Although I have indeed sent The Mystic Trumpeter off to The Intrepid Soprano, I am toying with the idea of making three comparatively immaterial changes: (1) I wonder if one of the “G.P.” measures is more time than needs to be taken at that point; (2) a couple of eighth-notes in the clarinet line of stanza 8 have me wondering if I should not expand them to quarter-notes (the seemingly clipped notes of the original-and-discarded clarinet draught for that section were the chief culprits); and (3) the odd clarinet note or two over the course of the unaccompanied stanza may be a good idea for soprani who may not be quite so strong in the ear as Jaya.
These are all negligible corrigenda, and the composer is well pleased (at last, we may say).
On this morning’s train, I started to scrawl some flute notes for Après-mystère. The Trumpeter clocks at 20 ½ minutes (as Sibelius tick-tocks). Allowing for natural give-and-take in a live performance, I should not be surprised if it runs as long as 23 minutes. If it should, and keeping in mind the need for the program to come to a hard stop at 12:45 PM . . . I think we must keep Après-mystère to no more than three minutes, and it will probably be advisable to plan on running the two pieces with no intervening pause (which of itself is something of a fun thought, I think). Should start with flute alone, give the clarinetist the option of swabbing the bore . . . .
I still have some paper sketches for Nicodemus which need to be folded into the Sibelius file, and the cellist is enthusiastic about the prospective piece.
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