Oh what fun. Ive just found a twenty year old recording of an excerpt from an American Big Band radio show - on which some of my music was played. The DJ was extremely complimentary about the piece - which, I might add, is about as far from big band music as its possible to get. The piece, called Seasons Greetings, was commissioned by a theatre group for their performance of Alan Aykbournes play of the same name. It was a commission that was fraught with problems. I was never able to talk to the director to discuss what was wanted and all communication was through seemingly hordes of other people. I later found out that the director had argued with the guy who commissioned the music (over an utterly unrelated matter) and took it out on me. Then there were technical problems. I completed the music and was asked if it could be duplicated to be sold at the theatre (with me getting the bulk of the money but with a kick-back to the the theatre group). I paid all the duplication fees (cassette only) and was due to take delivery a week before the play opened. The tapes actually arrived nearly a week late. And they were playing far too quickly. Due to an error at the duplicators, everything was about three semitones sharp. Thankfully, the duplicator accepted blame and redid them quickly. Then, the night before the first performance, the director demanded that the opening music should be five minutes longer! That I was able to throw together a piece in under twelve hours remains a surprise to me. Its a little repetitive but largely works. As a post-script, the director decided NOT to sell the tapes (so I got none of my money back) and, in what seemed like a calculated insult, in the end of run party (when all the gushing, luvvy thanks are dished out), there was a (and I quote) huge thanks to the man who played the music. The man who played the music also got a bottle of whiskey for his troubles. The man who played the music was the guy who hit the play button on the cassette player containing the tape of the music that had taken me weeks to compose and record. I didnt get a mention. Ah well! :-)
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 23:41:29 +0000
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