Ottevanger's Omphaloskeptic Outpost

[Sean]

Having a quick listen to the first movement of the Canticle sonata, the cross rhythms and occasional rather folky ornaments caught my attention, along with those chord sequences stretching up and away wistfully in the higher register, leading us to new vistas; as with much of your work there's a sense of ambiguity and strong emotions beneath the surface. Redolent also of the SVS's free atonality, particularly Webern and some of his clarinet writing and various arrangements. I'm not sure there's much of Berg's Four Pieces though, but perhaps a little of Finzi's open air writing in his Five Bagatelles: you have your own voice. Sounds episodic on first hearing but also reconciles itself nicely towards the end of the movement.

Also listened to the opening of the 2007 sonata- sadness and elegance cascading in a way somehow reminding me, as I think I said once before, of certain slow moving scif-fi films of the 70s...

Well done Luke & will have a listen to the other movements anon.

[Sean]

There are short cl&pf pieces I know by Bliss, Chausson and Messager but wouldn't compare these to yours much, and, perhaps a little closer, clarinet sonatas by Bax, Cooke & Poulenc.

I'm presently into Du Fay's secular music, and I know you know your medieval repertory: doesn't your music have some of the same kind of melancholy?

[lukeottevanger]

Thanks for those comments, Sean - perceptive as always. The reference to medieval music is particularly pertinent and well-made I think. Of course, this Sonata takes as a starting point certain lines of St Francis, though I'm not sure to what extent this itself pushed me towards any medievalisms; more to the point is the use of modes (although not any medieval ones by any means).

But even more 'medieval', I suppose is the kind of melodic writing I use (constantly varying little motives) and the way it is layered. The music is almost entirely linear until the mid-point of the whole Sonata, which is more chorale-like; those little ascending chord sequences you noted vanishing up at the top of the piano in the first movement are like a presentiment of this; and in the last movement more chordal music is heard at times too. Mostly, though, there are quietly independent-but-related lines, as in the opening music, or the opening of the second movement - this kind of writing, which I vaguely call 'loose polyphony' is something I've noticed and encouraged in lots of my more recent pieces, but I'm not sure it doesn't have its roots, for me, in some of that '14th-century avant garde' music we've discussed before (Perusio and so on). Certainly, perhaps the very first piece I wrote in this way - the Unfinished Study of a couple of years ago - opens with a very conscious reference to the opening of Perusio's Le Greygnour Bien, which has always been one of 'those' pieces for me, one that forms a focus for one aspect of my musical thought.

Thanks for helping to draw this more strongly to my attention, Sean - you know how I mull over these things! It's another little trait to throw into the mix!

[Mark G. Simon]

Luke, I downloaded your sonata and the score has no noteheads, just beams and stems. What gives?

[Sean]

Ars nova and De Vitry's anomalous period of layered polyphony! I wish I could give better critiques though- my analytical skills aren't really there... All sounds great though.

[lukeottevanger]

Luke, I downloaded your sonata and the score has no noteheads, just beams and stems. What gives?

I have no idea, Mark! I assume it downloaded OK for everyone else    I'll attach a copy to this post so you can try again - we'll see what happens.

NB - this is not the revised version towards which Karl has given his clarinetty advice. And beyond that, I am still not completely happy with a large chunk of the first movement, so at some point I will deal with that too. IOW - this score is not quite the finished article!

[Mark G. Simon]

Same deal. No noteheads.

I've downloaded Rappy's violin concerto and everything is there. It's only your scores that give me this problem.

I have a particular interest in this piece, since it's for clarinet.

[karlhenning]

It's vexatious that we can't figure out what's not compatible between the Acrobat readers;  this is trouble we've had sharing files more than once, Mark.

[Mark G. Simon]

I could update to Acrobat 8.0, but then I'd also have to upgrade the operating system, then probably most of my other software as well.

[karlhenning]

I could fax you Luke's piece, if that is convenient for you, Mark?

[Mark G. Simon]

I'm going to see if Owlice can get it at her computer at work.

[Maciek]

Mark, why not try another pdf reader? My default one is Foxit because it is much "lighter" than Acrobat and therefore loads MUCH faster. But every now and then I run into the kind of trouble you describe - which is when I switch to Acrobat, and that usually does the trick. So switching to another pdf reader might be all it takes.

[owlice]

It looks be-yoo-ti-ful on my screen. :-)

[karlhenning]

Yoo-hoo, owlice!

[karlhenning]

TTT

(Sure, I miss the matey old flame-wars!)

[Guido]

So what's going on on the composing front Luke?

[lukeottevanger]

Bits and pieces - one big piece, one small one. But rather than flooding the thread with my musings (as with previous pieces), I'm trying to keep quiet unless and until I actually have something to show for it!

[karlhenning]

But, nay, bring on the musings, Luke!

[Maciek]

Yes, go ahead with the musings, if you feel like it, Luke! They are always very welcome and a great read too!

[Guido]

Is it time for another publicity creating flame war? I think it might be! might be!