found any of these available to audition in part or full on youtube, so that leaves either a library, or take the plunge and purchase...
http://www.discogs.com/Nikolai-Korndorf-A-New-Heaven-Hymn-II-Hymn-III/release/7053408


Best regards.

Thanks for the suggestion!

[Karl Henning]

Very nice indeed. Need to seriously revisit The Desert Music (it's been years). Didn't know this work made an everlasting impression on you.

Well, to a degree it is the William Carlos Williams connection (I was partly raised in the town where Dr Williams practiced as a pediatrician).  And in the first movement (which I later learnt was a lick Reich was fond of recycling) I loved that he actually moved through different harmonies 

[Mirror Image]

Well, to a degree it is the William Carlos Williams connection (I was partly raised in the town where Dr Williams practiced as a pediatrician).  And in the first movement (which I later learnt was a lick Reich was fond of recycling) I loved that he actually moved through different harmonies 

Very cool, Karl.

[Karl Henning]

True to my intention, I composed a few measures more on the bus ride into town, and at lunch (after beginning to read Luke's MS.)

[Karl Henning]

And, since as yet it is so brief, I have an only-slightly-shrunk mp3:

Edit :: old version deleted

[Karl Henning]

Well, it looks as if there will, at last, be a 9^th Ear meeting this Wednesday.  Will report . . . .

And Jim Dalton got back to me to say that the 32^nd-note figures are playable at the new tempo. (Quarter-note at 104 was not at all realistic; and at any rate, 96 feels to the composer as if it had always been the perfect tempo.)

[Karl Henning]

Reflecting today's progress:

[Karl Henning]

I must confess ... if Saul were still here at GMG, this piece would bring him pain ....

[Karl Henning]

More work on the bus ride this morning.  Having a lot of fun writing this one.

Originally, I was thinking three movements, but in the back of my mind this was seeming template-ish.  I quickly moved (a day or two ago) to thoughts of four movements.  This morning, as I was toweling off after the morning ablutions, the thought flitted through my sleepy neurons, Viola Sonata . . . Clarinet Sonata . . . what instrument next?  Va Sta in three movements, Cl Sta in four . . . five movements for the third?

And then I thought, no, I'll cast the Clarinet Sonata in five movements, with a short clarinet unaccompanied mvt, and the three middle movements attacca (or does that just make it three big movements?)

I was also originally thinking that the whole piece would run half an hour, but as I start taping out the five movements, we just may run the clock to 40 minutes, if we can make it worth the audience's time.

[Cato]

I must confess ... if Saul were still here at GMG, this piece would bring him pain ....

Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me?!"   0:)

For newer members, Saul was an acolyte of Mendelssohn and according to Saul, Music reached its height with Mendelssohn, and it has been downhill since then...


...except for Saul's music, which showed the terrible dangers of computerized "So You Want To  Be a Composer" programs.   

[Karl Henning]

He almost sounded as if he knew a little bit of what he was talking about — until you listened to his actual "compositions" . . . .

[Luke]

Karl, as usual you are too generous...

[Karl Henning]

(* blush *)