Mephisto!

Goodness, that was a shocker! Glad you enjoyed it.

Ok, you're wise to me, that was the whole idea of writing a harp concertino to meet a diva harpist and seduce her.... I'm still recovering from my injuries [:'(]


Seriously, it is very tricky writing for the harp. ex. you cannot have 3 sharps in one measure and 4 flat in the next. many many things to consider.

and that compliment about Ravel's orchestration, I hope your weren't drunk when you wrote it because what a huge compliment!

Hye Guy

Sakura is pure artistry. i'v heard your other works too and are all great - but this one excells. honestly, it truly conveys the fact that you were aware of harpists, their needs and their discomforts when they are asked to performed more piano suitable works. hope you understand my point. but moreover it excells in its composition, themes and beauty of sound, which above all is the most important factor

as a harpist i look forward to the possibility of hearing (maybe performing [:P]) the work....i feel its a definite jewel for harp literature... so keep going strong.

i'm still worried however on what could have caused you such injuries [[:)]] i hope you were not lost in some Tchiakovsky cadenzas and got attacked by a SWAN... lake [[:)]]

@Esmeralda said:

i'm still worried however on what could have caused you such injuries [[:)]] i hope you were not lost in some Tchiakovsky cadenzas and got attacked by a SWAN... lake [[:)]]

Well all I can say is, I now know what the dying swan felt like... [:O]ops:

Hey Thanks Esmeralda!

For anyone interested to know, Esmeralda is a young concert harpist. It was while researching the harp I came across her kind help, she always found time in between her flights to correspond with me answering all my questions. It also seems she may be giving the world premiere of Sakura Concertino, at least I'm hoping. [:D]

ps I'm also hoping it will be injury free.... [*-)]

Injury Free???

Don't worry - i was reported on The Times as a "comely young harpist". but mind it - the Gargoyles of Notre Dame Chatedral will protect me in case of war [:D]

What I didn't tell you esma is that while writing this work in a japanese temple while in Japan I traded with a buddha, I think it was the buddha of Shichifukujin, a permission license of Sakura. I have now the Seven Lucky Gods of Japan on my side...

[[:|]] What did you trade!?

Just speaking of Sakura Concertino for a minute, I told Guy the first time I heard this that as a performance, and in terms of the musicality of the piece this one in that and many other ways really does excell among his demos as much as I love the others, it just feels very finished and complete, but what really got me was the string "sound" he achieved, it's really fantastic in my opinion, and despite the fact that I and many others have attributed good string sounds as being down to the mix I can saftley say that Guy proved me very wrong in this case, because those strings came to me sounding just awesome, and I found the best I could do was make sure I didn't take away from that sound rather than create it - so I was wrong, it is largely down to orchestration, use of the string sounds, and in this case, the mix itself was really just a necessary completion of the sound but not responsible for it. That hollywood string sound at the end, I just hope anyone who listens to the piece listens right through and hears that final string theme because it's 'sound' is really a milestone for virtual orchestration and it is certainly one of many sounds that I know people have been trying and wanting to achieve for some time but never succeeded like this. For me in this peice the strings are as much a feature as the Harp in fact in terms of what I am listening to.

Miklos.

After Miklos comments I made it through the whole piece (honestly the piece is much too sweet for my taste) and yes, it is really well written. The strings sound great.

I have to say also I think what made it work was not only the sound but the use of it, and also the release notes and overall performance was right on the money for me (speaking specifically of the strings). Of course the whole peice is great and the clarity in the harp performance is what really makes the piece wonderful overall. I think it's important to remember in all these demo's, these are the performances of the people creating them, that is what is really special about them all.

Miklos.

Hey Miklos!

You're too kind man! [[[:D]]] [[[:D]]] [[[:D]]]

@mathis said:

After Miklos comments I made it through the whole piece (honestly the piece is much too sweet for my taste) and yes, it is really well written. The strings sound great.

Mathis, I was very tempted to put canons through out the second half. [[;)]]

[[;)]]