![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
from the dungeon of despair
Oct. 22nd, 2008 09:30 amThe wonderful Fryer Library at the University of Queensland is about to relieve me of another pile of archival material. It's not as big a stash as last time, but it contains some real gems, including the box of embarrassing memorabilia that I found last year (remember the D&D poetry?) and all my old campaign notes, because they had a strong bearing on the kind of stories I went on to write. Such is the rationale, anyway, behind such things.
One element from my past that hasn't previously appeared in the archive is the music I wrote at high school. This material has accrued some value (apparently) and I have decided to let it go.
Going through those mounds of ancient staves, I was surprised most by (1) how damned much there was of it and (2) how hilariously bad the titles were.
(Oh, and (3) the way every assessment I received said something along the lines of "Well, we know that what you've done is technically correct so we have to give you an A, but boy, you are really pushing the boundaries." My younger self was a dreadful show-off (nothing's changed there) and loved rubbing authority figures up the wrong way, musically. Kinda like Flashdance, only nowhere near as cool.)
Anyway, in honour of all that effort, soon to vanish into a vault somewhere, I'll be adding a title to the end of each post over the next month or so. I'll spare you the stock standard Ave Marias, Ave Verums, Kyries, Agnus Deis, Requiescat in Paces, Opuses and so on, and stick to the strange, the surreal, and the wannabe-clever. I'll link to recordings, where they're available.
To kick things off, I give you "The Get of a Gargoyle Pig", which retitled (at my teacher's insistence) "Release of Anger" went on to win the Young Composer's Award in 1984. This was a theme and three variations for string quartet with solo parts by trumpet, oboe and flute. It was performed only once, and recorded by the ABC, but I've never managed to hear it. Probably for the best!
PS. The title of this post is a reference to Frank Zappa's "The Torture Never Stops". I was a big FZ fan as a young 'un (and so I remain). He's probably to blame for some of the stranger titles.
One element from my past that hasn't previously appeared in the archive is the music I wrote at high school. This material has accrued some value (apparently) and I have decided to let it go.
Going through those mounds of ancient staves, I was surprised most by (1) how damned much there was of it and (2) how hilariously bad the titles were.
(Oh, and (3) the way every assessment I received said something along the lines of "Well, we know that what you've done is technically correct so we have to give you an A, but boy, you are really pushing the boundaries." My younger self was a dreadful show-off (nothing's changed there) and loved rubbing authority figures up the wrong way, musically. Kinda like Flashdance, only nowhere near as cool.)
Anyway, in honour of all that effort, soon to vanish into a vault somewhere, I'll be adding a title to the end of each post over the next month or so. I'll spare you the stock standard Ave Marias, Ave Verums, Kyries, Agnus Deis, Requiescat in Paces, Opuses and so on, and stick to the strange, the surreal, and the wannabe-clever. I'll link to recordings, where they're available.
To kick things off, I give you "The Get of a Gargoyle Pig", which retitled (at my teacher's insistence) "Release of Anger" went on to win the Young Composer's Award in 1984. This was a theme and three variations for string quartet with solo parts by trumpet, oboe and flute. It was performed only once, and recorded by the ABC, but I've never managed to hear it. Probably for the best!
PS. The title of this post is a reference to Frank Zappa's "The Torture Never Stops". I was a big FZ fan as a young 'un (and so I remain). He's probably to blame for some of the stranger titles.
