I recently discovered a piano prelude by contemporary Israeli composer Seltenreich. There are a couple of additional chamber works available on YouTube. I very much appreciate the Prelude. There seems to be very little information on this composer. Perhaps he has simply not composed nor published many pieces, much less recordings. Does anyone out there know of any possible works, particularly piano or orchestral (not chamber) that are lurking somewhere that suggest similarities, if any, to this particular one Prelude?
Never heard of this guy, but I just realized that his name in German means "seldom rich," which I think is a good name for a composer. :)
Well... I too once in a while google my name I must confess... :)
I can't tell you how happy I am that you liked my prelude..
as of yet I have not written any orchestral pieces. I just finished my music degree this year and gonna start the "professional" life now.. so hopefully i'll write an orchestral piece in the near future.
I am working on an oboe concerto but I'm writing it for oboe and strings so there won't be all the colors a full orchestra has (that i guess both of us like very much).
Most of my pieces are not available online since I am not happy with their performances.. In a few months I am gonna launch a website for which I am gonna re-record whatever I can and will upload it there..
a piece I like very much that has kind of the same "vibe" as the prelude ("Music for a Celestial Quartet" for Soprano, Celesta, Harp and Percussion) was performed so badly that I can't upload it.. that is one of the first things I plan to fix.
Have just today uploaded 2 videos to my youtube channel. one is the first mvmt of a big piece I wrote for 2 choirs (Adults and Children) and 2 percussion players.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGTZPXEdhIg
and another piece that was just performed in Sttutgart (and is more radical then the rest) called sparks and flares (which was also performed badly sadly.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB3VAnvi11Y
Anyways, Thank you very much for your interest in my music.
If you have any questions at all, please do ask.
Michael Seltenreich.
Quote from: MichaelSel on March 04, 2011, 04:07:14 AM
Well... I too once in a while google my name I must confess... :)
I can't tell you how happy I am that you liked my prelude..
as of yet I have not written any orchestral pieces. I just finished my music degree this year and gonna start the "professional" life now.. so hopefully I'll write an orchestral piece in the near future.
I am working on an oboe concerto but I'm writing it for oboe and strings so there won't be all the colors a full orchestra has (that i guess both of us like very much).
Most of my pieces are not available online since I am not happy with their performances.. In a few months I am gonna launch a website for which I am gonna re-record whatever I can and will upload it there..
a piece I like very much that has kind of the same "vibe" as the prelude ("Music for a Celestial Quartet" for Soprano, Celesta, Harp and Percussion) was performed so badly that I can't upload it.. that is one of the first things I plan to fix.
Have just today uploaded 2 videos to my youtube channel. one is the first mvmt of a big piece I wrote for 2 choirs (Adults and Children) and 2 percussion players.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGTZPXEdhIg
and another piece that was just performed in Sttutgart (and is more radical then the rest) called sparks and flares (which was also performed badly sadly.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB3VAnvi11Y
Anyways, Thank you very much for your interest in my music.
If you have any questions at all, please do ask.
Michael Seltenreich.
This is the very first time I've received a reply from a composer either here or anywhere for that matter. I am quite impressed. There's much I'd like to say about why I liked the Prelude, but I shall not engage in lengthy discussions at this point. Perhaps at a a later time. Suffice to say I truly lied the Prelude. It had finesse, color, and certain impressionistic tendencies. Hopefully you are not a contemporary artist who believes that certain in corporations within a work of erstwhile aesthetic persuasions are useless or outdated.I just have a few questions. What musical tendencies, style, mode, form, or even composers of the past, if any, do you favor or develop in works you have either composed or those which will be developed. I just wanted to state that my interests intensely personal; I do not have any professional training save individual piano lessons. I do hope that future works are similar to some degree to your wonderful Prelude.
I have downloaded the Prelude in my Favorites site.
Well... I came to love classical music through big orchestral scores. that was the first time I fell in love. so the involvement of a lot of colors was always a big goal for me in my music.
I think the prelude is very much intended to converse with Debussy's preludes, though, I am not sure he would answer back :)
I try to keep an open mind about all music and I also listen to pop. I believe that contemporary art should be in relationship with what is happening now.
My past role models would be:
My harmonic language in my tonal pieces is very much influenced by Debussy and Ravel which for me are the ultimate harmonic masters. Romantic harmony does not speak as deep for me.
My orchestration tendencies are very much influenced by the same duo Debussy and Ravel but also Stravinsky who is an idol for me by himself. my favorite orchestrators to speak of when I teach also include Holst, Bartok and dvorak.
Rhythm wise and form wise Bartok and Ligeti are the best in my taste.
basically though, I think the "best" composer our world ever had was Beethoven.
My mind boggles every time I see how he manipulates themes into complete pieces! I mean by that that Mozart for instance had a great deal of imagination and a unique talent but his "carpentry" is lacking near Beethoven's. I very much believe a classical composition is about craftmanship as it is about fantasy and imagination. Beethoven for me was the best craftman ever alive.
Lately my favorite contemporary composers are George Friedrich Haas and Beat Furrer.
I keep a dualism with contemporary music and earlier music. I feel certain ideas are best conveyed by more traditional means, but also feel many many many ideas emotions and mannerisms need to break loose of traditional boundaries.
for instance the erotecism in stravinsky's rite of spring had to have this freedom to be as effective.
The raw rage in Bartok's 4th and 5th string quartet's also couldn't function in an harmonic platform as well.
The Comedic value in Le Grand Macabre needed this freedom as well. the freedom is not just a result of breaking traditional harmony and form but also by completely grasping music in a totally new way. on that account for me Ligeti is the biggest innovator of the second half of the 20th century.
Haas's piece Limited Approximations, for 6 pianos & orch. which was premiered on late 2010 is also completely unique. using 6 pianos each tuned a 1/12 tone from each other gives a new space to music never before heard. this piece sounds almost electronic though it is completely acoustic. The new orchestral possibilities there are immense.
I get excited by so many aspects of music that is difficult for me to confine myself to a favorite composer or a favorite style.
Every period of time had it's gems and almost every composer had a piece that is really and truly great.
How lucky are we to have fallen in love with music :)
Quote from: MichaelSel on March 11, 2011, 05:44:49 AM
Well... I came to love classical music through big orchestral scores. that was the first time I fell in love. so the involvement of a lot of colors was always a big goal for me in my music.
I think the prelude is very much intended to converse with Debussy's preludes, though, I am not sure he would answer back :)
I try to keep an open mind about all music and I also listen to pop. I believe that contemporary art should be in relationship with what is happening now.
My past role models would be:
My harmonic language in my tonal pieces is very much influenced by Debussy and Ravel which for me are the ultimate harmonic masters. Romantic harmony does not speak as deep for me.
My orchestration tendencies are very much influenced by the same duo Debussy and Ravel but also Stravinsky who is an idol for me by himself. my favorite orchestrators to speak of when I teach also include Holst, Bartok and dvorak.
Rhythm wise and form wise Bartok and Ligeti are the best in my taste.
basically though, I think the "best" composer our world ever had was Beethoven.
My mind boggles every time I see how he manipulates themes into complete pieces! I mean by that that Mozart for instance had a great deal of imagination and a unique talent but his "carpentry" is lacking near Beethoven's. I very much believe a classical composition is about craftmanship as it is about fantasy and imagination. Beethoven for me was the best craftman ever alive.
Lately my favorite contemporary composers are George Friedrich Haas and Beat Furrer.
I keep a dualism with contemporary music and earlier music. I feel certain ideas are best conveyed by more traditional means, but also feel many many many ideas emotions and mannerisms need to break loose of traditional boundaries.
for instance the erotecism in stravinsky's rite of spring had to have this freedom to be as effective.
The raw rage in Bartok's 4th and 5th string quartet's also couldn't function in an harmonic platform as well.
The Comedic value in Le Grand Macabre needed this freedom as well. the freedom is not just a result of breaking traditional harmony and form but also by completely grasping music in a totally new way. on that account for me Ligeti is the biggest innovator of the second half of the 20th century.
Haas's piece Limited Approximations, for 6 pianos & orch. which was premiered on late 2010 is also completely unique. using 6 pianos each tuned a 1/12 tone from each other gives a new space to music never before heard. this piece sounds almost electronic though it is completely acoustic. The new orchestral possibilities there are immense.
I get excited by so many aspects of music that is difficult for me to confine myself to a favorite composer or a favorite style.
Every period of time had it's gems and almost every composer had a piece that is really and truly great.
How lucky are we to have fallen in love with music :)
I responded to your message but it was not included. IT was 'timed out." Briefly I stated my ongoing interest in your Prelude. One of my favorite composers was Debussy. Other composers included: Scriabin, Bax, Sibelius, Ravel, Krein, Raitio , Gliere, and many others composing during the early 20th century. In then past my interest were far more eclectic.I stated that no comoser of today writes works similar to those compositions conceived centuries ago. However, on occasion I do make out influences of some of my favorites on contemporary composers, one of whom is Arthur Butterworth, an ardent admirer of Sibelius. I could go on, but I had better post. Good luck on your future compositions.
Quote from: MichaelSel on March 11, 2011, 05:44:49 AM
Well... I came to love classical music through big orchestral scores. that was the first time I fell in love. so the involvement of a lot of colors was always a big goal for me in my music.
I think the prelude is very much intended to converse with Debussy's preludes, though, I am not sure he would answer back :)
I try to keep an open mind about all music and I also listen to pop. I believe that contemporary art should be in relationship with what is happening now.
My past role models would be:
My harmonic language in my tonal pieces is very much influenced by Debussy and Ravel which for me are the ultimate harmonic masters. Romantic harmony does not speak as deep for me.
My orchestration tendencies are very much influenced by the same duo Debussy and Ravel but also Stravinsky who is an idol for me by himself. my favorite orchestrators to speak of when I teach also include Holst, Bartok and dvorak.
Rhythm wise and form wise Bartok and Ligeti are the best in my taste.
basically though, I think the "best" composer our world ever had was Beethoven.
My mind boggles every time I see how he manipulates themes into complete pieces! I mean by that that Mozart for instance had a great deal of imagination and a unique talent but his "carpentry" is lacking near Beethoven's. I very much believe a classical composition is about craftmanship as it is about fantasy and imagination. Beethoven for me was the best craftman ever alive.
Lately my favorite contemporary composers are George Friedrich Haas and Beat Furrer.
I keep a dualism with contemporary music and earlier music. I feel certain ideas are best conveyed by more traditional means, but also feel many many many ideas emotions and mannerisms need to break loose of traditional boundaries.
for instance the erotecism in stravinsky's rite of spring had to have this freedom to be as effective.
The raw rage in Bartok's 4th and 5The string quartet's also couldn't function in an harmonic platform as well.
The Comedic value in Le Grand Macabre needed this freedom as well. the freedom is not just a result of breaking traditional harmony and form but also by completely grasping music in a totally new way. on that account for me Ligeti is the biggest innovator of the second half of the 20th century.
Haas's piece Limited Approximations, for 6 pianos & orch. which was premiered on late 2010 is also completely unique. using 6 pianos each tuned a 1/12 tone from each other gives a new space to music never before heard. this piece sounds almost electronic though it is completely acoustic. The new orchestral possibilities there are immense.
I get excited by so many aspects of music that is difficult for me to confine myself to a favorite composer or a favorite style.
Every period of time had it's gems and almost every composer had a piece that is really and truly great.
How lucky are we to have fallen in love with music :)
I was listening again to your "Prelude," and I like it each time. Do you plan to write, to compose a work, be it pianistic or orchestral, that just might bear similarities to the Prelude? I ask this because the type of colorist, nuance oriented,and, yes, impressionist oriented tonalities have always interested me from day one. I'm more than well aware of the academic demands on composers to generate "new" sounds, structures, avant-garde propensities, et. al. Not all composers will write like Bach, Chopin, Grieg. But on occasion I welcome breath of nuage, of impressionist cords and harmonies in a work. Not that I listen exclusively to titles composed during the first three or four decades of the 20th century, but I'm always drawn to it. Yet again that's just my proclivities. I hope your works are appreciated by many interested listeners.