March 9, 200917 yr I finished this piece last week. Its first performance will be by a doctoral student at my university, in an upcoming concert of music by students here. Large sections of the work are made up of a modified version of the Tristan chord, and without sounding arch (I hope), there is a small half-quotation of the famous Wagner moment a short while in. Other material is derived from the chromatic scale (which appears as part of the Tristan chord in the opera), and chords which formed from the opening material. I've tried to show both the differences and essential similarities between ecstacy and stasis in the work, by juxtaposing different types of material. Unlike some of my earlier compositions, the rules which I put in place I have bent freely, and I feel this gives me far greater scope when composing. Rather than being tied into a little box, I can venture out every now and again. I hope you like it. When it's performed for real I'll upload a proper recording. Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. ;) SoundClick artist: Shane Nugent - page with MP3 music downloads Score updated. Ekstasis.pdf
March 16, 200917 yr ENJOY THAT PERFORMANCE! This is a very interesting work and definitely of high quality. You have a nice form and shape, and you bring the beginning back at the end in a convincing and formally appropriate way. Go ahead and get this performed! Don't be worried, it doesn't drag on does sound convincing (as well as not sounding trite because of your use of the tristan chord, which is cleverly hidden) -Alex
March 18, 200916 yr I like this a lot! Some gorgeous moments in this piece. When I first listened, I felt like it lost too much momentum at m. 49-54, but then again that's clearly a point where you wanted that static feel (there's an explicit expression marking there, after all). However, as it turned out, after listening to the piece again I decided it worked perfectly fine. Just thought I'd mention my impression from the first listen. Overall very good work; my only critique, if anything, is that I'm not sure I get a lot of "ecstasy" from this piece. I hear more of a very contemplative, almost agonized, dwelling in shifting pleasure. Maybe the word "ecstasy" makes me expect something a little more energetic or frenzied. Obviously difficult to do that when you're going for stasis too, of course. Anyhow, awesome piece and awesome title/concept :thumbsup:.
March 18, 200916 yr Author Thanks for all the comments guys. The performance went really well, I'll have the recording up soon.
March 20, 200916 yr Author Here is the long-awaited recording. There are a couple of wrong notes, I put it down to the performer's nerves. But overall, it is a good performance. Not as exact as the synth version above, but a lot more expressive. See what you think. SoundClick artist: Shane Nugent - page with MP3 music downloads
March 23, 200916 yr I wish I could critique this piece, because I feel it deserves a nice, quasi-depth analysis done to it. I really enjoyed it; gave me a flair of Ligeti inside of it. I did feel the momentum built up, but unfortunately died a little bit down (as mentioned before) yet overall the tone was great. I really would like to have to knowledge of contemporary music to give you something more. I'd love to hear more 'recentness' from you soon. Ciao.
May 21, 200916 yr Fabulous, I really enjoyed it. It was said but it does remind me of some Ligeti etudes. I did like the little Wagner quotation...subtle :)
