Ottevanger's Omphaloskeptic Outpost

[Cato]

Hi Karl, and anyone else!

Phew, that must be the busiest eight or nine weeks of my life, just gone past. Rarely a moment free, and certainly not enough to concentrate on penning coherent posts on GMG. I'm still not there, quite - witness the incoherence of my two posts on the Bartok/Janacek thread (I know what I mean but I'm not saying it right!). But things are relaxing now, and a timely snow day today has helped.

Literally nothing to report on the composing front, unfortunately. Maybe with the spring...(faint hopes, but it has happened before). The urge is there, just not the time.

Any "incoherent" writings from you would still be more interesting than many coherent ones on that "other" music website!       0:)

So let us know what the kidnappers did to you!   

[Karl Henning]

TTT

[Cato]

Any "incoherent" writings from you would still be more interesting than many coherent ones on that "other" music website!       0:)

So let us know what the kidnappers did to you!   

Hmm, perhaps they glued your fingers together?      

Or clipped away       some part of        your fingertips?         

Or maybe they have done something really scary!




Forcing you to watch           Adam        Sandler      movies!!! 

[Karl Henning]

TTT, encore une fois

[Cato]

Hmm, perhaps they glued your fingers together?      

Or clipped away       some part of        your fingertips?         

Or maybe they have done something really scary!




Forcing you to watch           Adam        Sandler      movies!!! 

I am beginning to fear that my above prediction might be true!!!   

[Luke]

Well, well, life gets pretty complicated and hectic at times, doesn't it!? And I'm not done with that, so I can't promise to be back here as much as I used to be at any time in the near future. But this board is still my 'home' on the internet, and this thread above all, and I will keep it informed of anything even remotely interesting that happens.

So, here's one:

The Lamb was performed a couple of Saturday's ago, by a depleted and sore-throat-ridden bunch of 10/11 year olds, in the church by school. Despite said sore throats and tuning issues (which I can't in all conscience blame on the throats though I wish I could), it came off nicely, I think, because they are sweet kids trying very hard, and because, in the end, it's quite a pretty piece. I will upload something soon.

Following the concert the organiser asked me to play again at the next concert, and to include another of my pieces. I am thinking of writing something for it, and in fact already have the piece planned in my mind. But we know what happens on this thread - I promise much and deliver little, so I won't say any more about it yet.

Did anyone ever listen to the pieces I posted two or three pages and many, many months ago? The Fantasy, and a piece called 'Around Fern Hill' - they are there with recordings and scores, and were downloaded a few times, but I got no feedback. It isn't obligatory, of course,  but I was starting to worry if the music was really that bad! Personally, I find 'Around Fern Hill' quite a touching piece, though I'm sure that's less to do with my notes than the recording they are a backing to. Would be very interested to hear thoughts about this.

[Luke]

Links to those files, should anyone want....

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,44.msg570096.html#msg570096

[Karl Henning]

Good to hear from you, lad! And thanks for the reminder and link. Will check these out Thursday evening, Chowder Time. (Working at the shop this evening.)

[North Star]

Listened to Around Fern Hill, the music suits the poem, and its mood, wonderfully well. I hadn't listened to your pieces before, Luke, but I certainly like a lot of the same music as you (some of which I've discovered through your wonderful posts).


Karlo

[Cato]

Did anyone ever listen to the pieces I posted two or three pages and many, many months ago? The Fantasy, and a piece called 'Around Fern Hill' - they are there with recordings and scores, and were downloaded a few times, but I got no feedback. It isn't obligatory, of course,  but I was starting to worry if the music was really that bad! Personally, I find 'Around Fern Hill' quite a touching piece, though I'm sure that's less to do with my notes than the recording they are a backing to. Would be very interested to hear thoughts about this.

Ouch!  Did I miss those?       I will need to listen to them this weekend! 

Feedback on the way! 

For North Star and others who may have missed this a few years ago:

Back on pages 85-86 -  much earlier here - I wrote a little (partial) analysis of one of Luke Ottevanger's piano works, a Canzone.  The analysis was in response to an ignorant comment by a former member who, a wannabe composer who idolized Mendelssohn.   0:)

Here is the music:  http://www.mediafire.com/?mxd1niydhmz 

Page 84 has the score: scroll down somewhat to one of Luke's sections.

For those worried about the figurations in the Canzone, allow me to point out 2 simple examples near the beginning and the end.

First one should see, however, that part of the marvelous character in Luke's work comes from a major/minor tension.  Note that the work begins with a key signature in F major (D minor? Or is it maybe A minor with a Bb?  The A at the top tells us nothing so far.), but that things immediately become ambiguous with the C#, i.e. Db, in the theme, creating the possibility of F minor, and then the F# arrives (which to my ear has always created a kind of "double minor" sound,i.e. F, Gb, Ab, Bb, C, Db, Eb, F).

In bar 9 on page 1, observe the 16th-note figuration: it is not there merely to drive the piece, nor to show off the pianist's fancy fingerwork.  The notes are D/C#=Db, and then change to Eb and Db, showing specifically the major/minor tension.  Also see the bass line, which no longer has the A at the beginning, but goes from E (from F major) to Eb (F minor).

On the last page, page 10, look at the 16th-note figurations again and observe how they harmonically make sense with the theme: note especially the Db in the figurations, producing the major/minor tension heard in the C#(Db) in the theme.  Note how again the F#(Gb) ambiguity is chased away at the end, resolving definitely to F major.

What might seem like "too many notes" to the untrained eye or ear is in fact quite necessary.  Given the nature of the piano, simply to have solid unarpeggiated chords would make the piece resemble an exercise in a chromatic harmony book, albeit the best one there!   0:)

[Mirror Image]

The analysis was in response to an ignorant comment by a former member who, a wannabe composer who idolized Mendelssohn.   0:)

I wonder what Saul has been up to? I wonder if he's achieved worldwide fame as "The Most Viewed Composer On YouTube" yet? I know he really thought YouTube marked some kind of importance and milestone for composers. What a laugh riot he was!

[North Star]

For North Star and others who may have missed this a few years ago:

Back on pages 85-86 -  much earlier here - I wrote a little (partial) analysis of one of Luke Ottevanger's piano works, a Canzone.  The analysis was in response to an ignorant comment by a former member who, a wannabe composer who idolized Mendelssohn.   0:)

Here is the music:  http://www.mediafire.com/?mxd1niydhmz 

Page 84 has the score: scroll down somewhat to one of Luke's sections.

Thanks, that's a very nice piece, too. After what's written about it already, I can't really post anything useful, but there's obviously that Liszt influence, but it's more like a parody.

[North Star]

Listened to Around Fern Hill, the music suits the poem, and its mood, wonderfully well. I hadn't listened to your pieces before, Luke, but I certainly like a lot of the same music as you (some of which I've discovered through your wonderful posts).


Karlo

Listening to this again.
The increasing dissonance works very well, a wonderful piece all in all.

(the sudden changes in the background noise are a little annoying, though)

[Karl Henning]

Links to those files, should anyone want....

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,44.msg570096.html#msg570096

Bah, I need to use t'other machine.

[Luke]

Karlo, thank you very much for listening, I am glad you are enjoying it! The increasing dissonance level is very much the idea of the piece (perhaps you read about that in the notes I wrote, or maybe it's just a case of sharp ears), and it has to do with the passage of time, the accumulation of experience, memory etc. The same musical ideas (= places that the poem refers too, and = motivic use of words in the poem itself) repeating under new layers of accretion, losing lustre and innocence, gaining memories, associations and complexity and richness. Initially I also felt that it was a shame that the Dylan Thomas reading was not available without the background noise. But then after a time living with it I began to feel that the repeated intrusion of that layer of noise was appropriate to this idea of time passing, a reminder that there are layers of experience and memory within the piece too, that the poem is old, the recording is old, that dust collects on everything.... So now I actually rather relish those moments when the noise seeps in...

But it's very possible that this is nonsense!

[North Star]

I did notice it before reading your notes, but, I believe, I commented on it after reading about it.

Regarding the noise, I was thinking more about how abruptly it enters and leaves, but, listening again, it doesn't sound so abrupt now. I absolutely agree (and did all the time) that the noise fits there.

[Karl Henning]

Bah, I need to use t'other machine.

Actually, now I am thinking that this is something I can do with my Archos tablet at home . . . .

[Karl Henning]

Actually, now I am thinking that this is something I can do with my Archos tablet at home . . . .

Success! How lovely to hear you in action again!  Which is how it feels, though of course your post is half a year old . . . .

Just finished a first listen to Around Fern Hill, which is enchanting, firstly I mean that your piece is of itself enchanting, and sufficient, and secondly that the recording of the poetry, which (sonically, though not at all content-wise, of course) is a reliably static, periodic partner, works together with the piece marvelously well.

[Cato]

Watch this space, and download the score and performance of Mr. Ottevanger's piano opus Around Fern Hill to prepare.

I hope by the end of the week to have a little analytical commentary published here.

[Karl Henning]

Party in the Outpost!