Sliding mid-range bent wires

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The bent wires now have choices. So many choices:

.mid-spring1 &mi3.d32r0 r16d0h72&key.&chortang*.d72
.mid-spring2 &mi3.d28r0 r16d2h52&key.&chortang*.d48 r16d0h26&key.&chortang*.d24 o-1d0h104&key.&chortang-a*.d0
.mid-spring3 &mi3.d28r0 r16d2h36&key.&chortang*.d72
.mid-springz1 &mi3.d104r0
.mid-springz2 &mi3.d104r0

&mid-spring1. will produce a 32 beat silence, then a 72 beat chord, which may or may not slide.
&mid-spring2. will produce a 28 beat silence, then an arpeggiated chord, and another, followed by a major chord that is held for 104 beats (a measure of 13 quarter notes).
The &mid-springz*. will be silent all 104 beats. What would you choose? I have a crude randomizer that picks them for me. Different most every time.

Alex Ross picks on Zune

Frank Hecker's blog Swindleeeee!!!!! has a post up tracking the number of Alex Ross's favorite CD's he could find on eMusic. Alex is the music critic of the New Yorker Magazine, an author and a blogger I follow.

I looked for the same CD's on Microsoft Zune.net service, MarketPlace. This is a subscription service for which I pay $45 a quarter to fill my zune with tunes on the go. I can download all I want, if I wanted anything they offered. So far, the non-pop selection is woefully inadequate. Of the 18 disks in Alex Ross's collection, I found 7 on the Zune service. That's pretty poor. Frank found 13 on eMusic.

Here's what I found:

Steve Reich, Music for 18 Musicians, Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble - Nope. Only the Nonesuch 9/13/05 version. No information available on who performed this or any other CD on the Zune service. Just Album title and small picture, Artist Name, and Track name. Poor.

Strauss, Salome, Teresa Stratas, Karl Böhm, Vienna Philharmonic (DG DVD) Nope. Just a few excerpts by other performers.

Handel Arias, Danielle de Niese and William Christie with Les Arts Florissants (Decca). Nope. Just one by Angelika Kirchschlager.

John Luther Adams, Red Arc/Blue Veil (Cold Blue). Yes.

Mozart, Don Giovanni, René Jacobs conducting (Harmonia Mundi). Nope. Just the Wilhelm Furtwängler version.

Previously:

Beethoven, Symphonies Nos. 3 and 8, Paavo Järvi conducting the Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (BMG). Nope.

John Cage, Complete Short Works for Prepared Piano, Philipp Vandré (Mode). Yes.

Common Sense Composers’ Collective, tic, with the New Millenium Ensemble (Troy). Nope.

Beethoven, Piano Sonatas vol. 3, Paul Lewis (Harmonia Mundi). Yes.

Bach, Goldberg Variations, Simone Dinnerstein (Telarc). Available, but not to subscription users. You have to buy it for 79 cents a song.

Brahms, String Sextets, Nash Ensemble (Onyx). Nope.

Osvaldo Golijov, Oceana, with Dawn Upshaw, Luciana Souza, the Kronos Quartet, and Robert Spano conducting the Atlanta Symphony (DG). Yes, but not all tracks, only 9 of 12. Lame.

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson: Live from Wigmore Hall, 1998; with Roger Vignoles, piano (Wigmore Hall Live). Nope.

Roussel, Symphony No. 3 and Bacchus et Ariane; Stéphane Denève conducting the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (Naxos). Yes.

As Steals the Morn...: Handel Arias and Scenes; Mark Padmore, tenor, with Andrew Manze conducting the English Concert (Harmonia Mundi). Yes.

Gershwin, Piano Concerto in F, Rhapsody in Blue, Cuban Overture; Jon Nakamatsu, piano, with Jeff Tyzik conducting the Rochester Philhamonic (Harmonia Mundi). Yes.

Alexandra Gardner, Luminoso (Innova). Yes.

What will he play next?

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The Bassoon can play any of these chords:

.chortanga1 t+0 t+17 t+14
.chortanga2 t+17 t+14 t+22
.chortanga3 t+31 t+22 t+17
.chortangb1 t+9 t+16 t+18
.chortangb2 t+25 t+18 t+19
.chortangb3 t+43 t+19 t+16
.chortanga4 t+0&gls9:8. t+17&gls11:10. t+14&gls7:6.
.chortanga5 t+17&gls11:10. t+14&gls7:6. t+22&gls9:8.
.chortanga6 t+31&gls7:6. t+22&gls9:8. t+17&gls11:10.
.chortangb4 t+9&gls10:9. t+16&gls12:11. t+18&gls8:7.
.chortangb5 t+25&gls12:11 t+18&gls8:7. t+19&gls10:9.
.chortangb6 t+43&gls8:7. t+19&gls10:9. t+16&gls12:11.
.chortanga7 t+0&gls7:8. t+17&gls9:10. t+14&gls11:12.
.chortanga8 t+17&gls9:10. t+14&gls11:12. t+22&gls7:8.
.chortanga9 t+31&gls11:12. t+22&gls7:8. t+17&gls9:10.
.chortangb7 t+9&gls8:9. t+16&gls10:11. t+18&gls6:7.
.chortangb8 t+25&gls10:11 t+18&gls6:7. t+19&gls8:9.
.chortangb9 t+43&gls6:7. t+19&gls8:9. t+16&gls10:11.

Where each t represents a note in the 53 tone equal scale. As it happens, t0 is C, t+17 is a just 5:4, and t+14 is a 3:2. t+9 is a 9:8, t+16 is an 11:8, and t+18 is 7:4. So we have the 4:5:6 chord and the 9:11:14 chord as choices, with inversions, and glides from one to the other. The Bassoon can play one or more of the notes simultaneously, so it might be a chord, or just a note.
If it chooses this one, it's just the last of three notes:

.bassoon1 &bas.&key.d16r0 o5d0e16&chortang*.d88&bas-ran*.h194

If it chooses this one, it's a chord:

.bassoon2 &bas.&key.d16r0 o5d0e16&bas-ran*.&chortang*.d88h194


Bassoon in the mix

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One, two, or three bassoons, who knows what can happen if you have a tasteful group of friendly musicians in a room.

Starting simple, growing complexity

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At first, we only allow the bass wires to play a very simple figure, then we give them more choices as the introduction proceeds. It's all up to them what they do.

Dinotang - it's Orange!

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More variety in the back beat chords.

Dinosaur Tango

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Back in the day, Tom Nunn and I had a piece that we named, after the fact, "Dinosaur Tango". It was a duo of Tom on one of his crustaceans plucking wires, and me on balloon flutes: first bass, then alto, then soprano as the pace quickened.

I've tried a dozen times over the years to duplicate the mood. Imagine a caveman sneaking into the den of a pair of dinosaurs. He discovers them dancing. Of course he joins in. Wouldn't you?