Dreaming On

Jesu, Toy of Man’s Conspiring.

– Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions)

I replied—"This is nothing but dreaming:
Let us on by this tremulous light!
Let us bathe in this crystalline light!
Its sibyllic splendor is beaming
With hope and in beauty to-night:
See, it flickers up the sky through the night!
Ah, we safely may trust to its gleaming,
And be sure it will lead us aright:
We safely may trust to a gleaming
That cannot but guide us aright,
Since it flickers up to Heaven through the night

— Edgar Allan Poe “Ulalume”

Another review which I don’t believe I’ve posted here—Review: Emory Streams All-Star Trio concert, reduced to Duo for on-demand viewing.

I began work on the new duet for flute and alto saxophone, I dreamt of reconciliation and harmony, Op. 171 on 11 Dec. I worked on it next (a little) on 3 Jan. Yesterday (at last!) I resumed [or began] proper work and brought the piece just past the three-minute mark. I’ve worked more today, and the piece is ten seconds shy of four minutes now. I’m aiming for a five-minute piece, may or may not do a little more work on it this evening.  Will try to have it “in the can” Friday, so that the work is done before I need my post-therapy nap.  I reached a listening milestone today, having at last listened to the whole of the Dennis Russell Davies/Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra box of the complete Haydn symphonies, absolutely all of which are masterful, and many of them are brilliant.

I don't believe I have yet posted Carson Cooman’s realization of the Opus 169 № 1, Where bright angel feet have trod.

Back at Last to the Opus 169

Grand Theft Typo

– Postcards From Red Squirrel Trail

You had one eye in the mirror as you watched yourself gavotte
— Carly Simon, “You’re So Vain”

You know, I think Carly Simon really meant one eye on the mirror ....

I see that I last mentioned the Op. 169 last summer. At first I thought I would write four pieces, but happily I have more friends/colleagues to thank, so we are now looking at 9 pieces. Op. 169 № 1, Where bright angel feet have trod I wrote for Barbara Otto, my collaborator here at Holy Trinity United Methodist Church. Op. 169 № 2, While the dew is still on the roses is for my friend David Bohn in Wisconsin. I prepped the Sibelius file for Op. 169 № 3, Love is come again like wheat that springeth green (for my friend Carson Cooman) back in November, but I was a while deciding just how I wanted to set the piece in motion. The only musical decision (apart from the source hymn (a French carol) I baked into the piece then was a Gavotte-like start (on beat 2 alla breve)

I have at last begun composition in earnest, and tomorrow is wide open, too.

Yes, I blogged yesterday about The Heart, but I want to get Love is come again (and the flute/alto sax duet) wrapped up first, i.e. complete two smaller-scale pieces before rolling up the sleeves for a 12-minute symphonic movement.

Amon other things for which I have David Bohn to thank, is this recording of Remembering Jacquie Levy, which I submitted for his clavietta call, “20 Seconds of 2020.” Thanks, David! If, as I did not, you don’t know what a clavietta is: watch the video.

Whither Now the Heart?

Squid Pro Quo.

– Postcards From Red Squirrel Trail

We inhabitants of the north feel differently. Life’s experiences touch us either not at all or sink deep into our souls. With us, it is either mad boisterousness or or bitter tears. Even love, that wondrous emotion which brightens the entire universe [Not Vulcan, corrects Mr Spock] is always bound up in us with a certain sadness. There is no doubt that our melancholy Russian songs are children from the north that we have, perhaps, taken over from the east. The songs of the orientals are just as melancholy, even in carefree Andalusia.
— Mikhail Glinka

A review I neglected to share here: Spektral Quartet plays into the juxtapositions with Experiments in Living.

Lieutenant Columbo appeared in my dream last night.  “Well, this is all interesting, Mr Henning, but since this is a dream of yours, it’s not going to be of much use in my case, I’m afraid. Thanks all the same.”  It did not occur to me until I had awakened, that he might perhaps have considered me a suspect.

In June of 2018, I finished the first movement, The Nerves of a Symphony for Band.  In November, I would suffer a severe stroke.  As I was in rehab, and mentally wishing to return to composing, I had a wisp of an idea for the second movement, The Heart.

In the spring of 2020, for a call for scores, I prepared a different scoring of The Nerves (no, my submission went nowhere—but then, the original scoring is specific to a local ensemble who have not acknowledged the piece in any way. so we might well say it has gone nowhere. period.)

That bootless arrangement done, I began composing The Heart, and yet in a way not at all reflecting my February 2019 thoughts. I have not yet resumed work, but am fixin’ to. My listening of late has included Rued Langgaard’s Sfærernes Musik, Hovhaness’ Symphony № 20, Op.223 « Three Journeys to a Holy Mountain » and Weinberg’s Symphony № 20, Op. 150. These have inspired me to return to The Heart, and indeed to take up properly my original musical idea.

As yet unknown is whether I keep my May 2020 material or jettison it.

The Odd Reflection

Be fearless. But be good.

– Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions)

I had a serious talk with Strauss in Berlin and tried to show him the blind alley he had got into [with Salome] Unfortunately, he could not quite follow what I meant. He’s a charming fellow, and I’m touched by his attitude toward me. And yet I can mean nothing to him—for whereas I see over his head, he sees only up to my knees.

— Gustav Mahler, in a letter to his Alma (Dresden, 19 Dec 1901)

My first reflection on reading this, was a mild revulsion at what might appear Mahler’s self-absorbed hauteur.

Then I thought of a later encounter of Strauss’s:

Strauss: Why do you compose atonal music? You have talent.

Hindemith: You compose your music, Herr Professor Doktor, and I’ll compose mine.

One of the things I miss at present, but which I am working to restore, is being able to hold and read a book and turn its pages normally.

Latest review: Chilean Music for viola and piano.

I’m suffering (mildly) doubts of whether I may be inconsistent.  I do not, as a rule, care much for the Shostakovich Chamber Symphonies (which I almost cast in quotes, but I forbear for reasons presently to emerge) which are simply arrangements for string choir/orchestra of a few of the quartets. Why? Is it because (although I still need to get to know many of the quartets better still) I really enjoy and admire the quartets as quartets? Yet, while I clearly prefer the original sextet version of Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, I love the “big band” string orchestra version very well.

The reason for this ultimately inconsiderable micro-episode of self-doubt is Weinberg, I have even more work cut out in getting to know his quartets than Shostakovich’s ( at present, I have done little more than complete my initial survey of all the seventeen) and possibly because they are for me at present an additional means of getting to know the quartets better, possibly (as well) because of the excellence of Kremerata Baltica, I find the Weinberg Chamber Symphonies immediately and unqualifiedly enjoyable. Maybe the lesson for me is: just give the Shostakovich Chamber Symphonies a chance.

I’ve also been listening to the Holmboe Chamber Symphonies, which are another thing entirely.

Henningmusick Performances in the Offing

The lucky contestant, the winner of our discontent!

– Postcards From Red Squirrel Trail

The very active composer is always a thief—he makes use of every single thing he can put his hands on.
— Pierre Boulez

I do not as yet know any dates.  Both Verb-Blur and The Last Invocation will receive their live-performance première down in Jacksonville, Florida in February or April.  The University of Indiana has purchased a performance set of Out in the Sun. And a graduate conducting student at the University of Michigan informs me that she is doing me the fine service of leading what will be the third performance of Out in the Sun in Ann Arbor.

Keeping at It

 

The bartender calls this cocktail, the Pain in the Ass.

– Postcards From Red Squirrel Trail

A painting is not a picture of an experience, it is an experience.
— Mark Rothko

And, Exhibit B: Considering My Bliss Options, Op. 137 № 2b

Per my challenge to myself yesterday, it pleases me to report that I have worked more on I dreamt of reconciliation and harmony; I've now reached the 90-second mark, and I'm off for the night.

Timbrally Heterogeneous Duo

 Late in October, flutist Paul Gardner and alto saxophonist Greg Weber sent recordings they made of two arrangements of mine: Zen on the Wing, Op. 114 № 2a (here) and Considering My Bliss Options, Op. 137 № 2b

On 11 Dec as a thank-you, I began a new duo especially for them, I dreamt of reconciliation and harmony (which in fact, I recently had) my Op. 171. Almost a month later, I resumed work on it today, with an eye to restoring a habit of doing at least a little composing each day.