I've just been doing a new arrangement of a piece of string orchestra, based on one of my solo motets. I'm very happy with it, though I expect there will be a little tinkering over the next few days. The problem is that the viola part is truly boring; I have this weakness for static harmony in the middle with a vocal line on top and a moving (generally descending) bass. That's the way it is with this piece; the result is exactly what I want but leaves the violas with acres of the same note.
I've had this problem before and each time I come to the same conclusion, the music as written is exactly what I want. Sometimes I worry that its sheer laziness, that just sticking the same few chords under the melody is the easiest way out. But no amount of tinkering every really comes up with a replacement, too often the more interesting versions simply sound contrived.
So for the moment, my new string piece is sitting on the piano waiting for tinkering. In a few days I'll return to it and see whether I can tweak the viola part to be more fun. But I suspect that I will stay as it is.
Saturday, 14 April 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts this month
-
Du Yun & Royce Vavrek: Angel's Bone - English National Opera at London Coliseum [Photo: Tristram Kenton] Du Yun & Royce Vavrek...
-
Charpentier: David and Jonathan - Harun Ellis Tekin, Tom Lilburn - New Sussex Opera [Photo: Colin Chapman] Charpentier: David and Jonathan...
-
Purcell: Dido & Aeneas - Michael Lafferty, Samantha Price - English Touring Opera [Photo: Richard Hubert Smith] Elena Langer: Ariadne ...
-
Halévy: La Dame de Pique - Gothic Opera at Battersea Arts Centre [Photo: Craig Fuller] Fromental Halévy: La Dame de Pique ; Grace O’Malley,...
-
Wexford Festival Opera has announced its 2027 programme. Artistic director Rosetta Cucchi's theme for next year is a tribute to the extr...
-
Gluck: Orpheus & Eurydice (Dance of the Blessed Spirits) - Louis T Partridge & Angus Bartlett - English Touring Opera [Photo: © Ri...
-
Charles-Aimable Battaille as André Roskow in Fromental Halévy's La Dame de Pique at the Opéra Comique in 1850 Gothic Opera’s production...
-
Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin ,Act Two, scene one - John Brancy as Eugene Onegin, Caspar Singh as Lensky & chorus - Opera North [Photo: Jam...
-
Pianist Zubin Kanga returns to the Southbank Centre on 17 October 2026 with a host of premieres in a double bill of Ghost in the Machine...
-
Ben Parry and Garth Bardsley's My Father Cannot Speak in rehearsals with Roderick Williams at Snape [Photo: Angus Cooke / Britten Pears...
No comments:
Post a Comment