Wednesday - April 09, 2008

new orchestra ditty...

 

I haven't really written for orchestra or orchestral instruments for a while now.  Mostly, I've been focusing on electronic music (when I've been focusing on anything at all, that is).

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So the fellow that conducts the orchestra here at PC asked me to write something for them. 

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I'm excited to do it.  The only problem is that the orchestra here has been historically lacking.  Richard Thomas has gotten them to play much better in the last year.  In fact, I've never heard them sound so good!  They still have some issues with intonation mostly, but all in all they are making great progress.  So the trick for me as a composer is to write something that I think is "me" (the language & rhythms mostly), but still make it playable for them.  Hopefully, it will challenge them.  Hopefully, they'll like the music and enjoy playing it as well.  We'll see, I guess.

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One nice thing about the orchestra is that there is a particularly good violinist.  She was in my freshman harmony/sight-singing & ear training classes last year.  She's actually a music minor, but she's sticking with the orchestra as she goes through school here.  She's just cute as a button, too.  Anyhow, I plan to write a piece that will sort of showcase her as much as the orchestra.  I have ulterior motives in this, to be sure.  The more I can use her playing in the piece, the more solid (I hope) the rest of the orchestra will be.  Besides, I've envisioned this piece with some solo sections for a violin anyhow... so I might as well go ahead and make it the focus of the piece.

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I honestly don't want it to turn into a concerto.  That's just not something I want to do.  I plan to write a 6 or 7 minute piece for them only so that Richard can program it more easily when they perform it.  I have some serious trepidations about it, though.  I much prefer to have my music performed well.  (don't we all!?!??)  I feel like it's worth taking a chance, though.  The orchestra hasn't done much with languages other than classical and a bit of romantic.... so it'll be good for them to hear something with a bit newer language.  It certainly won't be an atonal work.... but like most of my "art" music, it'll be close to a pan-diatonic kind of thing.  Lots of 9th chords - stacked 7th's - those kinds of things.  Partially dissonant (I just can't help it - "finding beauty in the dissonance" as maynard says.... but partically lovely, what with the major 7th chords etc.  So we'll see.  It'll be next fall before it's performed (I plan to have it finished this month - i've already got about 2.5 minutes), so check back in 6 months!