The Retreat Begun in Earnest

A Thanksgiving turkey in the oven is a bird not easily to be flipped.

Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions)

Have a heart that never hardens, a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.

—Chas Dickens

I got a lot of work done on the Opus 199, even while it entails a genetic make-over of the Opus 198. This too is a mode of the Craft.

Satori in Woburn

Today has been like the acid flashback, only without the acid: someone on the radio crooning “Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime,” and seeing at the supermarket Magic Fruity Pebbles
Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions)

Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?
— Abraham Lincoln

Gentle Reader, when I first set to work on this post, its heading was The Plan, Insofar As We Might Call It a Plan, If Having a Plan Even Matters. The cosmic irony of this will reveal itself hereafter. The first thing is our 8 April concert at King’s Chapel. We have our first proper rehearsal of the Trio this Thursday. If that may seem unusually late in the cycle, in the first place I do not deny that, and in the second, all the players will come into the rehearsal superbly prepared. The long and the short of it being that, I believe we are in good shape. The second-ish thing is my as-yet-blunted attempt to book a venue for another concert of the full quartet. I’m still hoping to confirm Option B (which the scheduling demigods have seemed to nudge to first availability) for a May date. We four shall need to powwow in order to find a summer date for Option A (a venue where we have played a few times already.)

So much for the Housekeeping, so to say.

The plan for creative work at present is: first, the Opus 199 Ossman setting, and then the Opus 197 Kirk Fantasia for the Henning Ensemble. I had made a start on the Op. 197, and some days later chipped away at it, bringing it to about three-quarters of a minute. Work on that will proceed nicely whenever I may return to it. As to the Op. 199, as soon as David gave me the go-ahead, I began to sketch the opening trombone statement. As reported here, though, I had not yet formed any idea of how the choir should participate and declaim the text. Nor had I any notion at the time, earlier today, when I set to work on this post. This afternoon, after a refreshing nap, however, a solution flashed upon my consciousness, which is either absurd insanity or simple genius. If the latter, it will be yet another piece to vindicate my “Don’t Do Something, Just Sit There” method of awaiting the Muse’s pleasure. And now, I shall set myself to settling the Insanity or Genius? Question. Watch This Space.

The Chief Inspiration, Perhaps, Is Just Sound Itself

 I’d like to take Ringo at his word when he says he’d like to be under the sea, but there’s, well, respiration to consider. He might want to think it through better, is all I’m saying.

Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions)

I cannot think that we are useless, or God would not have created us.

— Geronimo

Today I wound up the Rahsaan Roland Kirk Fantasia for recorders. I had sketched perhaps 4-6 measures immediately upon creating a distinct Sibelius file for the Opus 198. Composed the rest of it out in fairly short order early this afternoon.

What's Up

 I’ve seen smarter analyses on impulse tattoos.

Does a circus bee really “change all the time?” There had to have been a better simile.

Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions)

Laws, like a spider’s web, catch the flies but let the Hawk go free.

— Spanish proverb.

Even though I set for myself the Ossman setting as a priority, I’ve busied myself with divers arrangements, and with outreach instead. I’ve asked a friend to print out the text for me. It is a while since I did any pre-compositional work on paper, but here's a case where I think I want a sheet of paper to help me visualize and sketch the musical architecture. The fact is, I haven’t yet “heard” what I want to do with the choir. So I think the page will be a good aid. Having thus pardoned myself for seeming to procrastinate on the Op. 199, I made some headway yesterday on the Op. 197 Fantasia on a Theme by Rahsaan Roland Kirk. My first thought was a Fantasia on “A Laugh for Rory” (a number which Kirk wrote and played for his infant son, and a track which my parakeet enjoys) for the Recorders, which I might then adapt for the Henning Ensemble. I immediately perceived that if I kept to that thought, it would be a piece too challenging for the recorders, and of insufficient interest for the, erm, Henningtonians (a barbarous neologism coined by Peter, but which seems to stick around.) I therefore resolved to write two distinct pieces, both based on the same Rahsaan Roland Kirk number, but each tailored to its proper group. Part of the inspiration for my approach to the Op. 197 is Hindemith’s Op. 34 String Trio. Which goes to demonstrate why the piece simply will not do for any recorder ensemble. In general, the skies seem to be opening back up. For some while in the back of my mind I’ve felt that I’ve labored to be doing more creative work, have felt that motivation and inspiration were, not absolutely avoiding me, but were not the reliable companions they had always been earlier. But I am finding this year that my experience defies that. I find that I do not lack for musical ideas. That’s it. I think I’ll just absorb that a while.

Fresh Snow

There’s no unmashing that potato, is there?
Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions)

I did direct one episode of Night Gallery in 1972. Jack Laird, the producer, who gave me my virgin assignment on the show, offered me another one. I had to turn it down because it conflicted with an appearance in Milwaukee as "Fagin" in Oliver. Night Gallery was then canceled, and that was that.
— Leonard Nimoy, I Am Not Spock 

Recalling that my talented multi-instrumentalist friend Dan Meyers helped create the Première of From the Pit of a Cave in the Cloud, Op. 129, I reached out to see if any of my new recorder ensemble bits might be of interest. He responded positively, so off went some PDFs, including Yesterday’s Snow officially rendered as a Recorder Quartet. Separately, two organists have sent very nice messages acknowledging receipt of the Fantasy on When Jesus Wept.

I Wasn't Going to, Really

 On Wikipedia, the synopsis of Star Trek begins, “The show is set in the Milky Way galaxy,” which of course, would be equally true of Dragnet

.Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions)

Oh, my love is so inscrutable, in a stoic sort of way.

—  Viv Stanshall

(“Let’s take a taxi to my tent.”)

As noted heretofore, as a rule I resist the urge to make multiple versions of a piece. (I mean to say, what a mess I managed to make of Things Like Bliss—a most unbliss-ful result.) In the case of the Fantasy on When Jesus Wept, though, there is a practical use in the Henning Ensemble. And now, a friend suggested a version for organ solo, which is enormously practical, with Holy Week not all that far off. So yes, there is now an Op. 162b. But That Is It!

The Unexpexted Zappa Orgy of 1Q25 Part VIII

 The importance for our times of Fred MacMurray’s character in The Caine Mutiny: he’s partly in the right (and only partly), but he’s a complete jerk.

Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions)

I am constantly asked how I managed to “keep a straight face” while playing the character. In terms of actor’s craft, it was easy. I’m always amazed at the speed and deftness with which a plumber fixes a leaky faucet. That’s his craft. Mine included emotional control and manipulation. I remember one day on the Star Trek set when a group of actors were listening to a story being told by one of the group. There was a funny ending and everyone laughed. I didn’t.

An actress in the group said, “Leonard is in his Spock bag.”

I was, deeply into it and that was sometimes a problem.  I was like a pressure cooker. Plenty of emotional input, and little or no emotional release.  I was so thoroughly immersed in the character that my weekends were a gradual trip back to emotional normalcy.

— Leonard Nimoy, I Am Not Spock

Now comes the Waka/Wazoo 50^th anniversary box, smushing together Waka Jawaka (onomatopœia representing the wah-wah pedal) and Grand Wazoo (the 20-piece chamber orchestra Zappa briefly toured with in 1972, afterwards trimmed down a tad and re-christened Petite Wazoo.) What can I say about this elixir? Or, really: let me find intelligent (or intelligent-ish) things to say so that I’m no mere cheerleader. Not to denigrate cheerleaders, absolutely. I’m just past the age when that activity might be becoming. Well, I’m not sure whom I’m trying to kid. I’ve always been a fan of these two albums, so naturally, I’m enthused over the various Alternate Takes and Outtake Versions. My ears have always found it of interest how Zappa re-configured/rethought/revived “Big Swifty” in live shows (not only as documented in the You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore series but on Make a Jazz Noise Here from the always rewarding 1988 band, so having both an Alternate Take and an Alternate Mix of “Big Swifty” is a little slice of a kind of sonic heaven. As is having a 10-minute-plus Outtake Version of “Blessed Relief.” The title track of Waka/Jawaka as released runs 11:16, so having a 13:41 Outtake Version and a 16-minute Alternate Mix (this latter including a re-inserted Moog drum solo) I find rewarding. The blu-ray disc of the newly mixed albums is a fabulous listen though I cannot comment on the 5.1 surround sound. Disc 3 opens with George Duke demos which I find of only relatively mild interest. YMMV. Genuinely essential for myself, though, is Zappa’s Record Plant mix of the Grand Wazoo playing “Approximate” in the Boston Music Hall on 24 Sep 1972. The final track of Disc 3 and all of Disc 4 are from the 15 Dec 1972 performance of the 10-piece Petite Wazoo in San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom. This is tasty stuff. The show begins with “Little Dots,” and for fun I’ve just revisited that number’s “debut” as the titular composition of a posthumously released CD. It’s just All Good.

I’m not saying that Maestro Duke doesn’t deserve the space, and sure, I’ll listen again (Heck, I own it.) Just honestly reporting a first impression. And those demos suffer the disadvantage of leading to the grandiose chaotic opening of “Approximate.”