Ávarp

I´ve uploaded my newest piece to soundcloud, and here it is:

Ávarp by HelgiRafn

I talked about it in my previous blog: HERE

I hope you enjoy.

Hérna gefur að líta ljóðin í verkinu:

Ávarp til fósturjarðarinnar

Í átthagana andinn leitar,
þó ei sé loðið þar til beitar,
og forsælu þar finnur hjartað,
þó fátækt sé um skógarhögg.
Sá er bestur sálargróður,
sem að vex í skauti móður,
en rótarslitinn visnar vísir,
þó vökvist hlýrri morgundögg.

Hvert sem mín á leið að liggja
um láð eða meðal ölduhryggja,
og þó ég eigi bein að bera
á blómum skrýddri suðurströnd,
skal ég ávallt meyna muna,
mjöllu klædda og jökulbruna,
í sorgarbúning svartan, bjartan
sveipaða þétt af drottins hönd.

-Grímur Thomsen

Vorsól

Þú vorsól ennþá vekur mig af dvala
og vermir lund.
Ég heyri lind og læki saman hjala
á ljúfri stund.

Á lækjarbakka [Árbakka] brosa blómin smáu
svo blíð og hrein.
Og ljóðar fugl í lofti fagurbláu,
á laufgri grein.

Hve gott að finna heiða hreina blæinn
[og hjartans yl.]
Að gleðjast enn við geislabjartan daginn
[að geta fundið til.]

-Margrét Jónsdóttir

Teacher glossary #4 / New choir piece

I think I´ve made up my mind regarding the professors at Guildhall. At least have I contacted mr. Phillips, head of the composition department wich I talked about in teacher glossary #1, and informed him about my thoughts. Being a very pleasant man, I´m sure he´ll be able to help me make a final decission.

On a more decisive note:
My newest work, Ávarp ("Address"), for choir and piano was performed by me and a few friends the other day and broadcasted by the Icelandic National television (Rúv) 1st of June. It was written for my dad who just turned 60. A direct link to it is here:

http://dagskra.ruv.is/sjonvarpid/4545113/2011/06/01/2/

It´s the last segment in the clip: "Sextugsafmælisgjöf sem hljómar vel"

Currently I´m introducing it to conductors in hope that it will be performed more. Based on the acceptanse it got after this airing I do not have a doubt in my mind that it will become a good addition to the Icelandic choir repertoir.

Attached to this post is the Title page of the piece.

p.s. Á forsíðu verksins má finna tilvísun í Húnavatnssýsluna, en faðir minn er einmitt fæddur og uppalinn þar. Þúsund stig fyrir þá sem fatta.

Teacher glossary #3: Paul Newland

Next in line is Paul Newland, a highly awarded composer. Studied at Royal Northern College of Music Manchester, Royal Academy of Music, Elisabeth University of Music Japan and Royal Holloway University of London. The Japan aspect sounds especially interesting, ofcourse.

Here he talks about his soundscape piece "situation 2". Performed by [rout].



Theatrical? ... yes. Not in the literal sense, but yes. The way he presents the material, let´s the performers have a hand in the composition, gives it that feel.

Again did I have a hard time finding material to sample. It´s like getting to see the food you are about to eat, but not smell or taste it.

This is happening almost in realtime. Now, whilst writing this blog, I found a CD with a piece of his on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Decoding-Skin-Philip-Howard/dp/B00012OX0K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1307444963&sr=1-2

Available for download and sample listening. A big questionmark from me to Amazon regarding the "download only available in the US" remark. Quite unexpected and I can´t see why it shouldnt be available everywhere. I´m sure it´s not for technical reasons atleast.

Teacher glossary #2: Matthew King

My hunt for the perfect professor for next fall continues. Today I´ve been looking abit into Matthew King. He seems to share my interest (or tendency) to write theatrical-ish music. Here are some bits of reviews:

"Music of distinctive beauty with disarming theatre sense”
Independent on Sunday

"clever, sharp and fresh, bursting with memorable melody…it signals the emergence of a composer who writes not only credibly and well but with immediate, engaging charm”
Independent

“King’s music is eminently approachable…some of the clashing rhythms and textural layerings are mind-boggling..a considerable achievement.”
Stephen Pettit (Evening Standard)

SOURCE

He has written atleast 3 operas, "The Snow Queen" (1994), "Jonah" (1995) and "On London Fields" (2004), 1 oratorio, "Gethsemane" (1998), along with instrumental music for string quartets and orchestras. How these pieces sound on the other hand is a mistery to me. Many composers today dont have their music very accessible on the internet. I have tried to google him with 2-3 variations and came up empty. All youtube searches have also ended in failure.

Though I do respect the efforts to minimise income loss to internet piracy, it is a great downside for me. I need to hear if we suit eachother as student/professor, it´s not enough to read that he is successful, without doubting those remarks. Hopefully I will stumble across some samples soon.

I did find one artice about a piece of his in the Independent, though it´s mostly about the programme notes. Still, an interesting read. Usually, I tend to write to many programme notes, or want to.

"A GERMAN music college has a course for composers on stage deportment - thanking conductors and principal performers, acknowledging applause without hogging it, getting off the stage before the clapping stops. All useful stuff; but a course on how, or how not to write programme notes might be even more useful".

The whole article is here:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical-too-many-notes-mr-king-too-many-notes-1167791.html