Big Band
A very enjoyable meeting last night led to some tentative plans for next year that, if they pan out, will require me to write music for an orchestra. Now, let me be clear: we're talking here about a chamber orchestra. Nevertheless, it's a band with a full string choir, a half-dozen woodwinds, a few brass, and percussion. This would be--easily--the most diverse instrumental ensemble I've ever composed for. I am, weirdly, less happy than I should be. (Must ... manufacture ... happy ... thoughts.)
This experience has forced me to consider head-on an odd quirk of my composerly personality. Why have I so little ambition to hear my music played by the big bands? Why are the vast combinatorial possibilities not stimulating and challenging me? And they are truly vast: the number of possible sub-ensembles in an orchestra of n parts, and not counting tutti or the Cageian empty set, is 2n - 2. If an orchestra score has 15 parts, that would be 32,766 sub-ensembles.
It's not that I'm one of those needy wimps who rely on limits to stimulate creativity. It's just that I do not find orchestras all that exciting. It's difficult for an ensemble of that size to avoid a sound that congeals into some kind of bland glop. Now, add a piano or organ and make it a concerto, and suddenly I'm all ears. The very clear contrast (not to mention, the drama) introduced by the soloist makes all the difference. (And let it be a soloist which a huge range of dynamics, pitches, and tone colors; violin or even trombone concertos don't quite generate the sparks I want.)
Or, there's always my first love: human voices in combination. Not a soloist, please; what I really want is a choir of angels. In fact, for the orchestral project I mentioned above, I'll have the freedom to insist on putting a vocal quartet front and center. Now if only I can find a stealthy way to pour pancake syrup into the bells of the winds and the f-holes of the strings on the night of the performance (oopsies!!!), I'll be all set. Only the singers will remain. We'll return to that ancient dream, the primordial ocean of our ancestors, and listen for God's own perfect ensemble: till human voices wake us, and we drown.
(Ending this with an allusion to T. S. Elliot? I wasn't expecting that. Weird.)
Labels: Composition
Umie the Umlaut says, "ask your doctor about the Fredösphere!"
1 Comments:
"And let it be a soloist with a huge range of dynamics, pitches, and tone colors; violin or even trombone concertos don't quite generate the sparks I want."
Or "even trombone concertos?!!" You're suggesting the trombone might be more promising than the violin, arguably the most perfect concerto instrument? Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Prokofiev - I'm a pianist, but there are no piano concerti better than these pieces. I've also accompanied a few trombone concerti in my day - the less said, the better. However, I will concede that the Haydn violin concerti are quite forgettable. I wish violin teachers would forget about them.
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