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This blog documents the creative processes of composers Craig Biondi, Alphonse Izzo and Aleksander Sternfeld-Dunn as they compose new works for a concert funded in part through Meet The Composer's Met Life Creative Connections Program in association with the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Since the posts here chronicle a linear progression of a piece's creation, it is suggested that new readers scroll to the bottom of the blog and work their way forward. Enjoy!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Biondi: Drafting

For several years, I have been wanting to compose a piece based on some aspect of the biblical king David. The upcoming concert provided a good forum for this, and I have chosen an ensemble of soprano voice, cello, piano & percussionist. For text, I have selected two Psalms of David and plan on presenting them in the original Hebrew.

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?

The above image is a collage of some of my early thoughts for the opening of the piece. Even if you don't read music, you can see that this is truly a very "rough" draft. And it isn't necessarily a linear presentation of how the piece will unfold, but rather an assortment of random musings as I begin to formulate the piece in my brain.
Hopefully all of this will begin to make some sense soon.
The text you see is Psalm 3, and I hope to convey a sense of urgent conflict in the opening of the piece.

Lord, how are they increased that trouble me!
Many are they that rise up against me.

Now at this point in my compositional process I am generally trying to calm the chaos in my head. But interpreting this text is encouraging me to do the opposite. I'm finding that the chaos wants to come out in its raw, unabashed original form. My challenge will be to find a way to unbridle this beast, while not getting bogged down in the strict notation. In other words, when hearing to the piece, I want the listener to be enveloped in the turmoil of the music, and not be subjected to an overly complicated science project.

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