Mvmt 3 :   The Stars Shining Over Drunken Gypsies 


LIVE FROM PREMIERE MVMT 3  of 3

All the different dark mornings/ the unseen shooting stars

THE UNSEEN SHOOTING STARS: DOUBLE CONCERTO FOR TWO CELLOS AND ORCHESTRA Op. 128

Not a celebration of Sagittarius A* our galaxy's supermassive black hole (45 million times the size of the sun) recently photographed ..but a general reflection that these collapsed stars are quite common in the universe (1 per 1000 stars) and gobble up everything near them including light. As our nearest black hole is reckoned to be 1500 light years away, the chances of us being lunched by super gravity is pretty much zero. Cause for celebration?....being swallowed by a near neighbour is still a possibility...

Track:
Clarinet bass drones / clarinet figures
Flute trio with clarinet bass chords and synth
Soprano saxophone improvisation.....
..Clarinet bass section...reprise drone/figures
Soprano sax trio with alto sax bass chords, beats and oboe.

(Image c/o Pinterest)


Black Hole Party

A massively bombastic attempt at a blues/stride Hammerklavier style virtuoso piano extravaganza.  The main theme is derived from a hip-hop bass line and funk rhythms drive the composition throughout. It's been performed by virtuosi such as Nadia Shpachenko and Paul Hoffman. Written in 1994, its world premiere was by Andrew F. Anderson, Ann Arbor, November 21, 1997.  

It was one of the first widely-shared piano MIDI's: in 1994 it was actually hosted on http://ircam.fr/midi/bs.mid.  The title was inspired, in part, by Kandinsky's painting, The Blue Rider.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Blaue_Reiter

Score + MIDI: https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Harrington,_Jeffrey_Michael

Piano Music 

BlueStrider for Piano - Interpreted by Steve Layton

Started out as a funky tango, got dramatic, slowed it down, turned it into a new prelude.

Prelude #23 for Piano

Peaches en Regalia - Frank Zappa Arr. Gene Pritkser

in orbit, abandoned

"Spem in Alium" (Latin for "Hope in any other") is a composition from 1530 by the great English composer Thomas Tallis. The fact that it's still held in high regard after half a millennium is no fluke. It's an incredible piece of music, and one that I was excited to commit my particular brand of heresy to.

The original composition is for 40 singers, split into 8 groups of 5 voices. Only one group starts the composition, but the others join in piecemeal, and at times, groups are constantly exchanging lines with each other. In a live performance, the vocal lines will seem to bounce from one end of the stage to the other.

I won't lie, I go into most of my adaptations thinking the same thought: "What would this sound like as doom metal?" But each composition wants a different way of being handled, and each of the 40 voices is vitally important. I didn't want this to become a Branca/Chatham guitar army piece (though I think that would be cool for a different piece of music), so I started playing around with different rock-based instruments. 

In the end, the instrumentation is:

* 1 piano
* 2 clean guitars
* 2 distorted guitars
* 2 bass guitars
* 2 sawtooth synths
* 2 square synths
* 1 bass synth
* 1 Hammond organ through a Leslie
* 1 set of tubular bells
* 2 cellos
* 1 drum kit
* 1 drum machine

The guitars, synths, piano, and organ handle about 3 vocal lines each. Mixing this was tough, because I want the distorted guitars to have power, but I don't want those lines to dominate the others. The sawtooth synths do a good job reining them in.

And then of course, we have the drums. Even more heretical! But at this point, I am even more sold on having drums in these adaptations. Drums are the most dynamic non-vocal instrument in a rock outfit, so they're essential in forming expression. They're also excellent at guiding the listener through the various peaks and valleys that the piece meanders through.

It turns out that the heterogeneous instrumentation gives this 500-year-old piece a surprisingly postmodern feel. Whereas a homogeneous choir wouldn't really experience a huge change in timbre or feel when switching from one group to another, any group change in this ensemble feels like a genre change. The drum machine helps in those changes, allowing for a more laid-back sound as the synths take over from the louder rock instruments.

I'm still not totally sure what I think of this final result. It's one of the weirdest things I've done so far. Maybe I'll be more comfortable with it in a few weeks, maybe I'll redraft it at some point, but I hope you find something in this to enjoy.

Thank you to Musescore user fabiobetti, whose MIDI transcription of this piece I leaned on heavily to make this. https://musescore.com/user/3100216/scores/1010121

Hear 40 singers performing it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT-ZAAi4UQQ

40 cellos: https://youtu.be/b28jPRB0Sdk?si=oOiBpQAglMF7_i_T

40 guitars: https://youtu.be/fbL5ltoT3Mg?si=WFr2soscR1QiqG-h

Spem In Alium (Rock version)

A dissonant but lyrical work for alto saxophone and piano. Commissioned by and dedicated to Hailey Myers.

Notturno for alto sax and piano - Minchew

Performed live at the Mizzou Festival in 2023.

from within | Ali Can Puskulcu | Alarm Will Sound

Those that can't do, teach. And for those that do metal, also teach. Garrett Tanner is a Swiss Army knife of a person, writer, music teacher, and musician. We discuss how being a teacher has affected his musical intake, what it is like being in a polka band, and some of the best releases in metal from 2019 (yes, this was recorded in 2019).

Band Discussed - Reverend Bizarre

Support Garrett's bands:

Shinegrinder - https://www.facebook.com/grindtheshine/
Tree No Leaves - https://treenoleaves.com/

THE UNSEEN SHOOTING STARS: DOUBLE CONCERTO FOR TWO CELLOS AND ORCHESTRA Op. 128

PKW

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