September 22 - When We Are Laid

Harriet still off on her Modesto gig while the Theoreticians get a crack at "When I Am Laid in Earth" from Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (plus a bit more dictation fun from W.A. Mozart in Peter Shaffer's Amadeus),


thereafter the same get subjected to The Pied Piper of Hamelin - Overture: Rats! rap.



Thereafter thereafter a few private theory tutorials and recording Abraham and Isaac: III. The Rescue (with 50 different sound files of warfare -- guns, planes, tanks -- from the BBC collection), VI. The Circumcision (including four samples of hospital backgrounds), IX. The Deception (a GarageBand edit of a Cuebase original), and XI. The Sacrifice [XII. The Burial / XIII. The Wife / XIV. The Death] (utilizing bells, vibraphone, growly tenor sax, and distorted-overdrive electric guitar respectively for Isaac, Angel, Abraham, and God).



Leaving the music building, a beautiful Diablo sunset,



reunion, and two first two pages of The Passion According to St. Matthew, Op. 55, orchestrated.

September 21 - Post-Apocalyptic Fantasies

First rehearsal, at Chamber Arts, of John Bilata's Quantum Mechanic, plus revival of Antigone (above from the 2001 production, with Mark Alburger, Laetitia C. Page, and David Saslav) and we have excellent casts for both, graced by Alex Katsman's amazing nine-finger-piano work,


and such stars as Adam Broner and Eliza O'Malley (who will share the latter title role this time around with Tisha), all under the direction of Harriet March Page.



Dinner with Harriet at local bistro, then she's off to a Modesto hotel for a job early tomorrow and I am left to my own devices, finishing orchestration of Abraham and Isaac: XI. The Sacrifice, a total of 72 pages.

September 18 - Lucky Day

Quiz 5 in Theory with lots of chords, then lots of time in the lab, recording IV. The Covenant / V. The Slave Girl and 10 The Birth / The Banishment from Abraham and Isaac,


plus III.-VIII. of Quartet for the Beginning of Time: Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel.



Home with Harriet in the evening, and later 12 more pages (28 total) of XI. The Sacrifice from A & I orchestrated.

September 16 - Barbeque, Anyone?

Four pages of orchestration concocted for XI. The Sacrifice in Abraham and Isaac, based on the Igor Stravinsky.



Dictation in Theory is a combination plate of Josquin des Pres's El Grillo and Costanzo Festa's Quando Ritrovna; History class offers related smorgasbord in evening (where am happy to receive tasty Turkish janissary music from John); then it's out to Left Bank with Doug and Owen for true confessions over drinks, and home through the windy fog and crystal-clear moonlit mountains (yes, that's daylight above...), where Harriet's still cooking with various computer work.

September 14 - I Just Like To Pet Soft Things

LENNIE: I just like to pet soft things.

CURLEY'S WIFE: Well, who don't? Ever'body like that....

Final performance of our triumphant Mice and Men mini-run (above tag was the cast's incantation before going on stage), and a good time was had by all, with our largest audience, biggest box office, most champagne drunk and cake eaten, etc., and how nice to see Erin Lahm and Maria Mikheyenko return to their lovely femininity after pants-role turns as Slim/Whit and Lennie respectively -- looking forward to their being guards (but let's make them female this time!) in November's Antigone!



Brief stop at Doug and Miriam's while Harriet checks with M re costume designs for A, Orphelia Forever, and The Quantum Mechanic -- while I continue to attempt to organize photos from last August's southern California walking trip, on the floor with the computer in a position that Miriam finds amusing.... (O.K., guess it is...)...



Home at last, and the four pages of orchestration that are Abraham and Isaac: IX. The Deception (an easy feat, since the instrumentation and music -- but not the tempo and words -- are identical to the second strain of II. The Separation). Also post half the recordings...

IV. Fly Away
VI. You Shouldn't Work for Nothing
VII. How to Depart
VIII. On His Way
IX. One Day Dinah

...of Israel in Trouble at markalburgerworks.blogspot.com.

September 13 - Together at Last

Day off -- finally! (though Harriet has morning rehearsal of Ophelia Forever) and only confirmed at the last minute (due to an evening commitment cancellation) so, 34 pages of Abraham and Isaac orchestrations (page 34-68)

III. The Rescue (Fanfare-Boogie)

IV. The Covenant / V. The Slave Girl (Aria-Blues)

VI. The Circumcision (Calypso)

plus recorded instrumental version of



II. The Separation (Rag)

September 12 - Vaseline? What the Hell For?

Another successful Mice and Men tonight (above with Wayne Wong [George], Maria Mikheyenko [Lennie], and Alix Jerenic [Candy]), with the biggest turnout yet -- the cast has developed a tradition before going into the house that involves standing in a circle, with outstretched arms to the center, shouting a favorite line. Tonight it was "Vaseline? What the hell for?"



[Suzanna Mizell (Curley's Wife), Alex Katsman (Piano), Wong, Mikheynko, Jerenic]

As in...

CANDY: You see that glove on Curley's left hand? Well that glove is full of vaseline.

GEORGE: Vaseline? What the hell for?



Slip-sliding our way through the evening (here's many of the cast in the Act II Prelude Worksong -- Erin Lahm [Slim/Whit), Megan Cullen [Boss/Carlson], Alix, Adam Broner [Crooks], Suzanna),



it's Megan Cullen's 25th birthday (above with Wayne and Maria), so there's cake and ice cream, along with the requisite champagne reception.



Earlier, finish orchestrating the twisted ragtimic Abraham and Isaac: II. The Separation (four final pages for a total of 21) and begin conceiving the orchestration of III. The Rescue.

September 11 - Together and Separate

Quiz 4 in Theory, with examples drawn from Medieval organum (c. 1000) through Machaut, Dies Irae for keyboard-solfege, and four G modes (major, mixolydian, dorian, and minor). Off to Davis thereafter to score full scores for Benjamin Britten's War Requiem (again, and probably not the last time, either) and Igor Stravinsky's Ragtime for 11 instruments, both needed for orchestrational advice re instrumentation of Abraham and Isaac. By some miracle, track both down in the stacks without benefit of computer.



Upon return, 17 pages of orchestration for A&E: II. The Separation, a twisted rag equally indebted to Scott Joplin (and one of his contemporaries, James Marshall) and I.S. -- three strains of four thus far, scored roughly for the forces of the Stravinsky.

August 28 - Let There Be Hot, Heavy Music

Quiz 2 in Theory (Treble and Bass Clef -- F Modes), still more students signing up, learned how to get add codes online (thanks to Owen), heard Chris's new piece (quite impressive), record vocals for Mice and Men: Act V, Scene 2 A "Lennie, what you shoutin' for?", plus instrumental versions of Abraham and Isaac: I. The Call, and Op. 98 The Creation: I-III. One hour and forty minutes of the Biblical tome recorded thus far....



At home, Harriet still working away at donor letter mailing, while I finish orchestration (18 pages total for the movement) of Israel in Trouble: III. Eyes Dim (musically inspired by the Igor Stravinsky Abraham and Isaac, despite the different later story line) -- Rebekah turns out to be quite the conniver; with a willing, youthful, somewhat callous Jacob; Isaac blindly clueless, extensively singing away in an atonal/middle-eastern manner; Esau not far behind him. Additionally, good to receive word from the state government today -- evidently tax submission was OK. As well, second day of a heat wave (supposedly temps over one hundred last two days, though porch thermom never registers more than 92 in our experience over the interval...however, we've suspected the little gauge may be past its prime...predict, nonetheless 75 degrees at 2 in the morning), so no complaints.

August 27 - 1st, 2nd, & 3rd Column Operations

Three Greek melodies in Theory today (Mesomenes melody finally posted at markalburgermusichistory.blogspot.com), plus the Ludwig van Beethoven "Ode to Joy" (simplified version in C) for dictation.



Subsequent recordings in the lab are vocals and effects for Mice and Men: Act V, Scene 2 "I didn't forget" (above are Wayne Wong [George] and Maria Mikheynko [Lennie] from last Sunday's rehearsal -- upcoming performance info at markalburgerevents.blogspot.com and goathall.org), plus instrumental versions of Israel in Trouble: I. If It Is Thus and II. Cunning Hunter. Additionally, post Wicked Prelude from Noah's Flood at myspace.com/markalburger.



On the homefront, orchestration completed for Abraham and Isaac: I. The Call; and Harriet and I do mailings for SF Cabaret Grand Opera show and 21st-Century Music, delivered in the dead of night,


after which it's time to orchestrate yet again, this time the first page of III. Isaac was old from Israel in Trouble, indebted to the Igor Stravinsky A and I.

August 26 - Another Day

[Mark Alburger - Waiting for Godot: L. What Do We Do Now (after Samuel Beckett)]

ESTRAGON:

Another day done with.

VLADIMIR:

Not yet.

ESTRAGON:

For me it's over and done with, no matter what happens.



More bass clef work in theory, with dictation on Kyrie IV (section I), a few updates on the blog,



including posting of the Chinese Entrance Hymn for the Emperor (c. 1000 BC); evening class is Ancient Music from



Fu Hsi to



St. Ambrose, all on markalburgermusichistory.blogspot.com



Left Bank with Aaron, Doug, and Owen -- then home for another orchestrated page (2) of Abraham and Isaac.

August 25 - Perfect Day

A seemingly perfect day in the Berkeley Hills, looking towards Mt. Diablo, and everywhere, beginning with merriment with Harriet and teaching interval numbers, qualities, number inversions, and bass cleff in Theory off of the markalburgermusichistory.blogspot.com site.


Then it's off to Cal to try to track down full score of Igor Stravinsky's Abraham and Isaac, which the U.C. Davis computer had cited as extant there last week, but first via the East Bay Municipal Water District Lands (with their ungainly acronym of EBMUD, including San Pablo and Briones Reservoirs) to pick up a still-10-buck one-year trail permit, not held since 2004 (not as good access as the free Marin MMWD lands, but infinitely better than the closed Peninsular district),


jumping over the hills on Grizzly Peak Boulevard, the views to San Francisco and the Golden Gate.


Park near palatial housing near International House and foot it down Bancroft to the new Music Library


(adjacent to the Music Building and Sather Tower). After some wandering through the labyrinths of genre (how one yearns for alphabetical by composer and then by title....), find the score, pay mildly ruinous rates for yet another speciality copy card and copies, and begin making the way home -- back up Claremont Canyon, down on Fish Ranch Road (love that name, imagine cowboys riding carp), merging with 24, Pleasant Hill / Taylor Boulevards, 680, Suisun Valley / Waterman Roads, I-80 -- rather a circuituous trafic-riven route today.




Finish orchestration of Israel in Trouble: II. Esau was a cunning hunter -- total of 19 pages in the selection (a contemporary continuo of bassoon, tuba, guitar, piano, cello, bass + plus horn and trombone obligati),



plus one page beginning instumentation of Abraham and Isaac (the dark Call, with hocketing hushed vocal triplets outlining F# "do-sol, te-fa, sol" then echoes in "sol" duplets), against pedal octave lowest A's (O.K., melody could be re-interpreted as "la-mi, sol-re, mi") and rich Britten/WarRequiemesque romantic appoggiatura chords.


Also design with Harriet, flyer for September 2008, which will additionally be posted at markalburgerevents.blogspot.com.