January 2015 in review

Books read (5):

• Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky
• The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami
• A Backpack, A Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka by Lev Golinkin
• Clark: The Autobiography of Clark Terry by Clark Terry with Gwen Terry
• The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances by The Oatmeal (Matthew Inman)

Live performances (6):

• Penultimate performance of Here Lies Love (1/3/15)
• Closing performance of Once (1/4/15)
• Ghost Quartet at the McKittrick (1/5/15)
• Stephen Hough (Dvorak Concerto) and the Orchestra of St. Luke's at Carnegie Hall (1/15/15)
• The Last Ship (1/22/15)
• Performances at KCACTF Region 1, incl. Godspell and Maltby Award prelims and finals (1/27-1/31/15)

Movies (7):

• The Neighbors (1/1/15)
• The Imitation Game (1/9/15)
• Boyhood (1/12/15)
• Pride (1/14/15)
• Gone Girl (1/16/15)
• Whiplash (1/17/15)
• Birdman (1/23/15)

Other miscellany:

• Copy work/engraving/music preparation for reading of new musical I Am, I Will, I Do
• Started & finished season one of Mozart in the Jungle
• Started getting into Empire on Fox
• Much needed updates to website

Sondheim's "Loving You" for a cappella choir

I was asked to arrange "Loving You" in early 2014, for inclusion at the First Annual Sondheimas celebration on March 22d. David Levy was organizing a birthday celebration for Stephen Sondheim to be held at Broadway’s supper club, 54 Below. Without much thought, I said yes. I mean - David is a good friend, I’d have the opportunity for an arrangement of mine to be performed at 54 Below, and the timing worked out perfectly that I would be able to attend on my spring break visit.

And then I promptly forgot about it.

Until around the middle of February, that is, when David checked in on my progress. I smiled, said it was coming along, and then I started working on this arrangement. "Loving You" is such a simple song that I knew immediately my arrangement wouldn’t be flashy. It was not my intent to add much that wasn’t already written by Sondheim; I wanted it to be almost understated, to let the words and their meaning, the harmonies, the melody, be at the forefront.

I toyed with the idea of including a cello and a piano part, but I liked the sound and intimacy of a small a cappella choir instead. Part of me wants to write a cello part, but I haven’t had the drive. I like the sound of this as it is.

Sometime during this process I asked David how he was planning on ending the Sondheimas celebration. I was wondering if he was going to use “Sunday,” which is cliché but also a great ending. His reply: “No! We’re ending with your arrangement!” That meant, of course, I’d have to sit through the entire presentation on edge, waiting to hear a fine choir assembled for this occasion sing my arrangement.

Later in the spring, I asked my quite large class of musical theatre students if they would be willing to learn and perform this at our cabaret that we always do at the end of the semester. They did a great job with it, and we barely had any rehearsal time! It was exciting to hear the song again, and to be able to conduct it this time.

I’ve uploaded the PDF to my Arrangements page. It’s available there as a free download. I would enjoy hearing from you if you perform the piece. It needs, at minimum, 8 singers (2 per part), but as you can see in the video above, a larger choir is possible. The piano part is included to help during rehearsals; it can be utilized during a performance if necessary, but I prefer it sung a cappella. And watch out for that key change! It can be a little tricky.

Thank you to David, Jose, Steven, and several others as listed on the PDF for their support and help with this arrangement.

December Reading List

The holidays, the last month of Grinch tour, and two full days at Disneyland wore me out in December, and I didn't get as much reading done or as much writing done. So, without any type of review or write-up, here are the books I read last month:

• A Contract with God by Will Eisner
• Spokane Shorties by various authors
• Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
• A Cricket in Times Square by George Selden

November Reading List

• Bernstein Meets Broadway: Collaborative Art In the Time of War by Carol Oja
• Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
• Elect Mr Robinson for a Better World by Donald Antrim
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Us Conductors by Sean Michaels
• The Absolutely True Diary Of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

New Bach Arrangement for Piano

Before your throne, I now appear ... turn not your gracious face from me, a poor sinner ...

Over on my Arrangements page, I have just uploaded a new arrangement I recently finished, of Bach's "deathbed chorale," Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit.

This has long-been my favorite chorale by Bach, and it's easily in the top 5 of all of his compositions, as far as I'm concerned.

The piece is sneaky; it sounds so simple, and perhaps the hymn melody is, but the counterpoint that makes up the bulk of the piece is anything but. It's challenging to play on the piano, but worth the effort. If you're unfamiliar with the piece, you can read about it here.

Perhaps ironically, my favorite recording is the Frackenpohl arrangement for Canadian Brass, although Angela Hewitt's new recording for Hyperion Records runs a close second. It's often performed at the conclusion of The Art of Fugue, which has been arranged for countless instrument combinations, so there are many different versions of this chorale available online.

The arrangement is free to download; I would love to hear from you if you perform or record the piece - please contact me through the link to the left, or via social media links to the right.

Thanks, as always, for reading and for your support!