Edward Elgar's "Enigma Variations" for clarinet choir

My clarinet choir arrangement of Elgar's "Enigma Variations" is now available online.

Sheet music links:
Enigma Variations for Clarinet Choir, Score
Enigma Variations for Clarinet Choir, Set of Parts (E-flat clarinet, 6 B-flat clarinets, alto clarinet, bass clarinet, alto clarinet, bass clarinet, and optional timpani.)

Program the whole piece in a clarinet choir concert, or choose a few of the variations to play.

If you would like to play just the Nimrod variation, an arrangement by Jeanie Murrow is available on Sheetmusicplus.

Recent Montreal music events

A lot has been going on this past little while.

Once again, I played clarinet in the orchestra for a McGill Savoy Society production. This year, we did H.M.S. Pinafore. Pinafore was also the very first production that I played in, 10 years ago. Once again, it was such a pleasure to be in the Savoy Society!

On March 7, the Sam Roberts Band played the last show of their Lo-Fantasy tour. The show was here in Montreal. And what a show it was! Stunning visual displays, a wonderful mix of older and newer songs, and a very enthusiastic audience combined to create a most memorable concert. This was my fourth time seeing the Sam Roberts Band, and it was my favourite show of theirs that I've seen.

I love living in Montreal, where there are so many great things happening.

My sheet music website

Hello all. I recently created a website where I sell sheet music. It contains links to my compositions and arrangements available for sale on Sheetmusicplus.com.

Here is the website: GrayWinds Sheet Music.

It contains music for wind instruments, mostly. I may add other sheet music at a later date.

Sheet music

I've been selling some of my sheet music on Sheetmusicplus.com, both arrangements and original compositions. Maybe when I have a few more pieces of music there, I'll organize it all on a website with links to the sheet music. In the meantime, you can have a look here.

Confessions of an alto clarinetist

During my first year at McGill, I joined the McGill Clarinet Choir, in which I played the contra-alto clarinet, an instrument that I loved. It seemed that nobody in the group wanted to play the alto clarinet. People saw it as a nasty, out-of-tune, bad-sounding instrument that was unforgiving and difficult to play. Someone would always get stuck with the instrument, and they wouldn't be happy about it.

In my second year at McGill, I was at a wind symphony rehearsal. We were going to play Ingolf Dahl's "Sinfonietta", which has an alto clarinet solo in the second movement. The conductor asked me if I wanted to play the alto clarinet in that piece. I wasn't entirely sure why he'd asked me - perhaps he'd heard that I played the contra-alto clarinet, and thought it would be a good idea to ask me if I wanted to play the alto. I was aware of the instrument's bad reputation, but I agreed to play the alto clarinet - I figured that maybe if I devoted some time to the instrument, I might be able to play it somewhat well. Besides, I'd get to play a solo in wind symphony, which I wouldn't get to do if I just stuck to the B-flat clarinet.

I rented the school's alto clarinet, and started to get to know the instrument. It was indeed difficult to play in tune. But I kept working on it. I played the solo in the Dahl piece. After that concert, I continued playing the alto clarinet in the wind symphony. Occasionally I'd get other solos. One time, I had an unaccompanied quarter-tone glissando solo in a piece by Husa. That piece was broadcast on the radio.

I came to love playing the alto clarinet. I found opportunities to play it outside of the wind symphony. I played in a trio made up of two B-flat clarinets and alto. I sometimes played alto clarinet in an orchestra, substituting for bass clarinet or saxophone parts. I found that the alto clarinet could be useful for bass lines, kind of like a bass clarinet, but more portable.

I came to love the sound of the alto clarinet. I found that it could sound almost like a cross between a clarinet and a saxophone. I found that the alto clarinet could be a very expressive instrument.

In one of my later years in the clarinet choir, I was planning to play the contra-alto clarinet, as I always had in clarinet choir. The usual start-of-year argument was going on, the argument over who had to get stuck with the alto clarinet. Feeling sorry for the instrument, and getting tired of people berating an instrument that I had grown to love, I gave up my contra-alto clarinet position and offered to play the alto.

There haven't been many pieces of music written for solo alto clarinet. For some time, I worked on a concerto for solo alto clarinet, with clarinet choir accompaniment. In the piece, I tried to show the different moods that the alto was capable of expressing. When the piece of music was finished, I performed it with the McGill Clarinet Choir. Here is a recording of the performance.

The alto clarinet is a much-disliked instrument, but I think that a lot of this animosity is unjustified. I think that more people - both listeners and clarinetists - should give the alto clarinet more of a chance.

That crazy modern music...

A line from Wah Keung Chan's Montreal Gazette music review of a Renee Fleming concert: "...the Mehldau songs were plagued by the sameness of most 20th-and 21st-century compositions -lacking rhyme, rhythm, melody, and ultimately reason." Seriously? Most 20th and 21st century classical music lacks rhythm, melody, and reason?
I guess many 20th/21st century composers wanted to turn away from melody. But many "modern" pieces do have melodies, maybe just not ones that every music reviewer enjoys or recognizes. And certainly, most 20th/21st century music has rhythm! And I'll bet that if music lacked reason, it wouldn't be composed.
And I don't think most recent music sounds the same, not at all.

Of course, this is the same reviewer who thought "crescendo" meant "climax."

The execrable CBC Radio 2 blog

There were CBC rallies in Toronto and British Columbia on May 24 (last Saturday.) These rallies were to protest the changes being made to CBC Radio 2, and the disbanding of the CBC Radio Orchestra.

Here's an excerpt from Bramwell Tovey's speech from the Vancouver rally:

"In seeking to control the debate about Radio 2 programming the network has ruthlessly controlled its own blogsites. In May 2007 I submitted a critical comment to a CBC blog concerning changes at Saturday Afternoon at the Opera. The comment was never posted. When I asked why, I received numerous telephone messages and then an email from a senior CBC manager:

“Let’s talk further about what we’re trying to achieve. I’d still be more than happy to post most of what you wrote, but do need to edit out one line, and want your approval to do that ….We’re not trying to censor you.” (sic)

Numerous independent web discussion and information sites have emerged, such as www.standonguardforcbc.ca and on Facebook, since it became evident that CBC wished to control the debate which was often highly critical of Radio 2’s direction."

It seems that whenever I try to post a negative comment about any of the CBC Radio 2 radio shows on the CBC 2 blog, it doesn't get accepted. I tried to post what I thought was a fairly innocent-sounding comment, on an entry about In the Key of Charles: "Wow, they never had anything like this on Symphony Hall." Did the CBC Radio 2 blog editor realize, er, I mean, think that this was a back-handed compliment? Or has the CBC blog editor just gotten used to seeing my name on the posts, and automatically not accept them? :P

I've heard from other people about their blog posts getting "censored" (not accepted.) And no less a person than Bramwell Tovey got censored. Boy, do I hate the CBC Radio 2 blog.

Whatever happened to freedom of speech? I know, freedom of speech has been used as an excuse by many people to say horrible things, but really, surely a few negative comments about radio shows aren't so horrible they shouldn't be published?

By the way, I recommend reading Bramwell Tovey's entire speech, as it is excellent.

Complaining about the CBC

A reporter from the Concordia University newspaper is writing an article, and asked me:

What are the main issues with the CBC?
What you hope to accomplish with the protest?
Why is important that the CBC have an orchestra?
Why is it important that the CBC play classical music?

Here's what I replied:

The main issues that people are having with the CBC are that they are canceling several long-running and popular shows, that they'll play less classical music, and that they're disbanding their 70-year-old CBC Radio Orchestra.

I think it is important for the CBC to play classical music. Many people, including me, have been turned on to classical music through CBC Radio 2. Many people throughout Canada enjoy listening to classical music, and have either no local classical station, or a poor one. (I don't like the local classical station here in Montreal.) CBC Radio 2 is/was a way for people who live in small towns or remote areas - places with no local orchestra and not much access to live classical concerts - to hear classical music recordings and recorded concerts.
I myself stopped listening to CBC Radio 2 when they did a big programming change in March of last year. They got rid of several of my favourite programs. They put on more pop/jazz programs (and many people argue that the main jazz program doesn't even have a lot of good jazz on.) From what I heard, they replaced knowledgeable musically-educated radio show hosts with hosts who don't even always know how to pronounce composers' names (I can't personally attest to this as I no longer listen to CBC Radio 2.)

One of the shows they cancelled last year in March was Two New Hours, a program featuring new "classical" music (usually Canadian.) I heard that after that show was cancelled, the CBC recorded fewer contemporary-classical music concerts. The CBC also stopped holding the Young Composers Competition a few years ago. This competition was a good way to launch the careers of Canadian composers. Since the CBC no longer broadcasts Two New Hours, or holds the composers' competition, The CBC Radio Orchestra is/was a way for Canadian composers to have their music heard, since it often played and commissioned recent music by Canadian composers. I'm an amateur composer, and I have many friends who are professional composers, so I understand how hard it can be for a composer to have his/her music performed.

People might argue that a whole lot of Canadians don't like contemporary classical music, so why broadcast it on CBC radio? I think that a lot of Canadians do like contemporary music. I came to contemporary music through CBC radio. I think contemporary music should be given a chance. Heck, I once played an atonal piano piece at a church, and the church members loved it.
Now the CBC's contemporary music radio show plays a bunch of pop music, with the occasional contemporary classical piece.

The CBC claims that their decision to get rid of the CBC Radio Orchestra is financial, but the author of the InsidetheCBC blog says "Anyone who has been in business understands that you always have the money if it’s a priority. What the CBC really means is this: 'We have the money, but we have chosen to make this decision.' " (source: http://tinyurl.com/38ettc)

Facebook groups have been started, both to protest the changes being made to the CBC's programming, and to protest the disbanding of the CBC Radio orchestra.

The people in charge of the CBC say that they'll still play a lot of classical music, so people don't need to worry. However, this classical music will be limited to 2 or 3 shows on the weekend, plus "accessible and popular" classical music from 10 AM to 3 PM on weekdays. I think I'd get bored of "accessible and popular" classical music pretty quickly. One thing I used to like about CBC Radio Two (especially recorded-concert programs like In Performance, Symphony Hall, and Two New Hours) was that they often played music that challenged me. I found that by keeping an open mind, I learned a lot about all kinds of classical music.

I don't listen to CBC Radio 2, but I protest the changes because the CBC will be playing even less classical music after the upcoming programming changes, because I used to enjoy listening to some of the shows that they're cancelling, and because I think it is important for CBC audiences to have access to classical music.

On March 18th

On March 18th, it was a year since the last episode of Two New Hours. Two New Hours was a great radio show that featured new music. I still miss that show.


On March 18th, I got a letter in the mail from the Canadian Music Centre asking for donations. Now that Two New Hours is gone, there isn't much chance to hear new Canadian music anymore. Maybe I'll send the Canadian Music Centre a few dollars.

MusiMarch

I've been enjoying the MusiMarch festival. It's a new music festival at McGill. I went to the concerts on Tuesday and Thursday, and I listened to the second half of the concert on Wednesday.

This year's festival has an interesting idea: the concerts mix old and new music, showing connections between older pieces and newer pieces.

The concert on Tuesday started with some traditional African music. There was also a really cool piece by Polo Vallejo for 6 congas. I never knew congas could be capable of so many things! At some points in the piece, it sounded like there were several lines of music going on at once. It kind of reminded me of the compound melodies in Bach's unaccompanied cello and violin pieces. This concert also had a very enjoyable arrangement of Vivier's Pulau Dewata, and a premiere of a piece for cello and ensemble and electronics by Sean Ferguson. I don't know if I've ever heard any of his music before, but I liked this piece.

While listening to the music festival on the internet on Wednesday night, I heard the Ligeti horn concerto, played by the McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble. It's so beautiful. I'd heard the
CME play it a few years ago too.

I liked the concert last night (Thursday). It opened with Bachianas Brasilieras #5. I've heard that piece many times, it's an old 20th-century "classic", I've played it several times in a few different arrangements -- but I still absolutely love it. Incidentally, this was the first time I've ever heard the lesser-known 2nd movement of it. This concert also included a haunting cello piece by Gilles Tremblay, and some early vocal music selections. A piece that I especially liked was "Fumeux fume" by 14th-century composer Solage. The concert ended with a weird piece by Julian Anderson called "Book of Hours".


In other news, today is Ravel's birthday. It's also my half-birthday. I am now 23 and a half.