I have been having an amazing time up here in Chicago despite the stress in dealing with financing. So far, I have had two of my works read in our composition seminar: Falling Ash for solo flute and Fanfare for brass quintet.
Falling Ash started as a piece with very little programmatic inflections. I named it falling ash out randomly. As I got into composing the work, however, the title seemed to direct the overall flow and development of the ideas. In that vein, the work focuses on 1 lone ash ember as it descends to the ground. Rising up and falling down. Zooming in to see the intricacies of movement every now and then. The reading of the work was good. The opening was a bit too airy - not what I wanted. The tempo marking I indicated asked for Rubato and the flautist was able to provide that, somewhat. All in all, a good reading.
The Fanfare for Brass Quintet was one of the most difficult pieces I've written. I had the initial idea, which opens the piece in the Horn, sketched weeks before. The final version was the result of about 9 previous attempts at writing for the ensemble. The work itself looks at two contrasting ideas and superimposes them on top of each other towards the middle of the work. The reading went well. The only issue they had was my use of the tuba descending on triplet sixteenths AND a few notational errors in the score - mainly beaming issues.
All in all, I really enjoyed hearing both of these works being read by live instruments. I think I learned a lot from the experience!
Hope my readers are having a good morning!
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