Sunday, 9 December 2007
Advent Wreath 2
Was wondering when or indeed if the second candle would light. It's not on GMT, plainly. But it's lit now.
Don't know where Fr Ray gets all his photos, but here is one from yesterday, The Feast of the Immaculate Conception. (Not that either of you need reminding, but people google Christmas Cake and Stockhausen and end up briefly glimpsing this blog. Random visitors check out the clothes - where do you think Father Christmas got his gear from?)
Friday, 7 December 2007
Stockhausen RIP
Karlheinz is no more.
One of my finals essays was, 'Melody in Boulez and Stockhausen.' I wrote on why integral serialism destroys everything we expect a melody to do and yes a sense of expectation is there in most music. All that octave shifting does make it hard to whistle, never mind the stuff with the dynamics. Makes early Webern sound positively Impressionist.
One of the essay titles I could have written during the course, (Western Art Music Post-1900 - known as late late, for you had to do pre-1540 or 1540-1700 and 1800-1910 or 1900-present. I did early early and late late, being an extreme kinda musician. Believe me, when Palestrina sounds modern, you know your perspective has been shifted, but I digress as usual, I need footnotes clearly,) was, 'Karlheinz, you cannot be Sirius.' Apparently, he believed that he came from the aforementioned planet.
Anyway, something I quite liked doing was reading the biographical bits about composers ( in this case it put off the moment when you had to listen to the stuff and get into the tone rows...)Stockhausen's Mother was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in the 1930s probably suffering from post-natal depression and was killed as part of the 'let's get rid of ill/disabled/old...people' policies of the time. Stockhausen was quite young at the end of the war (16?) and ended up working as a hospital orderly with very gravely injured soldiers. No wonder he wanted to come from another planet and his music was a little challenging... Also probably explains why he was all into electronic stuff and sine waves. All really pure, take nasty people out of music, lots of rigorous patterns, nothing down to chance, all predetermined. Trouble is if you do the intellectual bit first, you don't usually end up with good music. My school music teacher described spending a day as a student listening to his stuff and said he felt like throwing himself under a bus on the way home, so one to avoid if you are feeling delicate.
Interestingly, both Boulez and Stockhausen were taught by Messiaen who managed to write works of superabundant crazy happiness. We had Turangalila (1947?) blaring out this pm, because we might be taking the boys to hear it. Who was the Catholic? - Messiaen. Which modern composers write tunes and sound like they mean what they write? Gorecki, Part, MacMillan. Pattern?
People did seem to spend lots of time really getting sensitive to melody in the past. It was prized. On one of my many unpublished rants on liturgical music, for I keep not putting things up, I went on about how when people write hymns with words that do not follow a particular metrical pattern, the poor punter trying to sing has an element of uncertainty injected into the proceedings. (Don't even mention the pitches of the melody, nor the dismal harmony.)I noticed the difference reading the English translation of some Latin in my new Old Missal. It makes the sentiments have a feeling of strength, order, completeness, clarity, which is a good thing. Unless of course you want to communicate complexity, doubt, ambivalence etc.
Parting questions. How many Gs are there in last line of ,'Make me a channel of your peace.'
Does 'In bread we bring you Lord,' finish on an F or a C? Tonic or Dominant?
How many verses of 'On Eagles Wings' have an anacrusis? Why is it hard to come in on a C# against a G major triad? Aren't Augmented 4ths a bit dodgy? Didn't those clever monks 'invent' Bb to avoid the dreaded tritone?
No prizes alas.
One of my finals essays was, 'Melody in Boulez and Stockhausen.' I wrote on why integral serialism destroys everything we expect a melody to do and yes a sense of expectation is there in most music. All that octave shifting does make it hard to whistle, never mind the stuff with the dynamics. Makes early Webern sound positively Impressionist.
One of the essay titles I could have written during the course, (Western Art Music Post-1900 - known as late late, for you had to do pre-1540 or 1540-1700 and 1800-1910 or 1900-present. I did early early and late late, being an extreme kinda musician. Believe me, when Palestrina sounds modern, you know your perspective has been shifted, but I digress as usual, I need footnotes clearly,) was, 'Karlheinz, you cannot be Sirius.' Apparently, he believed that he came from the aforementioned planet.
Anyway, something I quite liked doing was reading the biographical bits about composers ( in this case it put off the moment when you had to listen to the stuff and get into the tone rows...)Stockhausen's Mother was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in the 1930s probably suffering from post-natal depression and was killed as part of the 'let's get rid of ill/disabled/old...people' policies of the time. Stockhausen was quite young at the end of the war (16?) and ended up working as a hospital orderly with very gravely injured soldiers. No wonder he wanted to come from another planet and his music was a little challenging... Also probably explains why he was all into electronic stuff and sine waves. All really pure, take nasty people out of music, lots of rigorous patterns, nothing down to chance, all predetermined. Trouble is if you do the intellectual bit first, you don't usually end up with good music. My school music teacher described spending a day as a student listening to his stuff and said he felt like throwing himself under a bus on the way home, so one to avoid if you are feeling delicate.
Interestingly, both Boulez and Stockhausen were taught by Messiaen who managed to write works of superabundant crazy happiness. We had Turangalila (1947?) blaring out this pm, because we might be taking the boys to hear it. Who was the Catholic? - Messiaen. Which modern composers write tunes and sound like they mean what they write? Gorecki, Part, MacMillan. Pattern?
People did seem to spend lots of time really getting sensitive to melody in the past. It was prized. On one of my many unpublished rants on liturgical music, for I keep not putting things up, I went on about how when people write hymns with words that do not follow a particular metrical pattern, the poor punter trying to sing has an element of uncertainty injected into the proceedings. (Don't even mention the pitches of the melody, nor the dismal harmony.)I noticed the difference reading the English translation of some Latin in my new Old Missal. It makes the sentiments have a feeling of strength, order, completeness, clarity, which is a good thing. Unless of course you want to communicate complexity, doubt, ambivalence etc.
Parting questions. How many Gs are there in last line of ,'Make me a channel of your peace.'
Does 'In bread we bring you Lord,' finish on an F or a C? Tonic or Dominant?
How many verses of 'On Eagles Wings' have an anacrusis? Why is it hard to come in on a C# against a G major triad? Aren't Augmented 4ths a bit dodgy? Didn't those clever monks 'invent' Bb to avoid the dreaded tritone?
No prizes alas.
Monday, 3 December 2007
Concert
I played in a concert on Sat with the main orchestra that I play in outside work. We did Sibelius Karelia Suite, Elgar The Enigma Variations and Nielsen 4 'The Inextinguishable.' It went well and a fun time was had by all. It was however, 'a big blow,' or as my section principal tends, so quaintly to put it, 'a serious smack in the gob.' So much so that at the end of Enigma, he had a four bar (unscripted)rest before having to whizz up to a top A, so I had to blast a bit more so that the over all section dynamic remained fff. Fortunately, my mighty Alex 103, see pic, is good for cutting through, when needed. Mostly I aim for the noble, round Dennis Brain (of happy horn player memory) sound.
We played Nimrod on 9th July, 2 days after 7/7 at St Paul's Covent Garden. There was a chance they would cancel it, but it went ahead and afterwards there were plenty of people at the pub. We did have to have another tuba player. The usual one was on the train adjacent to the one that blew up at Edgeware Rd and didn't feel like coming out to play. The brass fixer offered to cab him in, but he wasn't up to it.
Anyway, this is a happy orchestra. I've played in it for about six years and the people are friendly and the conductor very good. He is a timpanist, so in the final rehearsal when all the percussionists come and the hired percussion too, (for the orch owns nothing,) we laugh at how long it is before he asks the timp player if he has any harder sticks. This time she (as it goes) had to get wooden ones out. He usually ends up telling them that they are hired, so they can hit them as hard as they like-and they do!
Nielsen 4 has two pairs of timps on either side of the orch and the last page of my part was rather like playing through surround sound thunder. The last note was rather exciting - drop down to mp whilst the timps did their bong bong ...I, V, I, V you know the sort of thing, then tutti cresc to well very loud on strings up bow.
Some of it sounds like Mahler. Long major chords with a bit of 4-3 type movement are just good. Nielsen seemed to have to keep disrupting his lyrical writing with rather more terse counterpoint and some discordant stuff which seemed a shame. I heard this once with the CBSO and felt the same.
My Mum was chuffed cos the horns got a stand after Karelia. Well we do play the tune at the beginning and we have to hand stop.
Sunday, 2 December 2007
Advent Wreath
From the generous Curt Jester via Mulier Fortis.
Sorted. Lights another candle next Sun and everything.
Small things please small minds ....
Sorted. Lights another candle next Sun and everything.
Small things please small minds ....
Advent
Here already. Found my cribs and other attire yesterday and put them up. My new piano stool with capacious storage arrived on Fri, so the top of the piano is now clear for the first time in years. How long will that last?
Went to a marathon Mass and ended up next to a boy of 8/9 who was not sitting with his family for we were part of the choir. Anyway, rarely have I sat next to anyone so attentive in Mass of any age, so clearly fantastic parents. He had his own Missal, which was a bit kidified, but only to the extent that the print was slightly larger and things spaced out a bit more. I helped him a little to find the right First Sunday of Advent set of readings, but he was a real pro, pointing out every part of the Mass. Nice voice too. To use Grandma's word, 'edifying.'
Went to a marathon Mass and ended up next to a boy of 8/9 who was not sitting with his family for we were part of the choir. Anyway, rarely have I sat next to anyone so attentive in Mass of any age, so clearly fantastic parents. He had his own Missal, which was a bit kidified, but only to the extent that the print was slightly larger and things spaced out a bit more. I helped him a little to find the right First Sunday of Advent set of readings, but he was a real pro, pointing out every part of the Mass. Nice voice too. To use Grandma's word, 'edifying.'
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