composer's notebook

My head is still buzzing from last week’s whirlwind tour of Georgia and East Texas. In Atlanta, it was the premiere of the Concertino, with the Georgia State Chamber Winds, Robert Ambrose conducting, and the fabulous Sarah Kruser Ambrose as the flute soloist. I was a wreck in the first rehearsals – but eventually settled down to realize that despite the severe difficulty of the ensemble parts, the piece works like a sonofagun, Sarah sounds like an angel, and Heck, the piece sounded like real music or something. Y’know, like something you’d sit down and listen to. Weird.

The Recording Gods weren’t on our side though. Something about the mics being set wrong. And so it was just one of those things that is there, and then is lost into the ether. So now plans will be put into motion to get Robert and Sarah into a studio and record the sucker for real.

In Athens, at the University of Georgia, I immediately switched gears into HUGE PIECE mode. Maestro Lynch rehearsed his ensemble on My Hands Are a City for my benefit, and we fixed plenty of errors and awkward scoring while I generally swooned at how awesome it sounded.

Then before you know it you’re on a plane to Dallas, and over East Texas-way, for the residency at Texas A&M-Commerce. Jeff Gershman, who shepharded the MHAaC consortium despite, y’know, having many other better things to do, rehearsed and premiered the piece with his ensemble, and it was spectacular. So. Very. Loud. I teared up a little at one rehearsal when it all just came together and what I was hearing not only matched the performance in my head, but exceeded every expectation. Pile that up with BBQ and a stomach-overfilling fried catfish buffet, and you’ve got one great composer residency. My thanks to ALL at TAMU-Commerce for your generosity and hard work!

Now it’s off to Kansas City, to the CBDNA Regional hosted by UMKC. I meet up with the TAMU-Commerce gang there, where they play the piece for the CBDNA folks. There are also 2 other performances there – including Texas State’s Moon by Night, and Oklahoma University’s As the scent of spring rain…. The other day I received from Maestro Wakefield a recording of a previous OU performance of the piece, and it is stunning. After I picked my jaw up from the floor, I got really excited about hearing them playing it live. In KC I also get to hear a new Mackey, and Jeff Gershman’s Zappa arrangement again, which clearly just takes us all to school.