11 Aug
2015
11 Aug
'15
4:57 p.m.
On 08/11/2015 06:26 AM, Edgar Aichinger wrote:
Hello Dave,
Am Montag, 10. August 2015, 11:17:41 schrieb Dave Phillips:
Hi Edgar, I was waiting to hear from you. :)
Greetings,
Music for two 13-course Baroque lutes :
https://soundcloud.com/davephillips69/le-faux-gaultier
Downloads enabled, comments welcome.
Well now that's a surprise!
I knew that you like to hear lute music. I also knew that you sometimes compose in a
traditional sense for guitar or small ensemble, probably as a part of teaching music.
It's just to please myself. I have no reputation or career as a
composer. I have written stuff for students, nothing lately though.
Alas, I have very few students into music beyond the popular styles.
On the compositional side I'd be curious how you
would describe the key elements in the Gaultier's music you tried to catch the spirit
of (I think we talk about Ennemond and Denis, not so much of Jaques or even Pierre who
both lived earlier and wrote in somewhat different styles)? I ask because I don't
recognize the major part of this as style brisee - to me it rather bears reminiscences of
english late renaissance (or is it transitional/early baroque, music in the fashion of
Henry Lawes etc., which would point at Jaques again, whose music I really don't know
all that well ;) - but OTOH I often fail in recognizing elements when they appear in
abstracted form, so please share your thoughts!
You're right, the Gaultiers I've heard most are Denis and Ennemond,
largely thanks to the recordings by Hopkinson Smith. I thought the music
was glorious and rather solemn at the same time. If I recall correctly,
someone once referred to Denis's music as funereal, even in his up-tempo
pieces. :)
When I was a young guitarist I played through the collections by
Alexander Bellow, they were my introduction to player/composers such as
Corbetta, Brayssing, and Foscarini (L'Academico Caliginoso). To my ears,
tonal harmony was in its formative years for those composers, its formal
implications hadn't been ironed out yet, so there's more freedom in the
treatment of the chords per se, rather than in the overall progression.
That "structured randomness" you hear in my music is a far reflection of
the impression that music made on me then. Less predictability in the
progressions, often striking use of suspensions and ornamentation, an
apparent love of rich chords for their own sake - but please bear in
mind that these impressions are just that, not the result of any
analysis or particular study. I was also inspired by Smith's performance
style, especially in the pieces from La Rhetorique des Dieux. IIRC he
had a broad sound, very flexible tempo (very musical though), and a
gorgeous tone. Of course, the Baroque lutes are vastly different beasts
than their Renaissance ancestors, and until the Smith recordings I'd
never heard the instrument.
Anyway I really enjoy the composition per se, I think
I recognize elements I know from some of your other stuff, hard to describe, maybe some
sort of structured randomness ;)
See above. :)
On the sound side, this is the first lute sound from a
software instrument that sounds convinceing to me, I'm really impressed by that... are
those samples opensourced or proprietary?
They're from a collection of early instruments in GIG format, by Bolder
Sounds. Not free, but inexpensive and very nicely recorded.
Inevitably after a while into the composition, it
sounds a bit like a key instrument now and then, but I wouldn't know how to avoid that
when working with MIDI in a sequencer and having anything else than the most elaborate
sampling libraries a la VSL and their articulations, and players...
The collection includes a sample that passes from flesh to nails via the
mod wheel, I haven't played with that one yet. The sample I used is a
flesh-only recording, it's still pretty bright though.
I hope I haven't talked all too much rubbish, but
as amateur lutenist who has played a lot of Gaultier, I just wanted to comment :D
A rare pleasure. For lute and guitar music, the early Baroque is a
fascinating period, but not many classical music fans know much about
it. I've always assumed that the Baroque lute was somehow more difficult
to play, compared to the Renaissance instrument. What do you think ?
Oh and is there a chance to see a score or get the
MIDI file of this? I'd love to see if it's indeed playable in baroque tuning, and
how the music is shared between the two lutes (I had difficulties telling them apart when
listening via my speakers, haven't tried headphones yet) ...
Ah, and now I have to reveal my secret. It isn't composed as a duet,
it's a single track, written in such a way that the music just turned
into a duet, but it's played by a single instance of the instrument. As
I listened to evolve it I realized it was quickly turning into something
unplayable by a single performer, and so it became a duet. :)
Perhaps at some point I'll separate parts into a true duet, but that
will have to wait. I'd like to continue writing more pieces for the
instrument, perhaps adding more sections in a conventional suite of
dance movements (coranto, sarabande, gigue, etc).
A MIDI file is do-able, but alas again, Bitwig doesn't export the tempo
changes, and there are a few of them in the piece. Still, it's easy to
create the file, I'll send it if you want to look at it as-is.
Thanks for sharing!
Edgar
Thanks for listening and for the comments. I hoped you'd have something
to say about it. :)
Best always,
dp