Unconventional Tuning

$4.99

for solo oboe (2016)

 

Description

Audio


Jonathan Thompson, soloist

Duration

5 min.

Instrumentation

solo oboe

Program Notes

Featured on RMN Music’s “Architectures, Music for Solo Instruments,” Unconventional Tuning is a twelve-tone work. Since the oboe is the conduit for tuning an orchestra, I began the Prime Row on A440. Even the first note of the piece is sustained and held as though the player is beginning the tuning process. However, it is immediately broken up by playing fragments of the row, eventually progressing to pitch-class C.

Although the orchestra tunes to A, C has often been a crucial key or tonal center in developing musicianship. Beginner pianists, for example, start their lessons with “middle C.” So although A440 is important to tuning an ensemble, C is equally as vital to “tuning into” being a musician. Therefore, the Prime Row is also played in Retrograde, with pitch-class C as the starting point.

 

Description

Audio


Jonathan Thompson, soloist

Duration

5 min.

Instrumentation

solo oboe

Program Notes

Featured on RMN Music’s “Architectures, Music for Solo Instruments,” Unconventional Tuning is a twelve-tone work. Since the oboe is the conduit for tuning an orchestra, I began the Prime Row on A440. Even the first note of the piece is sustained and held as though the player is beginning the tuning process. However, it is immediately broken up by playing fragments of the row, eventually progressing to pitch-class C.

Although the orchestra tunes to A, C has often been a crucial key or tonal center in developing musicianship. Beginner pianists, for example, start their lessons with “middle C.” So although A440 is important to tuning an ensemble, C is equally as vital to “tuning into” being a musician. Therefore, the Prime Row is also played in Retrograde, with pitch-class C as the starting point.

 

Tony Manfredonia

Tony is a composer and orchestrator for concerts and multimedia living in Petoskey, MI. He provides a multi-layered and sensory experience through expressive, colorful orchestration and warm melodies. He adds new perspectives to stories, environments, and everything in between through massive orchestral productions, as well as intimate atmospheres.

With performances and readings from renowned ensembles such as Apollo Chamber Players, the University of Cambridge Concert Band, and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Tony’s music has been played across the globe.

He actively brings new music to his Northern Michigan home. Northern Symphonic Winds (NSW) of Charlevoix, MI, commissioned Tony to write a new piece for the ensemble, titled, On the Threshold of Spring, which premiered in May 2019. He is currently NSW’s composer-in-residence. Since 2018, he has worked closely with the Bay View Music Festival in Petoskey, with performances, premieres, and presentations for the summer students. In December 2019, he worked with The Accidentals, a local folk band, orchestrating their music for performance with the Traverse Symphony Orchestra.

Continually branching out into various styles, many of his projects involve sacred music: the full, orchestral score for Saint Luke Productions’ latest drama, “Tolton: From Slave to Priest,” their upcoming film, “Faustina: Messenger of Divine Mercy,” an Ave Maria for SATB Choir and Organ, as well as a Concert Band piece commissioned by Holy Ghost Preparatory School in Bensalem PA, “Rejoice in the Holy Spirit,” which premiered in September 2018.

All the while, Tony lives the life of a video game composer, constructing sonic spaces and emotionally-driven tracks to enliven each game’s world. His most recent, completed soundtracks are that for Kharon’s Crypt and Rot:Purge. Currently, he is working on the music for Call of Saregnar, a 90’s-inspired low-poly 3D RPG. Bridging the gap between “game music” and “contemporary classical music,” he continually strives to have his soundtracks performed as a means to draw in new audiences to the world of classical music. One example is his Suite from Kharon’s Crypt, an orchestral medley of tracks from the Kharon’s Crypt soundtrack.

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