Tsunami – Snippet The Boats 155.81

A snippet from the new opera, The Boats: Tsunami, The second wave, Verdi, La Traviata, Dying at 100 decibels, The inner voice in opera, Monty Python And The Holy Grail, I’m not dead yet, Brazil, A different kind of Botox.

Roger CortonAnd still. Another. New. Snippet.

Tsunami

JC HarrisRight you are, Rog! But wait. If you act now, you will receive. Not one! But two! Absolutely free…

RCJust pay a small shipping fee.

JCHExactly.

RCBack on planet earth, let’s talk about the piece. For a piece called ‘Tsunami’ this is fairly quiet stuff.

JCHYes. This is the first aria which directly follows the Overture. Our main character, Ciarán, sits on a bench on the cliff overlooking the town at sunrise. From there you can also see the ocean. He’s just having a think before the auction.

RCSo the tsunami is a metaphor.

JCHRight. It’s this ginormous, silent […]

Transition II (Trasna Na Donnta) – Snippet The Boats 155.81

Yet another Transition (not a Snippet) that is out of order from The Boats. Trasna Na Dtonnta (Across The Waves). Irony. Get Out. Staging. That’s what Directors are for. Counterpoint. Pachelbel was boring. Bartok was not. Translyvania and Normal. Rubick’s Cubes. Breathing and whistling in the right key. Schmaltz It Up. Black It Up. Whatever.

Roger CortonLast time we talked about Transitions. And this time we’re still talking about Transitions.

Transition II (Trasna Na Dtonnta)

JCHWhere will it all end? (laughs)

RCThis is the last one, right?

JCHI think so.

RCYou’re not sure?

JCHWell, like I’ve said a jillion times, this is rev one. Look what happened with Detroit! I could one day realize that the whole thing needs to turn left and my ‘ninety percent done’ meter could instantly flip to ‘fifteen percent done’.

RCStipulated. But right now, this is it? Si?

JCHSi.

RCSo the […]

Transition VI – Snippet The Boats 155.81

Is this the last Transition from the opera The Boats? Majesty. ELP. Copland. Grand Canyon. James Newton Howard. Star Wars. John Williams. Brass. Fanfares. James Levine. Unpersoning. 1984. Free Association. Free psychotherapy. The point of all these Transitions. Wozzeck. The nobility of fishermen. Comic books are so 2D. Gluck. Quicksand is the bitch.

Roger CortonBefore we get started, I just wanted to do a truth check. Last time you promised that this was the last ‘Transition’.

Transition VI

JCH Mmmmmaybe.

RCI knew it was too good to be true. But I have to admit. This is pretty majestic.

JCHYou wouldn’t know majesty if it bit you in the face! God help me, I still think that’s a total scream.

RCI do too. Although for a long time I didn’t like the way they make […]

Let’s Get This Boat In The Water 111.29

Songs From The Boats: Another opera, another album. Available April 1, no fooling. Free if you have no conscience. But there are vinyl and CD versions for decent folk. We discuss loudness. LUFS vs. dBs. Score printing. Authentic Frontier Gibberish. Next steps. St. Anthony, finder of lost objects.

Roger CortonIt’s been a while. Again. Happy New Year?

JCHSame to ya fella.

RCWe have a new record coming!

JCHWell, it’s not some big surprise.

RCIt’s essentially all the snippets we’ve been going through over the past…

JCHThree hundred and ninety four years. Seven months. Fourteen days. Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd. About three minutes.

RCWhat’s that joke you always tell?

JCHOh yeah, the Lenny Bruce. (Indian accent) “Oh great Swami, if I don’t smoke or drink or consort with bad women will I really live forever? No, but it will certainly seem like it!”

RCThat’s the one. It just seems like we’ve been talking about this opera forever.

[…]

Another Operatic Snippet. With Organs 89.03

Another snippet from the new opera, The Boats (Beautiful Boy). Two churches. Two organs. Your organ says a lot about you, heh heh. Deliverance. Guy Deutscher. Language and Culture. Philip Glass as career path? Walter White and the big, big money. The Who. Tommy. The best rhythm guitar ever?

Roger CortonOne last thing about the whole opera thing. We never got round to talking about the organs last week.

Beautiful Boy (Snippet)

RCI can’t decide if it’s really sincere or just really cheesy.

JCHWell don’t sugar coat it. Cheesy you say?

RCThe organ vibrato. Some of the lyrics sound so gushy. ‘Beautiful Boy’. People don’t really talk like that.

JCHOh yes they do. I know what you mean, though. OK, so there were two big churches when I was a kid. The C of I Church of Ireland–Protestant and the RC Roman Catholic. They were both almost across the street from […]