steve layton's realization of darfur pogrommen





My piece from a few months ago, darfur pogrommen, is written for open instrumentation. That means it could ostensibly be performed by any number and type of instruments (although at least 1-2 sustaining instruments would be optimal for notes that are held). I did a less-than-ideal version for strings in Finale, which is flawed by some erratic playback in the beginning that probably won't get fixed until I eventually get a better CPU. I then did a version for strings, winds, vibes and keyboards using Reason 4.0, and that's the better of the two for sure.

Well now there's version #3, and it's really great. Not surprising, since it comes from the MIDI talents of Steve Layton, who also did a wicked good version of my 80's piano work textbook. In both cases, Steve had to deal with a slightly less than optimal MIDI file, and also liked the music to lend his own stamp. In the case of darfur pogrommen, he liked the ending so much he repeated a few notes after I had finished the piece! And I''m perfectly fine with someone making a piece of mine his or her own, just as Ives could have cared less who did what with his Universe Symphony and other works. So long as people acknowledge that I'm the starting point, I take it as a form of flattery.

The liner notes for Steve's release is here. Steve's version is available on iTunes, as well as through Steve's own Niwo label, and soon through eMusic (which will be a first for me). I say, collect all three versions and listen to them end-to-end for about 2.5 hours of continuous postminimalism.

Guess it's time to update the sidebar and my MySpace page with a link to Steve's album.

Posted: Fri - February 15, 2008 at 05:48 PM          

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