Monday, January 16, 2012
Choreographers and poets.
The Composer´s society I formed in Iceland has it´s first concert this 28th of January in Harpa, Reykjavík. It will be part of Dark Music Days, contemporary music festival (Myrkir Músíkdagar).
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Back in London
Well, Londonland is still the way I left it. And GSMD starts with a blast.
Tomorrow, 1st day of this semester, I have a 1000 word self-reflective essay due (I´ve got 400 words already, so should not be a problem). And then all days this week we have a 5 hour workshop with the London Contemporary Dance School´s postgraduate choreographers (http://www.theplace.org.uk/lcds) for our collaboration project. Whilst this is happening I also have to prepare a near-finished piece for my viola-piano duo by the 18th. Then the final version deadline is on the 30th.
It´s nice to have a busy schedule right away to pick one self up after a long holiday.
In Iceland I bought a 6 CD set "Best Ballet: 100", I´m done with the Tchaikovsky ballets, the Russian Ballets and half-way through the French Ballets. It cant be a bad thing to refresh the classical repertoire for the LCDS collaboration.
Here is my favorite this far: Dance of the Knights from Romeo & Juliet by Prokofiev.
Kær kv. / Best wishes
Helgi
Tomorrow, 1st day of this semester, I have a 1000 word self-reflective essay due (I´ve got 400 words already, so should not be a problem). And then all days this week we have a 5 hour workshop with the London Contemporary Dance School´s postgraduate choreographers (http://www.theplace.org.uk/lcds) for our collaboration project. Whilst this is happening I also have to prepare a near-finished piece for my viola-piano duo by the 18th. Then the final version deadline is on the 30th.
It´s nice to have a busy schedule right away to pick one self up after a long holiday.
In Iceland I bought a 6 CD set "Best Ballet: 100", I´m done with the Tchaikovsky ballets, the Russian Ballets and half-way through the French Ballets. It cant be a bad thing to refresh the classical repertoire for the LCDS collaboration.
Here is my favorite this far: Dance of the Knights from Romeo & Juliet by Prokofiev.
Kær kv. / Best wishes
Helgi
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Sándor Balassa
In my reading of the book 3 questions for 65 composers by Bálint András Varga I´ve encountered few nuggets of gold in my oppinion and I intend to write them here to make them easier for me to remember. If you dont know me, then believe me when I say that I do have a bad memory. If I want to remember stuff I have to work at it, like by writing it down or reciting it a few times in my head. I drift easily, which is a pro in some situations I like to think.
Last I read the chapter where the Hungarian composer Sándor Balassa answers the 3 questions presented by Bálint (The questions in question are not important in understanding the quotes I write here). I find some of things he says very interesting in the context of discovering one-self as a composer.
The composer renews himself all the time and remains the same nevertheless. He struggles to re-create himself day by day, but strives also to link the changes to the values he has already created in the past.
The forum created by art is a place where man can meet himself and the cosmos.
The fact that modernist music has lost the sympathy of listeners is due in part to its renunciation of the principle of repetition. Look, I am no linguist. I have no intention of inventing new languages. I would like to communicate something in the language we have, so that my message should reach it´s addressees.
If I do not concentrate on the principal voice, I will end up being the main obstacle of rendering my music effective.
Last I read the chapter where the Hungarian composer Sándor Balassa answers the 3 questions presented by Bálint (The questions in question are not important in understanding the quotes I write here). I find some of things he says very interesting in the context of discovering one-self as a composer.
The composer renews himself all the time and remains the same nevertheless. He struggles to re-create himself day by day, but strives also to link the changes to the values he has already created in the past.
The forum created by art is a place where man can meet himself and the cosmos.
The fact that modernist music has lost the sympathy of listeners is due in part to its renunciation of the principle of repetition. Look, I am no linguist. I have no intention of inventing new languages. I would like to communicate something in the language we have, so that my message should reach it´s addressees.
If I do not concentrate on the principal voice, I will end up being the main obstacle of rendering my music effective.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
The GuitarViol
I saw an online show today called "On the score".
"In this edition of "On the Score", Jonathan Wilson (creator of the TogaMan GuitarViol) visits the studio of film/TV composer Kevin Kiner (CSI Miami, Clone Wars, and AMC's new series "Hell on Wheels"".
A quite interesting show which I will most likely watch more of in the future (see last video).
Mostly they discuss instruments like the GuitarViol, a new instrument, roughly a mix of a guitar and a cello/viola. Here is the official website: http://www.togamanguitars.com
A very beautiful instrument. And the most beautiful part is that it´s tuned as a guitar [EADGBE] so guitarists all over the world must craving one of these. For me, a non-guitar-playing composer, it´s a very interesting folk-y sound and the pedal / electronic possibilities make it just the thing I´ve been looking for. I´ve wanted to write the electric guitar into my ensemble for awhile but never really found the right sound in my head until now. Maybe double the guitarviol with a standard electronic guitar with a small string orchestra, some winds and percussion. An idea in the making...
Jonathan obviously knows more about this than I do so I´ll pass the ball over to him:
"In this edition of "On the Score", Jonathan Wilson (creator of the TogaMan GuitarViol) visits the studio of film/TV composer Kevin Kiner (CSI Miami, Clone Wars, and AMC's new series "Hell on Wheels"".
A quite interesting show which I will most likely watch more of in the future (see last video).
Mostly they discuss instruments like the GuitarViol, a new instrument, roughly a mix of a guitar and a cello/viola. Here is the official website: http://www.togamanguitars.com
A very beautiful instrument. And the most beautiful part is that it´s tuned as a guitar [EADGBE] so guitarists all over the world must craving one of these. For me, a non-guitar-playing composer, it´s a very interesting folk-y sound and the pedal / electronic possibilities make it just the thing I´ve been looking for. I´ve wanted to write the electric guitar into my ensemble for awhile but never really found the right sound in my head until now. Maybe double the guitarviol with a standard electronic guitar with a small string orchestra, some winds and percussion. An idea in the making...
Jonathan obviously knows more about this than I do so I´ll pass the ball over to him:
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
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