reactions to Chrysalid Requiem

>Nice piece. Rather lengthy, a full-length requiem... probably 40
>minutes, // Nice sounds of the overtone series behind the singing
>added, at times, to the "ethereal" effect.
>
> - Joseph Pehrson, Sun, 14 May 2000.

>I got the cd a few days ago...it's ok. I've heard more interesting
>Harmonic singing other places.
>
> - David Beardsley, Fri Jun 14, 2002.

I agree about the harmonic singing. I think this came off as
gimmicky, and it apparently distracts from the significance of
the rest of the music.

Rendered in 12-equal, I don't think this composition would be so
noteworthy. But it is nice -- deep enough without being sappy,
complex without being show-offy. Rendered in JI, though, it's
mind-blowing.

>// an astonishing hour-long vocal work in extremely extended JI,
>// Incredibly complex and very beautiful, // It's by far the most
>amazing tuning feat I've ever heard in a vocal composition. The
>score is unbelievably complex, but the music doesn't give any
>hint of the amount of work.
>
> - Kyle Gann, Thu Jan 2, 2003.

Oh, I get a hint! Some very nice polyrhythms and part crossings,
and the tuning complexity is quite obvious!

--------

Kyle makes an excellent point here, whether or not you agree with
him about Toby's score...

>The value of a tuning method is not only in how the music sounds,
>but how the process of composing it operates and feels. I'm sure
>someone could make a version of my Custer and Sitting Bull in
>31tet, or 53tet, or 7200tet, that I wouldn't be able to tell from
>the version I made myself. But I wouldn't have enjoyed composing
>it in an ET, wouldn't have come up with the same ideas, wouldn't
>have stumbled across the same weirdly unequal scales, nor would
>the resulting notation be as clear an expression of the way I
>conceived the music as the JI notation is. Perhaps you compose
>exactly the same way in ET as in JI, but for me and some people,
>the way the pitch space is set up has a pervasive, if subtle,
>impact on the way one thinks compositionally. I think Toby's score
>itself is an amazing achievement, and the Johnston accidentals
>show you not only what frequencies to play, but what harmonic
>relationships Toby was composing with.

-Carl

I think the balance of the below-quoted pragraph actually supports the idea that the
value of a tuning method is indeed measured in the sounds it produces... Why?
Because the selected tuning method determines how the composer conceives the
music and structures the piece. So, in essence, "how the process of
composing...operates and feels" determins "how the music sounds." -Justin

>
> >The value of a tuning method is not only in how the music sounds,
> >but how the process of composing it operates and feels. I'm sure
> >someone could make a version of my Custer and Sitting Bull in
> >31tet, or 53tet, or 7200tet, that I wouldn't be able to tell from
> >the version I made myself. But I wouldn't have enjoyed composing
> >it in an ET, wouldn't have come up with the same ideas, wouldn't
> >have stumbled across the same weirdly unequal scales, nor would
> >the resulting notation be as clear an expression of the way I
> >conceived the music as the JI notation is. Perhaps you compose
> >exactly the same way in ET as in JI, but for me and some people,
> >the way the pitch space is set up has a pervasive, if subtle,
> >impact on the way one thinks compositionally. I think Toby's score
> >itself is an amazing achievement, and the Johnston accidentals
> >show you not only what frequencies to play, but what harmonic
> >relationships Toby was composing with.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Carl Lumma" <ekin@lumma.org>

> >I got the cd a few days ago...it's ok. I've heard more interesting
> >Harmonic singing other places.
> >
> > - David Beardsley, Fri Jun 14, 2002.
>
> I agree about the harmonic singing. I think this came off as
> gimmicky, and it apparently distracts from the significance of
> the rest of the music.

I listened to it a few times while I was working this afternoon,
I don't think I've listened to it since I wrote those words more then
a year and a half ago. I think I like it a bit more now. I could
do without the context (a requiem). The parts I do like (the overtone
singing aka harmonic chant, droning sections) are very nice.

> Rendered in 12-equal, I don't think this composition would be so
> noteworthy. But it is nice -- deep enough without being sappy,
> complex without being show-offy. Rendered in JI, though, it's
> mind-blowing.

Agreed.

* David Beardsley
* microtonal guitar
* http://biink.com/db

David Beardsley wrote...
>I could do without the context (a requiem).

Also agreed.

-Carl

I happen to think the mystical tradition of Catholic culture is the perfect context in
which to situate an extended JI work. -Justin

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:
> David Beardsley wrote...
> >I could do without the context (a requiem).
>
> Also agreed.
>
> -Carl

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Justin Weaver" <improvist@u...> wrote:

> I happen to think the mystical tradition of Catholic culture is the
perfect context in
> which to situate an extended JI work. -Justin

Anyone want to produce a JI version of the Berlioz Requiem?

----- Original Message -----
From: "Justin Weaver" <improvist@usa.net>

> I happen to think the mystical tradition of Catholic culture is the
perfect context in
> which to situate an extended JI work. -Justin

I was brought up Presbyterian, so I find the Catholic church
a bit foreign. Even more so then Hindustanis and Tuvans.
Harmonic chant isn't even native to that church, so it
seems out of place.

Whatever.

* David Beardsley
* microtonal guitar
* http://biink.com/db

Well, the Berlioz Requiem is really a pagan Requiem in disguise. -Justin

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...> wrote:
> --- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Justin Weaver" <improvist@u...> wrote:
>
> > I happen to think the mystical tradition of Catholic culture is the
> perfect context in
> > which to situate an extended JI work. -Justin
>
> Anyone want to produce a JI version of the Berlioz Requiem?

I'm a non-Catholic (indeed, an agnostic) but I sing every week at the Santa Barbara
Mission in the choir... Harmonic chant isn't a part of the tradition but 3-limit chant
and 5-limit harmonic music is. I'm also into Eastern Orthodox canting traditions,
which are theoretically pythagorean but seem to my ears to admit numerous 5-limit
intervals. Chant and chant-styled music is among the best-suited traditions for JI, I
think. I think JI could actually make headway in Catholic liturgy. Our choir is basically
singing in 5-limit anyway. -Justin

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "David Beardsley" <db@b...> wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Justin Weaver" <improvist@u...>
>
> > I happen to think the mystical tradition of Catholic culture is the
> perfect context in
> > which to situate an extended JI work. -Justin
>
> I was brought up Presbyterian, so I find the Catholic church
> a bit foreign. Even more so then Hindustanis and Tuvans.
> Harmonic chant isn't even native to that church, so it
> seems out of place.
>
> Whatever.
>
> * David Beardsley
> * microtonal guitar
> * http://biink.com/db