Vaughan Williams Concerto - 3

An awesome opera I am writing - towards the end of this extract it gets VERY unfinished, so cut it a bit of slack... and obviously the finished version will be a lot better, and longer.

Head over to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APYTf6Ff7Fc to hear this same piece of music, however with a score to watch at the same time.

Head over to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd-3utSLRUY To see the piece of music, except everything (with the exception of percussion) on a piano part. I haven't uploaded this version to soundcloud due to my limited space.

If you want to read the rough libretto I have, or a rough story line just let me know - it's based around a fantasy universe.

Mrûnimtruhog Orchestra, Acts 1&2, As Of 17 - 2-15 (WIP opera)

Through the Thicket

I thought a lot lately about the terrible, terrible plight of the refugee. 
A journey from episode to episode, mood to mood. A psychological journey.

I thought it was beyond belief what that camerawoman did - tripping a refugee and child. It really brought tears to my eyes.
Actually, by the time I saw that video on a Spanish news TV channel, I was already about one third through a piece for orchestra, which I had already called "Refugee". I started it about a month and a half ago - and I finished it last night - after coming back from Carlisle; although I was feeling really, really not well. It is a bit over 10 minutes long. 11 minutes or so.

I'd subjectively say that I worked pretty fast, especially considering that in the meantime I happened to play among other things, Mahler 6, Verdi's Requiem, the John Williams concert, etc.
Plus I also spend a lot of time lately learning ... something else.

I am still not 100% sure about a few things. For example I haven't totally decided yet whether to add horns to a passage or not. Whether to leave the harp glissando in or not. Whether to add a solo double bass to a bass clarinet passage or not, etc But I'll see; for now I think this is the best choice. 

If I listened to it, I'd probably focus on 3 things: 
- what I call the "clouds of sound" - for example the harmonics that start the piece (and conclude it, but in a very different context)
- the "activity" - the faster moving lines, often in imitation; which turn into "clouds of sound" themselves sometimes
- the second inversion A major chord - that appears at first "hidden", "encrypted", but becomes more prominent towards the end. This chord symbolizes the utopian dream, hope, that keeps the refugee going, through a terrible plight. The "utopian chord"... 

I think about this piece as a journey. But maybe not so much a physical journey as a psychological journey. From episode to episode - "held together" by common "little motives" or "cells". As soon as it starts to settle somewhere, it transforms into something else. 
The end is at least in part a utopian resolution. And nostalgia. The English Horn which should prevail over the other winds; and especially the soft second inversion A major chord mentioned above, in the divided cellos and basses, which appears under the "cloud of sounds" - the high harmonics.

The xylophone and celesta (at times plus harp) form a "special group" quite prominent in a few episodes. Ideally they would be placed close to each other, and not too far back.

Also I am always so affected by the music that surrounds me... The way I subjectively justify it is that I try to absorb everything - I let it "ferment" - and what comes out, hopefully is transformed, metamorphosed. The Ligeti, hopefully is no longer Ligeti, the Saariaho no longer Saariaho, the Mahler no longer Mahler, etc I cannibalize them, ha! Hopefully they become bits of "me"! And I always have my "cryptic" allusions to other things. I can't help it. But the truth is when I allude to something, I don't really allude to the original. Rather I allude to a felling, a memory, an impression that remained with me. There are 2 such "allusions" to Mahler 6, for example: the harp in the low register (because the low harp in Mahler 6 gives me the shivers, in those passages with the tremolo cellos, for example; God!!) - and the "funeral" brass, just before the "resolution", at the end. There is nothing quite as "funeral" and as "dark", as a passage for low brass can be!

The orchestra is unfortunately bigger than I originally planned: 3 flutes (3rd doubles piccolo), 3 oboes (3rd doubles English Horn), 2 clarinets, 1 bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 1 contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba, percussion ( 3 players: xylophone - with quite a prominent part - wood block, snare drum, bells, ratchet, triangle, whip, bass drum, tamtam), timpani, celesta, harp and strings.

Refugee

An augmented sonification of Kyle Gann's Anatomy of an Octave (the extant condensed version with 580 pitches) in the form of a catalog piece. All 580 ratios are played against a 240Hz base pitch, one at a time from low to high with a duration of 7 seconds each, with additional chord tones derived from the frequencies (combination tones, Pythagorean means, etc.) using my Implication Organ instrument in Csound. I recommend downloading before listening to get the highest quality sound.

This piece is also on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=697lo5twu5A

Thanks to Kyle for his work, and for giving me the go-ahead to publish this piece and approving the title.

For more information about the list of ratios, see Kyle's excellent book The Arithmetic of Listening (https://www.amazon.com/Arithmetic-Listening-History-Impractical-Musician/dp/0252084411). Also, listen to his music!

More on the Implication Organ: https://github.com/DaveSeidel/music-src/tree/master/implication-organ

I had intended to publish this on Bandcamp, but the file exceeds their upload limits. But you can consider supporting me by buying one of my other releases at https://mysterybear.bandcamp.com/

Image: The Dove, No. 14 by Hilma af Klint, retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:5_hilma_af_klint,_the_dove_no_14,_1915.jpg

Gann's Anatomy

Polymicrotonal metred/unmetred contemporary classical music for performance (not for computer).

Mrûnimtruhog Orchestra, Acts 1&2, As Of 17 - 2-15 (WIP opera)

Panmicrotonal Contemporary classical Music

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