Some housekeeping

 Everything changes, but the linens don’t change themselves.

I love how the master computer on board the Enterprise makes teletype machine noise.

Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions)

Vox populi, vox humbug.

— Wm Tecumseh Sherman.

Received today:

Thank you for applying to the Civic Fellows 2025 Call for Scores. We look forward to reviewing your submission. If selected for the call, you will hear from us by Friday, March 14.

[Checks notes]

Oh, yes, I re-scored Dark Side of the Sun for that call, for more conventional instrumentation.

ASCAP has an annual award program for composers such as yours truly, performances of whose concert works are, erm, underrepresented in the musical world. I haven’t applied in a while, certainly not since my stroke, and I think this year it’s time I applied again. The award is but a nominal sum, but it is also a non-zero figure. The pieces need to be registered with the Society, so this is an apt opportunity to send scores of 2024’s repertory to mine publisher.

Thus the following have I duly remitted:

Op. 117a Jazz for Nostalgic Squirrels
Op. 144e Nun of the Above
Op. 149a Down Along the Canal to Minerva Road
Op. 171 I dreamt of reconciliation and harmony
Op. 177 Waiting on the Italian Paperwork or Throwing Vermicelli at the Wall
Op. 179a Fuchsia Minor
Op. 191 Nostalgia Ain’t What It Used to Be

Tomorrow morning, the Henning Ensemble gathereth, and we shall read Dark Side of the Sun for the first time. We shall also consider when we might perform it.

Well, a (Mostly) New Piece

 Someone might have told the Weird Sisters: the hurlyburly is never done, really.

Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions)

Oh, the Pope warned me never to trust the CIA!

— A Cardinal in Hudson Hawk

Talking with Peter (just returned from his recent tour) today, we discussed rep for the approaching King’s Chapel concert. Is it too flutey? he asked. We agreed that some more bass voice were a very good thing. Although I never reported it here on ye Blog, I had written a string fugato with an eye to its use in the Opus 192 for Chamber Orchestra. Why not, thought I, make use of it for a new piece for C Flute, Alto Flute and Bass Clarinet? There being, og course, no reason not to, I took a goodly stretch of it and expanded upon it (which work will further enhance the Chamber Orchestra piece, too. Thus has been born Amorphous and Forward-Looking, Op. 196.

Four Years Ago, Today

 My personal time zone, and its agreeably unsettled boundaries.

Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions)

‘Kill gorgûn! Kill orc-folk! No other words please Wild Men,’ answered Ghân. ‘Drive away bad air and darkness with bright iron!’

The joy of fresh discovery and of fruitful activity as again I lay into work on The Heart. When I finished The Nerves, I felt it was the strongest piece for large wind ensemble I had yet written, I’m feeling great about The Heart, and I want to make the entire three-movement work the kickingest experience for up-&-coming wind & percussion players. (25 Fwb 2021)

Only four years? It feels like a huge gulf between me today and any work on the Op. 148. I wrote it, hoping that it would appeal to directors of wind ensembles, but yet again: no dice. I remember, when I was still in rehab after my stroke, how eager my mind was to take up and complete the second movement.

Breathy Hooch Ready

 I was searching the index of a book for Leonard Nimoy, but found Leonard Nimovskaya instead (which is misgendered) and I overheard someone say, “His name is really Leonard Nehemiah Schwartz, you know.”

Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions

I walked on stage in the performance of Caligula night after night, convinced that I was Leonard Nimoy giving a good performance as the mad emperor. “We are resolved to be logical.”  That was one of my lines. and night after night I dreaded it. I dreaded the moment when that word would fall out of my mouth. “Logical.” that’s his word. Spock's word, and everybody knows it. But I had to say it. I wanted to swallow it, mumble it, chew it up, rather than say it! Why? Because I knew that the moment those three syllables sounded through the theater, he would be there!

— Leonard Nimoy, I Am Not Spock

This post is typically late, for the fact is that I finished the Opus 159a five days ago. Really pleased with it, too.

Also:

Boston Symphony unleashes a double dose of Haydn and fiery Stravinsky

@karl-henning-1

New Hooch

There is no dark side of the Internet, really. Matter of fact, it’s all dark.

Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions)

Peter Weller: Can you sing?

Jeff Goldblum: A little, yeah. I can dance!

— The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension

I finished recreating the score of Snootful of Hooch yesterday. This morning I made a start on the new arrangement (for two C flutes and Alto Flute.) If the score reconstruction was a tediously mechanical task (it was) preparing the new arrangement is quite engaging. Engaging but not speedy. It probably helps that there is a performance in the offing. I’ll never know why the couple I wrote it for ignored it. I’m 70 measures in on the new scoring, and while I am pleased with the progress, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

No Problems, Only Solutions

 Barry Manilow sounds so proud to make young girls cry. Well, that’s his trip.

Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions)

She decided that she was a painter and being intelligent she realized that it was much easier to talk about painting than to actually paint.

— Richard Brautigan, A Confederate General from Big Sur

It turns out that I need to plan for a trio for our April date at King’s Chapel. It already helps that two pieces I had intended for the program were already for two and three flutes, respectively. Tonight, I reduced Yesterday’s Snow to a trio (two flutes and bass clarinet.) We need another piece or two. I am thinking of redeeming at last A Snootful of Hooch.

Materials Safely Received

 I’m on the cusp of inventing a new genre: the Spaghetti Eastern.

Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions)

Audrey Hepburn: “Well, aren’t you going to kiss me, Charlie?”

Albert Salmi: “Ain’t he kinda close?”

Audrey Hepburn: “You’re going to kiss me, not him.”

Greetings,



Thank you for your entry in the Luna Nova Organ Competition. Your materials arrived safely. The winning composition will be announced on www.lunanova.org by May 15, 2025 and will be performed at the Belvedere Chamber Music Festival in Memphis, TN June 25-28, 2025.

Thank you so much for your participation.