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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000031.txt from 2006/04
From: Isaac Bull <contrareed@-----.ca>
Subj: Re: [DR-L] symphony update (DoubleReed)
Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2006 18:56:13 -0400
Hi there - I read your message with some interest. Sounds like an amazing
work you have going there. I am defintely interested to see (hear) the
final result.
Great you are featuring the contrabassoon more - I agree with you on that
point - I think some composers are afraid to give anything too technical to
the contrabassoon as there is a perception (partially correct) that
fingerings on the contrabassoon are sometimes cumbersome (I've seen
orchestration books commenting to this effect) and also that the contra is
somehow less expressive and more of a "novelty" instrument. For
expressiveness listen to the Ravel Left Hand piano concerto.... and also
CD's of Sue Nigro... certainly goes toward dispelling the myth there... :)
Interesting you mention Shostakovich 10 - just got back from a performance
of that work - an excellent example of bassoon section solo work in the
first movement and how powerful the octave doubling is there - point taken
though about contra solos specifically.
Do let us all know how the work is progressing and if and when it gets
performed somewhere which I do hope it will.
Regards,
Isaac
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bear Woodson" <bearwoodson@-----.net>
To: "DoubleReed List" <doublereed@-----.org>
Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2006 12:27 AM
Subject: [DR-L] symphony update (DoubleReed)
> Hello, Everyone.
>
> I thought you might be interested to know that
> in the last 2 months, I've been busy writing a huge
> symphony, that I hope to make over an hour long.
> Most of the Main Themes from the First Move-
> ment have been "in my ears" for 25 years, or
> longer, but I am combining some of the New
> Fugal Techniques that I've Invented in the last 2
> years. Here is the scoring:
>
> Woodwinds in 3's
> 6 Horns
> 3 Trumpets
> Euphonium
> Tuba
> 1 Timpanist (4 Timpani)
> 3 Percussionists
> Harp and
> Strings
>
> planned movements and timings:
> I Moderato (20 to 25 minutes)
> (21 1/2 min. done by April 8, 2006)
> II fast and jaunty (10 min.)
> III slow (15 to 20 min.)
> IV fast (15 min.)
> (planning at least an hour in length)
>
> A few composers have been writing melodies in
> "Retrograde" ("backwards"), in "Inversion"
> ("upside-down"), and in "Retrograde-Inversion"
> (both "backwards and upside-down"), since the
> Renaissance.
>
> Johannes Ockeghem (ca. 1410-1497) was the
> Renaissance Master who invented the "Cancrizans
> Canon", which is when you "overlap the Backwards
> Version of a melody with its own Original form, at
> the same time". Nowadays we'd call a "Cancrizans
> Canon" as a "Retrograde Canon", but I'd be hard
> pressed to name any other famous composer who
> has done this in Non-12-Tone Harmony. However
> I've written several, and all in Chromatic Modal
> Harmony.
>
> In like fashion it is possible to write "Inversion
> Canons" for which Bach and Mozart wrote a few,
> and I've written many. I never did like, nor use "12-
> Tone Formulae", and have used Chromatic Modal
> Harmony for ALL of my music, including these
> kinds of Canons.
>
> I've also written many "Retrograde-Inversion
> Canons", and even 6 of my "Quadruple Directional
> Stretto Fugues" (all 4 Directions of the Melody
> overlapping and harmonizing with itself, all at the
> same time) in various works. I did all of these
> Canons and 2 "QDS" Fugues in my "Josquin
> Fantasy" for Viola and Orchestra last year.
>
> Now in this Symphony I'm again doing all of
> these kinds of Canons and 2 more "QDS" Fugues
> in the end of this First Movement. I'm also trying
> to make it a type of "Concerto for Orchestra", by
> giving Long Solos to EACH Wind Instrument,
> String Section and First Chair String Soloist in
> the 4 planned movements. I've already done most
> of these Soles in the First Movement, including a
> few nice Solo Passages each for the First Oboe,
> First Bassoon, English Horn, and I deliberately
> wrote a Long Solo for the Contra Bassoon, that
> too often gets ignored!
>
> (I love the Bassoon Duos in the Shostakovich
> 10th Symphony and his Second Cello Concerto,
> but he omitted giving similar good solos to the
> Contra Bassoon. In the Bartok Concerto for
> Orchestra, he had the Contra Bassoonist switch
> back to playing 3rd Bassoon in the famous
> Bassoon Passage in the Second Movement, so I
> specifically gave the Contra Bassoon a good long
> solo! And I keep my "Third Woodwind" Players
> respectively on Piccolo, English Horn, Bass
> Clarinet and Contra Bassoon full time, so they
> don't switch instruments during any of my large
> works.)
>
> Also, in defiance of the Classical Era Tradition
> of letting the First Violins HOG the Melody most
> of the time, I, like many composers since the Early
> 20th Century, AVOID giving the Lead Melody to
> the First Violins. The Lead Melody is more evenly
> divided throughout the orchestra, although I do let
> the First Violins usually remain as the Highest
> Voice in the String Choir, when the Strings are
> accompanying some other instrument.
>
> I hope people will like this symphony, when
> it's done. It's full of lyrical, noble, heroic melodies
> that bring images of adventure and exploration to
> mind. But I still have a lot of work ahead of me.
>
>
> Bear Woodson
> Composer in Tucson, Arizona, USA
>
> "After all my years of study of Modern
> Harmony, Counterpoint and Form in Music,
> my actual composing is really just a matter of
> Taking Dictation from a higher power. When
> left to my own strengths, I am worthless,
> except as a musical scribe."
> - Bear Woodson, (2005)
>
>
>
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