ICH HAB’ HIER EIN GESCHÄFT

A musical vocation, no matter in what area or to what extent, can have its challenges. It demands so much: time, energy, mental and physical devotion, sacrificing pursuits others might consider “regular”, often loneliness and a questioning of worth.

But the solace and purpose it can provide, particularly in times of stress or crisis, can truly be life saving. Or at least sanity saving.

The current pandemic crisis here in the U.S. - and in so many countries - is a perfect example. Most of the residents of this country, including New York City where I reside, are under orders to remain self-sequestered as much as possible to limit the spread of the covid-19 virus.

For most people this might seem like existential torture, captive in their dwellings and struggling to find ways to occupy their time and energy. Putting aside the general air of anxiety surrounding the situation, for a musician this is almost mana. In my own case, while my anxiety has prevented me from any original creativity on my own compositions, it is offering an unprecedented opportunity to catch up on the backlog of never-ending foundation work that composers always face: updates and revisions to existing pieces, digital admin work, parts or other engraving for which regular life nevers seems to allow time. And this sort of mindless busywork is a blessed distraction from the increasingly dire miasma of the news.

With my business clients largely on hiatus due to the situation, this increase in free time is allowing me to catch up on a number of delayed projects, in particular this reduction of Elektra. The instrumental parts are now all completed, and I’m making great headway on formatting the second half of the score. I expect the entire project to be fully completed by the beginning of May at the latest - the irony being that it may be considerably longer than that before any performing organization is in a position to consider undertaking it.

In the meantime, here’s another scrolling score teaser video teaser to whet the appetite… or the blade: Elektra’s opening monologue.

VO courtesy of Noteperfermer 3.1.


**NOTE: All metronome markings, and therefore tempi, are Strauss', not mine.**

For other teaser videos, check out my Youtube page.

OB ICH DIE MUSIK NICHT HÖRE

I have recently taken the plunge into world of virtual orchestration via the Noteperformer platform. As I'm principally an acoustic composer / arranger I've never had the time to really delve in to the more detailed and complex software, so Noteperformer has been a major gift in allowing me to hear realizations of my projects, including this reduction of Elektra, via a platform that's extraordinarily easy to use and intuitive, while providing excellent results.

So I'll occasionally be sharing sections of the full score as each scene is fully formatted. For the greedy and curious, these teasers will probably avoid the best known, "juiciest" bits. That'll have to wait for full rental or licensing.

No better place to begin at the beginning.



or other teaser videos, check out my Youtube page.

WIR BEIDEN MUSS’ ES TUN

With Strauss’ copyrights steadily expiring worldwide, it’s no surprise that the family and estate have been exploring ways to continue having at least the scores, if not performance rights, generate some income.

One is a project, now underway for nearly five years, of critical editions of Strauss’ work, beginning with the operas and published by Schott. This should be fascinating: The currently published scores were almost always hastily engraved for use in the premiere production, and rarely take note of the numerous errata identified post-premiere or Strauss’ amendments as the years went by. Elektra itself has a healthy number of mistakes, some of which are of such long standing that they’ve become accepted.

Another seems to be new versions of the operas for smaller orchestras. Not surprisingly this includes Elektra, undertaken with the estate’s authorization by Eberhard Kloke, a German composer and conductor.

While I haven’t yet seen Kloke’s version, I’m particularly fascinated by the instrumental allocation he’s chosen. For reference, I’m including both Strauss’ original and my own:

Strauss’ original	E. Kloke	E. Windels
4 flutes (3rd and 4th also piccolos) 3 oboes (3rd also English Horn) 1 Heckelphone 1 Eb clarinet 4 Bb clarinets, 3rd and 4th also A clarinets 2 basset horns 1 bass clarinet 3 bassoons 1 contrabassoon Total winds: 20 8 horns (5th and 7th also tenor Wagner tubas in Bb, 6th and 8th also bass Wagner tubas in F) 6 trumpets 1 bass trumpet 3 trombones 1 contrabass trombone 1 contrabass tuba Total brass: 20 2 timpanists covering 8 drums 4 percussionists playing bass drum, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, snare drum, tam tam, 2 pairs of castagnettes, rute, glockenspiel 2 harps (the composer blithely requests that, if possible, these be doubled at the very end of the opera, beginning with Elektra’s dance.  Regrettably I have yet to see this request fulfilled.) Celesta (optional) Violins 1, 2 and 3: 8 players each Violas 1, 2 and 3: 6 players each (1st violas double as 4th violins) Cellis 1 and 2: 6 players each Basses 1 and 2: 4 players each Toral: 110	2 flutes (both piccolos, 2nd also alto flute) 3 oboes (2nd and 3rd also English Horns, 3rd also Heckelphon) 3 clarinets (1st and 2nd also Eb clarinets and basset horns, 3rd also bass and contrabass clarinets) 2 bassoons (2nd also contrabassoon 6 horns (3rd and 4th also tenor Wagner tubas in Bb, 5th and 6th also bass Wagner tubas in F) 3 trumpets 3 trombones 1 tuba Timpani 2 percussionists playing bass drum, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, snare drum, tam tam, 2 pairs of castagnettes, rute, glockenspiel Celesta (also piano) Harp 10 first violins 8 second violins 9 violas 6 cellos 4 doublebasses Total: 62	1 flute (also piccolo) 2 oboes (2nd also English Horn) 2 clarinets in Bb and A (2nd also Bb bass clarinet) 1 bassoon (also contrabassoon) 2 horns trumpets 1 trombone 1 bass trombone 2 percussionists playing timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, snare drum, tam tam, 2 pairs of castagnettes, rute, glockenspiel Harp Organ (electronic keyboard, also celesta if possible) Violins 1, 2 and 3 (minimum 3 each)  Violas 1, 2 and 3 (minimum 2 each) Cellos 1 and 2 (minimum 2 each) 2nd cellos (minimum 2) 2 doublebasses Total: 35

There are a number of fascinating aspects to Kloke’s choices, the primary one being the use of instruments outside of the original: the alto flute and the contrabass clarinet.

Then there are some quite eye-opening wind doubling whose genesis seem to be inspired by musical theater world, but which still pose questions. For all of the Heckelphone’s intended status as the bass member of the oboe family, its construction and the requirement of a bassoon-sized reed mean that it is almost never played by oboists, and rarely in the “classical world” is it a doubling instrument, as it requires a dedicated non-oboist to temporarily join the oboe section.

I am genuinely fascinated to see how this edition fares, and look forward to studying it.

Was du jetzt an Schaudern überwindest

With the completion of the formatting of all the individual instrumental parts, it's time to dive in to the final formatting of the full orchestral score. In anticipation of which, here's another little sneakypeek.

Ja ja... noch eine kurze Vorschau

Just to ensure all this project's multitudes of fans that I'm still alive and that the project is actually nearing completion, and in lieu of the next bloviatory post with my thoughts on the opera, here's another sneaky peek at the progress, from Klytämnestra’s entrance with her entourage. (As always, remember these are not final formatted and remain in rough form.)

EINE KURZE VORSCHAU (4)

With the completion of full score proofreading last weekend (despite the addictive distraction of Amazon Prime's free streaming of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel"), work on the individual instrumental parts begins. In recognition of which, here's a sneaky peek of Klytämnestra's entrance.

Eine kurze Vorschau (3)

Another sneaky peek. If I can get someone at Google to explain to me how to make the pictures zoomable... In the meantime, here's hoping your holiday season offers you the opportunity to "jauchz, und Ihres Lebens freuen."