What Are You Practising / Composing Now?

[smittims]

Good luck with your cello concerto, suffolkcoastal. I always felt a cello concerto would be the last thing I'd write. I haven't written anything now for years, what one might call 'the silence from Crewe'. I think I'd do it if someone asked me , i.e for a specific occasion of performance.

[Pulcinella]

In case anyone’s keeping track: I will (finally!) be premiering that basset horn solo tomorrow, in a concert also including the premiere of Prof Barrett’s new quartet for basset horn/contrabass clarinet, horn, piano, and percussion.

https://www.theater-essen.de/program...trophe-138071/

I hope it goes well, Oliver.
I need to PM Richard with thanks for a heads-up on a new Stravinsky CD that had passed me by.

[richardfinegold]

Mozart K.545 his so called ‘Easy Sonata’

[Ian Thumwood]

I have a mountain of music I bought to improve my sight reading. Some of it is way too difficult but I like hearing how the chords work..

I dug out the Scriabin Opus 11 preludes as there are a few I can get through just about with my banana shaped fingers. Shame Scriabin is so difficult as I think his harmonies are the best. Even better than Debussy who is a massive challenge for me.

Sight reading for the sake of it is quite interesting. I can rip through some Clementi but am left wondering if he was actually any good ? I like Clementi but he is not a patch on Haydn. I think Haydn and Clementi are written for mortals.

The other piano music I dabble in is Albeniz whose Espana is, in my opinion, pretty corny. Spanish parlour music but OK for sight reading as it was written for amateurs . I had not heard his music before but am underwhelmed. Villa Lobos is better but some picked are impossible to understand let alone read.

[richardfinegold]

I’m playing a Clementi Sonatina currently. I don’t know much about him but I think he did right a lot of stuff for teaching and low level players, and then he produced bigger works for higher level players. So it depends which facet of his output is under discussion

[Ian Thumwood]

Richard

I am fascinated by Clementi. Although born in Rome, he spent his adolescence on the Beckford estate near Blandford Forum which cemented his reputation as the only composer directly linked to the slave trade and rum production. The Sonatina was written when ge was a teenager.

Clementi is excellent for sight reading and fun to play. He had his eye on publishing which was where he made his money. In addition his one time pupil was John Field although they later fell out. I remain to be convinced that he was a great performer and I certainly find Haydn's piano work more substantial. It just seems odd to learn Clementi came from Dorset...
a fact that really appeals and amuses me. He was also a favourite of writer Jane Austen.

I have 2 cds if his work and a out 3 books of music. They are fun and mercifully not as annoying as Mozart

[Suffolkcoastal]

Still composing for no apparent reason away for no apparent reason. Have completed a Cello Concerto, String Quartet No 6, Piano Sonata No 5, Canto for Flute & Piano, and Aria for Trumpet & Strings this year. Have a fair catalogue now copied below, whether I will ever here any of these works other than by MIDI playback, I now very much doubt.

OP1	PASTORAL PRELUDE	PIANO	1985	3.00
OP2	DAWN CITY	PIANO	1986	4.40
OP3	PIANO SONATA NO 1	PIANO	1988	21.40
OP4	EIGHT PIECES	PIANO	1985-91	13.30
OP5	HYMN I	PIANO	1991	4.00
OP6	THREE EPITAPHS	PIANO	1991-93	8.30
OP7	MEDITATION	PIANO	1993	3.40
OP8	EVENING RIDE	PIANO (LIGHT)	1994	3.40
OP9	THREE MEDITATIONS ON AMERICAN TEXTS	CHORAL - A CAPELLA	1996	7.20
OP10	PASSACAGLIA	PIANO	1999	6.10
OP11	STRING QUARTET NO 1	CHAMBER	1999	24.30
OP12	YOU ARE EVERYTHING	PIANO (LIGHT)	2001	5.20
OP13	SWEET WAS THE SONG	CHORAL - A CAPELLA	2001	2.20
OP14	NOW THANK WE ALL OUR GOD FOR HIGH VOICE & PIANO	VOCAL	2002	3.10
OP15	NOCTURNE	PIANO	2003	3.20
OP16	PAEAN	ORGAN	2004	4.20
OP17	ELEGY FOR STRING QUARTET	CHAMBER	2006	5.40
OP18	NUNC DIMITTIS	CHORAL - A CAPELLA	2010	3.00
OP19	STRING QUARTET NO 2	CHAMBER	2010	20.20
OP20	PIANO SONATA NO 2	PIANO	2011	15.50
OP21	FANTASIA	ORGAN	2011	7.50
OP22	REFLECTIONS ON A TOMKINS PAVAN	PIANO	2013	2.50
OP23	EVENING IMAGES	PIANO	2014	7.10
OP24	CIVIC FANFARE FOR BRASS & PERCUSSION	BRASS	2017	1.40
OP25	A GAELIC BLESSING FOR FLUTE & HARP	CHAMBER	1996-2019	3.50
OP26	PIANO TRIO	CHAMBER	2019	20.10
OP27	THRENODY FOR STRINGS	ORCHESTRAL	2006-19	3.50
OP28	SYMPHONY NO 1 FOR LARGE ORCHESTRA	ORCHESTRAL	2019	28.30
OP29	REQUIEM FOR TWO SOLOISTS, CHORUS & ORCHESTRA	CHORAL	2019	57.50
OP30	SONATA FOR VIOLIN & PIANO	CHAMBER	2013-20	14.50
OP31	JUSTORUM ANIMAE - MOTET	CHORAL - A CAPELLA	2020	2.50
OP32	SCENES FROM 'THE CRUCIBLE'	ORCHESTRAL	1999-2020	30.00
OP33	CONTEMPLATION FOR STRINGS	ORCHESTRAL	2020	4.50
OP34	STRING QUARTET NO 3	CHAMBER	2020	25.40
OP35	CONCERTO FOR FLUTE & STRINGS	ORCHESTRAL	2020	17.40
OP36	FIVE PRELUDES	PIANO	2015-20	8.50
OP37	CONCERTO FOR DOUBLE BASS & SMALL ORCHESTRA	ORCHESTRAL	2020	17.00
OP38	SANCTUM EST VERUM LUMEN - MOTET	CHORAL - A CAPELLA	2020	4.40
OP39	QUINTET FOR PIANO & STRINGS	CHAMBER	2020	23.50
OP40	REFLECTIONS & CONTEMPLATIONS EIGHT SONGS FOR SOPRANO & PIANO	VOCAL	1986-2020	23.10
OP41	SERENADE FOR SMALL ORCHESTRA	ORCHESTRAL	2021	16.30
OP42	PIANO SONATA NO 3	PIANO	2021	19.20
OP43	SYMPHONY NO 2 'VARIANTS' FOR LARGE ORCHESTRA	ORCHESTRAL	2021	28.00
OP44	REQUISCAT FOR STRINGS	ORCHESTRAL	2021	9.00
OP45	CONCERTO FOR OBOE & SMALL ORCHESTRA	ORCHESTRAL	2021	20.50
OP46	SEXTET FOR STRINGS	CHAMBER	2021	18.20
OP47	SYMPHONY NO 3 FOR LARGE ORCHESTRA	ORCHESTRAL	2021	34.00
OP48	MASS IN EIGHT PARTS	CHORAL - A CAPELLA	2021	19.40
OP49	TWO BAGATELLES	PIANO	2021	3.00
OP50	LOVE CAME DOWN AT CHRISTMAS FOR SATB CHOIR	CHORAL - A CAPELLA	2021	1.50
OP51	PHANTASY FOR STRING TRIO	CHAMBER	2022	12.00
OP52	WIND QUINTET	CHAMBER	2022	15.50
OP53	PIANO SONATA NO 4	PIANO	2022	18.00
OP54	STRING QUARTET NO 4	CHAMBER	2022	22.40
OP55	CONCERTO FOR HORN & ORCHESTRA	ORCHESTRAL	2022	18.30
OP56	AVE VERUM CORPUS	CHORAL - A CAPELLA	2022	4.10
OP57	EPITAPH FOR NR	PIANO	2022	3.10
OP58	SONATA FOR CLARINET & PIANO	CHAMBER	2022	15.30
OP59	WAITING TO HEAR FROM WILLIAM	ORCHESTRAL	2023	6.50
OP60	SYMPHONY NO 4 FOR LARGE ORCHESTRA	ORCHESTRAL	2023	34.10
OP61	STRING QUARTET NO 5	CHAMBER	2023	21.30
OP62	THREE SKETCHES FOR PIANO	PIANO	2023	6.00
OP63	FANFARES WITH CHORALE FOR BRASS, ORGAN & TIMPANI	BRASS	2023	3.40
OP64	CONCERTO FOR CELLO & ORCHESTRA	ORCHESTRAL	2024	24.10
OP65	STRING QUARTET NO 6	CHAMBER	2024	20.10
OP66	PIANO SONATA NO 5	PIANO	2024	20.40
OP67	CANTO FOR FLUTE & PIANO	CHAMBER	2024	5.30
OP68	ARIA FOR TRUMPET & STRINGS	ORCHESTRAL	2024	7.10

[smittims]

That is astonishing to me. How do you manage to write so much so quickly? Or are they all very short works? WhenI was composing I used to write,say , one 12 to 15-minute symphony per year.

[Keraulophone]

Rachmaninoff Spring Waters, Op14 No11 - I'm attempting, with difficulty, to learn the piano accompaniment to accompany my soprano daughter (now postgrad at the Royal Academy of Music) in a lunchtime recital in Truro Cathedral next summer. It's one of Rachmaninoff's more virtuosic song accompaniments so I'm busy with fingering and rather boring but necessary repetition. In the song, nature awakens after the harsh winter, with rapid fingerwork describing the meltwater gushing down from the snow. With a bit of luck, it will make a rousing end to our recital.

Incidentally there is an extraordinary performance of this song during lockdown four years ago given by Asmik Grigorian singing into a mobile phone in a far away forest accompanied at long distance by Antonio Pappano in London. Amazingly, they achieve wonders here:i

rhttps://youtu.be/uGJDExFpgUs?si=89KzdTfrPGShaQcd

[Suffolkcoastal]

That is astonishing to me. How do you manage to write so much so quickly? Or are they all very short works? WhenI was composing I used to write,say , one 12 to 15-minute symphony per year.

I've added the duration in now as well. I compose directly from head into score these days, fitting around into work & other commitments. I'm very confident in my own style/sound world, everything just seems to progress naturally. Wish I could use this gift to earn a living, but as self-taught & now 60, guess it's too late.