October 21 - Revelations

Long chat with Harriet in the morn -- she remains a totally remarkable woman. Bit of Journal work before the great beyond of Diablo,



the Chinese Wall,



and Eden, for Alban Berg's Wozzeck: Act I, Scene 3 and second dictation / board-harmony based from Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera: Ballad of Mac the Knife (second eight bars).



Pizza and paper grading at the Student Union Snack Bar, returning to the lab to put



The Gospel According to St. Matthew:



XXIII. The Questions



in its place (the allusions to Davidic times make for yet another spin on King David: IX. Pity! [Psalm 57]), and complete the recording, with the Tritone Orchestra and Garbage Band, of



For My Brother For My Brother:


12. Things That Leave Me Craving for More



and



13. Sleepytime Burgers






Home in the moonlight, to moonlight on the publication preparation and visual libretto to



Sex and the Bible: The Opera (Part I)...from Abraham and Isaac... II. The Separation (recap of strain 1), plus composing page 7 of Pini di Surriento: IV. Torna a Via Appia, and orchestrating a second page of



Gospel Matthew: XXIV. Beelzebub.

October 19 - Gathering Storm Clouds

Harriet out on a job and there's work to do catching up on the Journal (starting the December 2009 issue), before the light and shadow of the Port Costa Hills, across the Carquinez Strait, leads straight to



Diablo Valley College for a dictation and keyboard-solfege (the latter just the opening second-inversion tonic triad arpeggio with the upper neighbor sixth), also presenting Arthur Rimbaud from Henry Miller in Brooklyn as a case of Habanera / Pirate Jenny major-minor collisions, including the video with Diana Landau.

Finish up the orchestration of



The Gospel According to St. Matthew



XXII. Come Unto Me



record it, as well as



For My Brother For My Brother



XI. It Is Fitting,




the latter enlightened by storm-crossing, coffee-carrying Doug, who tips that the rappers tend to record three overdubs of themselves, and, lo, it kinda works....



Then out into more lights and



shadows to orchestrate Gospel Matthew: XXIII. The Questions, compose page 5 of Pini di Surriento: IV. Torna a Via Appia, and prepare for publication and do visual libretto for



Sex and the Bible: The Opera (Part I): ...from Abraham and Isaac... II. The Separation (first strain thus far).

October 14 - Gathering Storms

Two more pages of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: The Coming Persecutions orchestrated, and soon it's off on a second stormy day



through the Fairfield



Vaca



Mountains



via Paradise Valley to Theory Class we go, for the Walt Disney Fantasia retelling of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, harmonic discussions re Claude Debussy and Stravinsky, and impressive student compositions.

Finally record the Tritone Orchestra versions of



The Gospel According to St. Matthew:



XX. The Twelve, and




For My Brother For My Brother


7. VIII. Baby's Head




8. IX. You've Noticed




(yes, you've noticed that the arabic and roman numerals differ) before braving the elements once more, heading towards San Francisco



but thwarted by a big delay on the



Bay Bridge,



avoiding it (thanks to the iPhone and sign warnings) by diverting north on 80, south on 13, west on 238 (no matter what the signage says), south on 880, west on 92 over the San Mateo Bridge, and north on 101 to Potrero Hill



for a San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra Board Meeting with



Erling, Michael,



Loren, and Davide. Home via Marin and Sonoma to prepare for publication and do the visual libretto for



Sex and the Bible: The Opera (Part I)... from Quartet for the Beginning of Time: Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel...III. Abyss of Separation.

October 7 - Light Ideas

Sound night, and sounding morning, finishing up the orchestration of Gospel Matthew: XVIII. (through page 9, just kind of run with it); then more Journals mailed, Charles Ives Variations on America (minor Spanish variant), for dictation, board harmony, and keyboard-solfege -- a directed, particularly pleasant class...

More paper grading at the snack bar over a belated breakfast burrito, late coffee with Doug and company, followed by Tritone Orchestra recordings of


The Gospel According to St. Matthew:


XVIII. Two Blind Men



and



For My Brother For My Brother:



6. I Fell In




Exit in the



last light's



shadows of Martinez Refinery Hill and



splendors of the Port Costa Range,



the glow extending from Benicia Bridge and the Sulfur Springs Mountains,



past Wooded Top


to the Vaca Ranges, beginning the instrumentalization of XIX. The Twelve, a harvest of Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring and Stephen Schwartz's Godspell.