Here are two unreleased mixes from a 2001 compositional project I call Music on Gearwheels. The concept was to create loops of slightly different beat lengths. The opening loops are synthesized harps running respectively at sixteen and seventeen beats. Naturally they immediately go out of sync and henceforth self-create a shifting musical texture. I made sure each loop was modally compatible. I lined up a dozen or so loops, including percussion and orchestral samples, and started them off. The composition was in the live mix, experimenting with juxtaposing different loops. Every mix had the potential to be a very different composition.
This is not my normal compositional technique, but merely an experiment in polyrhythm.
For a change, here is something from my other life as a composer. I have a backlog of hundreds of musical pieces, some of which I may upload to the blog in coming months.
Back in 2002 I played King Priam in a university production of Jean Giraudoux’s Tiger at the Gates (Christopher Fry’s translation of La guerre de Troie n’aura pas lieu). I was also able to indulge my temporary aspiration to be the next Miklós Rózsa by composing and recording a score of incidental music for this epic play of the events leading to the Trojan War.
Here is my overture to the play, unheard since the original production. The recording is not of the highest fidelity, and intentionally shrill during the martial introduction. But once the guitar and flute kick in (picture an ancient Trojan temple, indolent beauties in flowing robes, grapes, etc) things are a lot more listenable.
Download the MP3 by right-clicking and saving here
To illustrate my point in the previous post, here is a direct comparison between two original hardcover editions of Mordecai Richler’s 1997 novel Barney’s Version. On the left is the UK edition published by Chatto & Windus (GBP£16.99). On the right, the US edition published by Alfred A. Knopf (US$25). Both C&W and Knopf are subsidaries of the Random House juggernaut. The photographs were taken in September 2009.
There are no design credits attributed to either the UK dustjacket (which is based on a music roll supplied by the Cambridge Pianola Company) or the interior design/typesetting. The book was printed and bound by ‘Mackays of Chatham PLC’. It is a first edition.
The US dustjacket was designed by Chip Kidd (using a photograph by John Scully); the interior design (typeset in Janson) is by Dorothy Schmiderer Baker. The book was printed and bound by The Haddon Craftsmen, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. It is a first edition, second printing (from December, 1997, the same month as the first printing).
The UK copyright page states: “Papers used by Random House UK Limited are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests.” This is all very nice for the environment, but it has meant that the paper is not only stiff (it won’t lie flat) and unattractive, but acidic. As a result, in twelve years the UK edition has very drastically browned at the edges:
The funny thing is that in December of 1997, GBP£16.99 was equal to US$28.20 (source: http://www.xe.com/ict/). So the folks in the UK were spending a little bit more for an inferior edition that, just twelve years later, looks antiquarian. The US edition, on the other hand, still looks as if brand new from the printer.
Posted by matthewasprey 
Posted by matthewasprey 
Posted by matthewasprey 
