23 July 2025

Progress, Sweet Progress

 My brother: Blondie invited all the world to call her, but she won’t respond to my PMs.
Me: It’s just no good, you teasing like you do.
Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions)

There are no wrong reasons for liking a work of art, only for disliking one.
— E.H. Gombrich

We had an extremely productive Henning Ensemble rehearsal this afternoon, and so quite the opposite of feeling tired from the expenditure of neurological sweat, I find myself energized and looking forward to tomorrow’s rehearsal. Alan Westby’s Quiet Girl is sounding more exquisite than ever and Pam Marshall’s Carvoeira Clifftop Walk has come immediately back to us. As has Down Along the Canal to Minerva Road. We made excellent progress on the new pieces: Dark Side of the Sun and the Fantasia on a Theme by Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Having talented colleagues who are so engaged with and excited about one’s compositions is truly beyond price.

And, separately, (and Lawd knows I do not harbor much—any, really— hope) I have submitted For You, Fuchsia and Dark Side of the Sun to a Call, that is, the two collectively to a Call confusingly phrased—a reading, but they are selecting a composer for a commission?—well, as I have zero expectation of being selected, it doesn’t much matter if I don’t find their Call intelligible, right?


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