What Are You Practising / Composing Now?

[Richard Barrett]

an 1892 Oxford production of Aristophanes' play

I wonder what Victorian productions of Aristophanes would have been like. Surely the texts would have been cut to pieces to remove anything offensive to the prudish sensibilities of the time.

[Pabmusic]

I wonder what Victorian productions of Aristophanes would have been like. Surely the texts would have been cut to pieces to remove anything offensive to the prudish sensibilities of the time.

I do have a copy of the libretto for the 1883 Cambridge The Birds (music by Parry) - but I admit I haven't analysed it (my Greek is terribly rusty!). You're almost certainly right.

[Jonathan]

My enthusiasm for playing the piano seems to be returning after an 12 month absence. Trying to get Liszt's Orage back up to speed.

[Richard Barrett]

I do have a copy of the libretto for the 1883 Cambridge The Birds (music by Parry) - but I admit I haven't analysed it (my Greek is terribly rusty!). You're almost certainly right.

Although if the plays were performed in Greek I guess they didn't need to be quite so bowdlerised.

[vinteuil]

Although if the plays were performed in Greek I guess they didn't need to be quite so bowdlerised.

... yes, as Gibbon put it - "all licentious passages are left in the decent obscurity of a learned language... "

.

[Serial_Apologist]

That's impossible to say at the moment! It was written for the young Australian player Alex Waite (currently studying in Germany with the eminent Nicolas Hodges) and it isn't presently clear when he will have a chance to present it anywhere, let alone in Blighty.

It's one of a series of three brief solos (the others are for percussion and saxophone) which may be played sequentially with en accompanying ensemble (neither the saxophone solo nor the accompaniment are finished yet) which itself forms part of a three-hour conglomerate piece of which you've heard two components live (percussion/electronics and trombone/electronics) and two electronic components (luminous and disquiet) in stereo form. I guess it's not impossible that this whole thing might eventually find its way to the UK, stranger things have happened...

I believe Honegger's second symphony was parachuted in on the Beeb during WW2 and thence broadcast to the allies in France. I wouldn't rely on carrier pigeons, as one understands that the brains of many of them have been frazzled by previously unknown weather pattern changes.

[Serial_Apologist]

... yes, as Gibbon put it - "all licentious passages are left in the decent obscurity of a learned language... "

.

With which one presumes Orwell could come to agree...

[BBMmk2]

I wonder what Victorian productions of Aristophanes would have been like. Surely the texts would have been cut to pieces to remove anything offensive to the prudish sensibilities of the time.

Judging from the rather pornographic paintings that adorned the walls of Queen Victoria’s homes, I’m surprised they were at all prudish.

[Serial_Apologist]

Judging from the rather pornographic paintings that adorned the walls of Queen Victoria’s homes, I’m surprised they were at all prudish.

Which rather reverses that old saying (attributed to Lao Tse, iirc), to the effect that one showing equals a thousand sayings!

[Bryn]

My enthusiasm for playing the piano seems to be returning after an 12 month absence. Trying to get Liszt's Orage back up to speed.

The latest BBC Music Magazine cover disc should suit you, Jonathan:



Not quite out of September and the November issue arrives.

[Jonathan]

Thanks Bryn - I'll be buying this when it's in the shops! She's also recorded the (infamous) Tarantella Di Bravoure which I am looking forward to hearing as I'm still looking for someone to rival Cziffra's recording of the piece - but with a decent, in tune piano and modern recorded sound.

[Suffolkcoastal]

Completed my 3rd Symphony yesterday after 3 months work, four movements, 34 minutes in duration. Serious and rather dark in tone.

[RichardB]

Completed my 3rd Symphony yesterday after 3 months work, four movements, 34 minutes in duration. Serious and rather dark in tone.

Have you uploaded a recording yet? I look forward to hearing that.

What with the backlog of postponed concerts from last year, I find I have seven premieres in 2022... trouble is, only one of the works in question is actually completed at this point! so I'm quite busy. Apart from that, in the coming week is the first performance of something a bit different, three "realisations" of songs by Dufay, Machaut and Binchois for the same 10-piece lineup as Birtwistle's Tragoedia, which is also on the programme (wind quintet, string quartet and harp) along with Ravel's Introduction and Allegro for harp and ensemble. I say realisations and not "arrangements" because of course the originals have no specified instrumentation - they've been so to speak passed through a prism which splits each voice into different colours; I guess a distant ancestor would be Webern's Bach Ricercar. The concert will be recorded and streamed so interested parties will be able to listen. Never having done anything like this before - although forum members will be aware of my interest in this kind of music - I find the prospect quite exciting. I cam imagine adding more movements eventually, though I don't know whether I'd be able to keep to the principle of one piece per composer.

[Joseph K]

The concert will be recorded and streamed so interested parties will be able to listen.

Good to hear! I look forward to it.

As for me, I've recently added Carcassi's etude no. 1 from his op. 60 set of studies to my repertoire. It is a scale study, since I already have a few arpeggio studies I've been practising for a while and felt I should balance them out with more scale practice. My whole afternoon is spent practising Bach's BWV 998 - which as I've mentioned, I love. A month or two ago I finally finalised the right-hand fingering for the fugue and now I am feeling good about that, after passing through a few or more weeks where the thought of 'is this ever going to get any better/easier etc.?' was a frequent one, I now know that yes, it is. I've also been focusing on cleaning it up, making sure bass notes don't ring for longer than they should. The Allegro is not yet by any means Allegro but is getting better (some way still to go on that though) while the Prelude is becoming more comfortable, just a few passages of awkward (that is to say, non-ergonomic) string crossing that need to be practised a lot. After that, my evening is spent practising a tremolo study by Barrios and studying counterpoint...

[Dave2002]

After that, my evening is spent practising a tremolo study by Barrios and studying counterpoint...

Playing - not much. I've been really disappointed with my flute playing recently - this has happened before - but took a month or more of practice to get back up to any sort of reasonable standard. I was hoping that I could recover quickly this time - I can still play the notes - even almost sight read them - but the tone is dreadful. So I spend time studying other music and counterpoint - even jazz to a small extent - instead, and maybe I'll return to playing later on.