(no subject)

I am still having a blast at the Composers symposium.
Yesterday morning was devoted to Robert Kyr giving a presentation on his music. I really like what he does. I especially liked his violin concerto "On the nature of Harmony" - it did a beautiful job combining western orchestral instruments with a balinese gamelan. I was a little skeptical at the beginning of the piece, but by the end it was amazing how well it worked. Also, the piece generated a lively and fascinating discussion about the musical and ethical issues around appropriating the styles and instruments of other cultures into your music.
Then in the afternoon and evening, we went to a performance of Bach's Christmas Oratorio - they'd split it into halves, with time to get dinner in between. It was a pretty good piece, but not one of Bach's standout works, I thought. The performance was wonderful, though.
My piece for Fireworks, "I Want to Pull On Your Coat About Something" will be done in the Wednesday afternoon workshop. I'm a little nervous about it - I hope that the ensemble gets it and gives it a good reading. I'm quite proud of the piece and I want everyone else to hear how good it is, too.

Hmmm

I had the very happy realization today that, for a group of well-educated composers, we (the participants in the symposium) are surprisingly uninterested in discussing music theory esoterica, in relation to our own music or that of others. I have neither had nor overheard much conversation dedicated to analytical considerations here. Even when we are talking about specific pieces, we tend to bypass all that stuff. We all seem much more interested in discussing larger musical and creative issues.