Voiceworks breakthrough + Chroma

My performers in the voiceworks project are kicking ass. We´ve managed to do a "crash-through" a few times, which was very important and last week would had been an impossible feat. Our piece "Ground" is very tricky so I´m very happy with my group. My score is now filled with technical corrections so I´ll be revising it for my final folder in august for sure and my group´s input has been invaluable. This project has also been very good for me to dust of and add to my conduction knowledge for my PG conducting exam the 21st. Loads of time signature changes, fermatas, numerous different entrances for each performer to name a few. Tomorrow we´re meeting Armin, head of the vocal department at Guildhall, so he can have a listen. It will be good to get some proper feedback. Now it´s only 2 weeks till our performance in the Wigmore Hall, London.
 
I have my PG conducting exam on the 21st of May and there are 4 pieces we have to prepare, me and the rest of the conduction elective students.

• Beethoven´s 6th symphony, 1st movement
• Ravel, La Valse
• Wagner´s Sigfried Idyll, overture
• Beethoven´s Die Weihe des Hauses, overture.

I must say that I enjony conducting Beethoven´s 6th and La Valse is also a wonderful piece, but Sigfried Idyll, although sweet, is a tad too long and the progression and development in Die Weihe des Hauses is not to my liking. Nevertheless, they need to be learned and conducted.

Regarding my piece for Chroma ensemble I´ve come up with a concept I´m very happy with and the piece has been titled Penelopeia. It features a Pierrot ensemble (flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano) and a bowed piano. The bowed piano part seems to be a diffuclt thing for Guildhall administration to accept, which was to be expected, since they dont want anyone to fiddle with their pianos in the wrong way. But I hope to be able to speak to GSMD´s piano technician soon to find a solution to this problem. If a mutual solution is not possible, then it would present quite the discomfort, to say the least, when it comes to the recording in July, not to speak about the performance :

Here is our project´s advert from Chorma´s homepage:
http://www.chromaensemble.co.uk/calendar.html#pierrot

Fingers crossed

Best wishes
-Helgi

Our concert is drawing near / Tónleikarnir okkar eru á næsta leiti

Chroma: Folk dances

I´m doing research for my final project at Guildhall, for Chroma Ensemble, and to get me started I made a list of things I want to achieve with this piece. One of those things was "successfully utilise something from my musical heritage". Soon the rythm structure of some folk songs/dances came to mind :

 

Lump in throat / kökkur í hálsinum

Text:
Mille regretz de vous abandonner
Et d'eslonger vostre fache amoureuse,
Jay si grand dueil et paine douloureuse,
Quon me verra brief mes jours definer.

English Translation:
A thousand regrets at deserting you
and leaving behind your loving face,
I feel so much sadness and such painful distress,
that it seems to me my days will soon dwindle away.

Gróf íslensk þýðing eftir sjálfan mig:
Þúsund sorgir herja nú á mig
er skil ég við andlit þitt dáleiðandi.
Nýstandi sorg og óhuggandi þjáning,
rétt sem líf mitt fjari út.

Voiceworks blog

Dear All

Here is a direct link my group´s blog (group 2) for the voiceworks project. The piece is almost ready.

http://blogs.voiceworks.org.uk/1112/grouptwo/