I'm pleased to share this piece I wrote following my open-heart surgery for a valve replacement on May 28, 2021. I was inspired to write a piece about my experience, but I also wanted it to be an homage to science's miracles and a way to thank everyone at the CHUM, especially my cardiac surgeon, Dr. Jessica Forcillo, to whom this work is dedicated.
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"Pulse" (Symphonic Suite)
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Guy, I'm glad to hear you're OK! That is a harrowing experience. My dad had valve replacement and it completely restored him, so it is a miracle of science as you mentioned. Did you present it to the doctor and did she like it? (She'd better, especially since it's all VSL!)
This piece is fabulous- the way you use the pulse rhythm in the low threatening bass drum near the beginning, then the questioning, anxious repeated notes in the clarinet, then finally the triumphant tutti at the end. It is powerful and complex with masterful handling of the orchestration and the textures. You've done what great artists (and scientists) can do - turn something bad into something good! Congratulations!
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Dear Guy,
first let me join your doctors, family and friends who no doubt have all been imploring you to take it easy now - even though, knowing creatives, I've a feeling you'll be taking little notice of that advice, lolol. But anyway, I add my thanks to God and medical science that you weren't taken from us long before your time.
Like everything else I've heard of your work as a composer - I do mean everything - this new piece speaks so eloquently to my heart and soul. The Recovery movement brought tears pf joy as I listened. Altogether it's a beautiful and moving piece. Thank you so much for this and for all your works, Guy.
I remain an ardent admirer of your compositions - and I only hope you'll remember from time to time that your laurels are there for you to rest upon as, when and if it pleases and gives comforting rest.
Macker
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The fact almost nobody here cares about this post is really disturbing. Here is a great composer and artist talking about how he survived nearly dying, and doing the most fabulous music as a result --- and nobody here except me and Macker gives a damn.
Guy - I love your music, and you are a fabulous artist. You have really original ideas and tremendous mastery of technique. You can do anything in music. My best wishes to you and all of your work.
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The fact almost nobody here cares about this post is really disturbing. Here is a great composer and artist talking about how he survived nearly dying, and doing the most fabulous music as a result --- and nobody here except me and Macker gives a damn.
Guy - I love your music, and you are a fabulous artist. You have really original ideas and tremendous mastery of technique. You can do anything in music. My best wishes to you and all of your work.
Thank you very much, William. I appreciate your thoughtful message and compliments. MMKA did send me a compassionate message via PM.
I was pleased to find that my cardiac surgeon loved the work and shared it with all of her medical colleagues, who all regarded it as a great honor.
I wouldn't say that people are uninterested in this post; but, the fact that it is a 12-minute piece requires some patience to sit through, which is understandable.
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Good news about the repairs of the heart, Guy. And the work that accompanies it is wonderful. I love the opening in particular. Bon chance, Kenneth.
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P Paul moved this topic from Orchestration & Composition on
