Gold Rush (live recording)

This is an electro-acoustic work for six live players and electronics.

The material is built around repetitive cells of increasing complexity. Harmonically everything is fairly tonal, with tinges of polyharmony/polytonality. The electronic component mostly functions as a backing track, but occasionally there is some close interaction between it and the performers. It's kept fairly pulsey to help the players stay in time.

I shouldn't really keep the recording up for too long, but I will say it was produced by a group of highly commendable players who managed what you will hear on only their second run-through - which was also the first without a click track. An extra half hour's worth of rehearsal time might well have seen them grow more accustomed to the trickier sections. Overall I am delighted with what they did.

[Link to recording has now been removed owing to various constraints - if you wish to hear it, please send me a private message]

The updated score contains system separators.

All comments very welcome!

gold_rush.pdf

gold_rush_updated.pdf

Mikey, when I hear something like this, I quite honestly want to stop composing.

One comment: I quite honestly could see the oboe part replaced with a soprano sax.

I'd have liked to have seen SOME sort of notation for the electronic part, even if it was just a sort of "place holder" type notation.

And page 8 I think it was nearly made my heart stop! (the part where the texture suddenly STOPS! and becomes more chordal and static)

Oh, by the way, you are now officially my favourite living composer.

Holly fracking YAY! WOW!

Mike this IS amazing! This is awesmoe!

Very well done

χρωμα did a great job as well!

Michel it's the ensemble in residence and the "leader" is a clarinetist. Financial matters do not allow for many changes... ;)

Mike this is brilliant! It is indeed rather repetative, but the subtle changes in textures and work in the electronics and the way you use all your instruments is stunning! It's such a fresh work!

I'm sure that χρωμα won't mind me and Michel getting a HIGH QUALITY (WAV not MP3) please recording! ;)

Btw, how did you record it? Don't tell me it was just a mic cause I'll come over to slap you for your engineering skills, along with your composing and programming.

Small score note: Please, PLEASE, put the 2 semi-diagonal lines when you change systems in a page. It's hard enough to remember the repetitions, but it's even harder when systems go from 2 to 3 per page and whatnot.

Electronic stuff would be too difficult to notate, unless you were to notate only a 'main melody' or something.

Either way a huge AYE from me and a hearted well done mate!

Thank you both so much for your comments.

It's a good point you brought up about the score, Nikolas. I will have to figure it out.

I didn't notate the electronic part because I see scores more as a means of conveying instructions to performers, rather than forming part of a composition's existence in itself. But I may do something for the electronic part in this piece if I get around to it. I can understand why it might be of interest.

very youthfull. springy. light. 'adamsesque'. energetic. bright and sunny. playfull.

it was fun to hear it.

Thanks pliorius. By the way, the recording has been updated to one with improved mastering, resulting in a cleaner and louder overall sound. Also, score updated with system separators.

This is an AMAZING work!

Despite all of the repetitions, I was actively listening and enthralled for the WHOLE THING.

This piece does seem to sound a little New-Millenium-ish, but I think you managed to take the focus away from your "style" and put it on the music! It was really extremely exciting to hear. I loved your use of textures and the changes in background harmony came at just the right times for the rhythms to shine. The sound that you were able to achieve with this fantastic ensemble is incomparable, what with the timbres of harp, string, and wind you were able to get.. Where did you get the idea for such a quirky, yet cohesive ensemble?

I really can't think of any criticism at ALL. It was just great! Marvelous! Fantastic!

EDIT:

Oh and do you mind if I share the piece with friends of mine?

Many thanks, Mael.

Where did you get the idea for such a quirky, yet cohesive ensemble?

The ensemble itself was prescribed as part of the brief, so I can't take any credit for that. I was actually slightly disappointed at the lack of a piano, but compensated by using two on the electronic backing track (one processed, one standard).

It turned out to be an interesting exercise, though, because I needed to find ways for them to work together. The harp tends to be treated as a solo instrument, the oboe and clarinet as a duo, while the strings often work in tandum (violin and viola at least). And when you get them all playing together, the sound is sort of chaotic and tense, but in a good way, I think.

They were certainly an amazing ensemble. A big part of the reason it all works so well is down to their highly musical interpretation of the scored material, not to mention technical competency.

Thanks again for listening!

Oh and do you mind if I share the piece with friends of mine?

Sure, provided you keep it private.

Great piece, it held its momentum very well and you use an interesting variety of timbres. Most importantly, you demonstrate one of the most important characteristics of good composition - pacing. At no point did the music feel over-repetitious, but new material was added and developed at exactly the right rate. The quieter and less rhythmic section in the middle was also well placed in the overall structure. Only criticism was that the style is somewhat derivative of Reich, Adams, Riley, etc, but then again, it shows your knowledge of the minimalist idiom.

Hey Mike,

I don't often get a mo to stop by this website, but when I do, I'd be very lucky to find something that isn't only enriching to listen to, but can also teach something new and exciting about music! This piece has everything a good composition has. What defines a good composition is EXTREMELY hard to say, - the answer would be of gigantic proportions like a thesis or such - but what I hear here is an organic piece of music with something to satisfy all the senses. Needless to say, it is very inspiring! It's good that you uploaded the score, too, so I can come back to it later and study it when I have enough spare time!

The only specific comment I can make about the music now is that the moment all the activity halted and those messianic chords appeared I felt as though I'd ascended onto the highest plane in this Universe! That was ingenius! You know what I would introduce into the music at that point? Perhaps a distant sound of a celesta, xylophone or vibraphone? I do believe that would just dot the i! But of course, I'm not quite sure what you really intended for that section, so...it's much more personal/subjective from here on.

And another strength is that it is a wonderful example of the cutting edge use of instrumental colour! It is very, VERY fine indeed. Breakthrough 21st century music!

Anyways, BRAVO! :)

All the best,

J

Nico, your post seems more geared towards your hate to minimalism rather than Mike's work! ;) (never mind me though).

Mike, thanks for everything! ;)

Now, on the piece, which I've been listening a lot over the past 24 hours!

I think that what makes it work is that there's a constant subtle change going on, and the electronic sounds merge very well with the ensemble. (btw, shouldn't you credit them? *ahem* I put the name in Greek but just saying). It's not 2 different worlds, not 2 different musical ideas, it's one, at least for me. It's an organism that moves around, expanding and coming back to itself, but always keeping coherent and to itself.

I think that you did a fabulous job in this rotten concert hall world were people are composing trios and concertos and symphonies (this is not a comment to Michel, or Nico, or anyone in here, but the general consent of classical music). Your music is fresh! Very fresh and very well crafted! An excellent job overall!

You're not my favourite living composer just yet, only because I haven't heard so much from you and your previous work for 10 instruments I didn't fancy all that much! But this? THIS is fabulous!

Wow - what a great piece you have here, Mike. Yes, it's reminiscent of Steve Reich most of all, and minimalism in general (the electronics bring to mind Terry Riley), but it's unique enough in it's own right. Listening to this, I was sort of burning for Reichian melodic phasing for a while, until I realized the 'background' parts (strings) were changing subtly and in interesting ways, showing your unique creativeness and your undeniable control of harmony. I can't really say anything else - I thoroughly enjoyed this piece, and hope to see more like it from you! Great job.

siwi and jannokas, thanks. A couple of people have reported particularly enjoying the bit which goes into stasis - I actually wondered at one point whether it would really work in the live setting, so it's nice to have it specially picked out by listeners.

Nico, I can accept your feelings about minimalism entirely. I hadn't considered that the woodwind might provide a kind of "textural distraction", interesting interpretation there. I suppose it is essentially what happens as the layers of harmony build towards the end.

And oingo86 (I seem to recall you're something of a familiar face! ;)), thank you too. I did used to be obsessed with Steve Reich. Does it show? Most probably...

I know this wasn't directed towards us, but I hardly think that world is rotten. This piece could very well be performed in a concert hall with success.

Indeed rotten is probably a too harsh word. But in all honesty, Mike's piece felt like a breath of fresh air in a house full of antiques and... dust. The people living in the house might be only too happy to be there, but the rest of the world feels... weird at best.

I do think that the world of contemporary music is suffering from autism actually. But this is another topic for another thread.

sorry Mike! :)

i like this work but i dont know how to express it becasue the composition skill is very special , it look like Glass music but , it also contain some sort of classical development to maintain the tension , but i think the most greatest thing is , the recording is SO SO clear , how do you do that ? tell me how

dark ^^

Great!

I'm kind of with Nico on this one in some respects. I'm not a big fan of minimalism in general, but your particular style is fresh and very appealing to me. It envokes images of a bustling urban metropolis, and for some reason I have a sudden impulse to get out my copy of Sim City 3000!

My criticism would be that it is particularly harmonically static like most minimalism. I like your polytonal adventures, but I personally like more harmonic movement.

In summary it was a great piece of music that managed to appeal to me - a person who doesn't listen to much, if any, minimalism!

the recording is SO SO clear , how do you do that ?

The audio was recorded just from one mic positioned in front of the ensemble, so nothing special there. However, once it was on the computer, I did perform a few enhancements:

• Strong dynamic compression to create a "louder" feel.
  
• Boosting of higher and lower frequencies to increase the fidelity of the sound. The high boosts seemed to work particularly well - you can hear every breath down the woodwind instruments and the strings are cleaner.
  
• Stereo "widening" to create the illusion that the mic was positioned closer to the ensemble than it actually was. This also leads to the semi-illusion that each instrumentalist was mic'd separately, as you get greater separation between each part on the stereo spectrum.

My criticism would be that it is particularly harmonically static like most minimalism. I like your polytonal adventures, but I personally like more harmonic movement.

You're probably right - I do like to think my music is a little less harmonically static than that of the "traditional" minimalists, but at the same time I prefer to leave enough repetitions in such that each harmonic colour has time to sit and gestate for a while in the ears of the listener. So yes, maybe if I were ever to revise this piece, I would think about instituting more harmonic variety.

Thanks to you both for commenting!

Hi

great piece of music, I will listen to this many times. When I hear it I think of Maria Schneider's "Hang gliding" and maybe also of some expremental Quincy Jones stuff. / B R Tomas F.

You're probably right - I do like to think my music is a little less harmonically static than that of the "traditional" minimalists, but at the same time I prefer to leave enough repetitions in such that each harmonic colour has time to sit and gestate for a while in the ears of the listener. So yes, maybe if I were ever to revise this piece, I would think about instituting more harmonic variety.

I'm not sure that you need to change this piece, it got a very good reception and I enjoyed it very much as it is! However it might be an idea to bear this in mind for future work.

Have you have ever listened to Petrsuhka by Stravinksy? In the Shrove Tide Fair (1st movement) he makes use of an idea that I haven't really heard much of. Basically he goes back and forth from idea to idea without really connecting anything harmonically in a traditional manner. Basically the ideas sound like they are just thrown together, but it works very well! Each idea or section is built around one static chord or polychord.

This might be something for you to try?

Ah, that's a major feature of Stravinsky's music (and allegedly postmodernism, whatever it may be), the juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated material.

I agree it would work nicely in this context. My original conception of the piece actually involved something akin to that, with frequent time signature changes and much more complex rhythms, but I decided to try to keep matters simple because: a) the setup is non-standard to begin with; b) it involves technology, which can (and did) misbehave.

Really, there are a million and one possibilities available when you have this kind of arrangement going. If I ever had another similar opportunity, plus more rehearsal time, I would attempt something a bit more ambitious.