OCTET PROJECT, 12 pieces for fl, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone & contrabass

An arrangement of Igor Stravinsky's wildly fun and virtuosic Piano-Rag-Music, for flute (picc), oboe, E-flat clarinet, bassoon, F horn, B-flat cornet, tenorbass trombone & contrabass (Should be played by heart, and w/o conductor).

The Piano-Rag-Music is a part of my ongoing OCTET PROTECT, which includes at present a set of 12 pieces, all for the basic OCTANDRE ensemble of eight. For more INFOR & MATERIALS, go to my website at:

http://www.cs-music.com/octet

Piano-Rag-Music webscore http://bit.ly/ID2QqC
score pdf http://bit.ly/1bbUfks
parts pdf http://bit.ly/ID36pJ
performance model mp3 http://bit.ly/1eElHvr

For rehearsal/study/performance help, email to cliff@picture-poems.com. Or SKYPE me at "cliffcrego" anytime. I'm also a wilderness photographer, so be patient and persistent is I happen to be out of my Office in Oregon for a few weeks.

OCTET PROJECT: Igor Stravinsky's Piano-Rag-Music (1919), arr. by CLIFF CREGO

The second in a set of 12 pieces for OCTET, inspired by OCTANDRE, by Edgard Varèse, and intended to be "seed pieces" for a new kind of ensemble & performance practice.  SEE website for INFO, scores, pdfs, parts, mp3s, etc. at: http://www.cs-music.com/octet

GO TO webscore for iPad at: http://cs-music.com/octet/octet_stone-on-stone_1.html

DOWNLOAD score at: http://cs-music.com/octet/octet_stone-on-stone.pdf

DOWNLOAD parts at: http://www.cs-music.com/octet/octet_stone-on-stone_parts.pdf

from OCTET PROJECT, "Stone on Stone"

DOWNLOAD score pdf at: cs-music.com/octet/trombone-duo_1983.pdf FRAGMENT FROM A live performance at IRCAM / CENTRE Pompidou, PARIS. ASKO Ensemble, w/ Toon van Ulsen tenor #trombone & Vincent Rombouts, bass trombone



TROMBONE DUO "Outward Bound," for tenor & bass trombone [fragment]

This is a set of aphorisms and sayings that goes with my calendar for teachers and students (like myself) of Yoga & the Alexander Technique. My idea is that both are necessary for education. In my view, this is most especially true in the performing Arts.

The Alexander Technique is a subtle method of integrating mind and body in such a way that each functions with maximum efficiency and ease and minimum stress and tension. The Technique is an educational process which provides an individual with the means to identify and change habits and attitudes interfering with "the proper use of oneself."

Download the ebook version of the 2018 AT CALENDAR at: pdf [7.5Mb] http://bit.ly/2nbJrTu  

OR BUY PRINT version at : http://bit.ly/1uhzpKV

TWIN GUIDEPOSTS TO LEARNING, Yoga & The Alexander Technique / 12 aphorisms

SEE INTRO at: http://cs-music.com/octet/intro_octet_rally-on-7th.html It's ironic that this is a protest piece, written after witnessing the massive demonstration in NYC at the 2004 Republican Convention. Who was running back then? Oh yes, George the 2nd. How we go on....

iPad WEBSCORE: http://bit.ly/1uhCZdZ DOWNLOAD score pdf: http://bit.ly/1E9Z9jn PARTS pdf: http://bit.ly/1uhCYXr

GO TO another OCTET Project companion piece, "Stone on Stone," on Soundcloud http://bit.ly/1wStmRM



from OCTET PROJECT, "Rally on 7th Avenue" performance model

An arrangement of the first movement of Mozart's sublime Sonata for Violin and Piano—for flute, oboe, solo A or B-flat clarinet (the performer can decide which he or she prefers), bassoon, f horn, c trumpet, trombone & contrabass. This particular piece is intended as the companion of the clarinet concertino OCTET No. 3, "Chorale" ["Chorale" pdf http://bit.ly/1tUUq1K mp3 http://bit.ly/1x3r6oR] The idea of the arrangements part of the OCTET Project is balance. Balance of living sound. To create new repertoire for a the new kind of earthed, grounded, sostenuto, intensely poetic / vocal sound.

After years of New Music performance, I've come to see the specialized contemporary music group as a kind of ghetto. You know, a place where the sun never shines. A place where you'd never want to hang out, let alone live, well, unless you happened to be specialized in contemporary music. 

I think we need something new. So I started making not so much pieces, but more open source projects, for specific groups or ensembles. They are meant to be WORK SPACES, to tear them apart, study them, sing them, learn them by heart, play them without music and without conductor. 

This approach is based on projects I did with the ASKO Ensemble in AMSTERDAM. One that especially comes to mind is performing the Varèse, OCTANDRE, in this way. It took two months of intensive rehearsals to learn, and set a whole new standard. When you walk out on the stage like this as a collective -- naked, as it were -- people KNOW you are serious, serious about yourselves as orchestra, and serious about the music you are going to play. It's like climbing a mountain without ropes and oxygen, a mountain they said could never be climbed. Well, once you do it, the world is a different place.

GO TO MOZART webscore: http://bit.ly/1x3ovvg
DOWNLOAD score pdf: http://bit.ly/1tUVseg
DOWNLOAD clarinet part A & B-flat pdf: http://bit.ly/1x3oE1G
DOWNLOAD set of parts pdf: http://bit.ly/1x3oJm4

INTRO to OCTET Project is at: http://www.cs-music.com/octet



from OCTET PROJECT, "E minor clarinet sonata" [arr. violin K. 304]

INTRO/website for the OCTET Project is at: http://www.cs-music.com/octet CHORALE is intended as the companion to the clarinet MOZART concertino arr. [score pdf http://bit.ly/1tUVseg ] One of the central ideas of the OCTET Project is balance. Balance of living sound. To create new repertoire for a the new kind of earthed, grounded, sostenuto, intensely poetic / vocal sound.

After years of New Music performance, I've come to see the specialized contemporary music group as a kind of ghetto. A place where the sun never shines. A place where you'd never want to hang out, let alone live, well, unless you happened to be specialized in contemporary music. 

I think we need something new. So I started making not so much pieces, but more open source projects, for specific groups or ensembles. They are meant to be WORK SPACES, to tear them apart, study them, sing them, learn them by heart, play them without music and without conductor. 

This approach is based on projects I did with the ASKO Ensemble in AMSTERDAM. One that especially comes to mind is performing the Varèse, OCTANDRE, in this way. It took two months of intensive rehearsals to learn, and set a whole new standard. When you walk out on the stage like this as a collective -- naked, as it were -- people KNOW you are serious, serious about yourselves as orchestra, and serious about the music you are going to play. It's like climbing a mountain without ropes and oxygen, a mountain they said could never be climbed. Well, once you do it, the world is a different place.

GO TO iPad webscore: http://www.cs-music.com/octet/octet_chorale-1.html
DOWNLOAD score pdf: http://www.cs-music.com/octet/octet_chorale.pdf
DOWNLOAD B-flat clarinet part pdf: http://www.cs-music.com/octet/octet_chorale-solo-cl.pdf
DOWNLOAD set of parts pdf: http://www.cs-music.com/octet/octet_chorale_parts.pdf




from OCTET PROJECT, "Chorale," w/ solo clarinet, performance model

THREE of FIVE parts….sound interpolations, Integrales (1928) Edgar Varėse, recorded live in UTRECHT, the Netherlands, ASKO Ensemble, Cliff Crego conducting.

IMAGE: Cover photo STONE ON STONE project, Native American rock art, along the convergence of the CROOKED, METOLIUS & DESCHUTES Rivers, OREGON.

THE OCTET PROJECT “Stone On Stone” 
https://vimeo.com/929218701

The QUALITATIVE GROUND is an order which emerges FROM WITHIN the players of the ensemble. Normally, in Western music, we make the profound mistake of imposing order FROM WITHOUT (ie. the conductor)

THE OCTET PROJECT “Stone On Stone” 

web score http://cs-music.com/octet/octet_stone-on-stone_1.html

performance score http://cs-music.com/octet/octet_stone-on-stone.pdf

set of parts http://cs-music.com/octet/octet_stone-on-stone_parts.pdf

Other OCTET Project pieces: STRAVINSKY Piano-rag arr. https://vimeo.com/931172163

CHAMBER CONCERTO Violin https://vimeo.com/926918436

Viva Varēse! Celebrating 100 years OCTANDRE. The piece that built the ASKO | SCHOENBERG ensemble; It’s also the inspiration and point of departure of my OCTET Project at http://cs-music.com/octet

Score ebook: http://picture-poems.com/pdfs/varese_octandre.pdf

INTRO: OCTET Project “Stone On Stone” parts I, II, & III

GO TO iPad webscore: http://bit.ly/1s1Jm4j INTRO 4 CONCERTINO http://bit.ly/1wS6kGo SCORE pdf: http://bit.ly/1s1JFvI

GO TO solo violin webpage: http://www.cs-music.com/octet/octet_c-concerto_vl-1.html

DOWNLOAD solo violin part pdf: http://www.cs-music.com/octet/octet_c-concerto_vl.pdf

DOWNLOAD solo violin performance model mp3 [11' 4.3Mb] http://www.cs-music.com/octet/octet_c-concerto-vl.mp3

DOWNLOAD set of parts pdf: http://www.cs-music.com/octet/octet_chorale_parts.pdf

INTRO/website for the OCTET Project is at: http://www.cs-music.com/octet

from OCTET PROJECT, "Concertino," w/ solo violin, performance model

THIS IS A STUDY piece for my OCTET Project. [Please forgive a few wrong notes in the model...] It's inspired by the WEBERN-BACH Ricercare a 6 voci, one of the hardest pieces I've ever conducted. The challenge is to find and develop a resonant, vocal style of playing as ensemble. And that in a composite texture which is at once simple & complex, at once open [naked] & dense. The problem is that each individual has to know the whole, which is generally not the case if we rush or "end-gain" a piece to concert performance, or become dependent on a conductor. The only really factor keeping us from working this way, it seems to me, is "time" or its contemporary equivalent, "money." If each of the eight players learns to study the score, and the BACH original, by singing all the voices, playing it on a keyboard, making multitrack recordings, etc., a new sense of ensemble sound and performance will very quickly unfold. 

WEBSCORE is at: http://www.cs-music.com/octet/octet_bach_b-minor_1.html
DOWNLOAD score pdf is at: http://www.cs-music.com/octet/octet_bach_b-minor.pdf
DOWNLOAD parts at: http://www.cs-music.com/octet/octet_bach_b-minor_parts.pdf
DOWNLOAD performance model mp3 at: http://www.cs-music.com/octet/octet_bach-b-minor.mp3

The idea is to OCTET Project is to set a new standard. LISTEN, for example, to this recording of the WEBERN-BACH below. In my view, with all due respect to the great musicians playing, it's imbalanced in almost every way. Just a mess, really. See what you think....What I'm critical of is NOT the individuals playing, but rather the performance practice itself, as a whole.

♫ BOULEZ plays WEBERN-BACH Ricercare a 6 voci (1935), London http://bit.ly/1zU2lv9 


from OCTET PROJECT, "Arr. BACH fugue in b minor [no. 24 book I] performance model

THIS IS THE 1st movement of THE SHEPHERD'S PURSE cycle, for soprano, oboe (oboe d'amore), & harp. It can be, of course, played separately. I prefer doing the poem before the music. This can be be performed by the soprano, or, alternatively, by a separate bard / narrator...or by the enble ensemble, whatever works best for your group.

GO TO the webscore at: http://cs-music.com/voice/complaint-1.html

Performance score pdf: http://cs-music.com/voice/pdfs/download_complaint.pdf

INTRO to the cycle as a whole, including texts & translations, etc., is at: http://cs-music.com/voice/intro_shepherds-purse.html



from THE SHEPHERD'S PURSE cycle, "Complaint," for oboe & mezzo

THIS IS A STUDY piece for my OCTET Project. It's inspired by the WEBERN-BACH Ricercare a 6 voci, one of the hardest pieces I've ever conducted. The challenge is to find and develop a resonant, vocal style of playing as ensemble. And that in a composite texture which is at once simple & complex, at once open [naked] & dense. The problem is that each individual has to know the whole, which is generally not the case if we rush or "end-gain" a piece to concert performance, or become dependent on a conductor. The only really factor keeping us from working this way, it seems to me, is "time" or its contemporary equivalent, "money." If each of the eight players learns to study the score, and the BACH original, by singing all the voices, playing it on a keyboard, making multitrack recordings, etc., a new sense of ensemble sound and performance will very quickly unfold. 

WEBscore is at: http://www.cs-music.com/octet/octet_bach-c-sharp_1.html
DOWNLOAD score pdf is at: http://www.cs-music.com/octet/octet_bach-c-sharp-minor.pdf
DOWNLOAD parts at: http://www.cs-music.com/octet/octet_bach-c-sharp_parts.pdf
DOWNLOAD performance model mp3 at: http://www.cs-music.com/octet/octet_c-sharp-minor.mp3

The idea is to OCTET Project is to set a new standard. LISTEN, for example, to this recording of the WEBERN-BACH below. In my view, with all due respect to the great musicians playing, it's imbalanced in almost every way. Just a mess, really. See what you think....What I'm critical of is NOT the individuals playing, but rather the performance practice itself, as a whole.

♫ BOULEZ plays WEBERN-BACH Ricercare a 6 voci (1935), London http://bit.ly/1zU2lv9 


from OCTET PROJECT, "Arr. BACH fugue in c# minor [no. 4 book I] performance model

THE MODEL BEGINS with the little signature-epigram poem of the same title, the wonderful piece by JOHN KEATS (1795-1821) http://bit.ly/1y0k0Qw THE INTRO IS at: http://bit.ly/1M78opu Webscore is at: http://bit.ly/1CbywK9 DOWNLOAD pdf of the whole project at: http://bit.ly/1M78EF4

The two pieces can, of course, be played independently. Movement one, "Outward Bound," is written for trumpet one hand, where the left hand has to be FREE in order to use the straight mute. (Make sure to use a mute with high resistance or impedance, so you can get that high intensity, "buzzy," sound.) It should be played -- unlike the performance model -- entirely without vibrato.

One of the main problems of this project is the creation of what I think of as a whole, open, resonant, centered sound, that can be round as an Italian vowel, but also vibrantly brassy, yet without distorting edge. My experience is that you need to work on this kind of sound in the right acoustic environment. A BIG space. Lots os echo, but without loss of articulation and detail. The idea of the two movements taken together is learning to project the energy, the quality of the sound, and to fill an entire space with its presence. BRIGHT STAR, indeed!

[NOTE: If c trumpet is not your thing, you can easily play on a b-flat, or even d trumpet. But then, it might be best NOT TO TRANSPOSE the pieces, but rather play straight through the natural bore of the instrument.]





StarCycle PROJECT, "Bright Star," for solo trumpet in two movements, "Entrance & Flare (1.189)"

Composer. Writer. Photographer. Former conductor & founder of the ASKO ensemble.

On a bike/ski/hike trek of the Pacific Northwest studying native plants & climate breakdown 🌲 from sagebrush sea to whitebark pine. Composing off-grid the whole way.

#Sun2Sound 🌕 on Bluesky

THINKING LIKE A STONEPINE, a soundpoem manifesto https://vimeo.com/844665859

“LOVE & WATER, three thought poems w/ coda, PHAROS for small orchestra, “Nightwind”” https://vimeo.com/847079690 

CURRENTLY on mt bike/ski/climbing trek through Pacific Northwest, working on a photobook about WHITEBARK PINE COLLAPSE and CLIMATE CRISIS. BASES in the WALLOWAS | AMSTERDAM | ALPS. 

WEEKLY photo/poetry updates at www.picture-poems.com & THE CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE new music, poetry & dance performance project at www.cs-music.com

ALWAYS ON THE LOOKOUT for progressive, tech-savy, instrumental virtuosi interested in dialogue & collaborative undertakings.

CONTACT cliff@picture-opoems.com
Or on SKYPE or FACETIME @cliffcrego

MUSIC? The one thing humans do,
that makes the rest of nature jealous.