Comments

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  Larry Elliott July 5, 2016 at 2:22pm

  Greetings August,

  Your music has some very nice qualities. Thanks for sharing.

  Very best,

  Larry Elliott
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  Slava Fiks December 7, 2015 at 4:21am

  Glad you found time to listen to that!

  ☺
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  Olmnilnlolm July 1, 2012 at 8:40pm

  On June 16, you wrote, " I was just listening to your music. I especially enjoyed listening to Quantum Concatenations. It is unified and coherent, yet it occupies a musical territory of its own."

  I wanted to reply to you earlier, but I was out of town for a while, and then very busy until recently.

  Thank you very much for your generous assessment of Quantum Concatenations.    

  Given your musical sophistication and overall experience, I take it as a very high compliment.   

  I liked what you said to Bruce Baldwin in one of your replies  to comments:

  "Thanks for the comment, Bruch! Yeah, I was worried about one of the motives sounding too similar Bartok. I even asked my composition instructor if I was getting a little too close to Bartok, especially in the anguished descending motive; however, he generously framed it as an allusion. :)"

  I am not sure anyone can get "too close to Bartok" today, in overall style.  Some musicologists say that there is something almost "syntactically Hungarian," is his idiom, so unless you speak fluent Hungarian, and think in Hungarian, you are unlikely to fall into an imitation trap.  

  I was re-reading a section from McHard's book on the Philosophy of Modern Music, and he admonishes modern composers, citing  Iannis Xenakis and Julio Estrada as exemplars; and tells us, we should always do something new, different and original in each work.

  That will keep us from imitating Bartok or anyone else, if it is a special worry.

  Here is a "spectral view" of Xenakis' "Metastasis," if you haven't heard it yet, or are looking for inspiration.

  Iannis Xenakis - Metastasis (Spectral View)

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2O8bMlEijg

  Thanks again, for your encouragement.

  O.
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  Bruce Baldwin June 22, 2012 at 2:23pm

  Thanks again, August - I've done a few videos but none I'm quite as proud of yet! I learned a lot making that one. I'll never forget the crazy looks I got from people while filming empty picture frames at the beach! We have plans to make at least a couple more videos to promote the Ascent CD.
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  Bruce Baldwin June 19, 2012 at 10:47pm

  Thanks also for your comments on the video, August. Yes, I did all that editing in Adobe Premiere.... A huge but rewarding task!
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  Gavin Brown June 11, 2012 at 10:28am

  Thanks for your comment about Sunshiny Day! More to come!
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  Chris Dargay May 6, 2012 at 5:15pm

  Aves is thoroughly enjoyable!  Thanx 4 sharing.
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  Paulo cesar Maia de Aguiar (Br) September 4, 2011 at 3:22pm

  Amaizng music
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  Charles Mazarakes July 8, 2011 at 3:38pm

  Beautiful music August. Love your choral work.

  Cheers,

  Charles Mazarakes
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  Christopher Stone June 9, 2011 at 6:12pm

  Hi August,

  Studying with Naudia Boulanger was, as you would expect, a very interesting experience. One interesting note that I remember is a time when she was putting together an organ concert for her financial contributors and I was helping with the list of pieces to be performed. I suggested Olivier Messiaen’s “Dieu parmi nous” from his Nativity Suite. It’s somewhat modern but not all that culturally challenging. Her reply was that her investors were far more conservative and would prefer to hear something written further back in time. What I find ironic is that here she is, the ambassador of modern music, even still, she had to do what all of us have to do for a living: please the people with the money. So the lesson I learned is that there really isn’t a thing called selling out. It’s all about survival through choosing one’s battles very carefully.
  
  Thanks,

  Chris