August 21 - A Lied of Human Babbling Wind

First Fall 2008 Quiz for the Theoreticians and subsequently in the lab recording Babel: III And the Lord Scattered Them (with BBC sound files from 22 different countries, to wit

Algeria
Bolivia
Central African Republic
China
Columbia
Czech Republic
Ethiopia
France
Greece
Hungary
India
Kenya
Morocco
Nepal
Niger
Paraguay
Peru
Slovakia
Spain
Turkey
United Kingdom
Zaire [now back to Congo, of course]),



Iliad: II. Odysseus,




and Mice and Men: Act V, Scene 2 A, B, all in instrumental versions (Wayne and Maria last Sunday again, Scene 2 F "And I can tend the rabbits").



Zip past home and off to Davis to get scores for the last movement of the below, in its orchestral version --

Opus 62: Six Romances on Verses by English Poets for bass and piano (1942)
Poems by Walter Raleigh, Robert Burns, and William Shakespeare;
translation by Boris Pasternak and Samuil Marshak.

1. To a Son: Largo
2. In the Fields: Moderato
3. Macpherson's Farewell: Allegretto
4. Jenny: Moderato
5. Tired with All These: Lento
6. The King's Campaign: Allegretto

Dedicated to Lev Atovmian (no. 1), Shostakovich's wife Nina (2), Izaak Glikman (3), Yuri Sviridov (4), Ivan Sollertinsky (5) and Vissarion Shebalin (6).

First performance: June 6, 1943, Moscow Conservatory by E. Flaks (baritone) and the composer-pianist.

Opus 62A: Six Romances on Verses by English Poets for bass and orchestra (1943)
Orchestration of opus 62.
Unpublished; later version opus 140.

Opus 140: Six Romances on Verses by English Poets for bass and chamber-orchestra (1971)
Chamber-orchestral version of opus 62 (1942).



-- and the Hosanna sections of the Benjamin Britten War Requiem Sanctus,



the former as an orchestrational guide to The Wind God: XIII. We Almost Mutaneed and the latter as a check to orchestration of Iliad Songs: III Achilles.



Finally returning home, do and corroborate orchestrations as above.

August 18 - Ivory Tower Reversal Mercies

Another fine new crop of Music Theory students on a cool first-of-the-semester day -- a bad economy seems to result in good enrollment; the revised schedule (a decided improvement) is no doubt a factor (as is possibly Monty Bairos's recommend of a teaching style related to his excellent approach but "on crack"[!]). Thereafter in the lab recording instrumental versions of Op. 47 Babel: II. Behold, They Are One,




Op. 46 Iliad Songs: I. Agamemnon,



and Op 45 Mice and Men: Act V, Scene 2 parts B and C (here's Maria Mikheyenko [Lennie] and Wayne Wong [George] at yesterday's rehearsal of the mercy-killing finale).



Relatively late in the evening, finish the orchestration of II. Odysseus from 46 above with 3 more pages (7 total in movement and 9 for piece thus far...rather not a lot, really....).

August 16 - Brains, Rains, Trains

17 pages of orchestration, finishing Babel, Op. 47, with III. And so the Lord scattered them -- 29 total -- a short piece, second movement vaguely Latin, third with suggestions of passacaglia (as the first) and blues -- probably clocking in under 5 minutes -- we'll see next week, as hope to record soon.



And beyond that, another page (5) of Iliad Songs, Op. 46, orchestrated as well -- pg. 3 of second movement Odysseus, with compositional and instrumental disposition based on a collision of Igor Stravinsky's castanet Bransle and Quartet of Four Duos, both from Agon.

August 15 - Cross Porpoises

Faculty luncheon meeting today, and thereafter recording piano-vocal midi versions for first five sound files of Diocletian, Op. 90 (just the short version for now), including part one of Happy Funeral Music chorus (cross is the excuse for the above),





plus Tritone Orchestra version of I. And the Whole Earth from Babel, Op. 47,



with its 5/8+5/8+9/8+5/8+9/8 (i.e. 33-rapid-beat) rhythmic cycle. Also finish orchestration of II. Behold, they are one from same, constituting page 10-12.



And, O.K., to justify blog title, thinking that it's about time to orchestrate the rest of The Wind God, which will require another trip to Davis re orchestrational advice (specifically the march music, which requires Dmitri Shostakovichian touches) and will purposefully include the dolphin denouement.

August 14 - Map Quest and Babylon and On

It's time to buy some U.S. Geological Survey maps from the USGS store in Menlo Park, to wit:

Montara Mountain

Yucaipa

Beaumont
Cabazon
Lake Fulmor
San Jacinto Peak

The first lost on one of the coast walks, second a replacement disappeared while traveling in the San Bernardinos, and the rest new for hikes in Riverside County.


Beyond, on California 92 it's up and over the I-280 ridge,


past Crystal Springs reservoirs south and


north (moving at a fast clip),


up into the Santa Cruz Mountains


in multiple curvaceous ridges,


descending via roadcuts and call boxes toward Half Moon Bay in the fog (not visible...yet...).


After seemingly 58 degrees near the water, the warming and clearing begins in Marin, and by the time the Gates of Hell are reached (a.k.a. Paradise Valley on a warm day), back up to a toasty 92, perfect for orchestrating pages 8 and 9 (first two pages of II. Behold, they are one) from Babel.

August 13 - Sic Transit Gloria Summer

To DVC, where the burned security building of the early days of summer is no more,



finishing the instrumental recording of Antigone --

XVI. Antigone
XVII. Take Her Away
XVIII. It's You
XIX. News to Brek Your Heart
XX. I've Had Them Laid
XXI. There We Are

-- and catching up with Doug Michael, who is getting the Lab ready for next week



-- then to Lisa Scola Prosek's salon in San Francisco, where Loren Jones and she play several intriguing new works, checking in as well with Happy Funeral Music from Diocletian as a group sing (along the lines of August 10's singer-composer get-together) and Act I "With us it ain't like that" from Mice and Men, followed by a big and cordial San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra board meeting

(in attendance

Mark Alburger
Rachel Condry
David Graves
Philip Freihofner
Loren Jones
Lisa Scola Prosek
Martha Stoddard
Davide Verotta
Erling Wold

[Alexis Alrich still on the plane from Hong Kong,
Michael Cooke out of the country -- guessing Japan]),

all of this unphotographed, so a picture of Phil doing a solo dance outside of Erling's after will have to suffice.


Home thereafter, and before all this finish up the orchestration (through page 7) of I. And the whole earth from Babel, Op. 47.

August 12 - Academic Day-Off Endeavors

Time to go to UC Davis, to see if a score of Igor Stravinsky's Babel is available for orchestrational inspiration, proceeding past one of Robert Arneson's Egghead sculptures, specifically Eye on Mrak (Fatal Laff),



down the promenade,



to Shields Library (not Mendota).



[Goat Hall / San Francisco Cabaret Opera 2001 Fresh Voices II production: Sharon Walters, Harriet March Page, Laetitia C. Page)

Thereafter to DVC Lab, recording five Antigone selections (instrumental versions)

XI. What Is This?
XII. The Pride of Oedipus
XIII. Where Are You Going?
XIV. I Shall Save You Yet
XV. You Think You Knew



Then home, minutes before Harriet returns from the city, to orchestrate first three pages of Babel, Op. 47 (1992), troped on the Stravinsky.