INGREDIENTS IN A SAUCE - Woodwind Quintet (Sosnowski)

[etLux]

Forum:

With great delight, I have learned that our esteemed
colleague, Chris Bassett, has likewise delved into
the lofty realms of music inspired by cuisine... and
his efforts in this regard, are, I must say, beyond
mere craft; indeed, elevated to heights of artistic
endeavor few of us shall ever attain.

Brilliant, I say! Just brilliant! Don't miss Chris's truly
extraordinary Sandwich Musings, here.

Hee hee! Fun! Love it!

Bowing before such a master of food music, Chris, I thank
you so much for your kind comments...

It's nice to hear what you can do with a small chamber ensemble (as far as I can recall, this is the first small ensemble work you've posted here).

True. I write more for symphony orchestra. And also quite
a bit for piano. But though I haven't had time to do renderings
on many of the pieces, I'm no stranger to smaller instrumental
ensembles.

Great job on keeping it concise and self-contained. The length of each movement, and of the piece as a whole, fits the material very well. Much more development might have caused the piece to unravel and lose focus.

There's a lot to favor saying what you have to say and then
shutting up... lol. I admit I had reservations about posting a
work of this compactness and brevity; but, as you say, they're
just plain fun to do... and, one hopes, to hear.

To keep with your metaphor (sort of), you managed to avoid "oversalting." I think the capacity for restraint is one of the things that sets great composers apart from good and you certainly have an instinct for it here. Your works are often so grand and cosmic, it's refreshing to hear a morsel of the mundane.

chris.

Yes, I'd agree about restraint. It's one thing to go on at some
length and with elaboration when the central concepts of a piece
are, themselves, expansive.

But if it's a little idea, it should come in a little box.

Thank you again, my friend, for listening and for kind comments;
and may you live forever bathed in applause for those Sandwich
Musings... lol.

Always my best,



David
www.DavidSosnowski.com
.

[Leaf]

David, please let me know if i'm invisible.

...and sorry about the mispellings, i'm correcting it.

I listened again and it is still splendid.
Today we'll have your sauce with anglehair pasta (if that is really what it's called) and chicken.

You are getting such a clean clear sound from Finale, i have to ask what your set up is, soundcard, etc.?

Also, you use fff, but that doesn't get ridiculously loud the way it does when i use that expression, sounds like it is suposed to sound, did you modify the existing key velocities to something lower?

David

[etLux]

Hi Dave and everyone who commented -- I don't think I have yet learned so much from a single post! Thanks again Dave and all of you.

In our next thread, we'll be exploring the advanced
psycho-genetic biometrical cosmology of pulsars,
with an emphasis on stellar taxonomy.

Well, I have tried the recipe yet, but I have printed it out, entitled "Sosnowski Sauce" and will stash it in my cookbook for future use!

Now, inspired by this piece for small ensemble, may post one of mine, too.

I kept wondering when you would post something Dave -- thanks, and hoping we get more recipes soon! (Yum!)

Karen

Wonderful! I'm so pleased my cooking has inspired you,
Karen!

Forum:

Don't miss Karen Peace's woodwind quintet, here: Reverie


All my best,



David
www.DavidSosnowski.com
.

[etLux]

Hello David!

Ah, good to see you, too, have come by to get sauced...

Wow this a mighty good sauce you have cooked up David. I loved every drop of it, and i also am in complete awe of your fluttertounge mastery, simply amazing sounds, i'll have to download this pdf and take a look at what exactly we are doing here, but suspect there is more to it than what can be on paper.

No, my friend, when it comes to cooking, I practice no
deceit. True of all of my posts, the pdf score you see
is the one I used for rendering.

I need to also try that recipe, looks like it would be just right.

Let me know how it comes out!

Here i don't mind sharing my recipe for garlic sandwiches:

Olive oil in a saute pan, heated with some basil, a small bit of oregano, parsly etc., whatever you have lying around go ahead and throw it in there, but not too much.

Cut a garlic up (preferrably elephant garlic because it's big) into cubes about 1/4 inch squares (but don't measure them because it doesn't have to be exact).

Let the garlic squares saute just until translucent but no more, and then remove from the olive oil. Place them on a piece of foil or cookiesheet, lightly oiled with the flavorful olive oil from the saute pan, then place them on top rack in oven.

Turn on low broil and stay to watch them toast to a crunchy slightly darker than golden brown, does not take very long and they will need turned frequently to get all sides toasted.

You''ll notice they shrank some which is why you needed to cut plenty of those squares.

Ok now take some French bread, still warm from the oven (oh i forgot to mention you need bread in the oven...oops ).

Now dip some thick slices of that bread in the oil, apply the crunchy garlic squares.

Be careful, garlic sandwiches are very very addictive.

David

Wow, that sounds like it'd be outrageously delicious... I gotta
try that, David!

Garlic lovers of the world -- Unite!

My best,



David
www.DavidSosnowski.com
.

[etLux]

David,

This sounds like a great idea! I think a French dish would be great fun and a challenge... maybe something inspired by Erik Sauté???

Aw, Danny, what a stinker... phew... ROFL!

Forum:

It's hard to believe the guy who uttered that can
produce such elegant work as...

A Prayer for Kilimanjaro

Go have a listen. You think maybe it's some other
Danny Williams... lol?

My best,



David
www.DavidSosnowski.com
.

[etLux]

Welcome to Sosnowski's Genuine Italian Restaurant, Jamie!

Well ok, here we go.

David, this is fun! I popped it into my i-pod and was listening to it on my way to work today. Had to give it a couple of times through. It's the first chamber piece I remember from you, and you work the instruments masterfully.

Honored to make it onto your iPod playlist, my friend. True,
I don't write a lot of chamber work. But I'm beginning to
reconsider that, for several reasons; one of which is the
great work you've been doing with more conservative
ensembles.

So much humor here, but not of the annoying clowny type. It's more of the spritely, enlivened kind, which suits the instrumentation perfectly.

Olive Oil - Very nice harmonies, especially the very last chord. Very simple and refreshing.

Basil - Wow... a little crazy. Very Sosnowski! It's almost dance-like, which is something new I haven't heard from you. Made me smile.

Garlic - The textures here are amazing. This section is extremely evocative, and a little too short for my tastes. I guess I like a lot of garlic in my sauce!

Onions - I had a little harder time getting this one on the first couple of listens, but it still grabs my attention in a good way. It's very capricious. Love the punctuation at the end.

Tomatoes - Leaning a little more on the tonal side than usual for some of this. I love the fluttery bird sounds. You're a master at this sort of texture, David.

All in all, I really like this. It's pecks at your ears craving your attention. And giving it is very satisfying! I find it interesting to hear your voice translated to smaller forms, as I had been so used to the orchestral pieces.

Great work!

Many thanks, Jamie, for the generous comments. It might
interest you to note that what got me thinking about doing
some work in miniatures was the Cornell Boxes suite that
you've been developing of late. As you know, I admire those
a great deal. After fiddling with ideas for a while, I thought
it might be interesting to take miniatures to the extreme...
really tighten it down... five very, very short, very concise,
closely integrated movements. Thus, for good or ill, the
result here...

All my best,


David
www.DavidSosnowski.com
.

[etLux]

Wow, I'm a bit late to the show here. Great work as always David! It's nice to hear a chamber piece from you. This shows you definitely have a great sensibility for any instrumentation.

Many thanks, Joe.

I guess the thinking isn't all that different than it would
be for leaner sectional segments in a larger orchestral piece,
as far as the orchestrative matters.

Forum:

Speaking of orchestral thinking, for a real roundhouse blowout,
don't miss Joe's...

Junior's New Pet

My best,


David
www.DavidSosnowski.com
.

[etLux]

David,

What a wonderful piece! Wind quintets are such an interesting and challenging group to write for. You have balanced the instruments beuatifully and given each an interesting part.

Thanks for the good word, Daniel! I always tend
to think of music in terms of dialogue, of the various
instruments conversing with each other... and the
woodwind quintet seems to like that, particularly.

Would be curious if you found this medium more/less challenging than your larger-scale orchestral works. Realize it's dependent upon what you want to 'say' but as far as orchestration--what do you think are some of the common pitfalls and landmines of wind quintets?

Wow, big questions for a small piece!

As far as challenges... I find small ensembles very easy
to write for in some regards. You don't have to deal
with balancing large forces. Clarity's more easily obtained,
with fewer voices that are unique and individual; each,
practically speaking, in a solo context.

But those same assets are also constraints. With a
narrower palette, you have to work more thoughtfully
to shape color and avoid homogeneity. And with
lesser resources and each voice so very exposed,
every note must serve purposefully.

And pitfalls and landmines... perhaps the most dangerous
one is the aforementioned homogeneity; with limited
combinations, it's all too easy to fall into an uninteresting
sameness of color. To get around that, I think you
need to think leaner, sparser, dole out the material in
a manner where you take best advantage of the available
combinations of the instruments. The immediate
consequence of that is demanding care in defining
harmonic context, since you'll often be working with
only two or three pitches at a given moment.

As I say, this is really a book-length topic; but those
are a few of the most important highlights, at least from
my perspective...

All my best,



David
www.DavidSosnowski.com
.

[Skysaw]

True, I don't write a lot of chamber work. But I'm beginning to
reconsider that, for several reasons; one of which is the great work you've been doing with more conservative ensembles.

I'm flattered that my work has had an influence you in that regard. Meanwhile, I've just begun sketches for my largest orchestral score to date... thought I'd try a much larger form after Cornell is wrapped up. Sometimes I think writing for a few smaller ensembles where nothing can be hidden can really help honing the clarity in your writing. I see some of my recent stuff as preparing myself for another larger work, but with a renewed sense of refinement. For this, in fact, I hold much of your work in very high esteem. I still go back to Realization of Light and especially Emergence of Time now and then to enjoy their fresh ideas.

Many thanks, Jamie, for the generous comments. It might interest you to note that what got me thinking about doing some work in miniatures was the Cornell Boxes suite that you've been developing of late. As you know, I admire those a great deal. After fiddling with ideas for a while, I thought it might be interesting to take miniatures to the extreme... really tighten it down... five very, very short, very concise, closely integrated movements. Thus, for good or ill, the result here...

The idea of a collection of short movements is not only fun, but is a bit of a crutch for me at times, having a bit of trouble sustaining long forms. It looks like we can definitely take from each other here.

Once again, great work David. Definitely for the "good" more than the "ill!"

[Fabio]

Wow David,

I had not to miss it!

It's so fresh inspired...the joke about ingredients is as great as the music.

Chapeau...

ciao (and remember I'm Italian: I know about pasta...)

Fabio