Symphony #2 in G Major

I just wanted to let everyone know that this symphony was indeed performed last Saturday, September 30. Notwithstanding that I believed the tempi were too slow and there were a number of incomprehensible technical gaffs on the part of several players (particularly the horns...unforgivable), it was a fair performance overall, and the audience seemed to enjoy it very much. It was good to hear the piece live, and I'm grateful.

The horn players complained bitterly about what I asked them to do in the Menuetto (3rd movement), and they played it poorly, exactly executing what I prescribed not once in three tries. There were clams dying everywhere, and these are semi-professional musicians were talking about. Now, I know that a concert D on the treble staff (A above the staff transposed) is a high note on a modern horn in F, but I didn't make them hang up there the whole time; my part writing was idiomatically sound. What I wrote is no more demanding than anything Mozart, Haydn or Beethoven wrote in the 150 symphonies they ground out between them - and in some cases worlds easier (check out Beethoven's 7th!) - and modern horn players have exponentially more sophisticated equipment to work with. I just don't understand why they couldn't play the damn notes. If my piece had Mozart's name on it, they'd have made the extra effort necessary to play it properly. I'll never understand it as long as I live. The horns weren't the only gently caress-ups, but they were the worst of the bunch by far. What really chaps my hide is that the same groups of musicians played Beethoven's 8th beautifully at the end of the same concert, which is exponentially more demanding than my piece, technically and otherwise. It has to be more than familiarity. I just don't understand.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that live performances aren't always what they're cracked up to be. I'm not going to give up on them altogether, and I really am grateful; but at least my computer plays all the right notes, at the right tempo, every time. I'd gladly sacrifice a measure of human soul for a commensurate deal of accuracy.

I'll close my comments by saying that I was surprised to learn of the audience's reaction to the introduction I was given during the pre-concert lecture. I was busy warming up, so I didn't hear it; but I was told that when the conductor introduced me as an unapologetic Classical-Revivalist, and then explained to them what that meant in terms of my music and philosophy, the audience spontaneously burst out in applause. This would seem to indicate that regardless of what modernists think listeners want, wish they would want, or believe they should want, audiences are not only receptive to the idea of new music fashioned in old ways, they're enthusiastic about it. There's room enough for all of it in the air. If I had it to do over again, I think I'd rather have heard that applause in affirmation of my philosophy than the performance itself.

Thanks to all of you for your support and well-wishing. God Bless.

scallopES. They should have put more effort into it!

But I'm glad the audience enjoyed it :wub:

You should've shoved the french horns up their asses after the concert...

Heh. I got a call this evening from the conductor, during which, among other things, the subject of the horns came up. He said he'd just about had it with them both, and the principal especially always seems to have lots of excuses without enough right notes to make them worth believing. One more bad performance, and he kicks them to the curb.

Oh, and he's already Pro-Tooled the archival recording. I'll post a link when I get it.

Heh. I got a call this evening from the conductor, during which, among other things, the subject of the horns came up. He said he'd just about had it with them both, and the principal especially always seems to have lots of excuses without enough right notes to make them worth believing. One more bad performance, and he kicks them to the curb.

haha, that's funny! You must have had some relief hearing that, at least as a consolation prize for all the smack they gave you.

Oh, and he's already Pro-Tooled the archival recording. I'll post a link when I get it.

yay!

Congrats, Lee. That's wierd - the horn players at my school (freshmen even!) have no problem with Ds or even Ebs and Es!! I wrote a couple high Es for a freshman last year and he played them perfectly! Those guys probably just didn't want anything to do with new music. Jerks.

Many congratulations, Lee. Glad to hear it was well-received by the audience even if the performance wasn't quite as good as it could have been.

Be sure to post your recording! :)

Thanks for sharing this, Lee.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that live performances aren't always what they're cracked up to be. I'm not going to give up on them altogether, and I really am grateful;

I feel your pain(though I haven't experienced it) with regards to screw ups playing your music. Hopefully, the audience will have realised they were instrumentalist gaffs, not composer blunders. By all means, don't give up on live performances because of a few jerks. Your getting your music heard, and as it was received well, you're likely to get more of it heard - perhaps by better instrumentalists in future, if it is well received.

I'll close my comments by saying that I was surprised and deeply gratified to learn of the audience's reaction to the introduction I was given during the pre-concert lecture. I was busy warming up, so I didn't hear it; but I was told that when the conductor introduced me as an unapologetic Classical-Revivalist, and then explained to them what that meant in terms of my music and philosophy, the audience spontaneously burst out in applause

;)

Indeed. :wub:

BTW, one of my colleagues in church choir is also a pretty decent horn player getting his masters at California Insitute of the Arts. Last night at rehearsal I quickly wrote out the first 8 measures of my Menuetto on a piece of scrap paper and during our break I asked his opinion on its playability. He did me one better: "I have my horn with me...would you like me to play it?" What a silly question. Anyway, he got the horn out of the case (easily the most beautiful German horn I've ever seen, by the way), and totally cold, sightread it perfectly.

I rest my case. :sleeping:

Wow, this piece is amazind, I like the use of percussion, Must have taken so long to make. I like the last movement, action.

Good work!!!

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! :P