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Modern Composer Laurie Conrad's "A Composer's Journal": Entry February 18, 2005. Laurie Conrad is a pianist and composer living in Ithaca, New York.
Friday, February 18
2:25 a.m.
The Alfred Consort rehearsed the new string quintet again tonight, String Quintet II. (Bob named it that because I couldn’t think of a title for it & he needed something to put on the title page of the printed version.) Not very original, but it is accurate.
It was their third rehearsal. Bob & I went to dinner before the rehearsal. Bob spoke about Stradivari again. There are some missing years in Stradivari’s personal, biographical timeline. One of his close relatives was an architect, and some scholars suspect that in those missing years Stradivari studied architecture. That would explain his knowledge of geometry & form, which would be essential for the structural changes & improvements one finds in his instruments. He was a student of Amati, another legendary instrument maker.
Bob becomes so very vibrant when he speaks of Stradivari - at those time he glows with pleasure. While Bob was speaking tonight, I inwardly traveled to Italy, many centuries ago, & felt as though I had met this revered instrument maker & walked around his workshop with my friend Bob. I have the strong feeling that the improvements & changes Bob has made on these new stringed instruments will also live on in history. He is one of the best instrument makers of our century, I am convinced of it. And I have already decided that I will write more music for his instruments.
We then went to the rehearsal, & the instruments sounded better than ever. The musicians are more used to their new instruments, my music & each other. The sound - at some points during the rehearsal, I almost couldn’t bear the Beauty all around me. I again said very little, but occasionally conducted or counted for them. The main problem is still of keeping them together, they are still getting lost in the score. This is not surprising - it is a long & difficult score & unknown to them. Answered questions & gave a suggestion or two. Changed one note in the tenor violin, added a double stop. The tenor violin player said: "That’s very interesting. I wanted to play that double stop there." One member of the Consort was sick, so we only had four players tonight. They agreed to at least one additional rehearsal. They also agreed to a television taping after the concert. Must call Lauren and set that up. Paul to do the television taping and Al to do the CD recording. Those notes are by the phone downstairs, I hope that I remember to look at them.
I have not, as yet, heard the entire piece. Tonight, they read through the third movement twice & the second movement twice. The next rehearsal is March 3 , the concert is March 13th. It’s a good thing I meditate.
They are excellent musicians, truly professional - & at times we heard glimpses of what the piece will sound like, hopefully by the concert. The sound & artistry of the musicians at those times was incredibly beautiful. As for the piece, my intention was to show the instruments off well, & I believe that I did achieve that. Because I came mainly from my love of these beautiful instruments, rather than solely & primarily from my musical ideas - this quintet has an unusual quality & sound, a depth of perspective, a layering of voices & instruments & between instruments - & a certain clarity that I find most unusual in sound and concept. I do not think that I am imagining this. This was the result of my respect for the instruments, not a technique I consciously imposed on the music. So, I say all this in humility & detachment - merely as an observation. Once a piece has been written, I do not claim ownership of it in any case. It is as though someone else wrote it, because now it is outside myself - no longer within. Now it is everyone’s property, starting with the musicians that play it.
As a composer, I am always surprised how the musicians make my scores their own. Often musicians, in our early rehearsals, will ask me about mistakes in the score - not because the notes sound dissonant or strange - but because they do not seem right for the piece. And yes, I had written the wrong note when I copied out the parts. On the other hand, sometimes my singer, Louise McConnell, would sing a note not written in the score during our first rehearsal - & the note she sang was really better than the written one, more natural - & I would change the score.
My music becomes their music. The gifted musicians I have always been fortunate enough to work with, have always brought the music alive. My world easily became their world. Why this surprises me is mysterious to me. Perhaps, it is because the rest of the time I do not feel that I live in the same world as other people. Nor am I using the same language. During the rehearsal tonight, there were times when the world around me, the earth itself - was also my world. A world I shared with others. I was no longer alone.
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Site: Figaro Recordings
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"Classical Music: A Composer's Journal: Entry February 18, 2005"
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