I know, I haven’t written anything in my new blog yet (except for that introduction). Truth is that I’ve been busy. I'm almost finished with the score I've been working on for an indie film that was shot in my East Texas hometown. It’s turned out to be a mix of dark minimalism, microtonal serialism and Stravinskian horror. (I have a 17-tone-per-octave tone row as one of the leitmotifs; it’s just the 12-tone chromatic scale plus five quarter tones.)
Once I get this finished, I can work on my other music, including a fugue for wind quintet I may or may not finish, since I do want to write that novel I’ve been claiming to be writing for years.
I’ve become a big fan of Paul Hindemith, who specialized in chamber pieces and modernist fugues, though I still prefer full orchestras. I’m actually writing for a half-size “budget” orchestra though, i.e. just one each flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, tuba doubling on second horn, trumpet, trombone, timpanist, other percussion (or piano, which I consider a percussion instrument; blame Varèse for that idea) and harp, plus twenty-odd strings.
