the Band Forum

[DMC]

There was a post put up a while ago about this, it was a new piece for woodwind ensemble, brass band and percussion...

A second draft was prepared and can be read and listened to from here:

http://davidernestmccarthy.blogspot.com/2009/12/study-for-woodwind-brass-and-percussion.html

320 kbps mp3 here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?jmtygzzjzmm

It's possible to contact the composer about performing this work through the Irish Composers' Collective: http://www.irishcomposerscollective.org/ - see contact / about page.

here is some information about the piece:

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This piece, for orchestra without strings, was written between late 2007 and early 2008 in Ireland. There are two compositional elements to the piece. Firstly there is the derivation of melodies from many different sources, including jazz, dubstep and traditional music from other cultures. Then there is a modernist algorithm that was a modification of something that was taught to me by Donnacha Dennehy at Trinity College; stacked intervals. In class, Dr. Dennehy explained that when you have an interval such as the perfect fifth in the bass, and then add another interval to the top note at a perfect fifth, and keep stacking perfect fifths on top, it will be found that there are twelve separate non-repeating notes in a massive chord that extends almost to the whole range of the orchestra. A computer program was written, in the patcher interface (Max, PD, etc.), to recreate these massive chords, but with an adjustable bass note position. The program also allowed stacks of other intervals to be auditioned. These were: all intervals minor second to major seventh, with no repeating notes, just like the twelve note stacks of perfect fifths. Apart from the stacks of perfect fifths, it was discovered three other interval stacks contain twelve non repeating notes; minor second, perfect fourth and major seventh. The major second and minor seventh have six non repeating notes, the minor third and major sixth have four non repeating notes, the major third and the minor sixth have three non repeating notes and the augmented fourth has two non repeating notes.

These chords were then auditioned in the software, running them together via a MIDI interface, adjusting the bass note to find out where the chords fit together and then this was notated, on paper, for the orchestra for Woodwinds, Brass and Percussion. The reason why such an orchestration was chosen was because it was suggested as an exercise by the Dutch composer L. Andriessen by correspondence. Since there was a competition coming up for this exact orchestration as well, it was decided to go for it.

It should be noted that with the MP3 file, the 'Finale Approximation', that this will sound even better in live performance. The conductor will more fluidly time the events in the piece (compared to the computer) and the tone of instruments, most noteably the saxophones, and the sforzandi on the woodwinds, will be much more beautiful sounding. Two more important things, the really low pedal notes for the trombones on the final pages can't be heard, as the samples are not available in Finale 2008, so they will have to be imagined (it's very easy to do this as the notes are just part of harmonic series). Also, on pages 50 and 51 the effect of the vibratos on the basoons will have to be imagined.

The piece was partially composed at a residency in the Heinrich Boll cottage in February 2008.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++