Performance Today - Ecstatic Waters

Earlier this week, I did a short interview with Suzanne Schaffer for Performance Today. They're playing UT's performance of Ecstatic Waters on the show this morning (June 26th), and it will be posted on the website, as well. I believe it will be on Hour 2 of the show. Woohoo!!

If you're coming to this page because you heard it on the show, welcome! If you want to hear the work again, it's available on this site, as well as on Facebook.

UPDATE: Turns out it was only a short excerpt (and a very soft, compressed recording, at that). Regardless, if you want to hear the whole thing, you can on my site at the links above. I recommend an extremely quiet environment with a large stereo system, turned to 11.

Ok, back to writing this new piece (in D minor, the saddest of keys).

Ecstatic Waters, edited mp3

I've just posted an edited mp3 of UT's performance of Ecstatic Waters at CBDNA. The biggest difference is the electronics - the recording didn't capture the electronic tracks very well because of the mic placement. I've layered in the original electronics, so they're much more present and clear - this is a better representation of how it sounded in the hall. If you downloaded the original mp3, I recommend you throw it out and download this one - it sounds much better!

It's the last link in the dark green box on this page.

Ecstatic Waters CBDNA mp3

I've posted the entire performance from last week's CBDNA conference. It's one, 25Mb mp3 download. The link will pull the entire file to your computer, and then you can open it in iTunes, or whatever program you use to listen to mp3s. I haven't edited it at all. NOTE: Because of the mic placement to record the ensemble, they didn't pick up the electronics as loudly as they actually were in the hall. This is most noticeable in Mvt. IV, where the quirky, 'mechanized' groove kicks in - it's difficult to hear on this recording, but was more present in the live. Recording a work such as this adds a whole new dimension of complexity...

The link to download the mp3 is on the Ecstatic Waters page, along with the old link to UT's performance from last October. I also have a new perusal score up that reflects all the changes since last October.

BTW, John Mackey has a great recap of our concerts and some remarkable pictures up on his blog - though I suspect if you're reading this, you discovered his site long ago... :)

Ecstatic Aftermath

Last Friday night's performance of Ecstatic Waters by UT at CBDNA was fantastic. I haven't written anything before now because 1) I'm exhausted, and 2) I don't really know what to say, beyond that it was fantastic, and part of an amazing week of music. Verena's transcription of Corigliano's Mr. Tambourine Man was stunning, in no small part because of soprano Hila Plitmann. The Michigan State University concert the next evening was equally impressive - piece after piece of really great and thrilling music. Asphalt Cocktail rocked even harder than I thought it would (and I expected plenty of rockin' to begin with). John made me envious (again) with his ability to lay down a complex yet satisfying groove with concert percussion and band. I *must* get me some of that. Carter Pann showed us in Concerto Logicthat he's ridiculously talented with the piano chops, and oh yeah, he also writes some decent music (!). Ricardo Lorenz, on faculty at Michigan State, burst onto the scene with his masterful first work for band, El Muro. Finally, Bolcom's new Symphony was impressive. I still feel a little ambivalent about some of the structural choices (the seemingly disparate clash of different musical moods and material didn't quite rub me the right way), but it was still a hell of a piece.

There was much more to the week, but I'm exhausted, and am in no mood to attempt real reviews of the music - not my job or my area of expertise. I'm eternally indebted to Jerry Junkin and the UT Wind Ensemble for playing the hell out of Ecstatic Waters. I'm a little sad that the piece's run at UT has come to an end, but I look forward to all the planned performances around the US next year! Mostly, though, I'm itching to get back to composing - haven't written a note since I finished Axis Mundi last Fall. Speaking of which, the recording is coming...today!

Ecstatic in Austin

Tonight's the night: Jerry Junkin and the University of Texas WInd Ensemble will perform Ecstatic Waters as part of the national CBDNA conference. If you're coming to the concert, get there early (having a ticket is no guarantee of admission). If you're not in the area, but want to listen online, it will be streamed live here:

University of Texas Austin Wind Ensemble, March 27th, 2009.

CBDNA begins... (plus the radio show download)

Familiar faces are swooping into town from everywhere, as the national CBDNA conference gets underway here in Austin. It's nice to go to one of these big conventions...and still be at home. In fact, I've lived in or near the city of each of the past three national conventions - New York in 2005, Ann Arbor in 2007 (I lived down the road in Bowling Green), and now Austin in 2009. If this continues, that'd mean I'll be in Seattle in 2011, but that doesn't look likely at this point.

Last night the first wave of the Japanese contingent arrived, in full party mode. I treated them to some snacks at Moonshine Grill, and introduced them to Shiner Bock and Shiner 100. They seemed to approve. :)

More this week, I'm sure - my big concert is Friday night with Jerry Junkin and the Univ. of Texas Wind Ensemble. Family and friends from all over are coming in for the group's performance of Ecstatic Waters, as well as the world premiere of V's new wind band transcription of John Corigliano's Mr. Tambourine Man on the very same concert. Hila Plitmann (that'd be Grammy-Award-Winning-Vocalist-Hila-Plitmann) is here to sing the premiere, and she sounded unbelievable in rehearsal today. It's going to be a hell of a night. In fact, the whole week has some of the most exciting programs I've ever seen - premieres and pieces by many of my friends and contemporaries, as well as William Bolcom's new symphony on Saturday night. All the gory details here.

I also hear JM has a brand new camera, so expect many pictures from this corner of the web. I'm just eager to finish off the week with an Asphalt Cocktail.

Lastly, here's the radio interview I did last week: Knowing the Score, with Dan Welcher. It's a 68Mb download, FYI. One small misleading bit (that I neglected to tell Dan - it's my fault, not his) - I'd just returned from Japan when we did the interview, but not for a performance of Ecstatic Waters, as Dan mentioned, but for the premiere of a brand new work, Axis Mundi, which, if you're one of the two people who read this blog, you will already know. Enjoy!

Ecstatic in Dallas

Jerry Junkin and the UT Wind Ensemble just blew the doors off the Meyerson with Ecstatic Waters tonight. Holy cow. I've been extraordinarily fortunate to have had such time with, and access to, one of the very top wind ensembles in the nation, if not the world, and am infinitely grateful to Maestro Junkin for taking on the challenge of this work. I can't WAIT to do this again at CBDNA here in Austin on March 27th!

The whole concert was smokin' - Sunil was once again spectacular on the Bolcom (which is a piece I'm really growing to like - I'd never heard it before last week). And of course John Mackey's Kingfishers Catch Fire closed in excellent fashion - the antiphonal trumpets are satisfying as hell. I think it's the perfect closer for a concert - it sort of cleanses the palette with a huge dose of extra-happy at the end of an evening of ups and downs, and leaves everyone full of joy. Also, I can't get the tune out of my head - it's been replaying constantly for the 3 hour drive back to Austin tonight. Thanks for that ear worm, Mackey...

Now, it's time for a couple of hours of sleep, and then V and I have an early morning flight to Tokyo, for the JWECC premiere of Axis Mundi...

Bolcom Caught Fire...

...at ABA last Thursday night. I rode over to the ABA convention with Verena and AEJ on the band bus (hooray for band bus trips!), to hear the UT Wind Ensemble give their concert at Texas A&M. It was a hell of a concert - for me, the biggest highlights were Sunil Gadgil's absolutely astounding performance of Bolcom's Concert Suite for Alto Saxophone and Band, and John Mackey's Kingfishers Catch Fire, which I'd never heard performed live. I must say, as exciting and feel-good as it is on a recording, it's 10 times that live. The surround trumpets are extra satisfying (though I could use even more - I think Mackey should call for at least Circus Maximus numbers). Jerry Junkin does a very cool alteration of the final trumpet entrance that involves them entering in a slow pan that circles around the audience from left to right. I dig it...and will likely steal it for the final movement of my Concerto for Wind Ensemble, whenever I get around to doing those other movements.

The UT Wind Ensemble gets no time to rest - they have another concert this Tuesday at the Meyerson Symphony Center. My own Ecstatic Waters will make an appearance on the program as well this time (the website above is out of date and doesn't list it). The concert is at 7:30pm at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas. I know I always say this, but seriously, if you're in the DFW area, you should come to this concert... :)

Well THAT was fun!

The Ecstatic Waters performance yesterday here at UT went really well. I'm still a bit stunned by it. We had one problem with feedback in the Bassoon mics (same thing that happened at Bowling Green - in the same place I think), which is weird in that it never happened in any rehearsals, but has now happened in both performances. Something to figure out for the future. Other than that, though, the band really stepped up to the plate and hit it out of the park (to use a seasonally appropriate sports metaphor).

And now I'm kind of bummed - I've gotten spoiled hearing this piece several times a week for the past few weeks, including two performances, and now I don't get to hear it again until next February and March.

More details later and, if it's possible, a recording, perusal score, program notes, the whole nine yards. I do have another piece due in one month, so I can't really let up just yet...

Ecstatic Waters LIVE webcast 10/26/2008

Ecstatic Waters will be webcast live from the University of Texas Austin Wind Ensemble concert on Sunday, Oct. 26th.

You can listen here (it's only a LIVE webcast - it will NOT be archived online):

http://winds.music.utexas.edu/eventDetails.aspx?id=9525

DATE AND TIME:
4:00 PM CST, Oct. 26th, 2008