Wow - it was great to hear Eugene Corporon and the UNT Wind Symphony do the complete Parody Suite last night. This is the first time I've heard them all collected in a single set. Bruce Moss did all four of them on a program at Bowling Green when I was there, but they were interspersed with the originals they quoted, so this was the first time I've heard them all in concentrated-no-applause-allowed-between-them mode. First impression - that's a LOT of freakin' music - the whole thing together is almost 22 minutes. I think the whole thing together works, and I'm going to revise my suggested piece order. Basically, do it in whatever order fits your program the best. I originally recommended (as it says on the Parody Suite page) this order:
- ImPercynations
- Suite Dreams
- MetaMarch
- Chester Leaps In
However, last night they performed it as follows:
- Chester Leaps In
- Suite Dreams
- ImPercynations
- MetaMarch
I think this works really well - ending with the march is an obvious choice, and it adds a light upbeat ending after the introspective
Suite Dreams, and the wickedly-angular and disjunct
ImPercynations. I suppose to really determine the best order, I need several groups to program the set in all its permutations, and bring me out to hear them. Hint, hint...
Cindy McTee came over to the rehearsal that afternoon and surprised me - always great to see her. She hadn't heard
Suite Dreams yet, and seemed to particularly like it, which I find exceptionally gratifying. She and I discussed the umbrella title,
Parody Suite. She initially suggested I consider
Parody Symphony since it does have a quasi-symphonic structure and length, but we both ended up agreeing that since each work is a fully autonomous stand-alone entity, much moreso than if they were movements of a symphony. All of which to say is that we had a great conversation and it was a fun day in Denton!
Huge thank-you to the GAs: Shannon "Loin-tamer" Kitelinger, Jennifer Kitelinger, and Erin Bodnar for entertaining me between the rehearsal and the concert. And of course ultimate thanks to the band and Maestro Corporon for performing so much of my music. And the fun doesn't end - they'll be recording the whole thing for they're Klavier series in October! Hopefully I'll make it back up for the session.
Labels: Chester Leaps In, Cindy McTee, Eugene Corporon, ImPercynations, Loin-tamer, MetaMarch, Parody Suite, Suite Dreams, UNT Wind Symphony
