The fact is that carol melodies seem to inspire me creatively, and I do appreciate the spirit of giving that abounds at this time of year. In that spirit both the recording and score are free downloads until the end of the year.

Included in this feast are the following old and new favourites:

- My dancing day
- It came upon a midnight clear
- The Sussex carol
- Deck the hall
- The first noel
- Good King Wenceslas
- Joy to the world
- Adeste fidelis

Music download: A Feast of Carols

Score download: Full score

I hope you enjoy the season and the downloads!

- Summer 2011 -

Northland - The final chapter ...

Work on Northland - a musical portrait of Canada's varied landscapes - has been ongoing since 2001. Northland VI is inspired by the prairie regions of the country and completes this project.

Composing most of the earlier parts of Northland was made easier by using sketches I had written much earlier. For example, the first part (sub-titled "Forests") is based on a rough piece I wrote after visits to the forests of northern Ontario. Northland II ("Critters") also draws on these visits (remembering the mosquito and black-fly bites!) and musically speaking steals from a very early "symphony" that will never otherwise see the light of day. Similarly, IV and V ("Mountains" and "Maritime") started with sketches drawn from my library of unfinished fragments.

However, this final instalment has been awaiting my attention for quite a while - partly because I was drawn to other projects, but also because I had already completed a portrait of the prairies   back in the late '90s. Not wanting to repeat myself made this piece a trickier proposition than the others.

So, this was to be another stab at the Prairies ... totally different from the first ... and I needed a plan. Benjamin Britten reportedly said (about his compositional methods) that once you have a plan the notes take care of themselves. I've never found it quite that simple but I do get the drift!

It turns out that the plan revealed itself from the very nature of the landscape. The land is often flat, or rolling plains, and when people speak of the prairies they often talk about the "big sky". So the horizon is generally far away in all five directions (N-E-S-W-Up). Hence the pentatonic scales featured throughout Northland VI ... and interestingly in many other compositions with prairie or "western" themes.

Obvious maybe (and perhaps a bit hokey), but this idea got me started ... and even if the notes didn't quite take care of themselves the resulting piece is very different from my earlier prairie portrait.

- Winter / Spring 2011 -

Latin Translations

Apologies to classicists, but this has nothing to do with dead Roman poets.

Latin Translations is actually my spin on what's generally referred to as "latin" music (music from Cuba and Brazil for example), in an orchestral setting.

In the winter months, when the snow is flying fast and furious, a Canuck's fancy sometimes turns to warmer climes, and so it was with me. For quite a while I'd thought about writing some orchestral pieces in the latin mold. Since a tropical vacation wasn't on the cards any time soon, this seemed like the perfect time to do just that.

I confess to doing quite a lot of research into the various genres, particularly the rhythmic patterns and idiomatic expressions, but I make no pretensions to authenticity in these pieces. I have neither the background or performance experience for that. They are simply my translations of a type of music that I thoroughly enjoy.

The first part hints at latin rhythm rather than explicitly using any particular genre, especially since much of it is in 5/4 time, but at various points you may hear allusions to tango, habañera and mariachi. The second is a boisterous samba, and the final part is a slow, slinky salsa!

That's all for now, folks ...

- The News Archives -

• Mike's 2010 Music Notes
• Mike's 2009 Music Notes
• Mike's 2008 Music Notes
• Mike's 2007 Music Notes