A reminder of where the bowl is going:
Here are some colors I’m looking at:
And here is a cobalt blue/purple:
Since I have to glaze this thing tomorrow (Sunday), I’d appreciate discussion in the comments.
Omphalos, 7/16/09
I arrived in the studio just as Andy was taking the bowl out of the kiln. It is still too warm to touch even as I write this:
It has of course cracked exactly where we saw before:
Again, Andy is not concerned. The ground up clay that you see here will be mixed with glaze to form a grout to seal the cracks.
We still have not decided on the interior. However, I look forward to welcoming my fellow Lichtenbergians to the Land of Pan-Dimensional Mice tomorrow, and I feel sure they will provide guidance in that regard.
Waltz, 7/14/09
This morning I had the pleasure of hearing the Waltz for String Quartet & Bassoon read through by the strings majors here at GHP, under the direction of the inestimable Michael Giel.
They read it as a whole group, so it had a bigger sound, which was not at all bad. Also, since the woodwinds were hard at work on their concert for tonight, the bassoon part was taken by a solo cello, which was also fine.
What can I say? It worked, and it worked admirably. I’m pleased. Thank you, Michael and strings!
In other news, Stephen Czarkowski has ordered parts in order to perform it this fall. Who knows, I may actually write two more movements to go with it.
Omphalos update: The bowl is in the kiln.
Omphalos, 7/12/09
Waltz, 7/10/09
I think I’m through with the waltz. It’s not finished, I’m just through with it.
Yes, it’s complete, and yes, it makes sense in its twisted little way, but I still feel as if I have lazily slapped together a few combinations and turned it in. Oh well.
Here’s the “completed” Waltz for String Quartet & Bassoon. (Here’s the score, if you want it.)
I need to go double-check it for impossible double-stops before I let a real violinist see it.
::sigh::
I was walking through the Bailey Science Building, doing my observational thing, and I came across this in the hall:
It’s a packing crate, probably for some equipment VSU has had delivered. And my first thought was, “I can use that for firewood.”
My second thought was,”…if I were at home in my labyrinth.”
::sigh::
Waltz, 7/8/09
You can listen to yesterday and today’s work on the B section of the bassoon quintet here.
I think it’s not long enough. I think I could make it into a major development section, or use it as the second theme for an actual sonata allegro movement. I barely get the theme stated when I dismantle it and build to a screeching climax (from which I will ratchet it up even more until it collapses back into the claustrophobic A section.) I think it’s not enough.
However, if my goal is to have something for students to read on Friday, and it is, then we’ll just go with it as a first draft.
Waltz, 7/7/09
The bowl continues to dry and crack.
I opened up a new Finale file today and just played with B section phrases, making up stuff, discarding stuff. I seem to be congenitally unable to avoid the lyrical. Sure, I need a contrast for the B section from that astringent little waltz, but it sounds like a Prokofiev ballet piece.
So be it. I’ll push it to its limit and turn it violent as soon as is possible. Look for slashing strings and unison screaming before settling on an unsettled chord stabbing its way into a fff crescendo, only to collapse into the recapitulation. Bones hounded by lust.
Omphalos, 7/5/09
Waltz, 7/5/09
The new piece is now called Waltz (for string quartet & bassoon). I figured I couldn’t just call everything Dance, and I know better than to call it I. Allegro, because I’ll probably never get around to another two movements to make it a true quintet piece.
Anyway, I worked on it this morning and have the first theme exposited, along with a transition into the second theme. Did you know that you can double the length of your exposition by shoving in a repeat?
Here it is so far.
In other news, I’ve hauled out the Fool’s Errand from last summer to give it a look. The path we followed last year, indeed, our very meeting place, is fenced off behind construction now, so I have to head out and see if the soundtrack as it stands will match the new campus topography.