I haven’t updated this blog for a while! The work was completed last fall, and with that, my entries to this blog :) But now that rehearsals are well underway it’s about time I add a few more posts.

I attended a rehearsal yesterday and I have to say that it’s sounding really great! Thanks to everyone in the orchestra. You’re all doing a fabulous job bringing the music to life.

I’ll post some photos and recordings of the work after the concerts in the next couple of weeks. Concerts are at Acadia University on Sat. April 27 (7 pm), and in Halifax at St. Andrew’s Church on Sun. April 28 (7 pm).

The midi mock-ups have recently been updated. FYI – They’re not great -- just a realization from Sibelius -- but they give a good idea of the work. In keeping with the ‘Concerto Grosso’ theme, I’ve decided to keep the names of the individual movements standard as well: Allegro Grazioso, Andante Moderato, and Vivace.

I. Allegro Grazioso


II. Andante Moderato


III. Vivace

Into the second weekend of parts – the first movement is nearly there!

The work is complete. Now I move onto parts and final editing.

Movement 3 is closer to my original intention of a ‘concerto’ for the entire ensemble. It is in 10/8 (for the most part), subdivided into 3 + 2 + 2 + 3. Page one is included below.

Although the first two movements are (theoretically) complete, I’m continuing to make small adjustments. For example, the solo clarinet in the first movement is now clarinet in A, rather than Bb. This is because of the sharp key signatures (two sharps). Any instrument in Bb will be in four sharps (sorry Bb trumpets!), but in A it will be in one flat. Also, the timbre of the A clarinet is just a little different. The A clarinet is slightly darker. FYI – I reversed the qualities in my mind yesterday afternoon and posted the opposite too quickly! I think I’ll use the A clarinet in the first movement, and the Bb in the second, since this needs a brighter sound for the descending chromatic figurations. I’ll (probably) return to the A for the final movement, simply because the key signature of two sharps returns.

Movement 1 has been shortened by about 30 seconds. The latter third of the work builds on a contrapuntal theme. I felt this was too meandering. I removed a good sized chunk that wasn’t helping the integrity of the form. The two midi mock-ups in the past two posts (movement 1 and 2) will be updated periodically to reflect these changes. Take a listen again from time to time.

SPOILER ALERT: Muted trombones may be reinstated in the second movement... stay tuned...

Movement 2 is complete. This movement is a chaconne and is orchestrated for muted strings and the concertino ensemble. The sole idea is a cyclical chord progression (described in one of my earlier blogs) paired with continuous descending figurations in the solo instruments.

Movement 1 is complete! Page 1 is shown below.

Okay, I went a bit overboard on edits the last couple of days. If you’ve watched this blog you’ll have noticed A LOT of materials come and go in the past two days! So I’ve pulled back, taken stock of everything I have, and realize -- as I always do -- that the original material is good, and that some of the new material is perhaps less engaging (although fun) and is simply leading me back to my original ideas. I’ve gone over movement one and two, and will leave them intact. Movement four (if there is going to be a third movement) is a different story, it needs work. Onwards then...

I’ve reconsidered the material, and I’ve decided that all it needed was some serious editing. I’ve lopped off superfluous material in the first movement, shortened the second movement, added a new third movement for the solo quartet only, and continue to develop the final movement. More updates to come...

I have been busy with other matters over the past two weeks including preparing to teach again, a recording session in San Francisco with the Kronos Quartet, plus a quick trip to Vancouver. Can you believe we start back to school tomorrow already?! However, the time off has allowed me ample time to consider -- and reconsider -- the work as it now stands. I’ve orchestrated the first movement and finished the reduced scores for the second and third and yet I’m not satisfied. That’s never a good sign for me. Most of the material still feels like preliminary sketches. I know that it’s more than usable, and I may even come back to it and decide this is the piece. But for right now I am going to put it all away for a while -- a week or two at least -- and start on some new sketches. This time I will be thinking clearly about the solo quartet from the start: flute, clarinet, violin, and mallet percussion, rather than what I did before which was to let the material decide the instrumentation. Sometimes that approach works well but I’m not sold in this case. I still have plenty of time to write the work this fall, so stay tuned! Exciting times ahead.

Worked on the first movement today. The audio example demonstrates how I’m developing the material. Listen to the blog immediately below this one, and then this example, and you’ll hear what I mean. Oh, and I’ve added percussion as one of the soloists --- again!

After several days of other obligations I’m back at work on the ‘Concerto Grosso’. I’ve transferred all material into new ‘intermediate’ templates that show the solo trio (flute, clarinet, and violin), the percussion, and two grand staves representing the remainder of the orchestra. I’ve uploaded another midi example. This time of the opening three minutes.

I think I have a working sketch of the entire composition! I’m considering a reduced ensemble for the soloists: a trio consisting of flute, clarinet, and violin. This is a bit of a change from my original sketch which suggested a work for multiple soloists, and even the entire orchestra (as a concerto for orchestra) in the last movement. Today I started entering my handwritten sketches into the computer. This is an intermediate step in the process. I’m creating a reduced score that shows the three soloists, a percussion line, and two pianos representing the remainder of the orchestra. This intermediate step should allow me to: (1) create more material for the orchestra; (2) adjust and ‘sculpt’ the form, and; (3) develop detailed solo lines. The reduced score has the two-fold benefit of being more malleable than a full orchestration, while providing more detailed information than the first piano sketches. I’ve included images of the first page of the template, and a picture of my workspace.

It’s still early to be providing audio examples, but it will be interesting to see how the following excerpt grows over the next while, especially since I’m still in the process of creating material.

I’m continuing to work on sketches for all three movements. The sketch I am working on for movement 3 uses a similar chord succession as movement 2, but only during refrains. The example below shows one of these refrains with the chord succession arpeggiated in the bass staff. The top voice harmonizes with repeating staccato chords (most likely to be given to the strings, horns, and oboes). Faster 16th note scales interject. These may be orchestrated for flutes, clarinets, perhaps xylophone, and the first violins.

Today I continued to work on the second movement. The chord succession discussed in my previous blog can be seen in the bass clef of this sketch. The low brass concertino (trombone, bass trombone, and tuba) initiate the chords, while lower strings (muted) hold the same pitches but for twice the length. The strings provide a built in resonance. The top line is a lament––a descending chromatic figuration passed between the solo flute, clarinet, and violin.

The outline of the first movement is more-or-less complete. The next step is to orchestrate my piano sketch for the solo instruments, essentially creating an intermediate score which shows the solo flute, clarinet, violin, percussion, and accompaniment. I’ll do this later. Right now I continue to develop material for the second and third movements. One idea for the second movement is to create a chaconne; in keeping with my original idea of a dirge. The repeated chords might progressively become faster each time the cycle is repeated. Meter changes should do the trick, with the initial progression in 6/4, the second iteration in 5/4, and so on. Low brass soloists (trombone, bass trombone, and tuba) perform the chord cycle, on short notes; like an audible exhalation, with plenty of space to inhale. Soloists carry over from the first movement interjecting fast gestural utterances, such as trills and glissandos, and providing counterpoint to the brass progression. Resonance of the chords may be orchestrated with muted strings.

Not much to report this morning. I continue to transcribe the first improvisation and make compositional (formal, structural, harmonic, and textural, e.g.) decisions about material for the first movement. The movement begins slowly, in 6/4 time, and then transitions to a triple feel in 9/8 and 6/8, before a metric modulation (eighth note = sixteenth note) leads into the latter half of the work, which is, to put it bluntly, louder and faster! The picture is my workspace this morning. Notice the bottom left of my desk. Coffee is very important.

In my last posting I was preparing to perform improvisations on the piano. It’s now a few days later and I’ve recorded seven or eight short improvisations. I’m transcribing one of the improvisations this morning. Composing in this fashion can lead to more organic material. That is, material that has a natural pace and flow. The sketch pasted below is (roughly) in C melodic minor, with A natural, B natural, over the subdominant of F. I’ve included two samples of the sketch: the first is an overview of the opening few phrase units, and the second shows some development further into the work. The concertino soloists might still be flute, clarinet, percussion, and violin, but it’s too early to tell for sure. The opening sound (measure 1) in this sketch is distance metal percussion swirls, followed by a pedal F (strings?) that supports longer contrapuntal lines in the higher (solo) voices. The material eventual becomes more active over the span of six minutes.

This always happens early in the creative process: I make elaborate sketches, and then one day, such as today, I decide to abandon them and go in an entirely other direction. But I know that the early sketches will remain in my psyche, informing later decisions. For now I’ve put several days work away and am starting from scratch. This time I’m improvising material at the piano. I’m about ready to do this now––I have the piano and midi DAW ready to go. I find improvisation to be a critical tool in developing more ‘fluid’ material. I’ve done this many times at the outset of a composition. I’ll record quite a bit, and then spend time combing through the material for a musical ‘germ’ that will populate the composition. I don’t set a metronome so the software is unable to spit out a nicely notated score for me. I have to listen to the recording and then transcribe––by hand––the material I like. Doing it by hand is actually a crucial part of the process. I refuse to let the software pigeonhole me into some form, or notation, I do not intend. Here’s what my screen looks like right now. Notice the lack of any midi information... yet! (I use Digital Performer as my main DAW for those who are curious.)

This morning I am working on a few sketches of possible forms for the first movement. The sketch I’ve included below is in five sections:

(A1) Introduction / Theme / Static / 1 minute
(B1) Body and Development / Underlying pulse / Flourishes in solo concertino ensemble / 2 minutes
(A2) Thematic flourishes return / once only / 15 seconds
~ ~ ~ percussion transition ~ ~ ~
(B2) Body and Development Returns / Louder / 2 minutes
(C) Coda / Trills / High cluster spreads to encompass the full tessitura / 1 minute
~ ~ ~ percussion returns to end the movement suddenly.

This morning I began working on a new piece for the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra. I’m rather excited about this commission. Many of the performers are (or have been) students of mine at Acadia University. I’ll be updating this blog to include recent thoughts and sketches as the work takes shape. Be sure to check again for updates, or signup for the RSS feed (on the bottom left side).

I’m currently thinking about creating a ‘Concerto Grosso’ using soloists from the ensemble. Rather than a typical concerto grosso, where a subset of the ensemble performs the solo role throughout, I’m considering a three movement form utilizing different soloists for each movement. Of course, this plan could (and probably will) change. But for a youth orchestra situation, creating a work where selected performers have a chance to be in the spot-light, but only for part of the work, is an attractive proposition.

Here’s a sketch I did this morning considering the form of the piece:

1) HIGH whimsical or phantasmical (flute, clarinet, violin, and crotales)
2) LOW a dirge (trombone (or bass trombone), tuba, and double bass)
3) FULL a ‘concerto’ for the entire orchestra