Weeks 23-26: Staying Busy

It's been about a month since my last post, I have been very busy composing, preparing for my recital and preparing the district choir for our LDS conference with Apostle, Elder D. Todd Christofferson.

Composing.

Work on my dissertation is going well. This is my first time composing a work for choir and orchestra which has a set of unique challenges. The main issue is making sure the choir can be heard over the orchestra. There are many pieces that do not succeed as far as this is concerned. If it were possible to have a choir the size of some Berlioz's choirs of 500 or 600, we would always here the choir. Other composers, like Faure, who composed his Requiem for small orchestra and small or medium chorus, chose to employ only the lower strings (violas, cellos, and double basses), and small winds and brass. Since it is quite rare to have such a large symphonic chorus, I have decided to go the Faure route and use a small orchestra, maybe 21 strings (6.5.4.3.2), double woodwinds, 2 horns, and a chamber organ.

Aside from the challenge of composing for this set of instruments and voices, the challenge I continue to face is a stylistic one. As I've mentioned before, I have somewhat of a split personality as a composer. On the one hand, I compose sacred music that stylistically and harmonically follows the line of the traditional tonal methods of composition, albeit with my own modern twist of harmony, or as my teacher calls it, a 'renewed' tonality. On the other hand, I compose music in a more modern, quais-avante garde vein. When most hear about avante garde music today, they think of lots of noise, really heavy dissonance, sometimes computer music, and other atonal or microtonal practices. This is not the kind of avante garde that I personally subscribe to. My type of avante garde is rooted very deeply in the standard repertoire and most especially in the standard presentation of musical phrase and form. I do, on occasion, briefly use atonality here and there, but it is alway to serve the drama or story of the piece. For me, it is a tool that I can use to depict a certain kind of emotion, or evoke a certain affect. My type of avante garde music, unlike so much current avante garde practices, is very interested in evoking emotions and affects from the listeners. I subscribe very faithfully to the 'doctrine of affections' and seek to define new ways of conjuring affects through modern music. Take for example my work Sapiyuq Llaqtakuna ('Mother Earth' in Quechua) for Soprano and 4 male percussionists. Score. Recording. Though very modern, I went to great lengths in composing the work, to squeeze out every bit of emotion I could. Take a look at the 3 poems I used, they are translated in the first few pages of the score. There is quite a lot of emotion, exclamations to "Father, Mountain God" and a great deal of sorrow at the end of the 2nd poem. I think I did a pretty good job of depicting the emotions of these poems, but it is in a very different way than you find in a Brahms string quartet or violin sonata. But the architecture is there, the highs and lows, the climaxes and anti-climaxes, and a very careful sense of harmony to enhance the emotional content. For me, harmony is the best tool for emotion, followed shortly by form.

What does all of this have to do with my dissertation? Well, this new piece is one that falls on my sacred side. I've spent most of my time in Poland working on this sacred side, but when I come to the orchestra, it is hard to beat down the tendencies of the avante garde side. This has resulted in several false starts with orchestration that were a grayish mediocre kind of mess. To the trash!! I've now got some good Faure-like sounds and orchestral colors happening in the first few movements with my sense of 'renewed' tonality, which usually ends up sounding on the French side of harmony with a few German and personal additions. So, it's coming along, but I have to remind myself that I can't just whip this out. I need to really take my time and control myself so that I don't get that grayish mess again.

Recital.

Last Sunday, March 4th, I was privileged to give a recital of my compositions at the Chopin University.  I sand 3 hymn arrangements, 2 with piano and 1 with organ: Jesus Savior Pilot Me, Oh May My Soul Commune with Thee, and Abide with Me! Then, my friend Artur performed by Bagatelles for Solo Piano (here's a score and recording #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7). He did an excellent job, these are hard pieces. The final number on the program was Missa 'Musica Sacra' for choir and organ. My teacher, Pawel Lukaszewski, conducted his Musica Sacra choir in a very nice performance. Here is a live recording. Many friends from church, school, the choir, and the Fulbright commission were able to attend. I was very happy with all of the performances and to be able to share my music with many friends. I don't have the video ready yet, but here is a picture of the choir. I'm hiding in the back. I forgot to bring my camera but hope to have the video up soon.

Conference.

On the morning of the recital day, we had a wonderful conference of the LDS church with Elder Christofferson and 2 of the members of the Eastern European Area Presidency and their wives. It was a great occasion and many members came from across Poland to participate. The large conference room at the hotel was full for both the Saturday evening and Sunday morning meetings. On Saturday afternoon we had a priesthood leadership training meeting with the visiting authorities and about 40-50 men. We all had a chance to be taught by, shake hands, and mingle with these great men. On Sunday morning the choir met early to warm-up and rehearse. We had about 40 people, Poles and Americans (and one Brit), who gave wonderful performances of three hymns: Abide with Me!, How Firm a Foundation, and I Am a Child of God. We sang in Polish, some of us doing a lot of 'fake' Polish, focusing on the vowels. Polish is a very hard language to sing in, so many hard consonances and diphthongs. But we had great enthusiasm in our singing and filled the very poor acoustical hall with vibrant and rousing renditions. I was very proud of everyone and felt that their singing added greatly to the spirit of the meeting. Elders Christofferson, Kopischke, Schutze, and their wives were all very complimentary.

Conclusion.

7 months ago today, August 11th, we packed our little family into the car and left the Cincinnati area where we had lived for 4 years. One month later, on September 11th, I boarded the plane that brought me to Poland. I was having a nostalgic moment earlier today thinking about all that has occurred since then. It's been a wild ride, but a good one. I've learned so much from my teacher and from my experiences in Poland. I've learned things about the gift of faith that I never supposed before. There is still a great deal of waiting and wondering to be done, as far as future employment and our long-term living situation goes, but I feel very grateful for this time. Our family is stronger than ever, our faith is stronger than ever, our determination is stronger than ever. We've been watched over very carefully by a loving Father in Heaven, we have felt His watchful concern very keenly. And we know that the only thing that can harm this relationship with Deity is our own disobedience and doubt. I thank thee Heavenly Father, I thank thee.