a composer divided against himself + la musique de Jésus

I'm kind of picky when it comes to writing on anything but an acoustic piano so, since I'm away from said instruments today, I've decided to do some engraving on the o-PAY-ra in stead. A wonderful choir from California has commissioned what will be the very first performance of any kind for We, The Boys to take place next June. We'll be doing a suite of three movements from the largess that is my melodrama and, seeing as how two of the movements are already written and I've been trying to keep ahead of my deadlines (fingers crossed), I decided that starting on this would probably not be a bad thing. I'm notoriously abstract random--like way, way, way abstract random--and I need to have concrete, don't-f*ck-around deadlines which inspire enough guilt that I get my shit together and actually write.

So that's what I'm doing. Today is the piano part for the first movement: an aria for the character of Howard that is completely written and essentially needs to be given a compelling arrangement for choir and piano. No problem.

The weird thing about this process is that the piece was written in two "sessions" over the course of a year. The vocal part was composed in the summer of 2008 in both the Twin Cities as well as Decorah, Iowa and the piano part got its polish in June/July '09 in the practice huts at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan. So, although there was only one composer at the helm of this particular aria, it sometimes feels to me like there are three distinct sensibilités at work.

I write fairly quickly and rarely, if ever, do I have to keep my creative focus over such a long period of time (id est over two years). Writing this opera has become like an endurance trial and trusting my initial instinct--a huge part of my personal writing process--is sometimes a little dodgy. So I've got winter '09 Josh looking at vocal lines written by summer '08 Josh combined with piano parts by summer '09 Josh and we're all sort of staring at each other across the table waiting to see who's going to cave first:

winter '09: this vocal line might need to be changed for the sake of the singer.

summer '08: but that's what i wanted in the first place. it's got a little quiver in it that makes it effervescent.

summer '09: he thinks that, by using obscure words like "quiver" and "effervescent," he'll be able to impress you with his intelligence enough so that you'll acquiesce.

summer '08: you just said "acquiesce!"

winter '09: settle down, fellas. we're all in this together. do you want to go have a glass of wine or something? i know a great dessert bar down the street that has bottomless glasses of wine for $10 at happy hour.

summer '08: that sounds amazing!

summer '09: totally. let's go.

winter '09: alright, you two go on ahead and i'll pack up. i'll be there in a few hours. order me the house white and be prepared to talk about that berlioz memoir that we're reading when i get there.

summer '08/'09: awesome!

And that's how you get shit done here at joshuashank.com, folks. Ignore the person that wrote it initially and trust yourself in the moment. (And it helps if you can get those other two Joshs wicked drunk so they don't bother you.)

In other news, it's the holiday season and the Jesus music is as ubiquitous as McD's and Starb's. There are some really good rants out there by composers about the crappy/syrupy/vapid music that plays seemingly on a loop this time of year and, instead of this, I'd like to make my contribution to the I'm-a-serious-composer-and-my-tastes-are-super-refined-and-should-be-considered-more-esteemed-than-JCPenney's-music-people's's-choices pool.

I don't mind the crap. I just don't listen to it and, instead, look out for stuff that I really, really like.

Case in point: the Apollo's Fire baroque orchestra out of Cleveland. Madre de Dios they are amazing! Steve Staruch played a few tracks off of their Noels & Caroles from the Olde World on MPR a few days ago and I immediately ordered the album and scoured YouTube for some live videos. There isn't, like, a mother load or anything but there was an insanely beautiful performance of Vivaldi's "La Folia" (Watch around 4'19" or so when the principal cellist and his hair start doing some great off-the-string stuff.):

The tag line readeth thus: "The folia is an ancient dance from Portugal, where young girls engaged in the 'folly' of a wild dance of abandonment. The Folia dance traditionally gets faster and wilder toward the end. This arrangement by [artistic director/conductor] Jeannette Sorrell is a concerto grosso, after Vivaldi's triosonata, La Folia."

The only bad part about that video is that you can't buy the track anywhere. Luckily, the album I mentioned above is available on iTunes and it kicks ass. They go for a land speed record and burn through "Patapan" in 49 seconds flat and their principal soprano soloist, Sandra Simon, joins them on a few tracks with some amazing results (especially "Noël Nouvelet").

But this comes as no surprise to anyone who knows my musical tastes...because I lurv fast-ish Baroque-ish music. The composers weren't afraid to just get into a good groove and go and go and go. It plays directly into the hands of my reptilian brain that wants nothing more than to gyrate to fat beats.

Mahalo.