I went to a masterclass by Robert Morris today. It was great. He completely dissolved all the pieces in great detail. His analytical skill was quite impressive. Then, a few of us, with Dr. Kuehn, went to a Japanese restaurant (the food was terrible) to have lunch.
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I really like putting superficial elements into my compositions. I recently did a Schenker analysis on the first quarter section of my thesis piece, and found that I might as well write the whole piece in sonata form!--yes, I am working on the development of it--but who will hear it? I won't. The Schenker analysis did help me a lot with composing, with figuring out or planning out the structural pitches and registers/contours of sounds and tessitura. This piece is a lot about tension and release.
Assuming that I don't write the exact same notes as Mozart did for his Symphony No. 40 or whatever, even if I happen to write many same notes, the fact that I am writing it in this period of the history and at this different location of the world and for a different group of performers and audience, I am writing new music. A lot of things have been done in music, that's true, but the way how I, or any other composer write a piece, even though it might have the exact same notes or even formatting/layout of the score, creates new music because it requires new sort of communications among musicians and audiences. We don't write in the style of Beethoven anymore because we have heard so many new sounds and that create so much more possibility in musical expression. I am sure that has Debussy heard the music of today, he'll write... like Takemitsu?! Wait... does egg or chicken come first...? # I am so exciting about the upcoming 31st Annual New Music Festival hosted by MACCM! We have Robert Morris as the guest composer this year. Four of the five adventurists continued our journey today for another concert! We drove to University of Michigan, met up Andy Ly and other friends, and saw the Mariinsky Orchestra in the Hill Auditorium, with Valery Geriev conducting and Denis Matsuev on the piano. The Rachmaninoff 3rd piano concerto was amazing. The balance on the orchestra part was so well-controlled; the pianist was amazing. Somehow they arranged the brass to the right of the stage and basses lining up in the back, which is sort of weird... The Mahler 5th was emotionally intense; Maestro Geriev conducts without a baton and has some really interesting conducting gestures.
We then hung out at an Irish pub. I met Evan Chambers, and that was great! He plays in an irish band, isn't that cool? We five adventurists get up at 4:00 in the morning on this cold Saturday morning, headed off to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park near Cleveland! The morning was crudely cold. As usual, I brought my huge camera bag and my tripod. Photos will be updated to my Gallery soon. After hiking a few trails, we took the best nap lying on some blankets in a random shaded ground. Yes, I didn't sleep last night... It was a great trip, except that we missed the sunrise ---- not that I need to photograph that, because the moment of sunrise usually creates too much contrast; it's the even lighting situation that the sunrise creates that is interesting.
8:00p.m was a concert in Severance Hall, Cleveland with the Cleveland Orchestra, Semyon Bychkov conducting Brahms Symphony No. 3, Ravel's La Valse and Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini with Kirill Gerstein. The conductor was amazing in that his gestures were so natural and convincing, and they reflected exactly how the sound was shaped. It almost felt like the gestures were over-rehearsed though... It sort of lacked spontaneity. The capability of he orchestra's technique and force were no doubt stunning. The performances were almost too perfect... the conductor did tend to over-phase, and this resulted in that the phrases were fragmented and shortened at times. Let me add that the pianist's performance was so clean that powerful. In short, I enjoyed every single moment in the Severance Hall tonight. Went to the "Musicians from SoundSCAPE" concert in BGSU tonight. Tony Arnold and Aiyun Huang came, together with Dr. Rosenkranz, they presented an amazing program with all contemporary (aside from a Webern song cycle) works. During Tony Arnold's performance of Aperghis's Recitations for voice 2b, someone in the audience just started laughing... rather loudly. Everything was fine besides that, and it was mostly an enjoyable night of cool music.
Went to Chicago's Millennium Park for Chicago Symphony Orchestra's free concert celebrating the grand beginning season of 2010-2011 with its new director Riccardo Muti! They played music of Verdi, Liszt, Tchaikovsky and more... was pretty good ---- except that we sat so far away...
# So, I started seriously learning music when I was eighteen. I can't remember when exactly I started to be possessed with the idea that I couldn't live without music? I used to think I could. What is a soul? Why does human possess a soul, and animals don't? Do I possess a soul? Do I express my soul through music? Listen to my music and tell me, because I don't know... also tell me what a soul is.
I have come to realize how lucky I really am. My loved ones are all healthy and alive, and I am healthy (maybe...) and alive. This world is simply wonderful. Maybe that's what gives me a soul ---- appreciating life ---- I love it, I enjoy every single moment of it, no matter how much pain/grieve/suffering there might be. I enjoy being surrounded; I also enjoy being alone; I simply enjoy breathing in the air. Sometimes, the air is melancholy, filled with sorrow, but it is all good, all good. It sounds good ---- melancholy air sounds good. Indeed, every sound is music, and every glimpse is a photograph. I can feel everything this time; it's like breathing in all the air in the world. Now, the only thing I have left to do is to fart really loud and celebrate the joy of life full of arts. Ain't I funny. I often find Robert Schuman's music very interesting, but sometimes boring to listen to. He likes to write these little pieces that are very often, or can be very easily associated with narrative stories because of their episodic natures. The harmony is cool; the melody is charming; the rhythm is engaging ---- but oh my god! There are SO many cadences. I am talking about Kreisleriana op. 16... I heard a live performance of it tonight (and AGAIN). I remember ---- "This piece never ends" was the impression when I first heard it some years ago.
The above comments had absolutely nothing to do with the performance ---- I thought it was a great performance by Dr. Satterlee! The masterclass today with Jennifer Higdon was very rewarding. She had lots of nice things to say ---- "this song really breeds." She made no suggestion for changes, but she did prefer the altered version with alto saxophone than the original version with clarinet. The Dal Niente ensemble's saxophonist's (Ryan Muncy) interpretation was compelling, and the sound of the instrument really fit the character of the music, but I am also very eager to hear "How Can I Keep from Singing?" with clarinet. I also played "Immortality", and she seemed to like it as well.
The talk that precedes the masterclass and the convocation that follows were both good. She had much encouraging words for the students. It was shocking that she didn't know music at all when she started college in Bowling Green, just like how I started college teaching myself piano... One thing that strikes me the most from the conversation with her, is that, when I asked her how much theory she thinks about when she composes, and she said, NONE ---- it's all intuitive... Well, I've tried both ways, and I've certainly been educated that I should find a balance between my gut and logic. Now, should it all come down to personal preferences? Well, the ultimate judge of my music is the audience ---- COMMUNICATION is the key. Also, we've talked about the business aspect of being a composer ---- the house keeping crap. Other than that, I remember asking her, "how do you usually start a piece?" "Daydream, a lot," she said. I can't agree more. As a composer, we think about sound ALL the time. Just like all the other arts ---- a visual artist probably sees lines and shapes at all time; a script writer imagines his/her own life as a script... There is too much to learn in music ---- it is an eternal learning process, and it is awesome! |
Patrick Chan
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