[ejog]

Hello,

I found the site on Google whilst browsing for advice on sound cards. I didn't mean to write big things at the beginning, but there had been plenty of material building up in my head for all those years before I discovered computer software.

A local group of singers and instrumentalists are doing a concert version of my opera on July 9th. Getting there was hard work. My three big works (opera, oratorio and symphony)were written on version 1 of Personal Composer. I had to transfer to version 3 to be able to cut and paste and revise the opera, but the transfer was full of technical problems. I have just finished extracting the parts for the orchestra, but all the slurs and dynamics moved, so I had to go through each instrument, bar by bar.

The local art group are doing an exhibition based on their responses to my symphony. So things are beginning to happen, if in a small way.

By the way, I am a guitarist and I have taught myself music theory along the way. Basically, though, I am a semi-literate wild beast. I hope I don't lose the rawness as I learn more.

I don't like the brass sound through my Audigy 2 Platinum card at the moment. I used to have a Yamaha SW 1000 XG, which sounded great, but wouldn't work on the new computer with dual core processor. My system is:
AMD Athlon ™ 64 x 2 dual core processor 4200+ 2.19 GHz 896 Mb RAM.
Not that I understand all of that.

Well, that's probably too much information!

John

[VicDiesel]

Sounds like you're doing all right!

Is there somewhere that we can hear your music?

Victor.

[ejog]

VicDiesel, on 30 March 2011, said:

Sounds like you're doing all right!

Is there somewhere that we can hear your music?

Victor.

[ejog]

Hi Victor,

Technology isn't my strong point, but I think I've attached a file that you can play. This is 'The Siege of Torquilstone Castle' which opens Act 2 Scene 2 of 'Ivanhoe'. Except that I cut out all the orchestral interludes in order to make the project more realistic for a small local group. So this can be part of the Ivanhoe orchestral suite.

John

[ejog]

I think I may have succeeded this time by using 'full editor'!

Attached File(s)

•  TORQ.MID (17.81K)
  Number of downloads: 77

[VicDiesel]

Ok, I was able to play that. What is it? Movement from your symphony?

Victor.

[Newport]

Hi ejog - welcome to the forum! Unfortunately I couldn't get the MIDI file to play properly.Your up & coming performance of your work sounds exciting! If you can, could you try and get a recording of it so that we can hear it for real?

[ejog]

VicDiesel, on 01 April 2011, said:

Ok, I was able to play that. What is it? Movement from your symphony?

Victor.

Hi Victor,

This is an interlude from the opera Ivanhoe: 'The siege of Torquilstone castle'.

John

[ejog]

Newport, on 02 April 2011, said:

Hi ejog - welcome to the forum! Unfortunately I couldn't get the MIDI file to play properly.Your up & coming performance of your work sounds exciting! If you can, could you try and get a recording of it so that we can hear it for real?

Sorry about that. The opera will be recorded on July 9th, so I am hoping to put a sample up after that.

John

[VicDiesel]

ejog, on 02 April 2011, said:

This is an interlude from the opera Ivanhoe: 'The siege of Torquilstone castle'.

Ah. So it's epic in subject matter rather than execution.....

Victor.

[ejog]

Well the abridged version of the opera is about 110 minutes, the Oratorio is 70 minutes and the symphony is also over an hour. So the length, as well as the subject matter, is epic even if you think the execution isn't.

John

[VicDiesel]

I was referring to the orchestration. The piece you published here uses small numbers of instruments and very light textures.

[ejog]

VicDiesel, on 07 April 2011, said:

I was referring to the orchestration. The piece you published here uses small numbers of instruments and very light textures.

[ejog]

Thanks for this clarification. It is also fair comment, I suppose. The piece is not included in the performing version of the opera as it stands, but would be revised for an orchestral suite.

I had to revise the performing version to take account of the instruments that were available (in the end a 14 piece orchestra, including two MIDI keyhboards) and only then was I able to add dynamics.

At the moment, I don't have much on MIDI files, but I hope things will improve after the performance and recording.

Is it worth posting details of the performance on this site, in case anyone lives near Loughborough and wants to attend?

John

[ejog]

Hello again after a long gap.
The opera, Ivanhoe, was performed on 9.7.11 and duly recorded. Good local reviews and a capacity audience of 100. Here is a link to an audio file of part of the concert, with a bit of commentary beforehand. I am preparing CDs of the concert and a highlights CD if anyone is interested.

John

http://db.tt/FzS9uCPZ

[ejog]

Here is the audio file.
Hope you enjoy it.

John

Attached File(s)

•  09 - Track 9.mp3 (3.75MB)
  Number of downloads: 21