Thinking Ahead

Walt Disney being cryogenically, erm, frozen seems to have been an urban legend all along. He was cremated, and his ashes were interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale. I’m both glad and sorry to learn this.
Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions)

...you’ve got a collapse of confidence in the currency—people are gonna panic—there’s gonna be gold riots, atonal music, political chaos, mass suicide!...

— Peter Falk as Vince Ricardo in The In-Laws

On the supposition, id est, in the hope that the new roster of the k a rl h e nn i ng Ensemble has “legs,” I have been thinking about rep for a projected October 2024 King’s Chapel concert, and I am adapting both Down Along the Canal to Minerva Road and Jazz for Nostalgic Squirrels for C flute, alto flute, bass clarinet and double-bass: Opp. 149a & 117a. What else? Well, if by then Orlando Cela and Wei Zhao have given its première performance, Music for the Un-Hip Hop. There’s room for a fourth piece in the program, but let me not get way ahead of myself, and I’ll wait to see how Dave Zox (especially) feels about the demands of the April 2024 program prep. I have a chance to show the Third Symphony to the conductor of a regional orchestra. Of course, I’ve no way of knowing that anything will actually come of it, but the opportunity of having a conductor’s eyes pass over the score is too good to ignore. The major effort necessary was to have the score typographically cleaned up. I feel I’ve managed to do this (ideally, I should wish that a friend give me feedback first, but I don’t believe I should dawdle any more. This morning I saw to the two lesser requisites, a bio and a list of works (of course, the bio was pretty much ready off the shelf, and no, I’m not sure why I don’t have a “legacy” works list from some prior endeavor.)

Brief List of Works (10 Sep 23)

Opus 179 For You, Fuchsia, chamber orchestra (2023), 7:00.

Opus 173 When, mixed choir SATB and alto flute (2021), written for Triad: Boston’s Choral Collective  5:00. On YouTube.

Opus 172 The Orpheus of Lowell, soprano and four instrumentalists (2021), commissioned by the Lowell Chamber Orchestra for the Jack Kerouac Centenary. 16:00. On YouTube.

Opus 171 I Dreamt of Reconciliation and Harmony, flute and alto saxophone (2014), 8:00. On YouTube.

Opus 169 № 8 Sorrow and Love flow mingled down, organ solo (2023), 4:00. On YouTube.

Opus 156 It Might Happen Today, men’s choir TTB (2018), written for Triad: Boston’s Choral Collective  6:00. On YouTube.

Opus 148 Karl’s Big (But Happily Incomplete) Map to the Body, Symphony № 2 for Band (completed 2018), 24:00.

Opus 143 Symphony № 1 large orchestra (completed 2017), 25:00.

Opus 130 The Young Lady Holding a Phone in Her Teeth, double wind quintet (2016), commissioned by Kammerwerke 16:00. On YouTube.

Opus 116 Plotting (y is the new x), violin and harpsichord (2013), commissioned by Dr Paul Cienniwa, 12:00. On YouTube.

Opus 102 Sonata for Viola and Piano (2010), commissioned by Dana Huyge for his Graduate Recital at the Eastman School, 30:00. On Soundcloud.

Opus 109 Thoreau in Concord Jail, clarinet unaccompanied (2014), 30:00. On YouTube.

Opus 88 Out in the Sun, for ten winds (2006) written for the New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble, 15:00

Opus 75 White Nights, ballet after Dostoyevsky large orchestra (completed 2018), 2h:15:00.