Composer bearing gifts

[vkioulaphides]

Dear friends,

this morning I had the most delightful surprise of receiving a truly charming Sonatina our MC-colleague John Craton (a.k.a. operaguy) was generous enough to compose for my 8-year-old daughter (a budding violinist) and myself (a rather withering mandolinist # ).

Being addressed to a young violinist, the work of course limits itself to first position and a choice few of the tricks-of-the-trade. The mandolin part, while spread more over the fingerboard, is deftly laid out and should work/sound just fine, even in my less-than-deft hands.

What a wonderful community this is! I can't get over it...

A million thanks to John! As for the rest, I trust that this work will eventually become available to the public, in some form or other. For the time being, I am looking forward with great anticipation to my daughter's wide-eyed astonishment when I walk into our apartment later on this evening, bearing such an uncommon, indeed unique gift.

Meanwhile, by way of gifts BY Greeks—#no Trojan Horses, I assure you— I have just finished printing the score of my Quartetto Classico Noº 3. Proofreading time...

In another (and wonderful) tangent, Carlo Aonzo has decided to use my Quartetto Nº 1 (at least two movements of it) as curricular material for his 2006 New York Mandolin Workshop. I am honored, delighted, and a bit afraid that the participants may lynch me, considering I will be amongst them at the time of said workshop. Perhaps I should attend incognito, wearing a brown paper bag over my head the whole time...

[margora]

Victor, John: sounds great, look forward to seeing the piece in print!
Also, Victor: if Carlo is doing Quartet #1 I definitely will have to come, having played mando #1, movements #3 and #4.

[vkioulaphides]

Well, Robert, I would be delighted to see you in person—#I do not say "meet", however, as rumor has it that we will have met in person well before June '06, in fair Providence, in February

Carlo intends to use movements #2 and #4, i.e. the Couperin-esque and the Scarlattian one. For my part, I have granted the organizers (and, by extension the participants) free copying rights for those two movements; to boot, I have offered free copies of the OTHER two movements to any and all of those who might envision playing the entire piece with a group of friends and colleagues.

"What goes around, comes around". Going out and writing music on a wing and a prayer, as it were, is rarely in vain.

That fabulous viola & guitar duo (Duo Fresco) that requested the transcription of my "Spanish" Suite (originally for CLARINET and guitar), just got a record-deal. The CD should be released late this year, early 2006.

The only opera I did NOT write on commission ("The Silver Swan") was, quite miraculously, picked up last spring, straight off my webpage, by California Opera. In the season(s) to come, it is joining Verdi's Giovanna d'Arco (in its alternative libretto), in Portland, Oregon, as well as in Europe. Obviously, I am thrilled beyond words to be in such company; even if I get an "...also on the season program was..." tidbit, I will be delighted to catch some of the limelight cast upon Giuseppe the Great.

It's all good...

I wish John equal, if not greater, good fortune with his endeavors. I should not neglect to mention that Carlo is also using a work by our own Jonathan Jensen at the same workshop.

[Eugene]

That's all quite groovy. I am half hoping to attend, but expecting to not be able to.

[vkioulaphides]

Too bad, Eugene. It was SO nice a couple of years ago, when you did make it to the Big Apple. But, of course, I am hardly the one to throw stones; Jim and I, a mere county-line apart, have been struggling to get together for what seems an eternity. Some other time, perhaps...

[Linda Binder]

Victor! #This is all so wonderful! #I'm hoping to attend the next Carlo workshop and I'm very excited about the repertoire!!!! #Congratulations on all your good works, and to you too John! #What a wonderful gift!
All the best-
Linda

[Bob A]

How sweet it is. Dare I suggest you are reaping what you sow? Harvest time is always the best of life's seasons, for those who have sweated in the vinyards.

[John Craton]

Victor, you are too generous with your praise. After all, we don't even know yet whether your daughter will even like the piece

Following Victor's example, I'll probably make the little ditty available online as a freebie (remember, though, that one generally gets what one pays for!), but I'll wait a bit to give the dedicatee time to weigh in on it. No doubt she could offer some comments to make it better musically. Children — at least my own — are generally very honest critics, and are about the only critics I'll listen to.

Congrats to Victor on his Quartetto No. 1, and also on the selection of his opera! (Maybe you could direct the company to my website ...... ) I've yet to have either of my operas staged, probably for good reason. The one company that showed an interest in my comic opera had to decline untless they get an unexpected source of new funding. (Any generous philanthropes reading??)

Great work, Victor! Keep us all posted.

[vkioulaphides]

[QUOTE]"The one company that showed an interest in my comic opera had to decline unless they get an unexpected source of new funding."

I would never despair at such replies, John. St. Louis Opera politely declined one of mine, despite some very complimentary remarks they made about the qualities of the work, because their programming had "already been determined for the foreseeable future". New York City Opera was "unable to assume production of any but very few..." The list goes on. The default advice of "keep on keeping on" holds up quite well, I believe.

My daughter was quite delighted (and a bit astonished) to see the dedication of John's Sonatina to her. She wanted to jump right into it but... it was dinner-time. Besides, yesterday evening was not the time to embark on any new project, as this morning is her violin lesson: scales/arpeggios, Sevcik, Handel. Meaning no offense, Craton had to be backburnered for a day or two.

She does, however, want to send you a personal thank you via e-mail, John. Her expert critique will have to wait for a few days, i.e. until she and I can sit down and fiddle/pick through your lovely new work. I did play through the mandolin part last night, and like it very much. Again meaning no offense, the famed Scorch/Sibelius Duo clearly comes a sorry second to real, acoustic instruments in terms of tone-quality, at least.

Cheers,

Victor

[John Craton]

Should anyone else be interested in this little trifle, I have posted the sonatina in both Scorch and PDF here. The Scorch score has been tweaked to sound a bit better on playback, so I don't recommend it for printing. I have found at least a few mistakes in the PDFs, but the work is probably not worth the effort to make the corrections ... anyone trying to play it will likely figure them out on their own anyway.

At any rate, the work is free to all — and worth every penny

[NYClassical]

john--looks great! i might read it with a violinist for fun. and victor, when is this 2006 New York Mandolin Workshop?

[vkioulaphides]

First weekend of June. Contact Chaim Caron for further information, if interested; I'd be happy to send you his e-mail address privately.

Cheers,

Victor