5...4...3...2...1...

No, I am not blogging into the new year.  I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank everyone who performed my music in 2009 and those who participated in the 7th Annual Festival of Contemporary Music!

I want to wish everyone safe partying this evening and a Happy 2010!  As for me, I will be ringing in the New Year at home with my wife and kitten.  I know I am looking forward to the end of 2009.  This was not exactly my best year, but things are looking up.

I will see you in 2010!

Listening Journal: December 21-27, 2009

Johann Sebastian Bach - Concerto for Oboe, Violin, Stings and Continuo in c minor BWV 1060 (1740) Hilary Hahn, violin and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Jeffery Kahane
Iannis Xenakis - Syrmos (1959) for 18 strings
Edgard Varèse - Ecuatorial (1934) for bass voice and mixed ensemble

Dream Cycle - Echo

Below is the text for Echo by Christina Georgina Rossetti.  The fifth song in my Dream Cycle.

Echo
by Christina Georgina Rossetti

Come to me in the silence of the night;
Come in the speaking silence of a dream;
Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright
As sunlight on a stream;
Come back in tears,
O memory, hope, love of finished years.

Oh dream how sweet, too sweet, too bitter-sweet,
Whose wakening should have been in Paradise,
Where souls brim-full of love abide and meet;
Where thirsting longing eyes
Watch the slow door
That opening, letting in, lets out no more

Yet come to me in dreams, that I may live
My very life again though cold in death:
Come back to me in dreams, that I may give
Pulse for pulse, breath for breath:
Speak low, lean low,
As long ago, my love, how long ago.

Unused concepts for Dream Cycle

As I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel for the end of my Dream Cycle I have taken a look back at a couple of my undeveloped ideas.  There are two texts that I considered using, but did not use.  The first is a text by Christina Georgina Rossetti entitled Mirage.  As you know, I am using Rossetti's Echo as the final song of the cycle.  Mirage is a beautiful three-stanza poem about things not always being what you want them to be.

The other text is an original poem I wrote around 2002 entitled Nights When I Dream.  This is a very personal effort for me.  I wrote this when I was coming to terms with moving from Bowling Green, OH to Eugene, OR.  This poem is also a reflection of my personal feelings and beliefs.

I may yet decide to put these texts into song and either expand Dream Cycle or possibly make a sequel to the song cycle.  Only time will tell.

Dream Cycle - A Clear Midnight

Below is the text for A Clear Midnight by Walt Whitman.  The fourth song in my Dream Cycle.

A Clear Midnight
by Walt Whitman

This is thy hour O Soul thy free flight into the wordless,
Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done,
Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes thou lovest best,
Night, sleep, death and the stars.

Dream Cycle - A Dream

Below is the text for A Dream by Edgar Allen Poe.  The third song in my Dream Cycle.

A Dream
by Edgar Allen Poe

In visions of the dark night

I have dreamed of joy departed;

But a waking dream of life and light

Hath left me broken hearted.

Ah! what is not a dream by day

To him whose eyes are cast

On things around him with a ray

Turned back upon the past?

That holy dream, that holy dream,

While all the world were chiding,

Hath cheered me as a lovely beam

A lonely spirit guiding.

What though that light, thro’ storm and night,

So trembled from afar--

What could there be more purely bright

In Truth’s day-star?

Merry Christmas

I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays!  I plan on announcing projects and plans for 2010 within the next week.

All the best,

Brian

Dream Cycle - I Dream'd in a Dream

Below is the text for I Dream'd in a Dream by Walt Whitman.  The second song in my Dream Cycle.

I Dream'd in a Dream
by Walt Whitman

I dream'd in a dream I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the whole of the rest of the earth,
I dream'd that was the new city of Friends,
Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust love, it led the rest.
It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of that city,
And in all their looks and words.

Dream Cycle - Mutability

Below is the text for Mutability by Percy Bysshe Shelley.  The first song in my Dream Cycle.

Mutability
by Percy Bysshe Shelley

We are as clouds that veil the midnight moon;
How restlessly they speed, and gleam, and quiver,
Streaking the darkness radiantly! -yet soon
Night closes round, and they are lost for ever:

Or like forgotten lyres, whose dissonant strings
Give various response to each varying blast,
To whose frail frame no second motion brings
One mood or modulation like the last.

We rest. -A dream has power to poison sleep;
We rise. -One wandering thought pollutes the day;
We feel, conceive or reason, laugh or weep;
Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away:<

It is the same! -For, be it joy or sorrow,
The path of its departure still is free:
Man's yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow;
Nought may endure but Mutablilty.

Listening Journal: December 14-20, 2009

Igor Stravinsky - Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1947)
George Crumb - Makrokosmos: Volume 1, Part 1 (1973) for piano

Magnus Lindberg - Orchestral Works - CD
   Clarinet Concerto (2002)
   Gran Duo (2000)
   Chorale (2002)

Listening Journal: December 7-13, 2009

Pascal Dusapin - À Quia - CD
   Ètudes No. 1-7 (1997-2001) for piano
   À Quia (2002) for piano and orchestra

Olivier Messiaen - Les Offrandes Oubliées (1930) for piano
Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 9, op. 125, "Choral" (1824) Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan
Gyorgy Ligeti - Piano Etudes (2001)
   XVI. Pour Irina
   XVII. À Bout de Souffle
   XVIII. Canon

Song order for "Dream Cycle"

Now that Mutability is almost complete, I have thought a bit about song order for Dream Cycle.  The order below is still tentative until I finish all songs, but this is what I am leaning towards right now.

   Mutability - Percy Bysshe Shelley
   I Dream'd in a Dream - Walt Whitman
   A Dream - Edgar Allen Poe
   A Clear Midnight - Walt Whitman
   Echo - Christina Georgina Rossetti

Composing Session: December 12, 2009

So I was finally able to lock myself away in my office and spend some time composing.  It has been a while since I have been able to dedicate half a day to composing.  I did get a lot accomplished.  I have the outline of the accompaniment done and I have marked where the vocal part of the last two stanzas will lay.

I decided to break one of my rules of composing in order to make a push to get this song done.  I did a lot of the composing on Saturday into Finale.  This means that I entered my previous sketch of the first two stanzas into Finale, edited it and composed more in the program rather than using pencil and paper.  Normally, I like to have a hand written sketch of the score before inputting it into Finale.  However, I really want to finish this song and I decided that it would be easier for me to compose into Finale.  I do not think that there is anything wrong with this method of composing.  This is just not how I would like to compose. I enjoy sitting at the keyboard and hand writing my sketches and scores.

My hope is that in the next day or so I can spend time fleshing out the vocal line and complete the score for Mutability.  After this song is done, I will only have one short song left to write.  For this song, I will use the text A Clear Midnight by Walt Whitman.  I already have a couple of sketches for the accompaniment that I might use. We will see.

"Mutability" Update

This weekend I did not spend nearly enough time composing.  The time that I did spend was productive.  I reworked the sketch I have been working on for the accompaniment of the second stanza.  Initially I had the accompaniment alternating sonorities every two measures.  The thematic and rhythmic material is similar, but the harmonies changed every two measures.  I felt as if this was too predictable so I rearranged the measures to alternate the harmonies every measure.  Essentially, I switched measures 2 & 3, 6 & 7, etc.

After playing through this new "arrangement" I was happier wit the way things are taking shape.  Now I need to start composing the vocal line and integrate it with the accompaniment.  I have also been thinking that the accompaniment for the fourth stanza will be nearly identical to the first, giving the song a sense of return.  I may change my mind on this, however.  I am not yet completely sure.

Listening Journal: November 30-December 6, 2009

Marc-André Dalbavie - Axiom (2003) for piano, clarinet, bassoon and trumpet
Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 7, op. 92 (1810) Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan

Witold Lutoslawski - Orchestral Works, volume 5 - CD
   Concerto for Orchestra (1954)
   Three Poems by Henri Michaux (1963)
   Mi-Parti for Symphony Orchestra (1976)
   Overture for Strings (1949)

Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 8, op. 93 (1812) Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan
Tristan Murail - Vues aériennes (1988) for horn, violin, cello and piano

Non-Classical Musical Influences

Over the past month I have been thinking about what influences me as a composer.  There are many classical composers from whom I draw inspiration.  These composers include Kaija Saariaho, Olivier Messiaen, Iannis Xenakis, Pascal Dusapin and Gyorgy Ligeti.  There are, however, many non-classical musical influences from which I draw inspiration.  These people are not merely musicians whose music I enjoy listening to, but rather their song writing, musicianship and artistry have a tremendous hold over me.

The list of these influences is not long, but the names are widely recognized:

   Bill Champlin

   Chicago

   Eric Clapton

   Eagles

   Billy Joel

In future posts I plan on talking about each in some detail highlighting songs, albums and what it is about these musicians that influences my work.

This train of thought has really come about since my wife and I saw Bill Champlin perform live in Lodi, CA last month.  I was absolutely blown away by this concert.  It was the first non-classical concert I have attended since 1998.  I had forgotten what kind of energy is generated at such events.  Especially when the artist truly enjoys what they are doing.

Since then I have been looking at the non-classical music to which I listen.  There are about seven or eight musicians and groups that I go back to time after time.  Of those musicians the one I listed above hold the most influence over me.  All of these people are tremendous musicians and song writers.  They are not just mere entertainers that perform other people's songs.  The create and perform their own music.