Scenes of Night Sky

I have carefully thought about his over the past couple of days and I have made decisions about movement titles and order.  The full title of the piece is Night Sky with a subtitle: Three Scenes for Concert Band.  The movement titles are:

I. Lunar Path
II. Unidentified
III. Streaks

I will be writing program notes/narratives for each of the movements over the next week or two.  With the creation of the titles I have made one change in the order of the movements.  The original B section which I was going to make the second movement is now the final movement.  At this time, I think that this movement would make a stronger finale.  Though I do reserve the right to change my mind.

Listening Journal: April 5-11, 2010

Edgard Varèse - Un Grand Sommeil Noir (1906) for voice and piano
Edgard Varèse - Octandre (1923) for seven wind instruments and double bass
Anthony Di Lorenzo - Fire Dance (1996) for brass quintet
György Ligeti - Chamber Concerto (1970) for thirteen instrumentalists
Horatiu Radulescu - Lux Anime (2000) for viola
Harrison Birtwistle - Carmen Arcadiae Mechanicae Perpetuum (1977) for orchestra
Richard Struass - Death And Transfiguration, op. 24 (1889) for orchestra
Kaija Saariaho - Cendres (1991) for flute, cello and piano
Johann Sebastian Bach - Sonata No. 2 in A minor, BWV 1003 (by 1720) for violin, Julia Fischer, violin

Formal Changes

In my last post I talked about changing the scope of Night Sky from a single-movement piece in ternary form to a multi-movement work.  I have decided that I will change Night Sky to a multi-movement piece.  Fortunately, there are not a lot of edits that need to be made in order for this change to be successful.  The transition between the A and B sections is distinct so I can make the spilt between movements there.  I may need to rework the ending of the new first movement to make it a little more convincing.  I will also need to look at the beginning of what will now be the second movement.  I am thinking about rewriting the beginning to make it stronger and more driving since that is one of the elements I wish to portray in this movement.

The one major change in this piece will be the third movement.  This movement will need to be more than just a return to the A section as initially planned as a part of the single movement structure.  However, I was not yet begun to work on this section, now movement, so there is no rewriting to be done.  I will just need to come up with some new ideas and tie in some ideas from the two previous movements to bring everything together.

I am still working out the movement titles.  I will post the titles when I settle on the names.

Single Movement or Multi Movement?

When composing for a young-student ensemble, as I am for Night Sky, there are many decisions to make that are not normally considered when writing for a college or professional group.  Issues of complexity or transparency come up.  Harmonic language or sound worlds become a huge factor as you want the performers to understand the music and perform it without just merely playing the notes.

My current dilemma, or decision, is do I want this piece to be a single-movement or a multi-movement work?  For the most part when composing this piece I have approached it as a single-movement work with a definite ternary form.  My concept would make this piece approximately six to eight minutes in duration.  The way the piece is currently shaping up it will be more like a ten to twelve minute piece.  I am beginning to realize that my initial concept has become too ambitious.

I have considered scaling the piece back to a binary form.  From there I could begin the piece with either the fast movement or the slow movement.  Beginning with the fast movement would require some reworking of the original A section.  If I choose to deviate from my current formal plan, then no matter what I choose to do the music would need some level of revision.  Some options would require more revisions than others.

I am also toying with the idea of multiple movements.  The piece as it stands would only need some minor revisions of the A section to make it a separate movement.  I would probably want to find a different way to start the B section, to make a stronger opening for a second movement.  The total number of movements would still need to be decided, if I choose to make this revision.  My initial thought would be three movements, keeping the ternary concept intact.

I was chatting with Adam, the director for whom I am composing this piece, makes a good point.  He says that a multi-movement structure gives the students a chance to rest and reset between movements.  I understand this point.  It is always nice, as a performer, to be able to have a break between movements to gather your thoughts.  This is important when things start to go wrong.  Rehearsals could be easier as well because shorter movements are often easier to rehearse than longer single movement works.

I will need to consider this carefully and quickly as it will determine my approach to the rest of the piece.

Listening Journal: March 29-April 4, 2010

Pascal Dusapin - Uncut (2009) for orchestra

Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue d' Oiseaux - Livre 7: XI. La Buse Variable (1958) for piano

Johann Sebastian Bach - Sonata No. 1 in G major, BWV 1001 (by 1720) for violin, Julia Fischer, violin

Boston Symphony Orchestra - March 13, 2010 Concert Recording - 2nd Half

   Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade, op. 35 (1888) for orchestra