Piano Quintet: January 18 -21, 2007

Journal entries by composer and pianist Laurie Conrad

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Piano Quintet: January 18 -21, 2007

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A Composer’s Journal Entries: January 18 -21, 2007

Thursday, January 18
4: 30 p.m.

JF dropped me off in town before my NAET treatment today, & I Xeroxed up the score of Movement II of Trois Prieres. I also Xeroxed up 35 copies of blank manuscript paper on legal sized paper that I had drawn up for the Piano Quintet last night - both for the full score & also for the piano score. The piano score will have the string parts condensed onto two staves. Otherwise the pianist has to skip four extra lines & also has many more page turns. The next decision will be whether to give the string players the full score or to create a new score for just the strings. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. With few rehearsals it is best to give them the full score, so that they can see what the other players’ parts; on the other hand, it makes for many extra page turns, always a problem during concerts - & the score is more confusing to read. Most players prefer the full score, but some players hate it ...

Will send a copy of Movement II of Trois Prieres to Bob Spear, for him to at least hear in his mind. If his group ever reforms itself, & if we can receive some sort of grant monies - we will perform it.

Began copying out the full score of the Piano Quintet version of Unsung Song No. 1 late last night, & it is about one third done. Very few changes, a few notes here or there. Although I do see some complicated sketches coming up in future pages. As soon as I began the first page the whole piece came back to me, & the piece itself brought me along with it. Worked well into the night. I ended with a decision to end one section with a low “d” in the cello, to prepare the way for the next section. Some decisions are agonizing; one note can change everything, everything ... At other times it hardly matters what pitches are used, there are so many possibilities ...

Intend to do more tonight. The task is fairly easy because I am cutting & pasting in the piano part, from my Xeroxed version of the previous piano score. Written in January of 1996, originally this Piano Quintet (Unsung Song No. 1) was for solo piano; it has now been expanded some pages, new sections added - & I am looking forward to playing it. I wrote it in memory of my singer Louise McConnell, but it is dedicated to the victims of the Bosnian Wars of the early-mid 1990's. It is only one movement, the first of a cycle of Unsung Songs, & it alternates between one or two very wistful, plaintive themes - & very powerful sections of despair. Unlike earlier pieces I have written, I have tried to be careful to resolve the tension even while in the midst of it: which is even more powerful & striking than before.

Bosnia. I could not bear that the world stood by - and did nothing.

Friday, January 19
1 p.m.

Got stuck today, in the piano & strings version of Unsung Song No. 1, on one page. Agonized. Wrote the section a few different ways & then settled on one; we can always change it in rehearsals. It is a loud, powerful & dissonant section - & I am trying to use the dissonances wisely. At one point, as I was playing one version through, the sounds became different-coloured crystals breaking, breaking into infinity ... Shattering, splintering - & I watched the shards lit with Light careen off into the Distance. I am pleased; - pages are now done.

2 a.m.

Finished the full score just as JB & Nancy walked in the door earlier tonight. Twenty eight pages long. Will make Xeroxes tomorrow & begin the piano score.

Showed JB & Nancy the score, & we agreed some pages were very beautiful on the page. Louise used to ask for copies of pages, to hang on her wall ... We especially admired the calligraphy of the last page, & Nancy asked to hear it on the piano. Played the first, quiet theme for Nancy on the piano - & the last page; she thought them very beautiful. Later that night, a light snow.

Saturday, January 20
7 p.m.

A bright, sunny day. Xeroxed up the full score so that I can begin copying out the Piano score. I will cut & paste in the piano part, but will have to condense & write in all the string parts onto two staves. It will take me many hours & days of work. However, all the decisions have been made - so it will just mean copying from one score to another, & a bit of transposing in the viola part. The Piano score will only be in treble & bass clefs.

Began the Piano score.

Sunday, January 21
2:20 p.m.

Still working on the piano score for Unsung Song No. 1, cutting & pasting in the piano part, scribbling in the string parts. Am fortified by the chocolate cake JB brought last night. Decided not to put all the string parts in, not all the time: too confusing, too distracting for the pianist. The string parts are more scored more like cues, in smaller notes - sometimes only stems, to mark the rhythm. Have already completed 8 new pages today.

Still thinking about the last movement of Trois Prieres.

5 p.m.

The piano score is done. - pages. Tomorrow I will Xerox it up. Next: e-mail the Cornell group for their snail mail address, send them a copy of the full score. Send Bob Spear a copy of Movement II of Trois Prieres. Contact the string octet in California again, to make sure they received my message - we have been having some trouble with e-mail.

Begin Movement III. of Trois Prieres, the string octet/choir version - with harp & flute as Spear requested. When it is done then I must orchestrate all three movements. And finish orchestrating Chansons du Monde. Revise Images, perform & record them & the songs for harp & chamber group & voices that I wrote so many summers ago; the piano pieces, even the early ones that I have not yet recorded; perhaps rerecord For Two Pianos, using better recording equipment; the Unsung Songs cycle.

But first finish writing Trois Prieres.

































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