What Are You Practising / Composing Now?

[Richard Barrett]

This puts me in mind of a composer who was notorious for doing just this, all the time - Antonín Dvořák. His scores are full of tiny differences of just this type, no doubt caused because he regularly rewrote passages from memory. Some conductors change many of these to conform to the earlier reading, but that seems to me short-sighted. We are, after all, witnessing the creation of musical art through the thought-processes of gifted composers.

I didn't know that about Dvořák, not knowing his work at all well, but I think it's a fairly widespread feature of the work of many composers. Any composer will know that many decisions they take in the course of their work could well have been different if they'd been taken the day before or the day after or whatever, and, with or without literal(ish) recapitulations, a great deal in compositional activity depends on keeping a more or less large amount of "information" in active memory, which is sometimes difficult and indeed occasionally impossible, so that inconsistencies might creep into the output of even the most precise and perfectionist composer. As you say, it's a good idea to at least take these seriously as the trace of a creative mind at work, rather than immediately trying to "correct" them.

And thanks Suffolkcoastal for those insights... speaking also as someone without formal composition training, I sometimes find that hearing or reading what another composer has to say about their working process gives me the impression that what I do is something completely different! - although generally there are fewer fundamental differences between us all than might superficially seem to be the case. I do find it highly fascinating to see how your compositions unfold without either an explicit thematic basis or on the other hand some systematic framework like a serial method.

[Pabmusic]

I didn't know that about Dvořák, not knowing his work at all well, but I think it's a fairly widespread feature of the work of many composers. Any composer will know that many decisions they take in the course of their work could well have been different if they'd been taken the day before or the day after or whatever, and, with or without literal(ish) recapitulations, a great deal in compositional activity depends on keeping a more or less large amount of "information" in active memory, which is sometimes difficult and indeed occasionally impossible, so that inconsistencies might creep into the output of even the most precise and perfectionist composer. As you say, it's a good idea to at least take these seriously as the trace of a creative mind at work, rather than immediately trying to "correct" them.

I agree with all of this. Both Parry and Dvořák were famously 'quick' composers - very busy ones too. Presumably their minds raced ahead of their ability to write. Dvořák occasionally wrote direct to full score (Symphonic Variations) and, from the state of his autographs, so did Parry.

As regards the great Czech, it can be assumed as a general rule that the early editions (mainly Simrock) correct 'errors' to make things consistent, whereas the Artia/Supraphon scores from the 50s and 60s often leave things as written.

[BBMmk2]

Really enjoying remotely working with the Indiana Wind Symphony.

[Joseph K]

Been practising BWV 998 a lot and seeing results, especially with the less-difficult Prelude - though that's a piece I played in my late teens/early twenties before switching to jazz guitar after I graduated. However back then my right-hand was all haphazard and while I loved playing some pieces, my heart wasn't entirely in the classical guitar since I loved Holdsworth and McLaughlin - hence the eventual shift to Jazz. Now I know classical guitar is more fun when your head and heart are into it and I can appreciate the mind-blowing-ness of jazz guitar much more now, from a rather more relaxed distance (i.e. not personal involvement). I think I'm naturally better finger-picking than I ever was with a plectrum, I seem to have made ground within a matter of months.

[Joseph K]

A bit premature this, not practiced quite enough yet, but it's the best of about six takes...

[Dave2002]

A bit premature this, not practiced quite enough yet, but it's the best of about six takes...

Ah - so you do have an acoustic guitar.

Nice relaxation after your toilet experience!

Keep going.

How's the looper pedal going? Does that help with practising pieces like that?
Perhaps not - as that's presumably with your electric guitar.

I must get back to playing "real" instruments again soon.

[Dave2002]

Dvořák occasionally wrote direct to full score (Symphonic Variations) and, from the state of his autographs, so did Parry.

As regards the great Czech, it can be assumed as a general rule that the early editions (mainly Simrock) correct 'errors' to make things consistent, whereas the Artia/Supraphon scores from the 50s and 60s often leave things as written.

Wow - that's some ability. Though presumably what we don't necessarily know is how composers who did that actually did it. They may have written out a few parts first, then filled in the rest later, rather than having every bar fully orchestrated and harmonised before moving on to the next one.

Did any of the composers who wrote that way actually explain their work flows, or are you (we) just making plausible inferences from the static texts we have access to?

[Joseph K]

Villa-Lobos's first etude for guitar. It's not difficult to memorise, contains some nice colourful idiomatic chords and is fun to play. And of course, it's good for one's right-hand technique.

[Richard Barrett]

Last night I finished a two-minute piano piece. Writing piano music doesn't come easily to me and this example seems to have taken forever. On the other hand it does consist of 150 musical elements (phrases, I guess they might be called, although some consist only of one note while others are quite complex little structures in themselves) assembled into a sequence with various degrees of overlap, so that some highly intricate interlockings in as many as twelve parts eventually take place. I launched myself into it in the wake of working mostly on electronic music in recent months, subconsciously anticipating that it would involve a similar degree of spontaneity and fluency in the composition process, but no.

[Bryn]

Last night I finished a two-minute piano piece. Writing piano music doesn't come easily to me and this example seems to have taken forever. On the other hand it does consist of 150 musical elements (phrases, I guess they might be called, although some consist only of one note while others are quite complex little structures in themselves) assembled into a sequence with various degrees of overlap, so that some highly intricate interlockings in as many as twelve parts eventually take place. I launched myself into it in the wake of working mostly on electronic music in recent months, subconsciously anticipating that it would involve a similar degree of spontaneity and fluency in the composition process, but no.

So who is to present the noise it makes to us eager English listeners?

[Richard Barrett]

So who is to present the noise it makes to us eager English listeners?

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...

[BBMmk2]

Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, now, of my current project for the Indiana Wind Symphony. My current project is Richard Strauss’s Suite from ‘Der Rosenkavalier’, for concert band. I started this at the end of last month!

[Pabmusic]

Preparing another bit of Parry for publication. He wrote incidental music to The Frogs for an 1892 Oxford production of Aristophanes' play. He then revised it in 1912. I'm doing the overture - a mixture of Lady Radnorish mock-baroque and Music Hall. A super 5-minute overture that exists for classical orchestra (1892) and full orchestra (1912).

[BBMmk2]

Preparing another bit of Parry for publication. He wrote incidental music to The Frogs for an 1892 Oxford production of Aristophanes' play. He then revised it in 1912. I'm doing the overture - a mixture of Lady Radnorish mock-baroque and Music Hall. A super 5-minute overture that exists for classical orchestra (1892) and full orchestra (1912).

Can there be any comparison with Bantock’s Overture The Frogs?

[Pabmusic]

Can there be any comparison with Bantock’s Overture The Frogs?

None. The Parry is very much earlier, and - dare I say it - Parry was a wittier composer.