My term project would be an analysis of Johan de Meij's composition for wind orchestra, EXTREME MAKE-OVER (Metamorphoses on a theme by Tchaikovsky).
What attracted me to this fabulous composition was the very clever use of Western orchestration style (or the de Meij's style) fusing it with Tchaikovsky themes (Romantic composer) as well as the Gamelan (Indonesia). As opposed to the sub-title of "Metamorphoses on a theme", there were actually more than one Tchaikovsky themes found in there. Some of the themes were obvious in the foreground; while some were not so obvious in the background; and some were "metamorphised" to the extent that it may be difficult to notice the originial theme. In addition, I was amazed that this extremely technically-advanced music was used for the European Championship as a set piece!
Here are some of my resources for the term project:
1. Programme Notes:
www.4barsrest.com/articles/2005/art472d.asp
2. Johan de Meij's Website:
www.johandemeij.com
3. Original Wind Band Score:
EXTREME MAKE-OVER (Metamorphoses on a theme by Tchaikovsky)
Publisher: Amstel Music
4. Audio CD (16'47"):
"Planet Earth", Performed and Recorded by Banda Sinfonica La Artistica Bunol, conducted by Henrie Adams.
5. Composers on Composing Vol. 2 (Hard-copy book):
http://focus-on-music.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=13&products_id=122
6. The Five-tone Gamelan Music of Bali (by Colin McPhee)
JSTOR: http://www.jstor.org/stable/740124
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
hi Benji,
For a start, can you identify all the Tchaikovsky themes used and analyze the first instance of each as found in the Tchaikovsky original? These can serve as the basis for you to examine what de Meij did.
With the GIA bk chapter, summarize some general style features of the composer as backdrop to understand this particular piece. See if at this point in time you can already identify some de Meij fingerprints in this work.
For the Gamelan elements, can you make some preliminary observations about de Meij's materials based on our class discussion of those Gamelan-inspired pieces?
haha, I just came across this blog when I was searching for Johan De Meij's Extreme make-over, I'm trying to find a CD with that song, as I enjoyed the song a lot when the Hong Kong Exquisic Symphonic Band performed the piece I think 2 years ago. anyways, the main quesion is, where did you get your CD from ? HMV?
Post a Comment