Category: Arts

Where was I?

Bikini Kill reunited and is touring. I had Pussy Whipped and Reject All American on CD back in post-college apt in Smyrna, probably some double-CD re-release [ed. yes! it exists], and they were in heavy rotation for a while. A few years back I went to see The Punk Singer at Plaza Theatre and was just blown away by how not just punk Kathleen Hanna is but just how leftist intellectual she is. So the tour came about and although I think they’ll be performing nearby this was a good excuse for an NYC trip. Last one was ~3 years ago for my niece’s b-day. So let’s go.

Continue reading Where was I?

Orchestral Study #5 (variations)

  1. Orchestral Study #1 (flowing and hymn-like)
  2. Orchestral Study #2 (driving and chaotic)
  3. Orchestral Study #3 (adagio with melisma)
  4. Orchestral Study #4 (allegro)
  5. Orchestral Study #5 (variations)
  6. Orchestral Study #6 (space)
  7. Orchestral Study #7 (dialogue)
  8. Orchestral Study #8 (toccata)
  9. Orchestral Study #9 (seven interludes)
  10. Orchestral Study #10 (rupture, slowed down and from different angles)
  11. Orchestral Study #11 (a crowd, disassembled)
  12. Orchestral Study #12 (thesis)

I say this every time, but this one felt like a failure early in and, except for the last section, still does. It’s because the muddy harmonies and overfull orchestration that I could never get right. It reminds me of a watercolor when you layer too many colors: a grayish, uncertain mess. This one also took the longest to complete because of my unhappiness throughout. Lesson learned?

The goal was a passacaglia-type work, but I think of it now as four variations without a theme. My intent always drifts as the ideas start to reveal themselves. The first section doesn’t have the clarity to come across as a thematic jumping off point, but it does set the harmonic structure for the three sections that follow. Second section: a chatty variation with runs swapped across the instruments. Third: long held notes in the horns while oboe, bassoon, and violas jump around noisily as background radiation. Fourth: the longest and the one that flowed out very naturally. A brash, more harmonically clear and confident statement split in the middle and the ending with a more uncertain theme using solo violin, viola, and cello.

Next up may be a sonorist piece. I’m using a classical orchestra just for simplicity (it’s enough of an effort to learn with just this limited palette) so I’m not sure how well that style will communicate.

orchestral-study-5

Where was I?

Dogwood Festival in Piedmont Park on Saturday. Beautiful day and beautiful chance to add to our art collection.

Angry Angler Fish, oil on wood by R. L. Alexander, Art by Alexander

Beautiful, jem-like oil painting. Got into discussion on his paintings of one of his greyhounds, Botticelli (who had a black and white face perfectly split down the middle), and his many hedgehogs. Some regret we didn’t buy the one with Botticelli on a small hinged altarpiece that he found used, then cleaned up and made into a shrine for the haloed dog.

Descensitizing, mixed-media on wood by Erin Curry, Erin Curry

The Delinquent, mixed-media on wood by Erin Curry

There is so much to see and read in their backgrounds. Small drawings, pasted images, hatches of paper strips with writing or cut from larger images, and text. The clouds of impressions that surround the subjects act as a blend of the viewer’s and the subjects’ thoughts.