Mr. Hinton's String Quintette

[guest54]

Something out of the ordinary happened to-day: I was tidying the hard drive of an old computer, unused for years, and found a directory full of .ra files which I had recorded from the "Radio Three." At the time the Corporation's "Internet Player" used a very poor quality Real Audio stream, and I had evidently soon afterwards concluded that the quality of all those recordings was in fact too poor to bother with at all, and so the directory sat there forgotten. The sound quality of the Corporation's internet offerings has vastly improved since those days - but their programming has deteriorated.

To-day though, as I nevertheless copied the bits and pieces to a back-up drive, the name of one file suddenly sprang out: bbchint.ra. And well it might, because upon closer investigation it turned out to be a recording of Mr. Hinton's String Quintette, made on the seventh of December 2005. Until to-day I had been somehow under the impression of having missed that important broadcast altogether.

And there was not only the music, but also quite a long interview with its composer. So, that composer being a long-standing and highly-respected member of the present forum, he will not I hope demur at my respectful posting of the interview here for the interest and edification of the membership.

The work does not use Mozart's ensemble with two violas; instead of the second viola there is a double bass, and a long final movement with a part for a superadded soprano singer, something vaguely along the lines of Schönberg's opus ten. I have not yet listened to it; only to short snatches in the course of extracting the interview, but I very much liked what I heard. The opening at once reminded me of Beethoven's opus 135 with its "Muss es sein?" - I presume the composer is aware of the resemblance? And just before the second part of the interview there is a slow section with passages of great beauty. Above all I admire the composer's harmonic sense!

It is to be regretted that my "Real Audio" recording offers such woefully poor sound quality; but I will try sitting in the next room which may lessen the effects of the Corporation's distortion. The voices have a curious bell-like effect in the background (and the effect on the music of this distortion is far worse). Anyway, here is the very interesting and informative interview, in two down-loadable parts: part one and part two.

[t-p]

Thank you Mr sydney Grew. It was very interesting for me.
I was able to hear interview with composer Hinton, but I couldn't listen to the quartet.  I don't think it is there. I did hear just a few bars of the beginning and it does remind me Beethoven's last quartet.

[Neil McGowan]

Thanks for uploading these quintets - I hope to have the opportunity to listen to them later :)

[ahinton]

I do indeed appreciate the reference to my work made by Mr Grew here. The Beethoven Op. 135 reference is not one that particularly occurred to me, although I can well see how it might be perceived; that said, there are certainly other connections with late Beethoven quartets at particular points in my string quintet of which I was as conscious at the time of composition as I remain now, not least the Grosse Fuge one in its finale and the parallel with the second movement of Op. 127 (expansive slow theme, small number of variations) in its third movement.

I'll take an appropriately discreet back seat immediately, however and leave it open to anyone who might want to say anything about the piece.

[guest54]

I will as I indicated devote some pleasurable hours to getting to know this work now that it has by happy accident turned up - the B.B.C.'s Real Audio file sounds best I have discovered when played on my Toshiba through "Media Player Classic." I have already listened to the whole of the first movement, and really liked and admired it. In fact the work should I am sure be enjoyed by the millions who instinctively enjoy Verklärte Nacht and the Gurrelieder, were it but somehow to be set before them. But an idea has occurred to me to-day which I would like to put to Mr. H.

Early in the interview mention is made of a Second Pianoforte Sonata - one of five I understand - so how about asking Mr. Tuba-king - quite an expert in these matters - to drop Sorabji for a couple of weeks and to do that Second Sonata (quite a lengthy work) on his computer? The result - if up-loaded here and/or elsewhere - would be an excellent way to gain for it a familiarity to a wide public (which is presumably one of the aims of any composer). How about it Mr. Tuba-king? How about it Mr. H?

[ahinton]

I will as I indicated devote some pleasurable hours to getting to know this work now that it has by happy accident turned up - the B.B.C.'s Real Audio file sounds best I have discovered when played on my Toshiba through "Media Player Classic." I have already listened to the whole of the first movement, and really liked and admired it. In fact the work should I am sure be enjoyed by the millions who instinctively enjoy Verklärte Nacht and the Gurrelieder, were it but somehow to be set before them. But an idea has occurred to me to-day which I would like to put to Mr. H.

Early in the interview mention is made of a Second Pianoforte Sonata - one of five I understand - so how about asking Mr. Tuba-king - quite an expert in these matters - to drop Sorabji for a couple of weeks and to do that Second Sonata (quite a lengthy work) on his computer? The result - if up-loaded here and/or elsewhere - would be an excellent way to gain for it a familiarity to a wide public (which is presumably one of the aims of any composer). How about it Mr. Tuba-king? How about it Mr. H?

That is a kind thought, but I should point out that its ms. was stolen many years ago (and has never since come to light) and the only surviving photocopy copy is in a pretty parlous state; it's also a very uneven work, to be honest - and Mr Tuba King would need far more than two weeks at it if he were to typeset it! I'd be delighted nevertheless if he were prepared to do this; let's wait and see.

Incidentally, for the benefit of anyone who may not know, I ought perhaps to point out that the recording of my string quintet used on that BBC broadcast was not one made specially for the occasion but an already existing one on the Altaurs label (AIR-CD-9066[3]) that was released in 2002 and is still available today.

[guest54]

. . . Mr Tuba King would need far more than two weeks at it if he were to typeset it!

Er - just to be perfectly clear, it was not exactly type-setting I had in mind; I was thinking of a virtual performance such as Mr. Tuba-king did so well of Sorabji's Toccata Seconda, thus enabling members and guests to hear the work directly by clicking on a link. That Sorabji example appears in another thread: http://artmusic.smfforfree.com/index.php/topic,190.0.html

(and it is of course a reproduction of posts that originally appeared in the "r3ok" forum - a forum regrettably now closed to outsiders).

There is available I understand an excellent selection of sampled pianoforte sounds, and it is one of the most realistic of instruments when these are used in a computer sequencer.

And if the Second Sonata is unsuitable, why not then the Third, or the Fourth, or the Fifth?

I'd be delighted nevertheless if he were prepared to do this; let's wait and see.

Just one further point: Mr. Tuba-king does not I think read this forum regularly. But he is one of the few who are still permitted to participate at the "r3ok". Most of the thoughtful and serious men who in former times made so many remarkable contributions there are now locked out. So perhaps an intermediary might put the idea to him, if it is thought desirable.

[ahinton]

. . . Mr Tuba King would need far more than two weeks at it if he were to typeset it!

Er - just to be perfectly clear, it was not exactly type-setting I had in mind; I was thinking of a virtual performance such as Mr. Tuba-king did so well of Sorabji's Toccata Seconda, thus enabling members and guests to hear the work directly by clicking on a link. That Sorabji example appears in another thread: http://artmusic.smfforfree.com/index.php/topic,190.0.html

(and it is of course a reproduction of posts that originally appeared in the "r3ok" forum - a forum regrettably now closed to outsiders).

There is available I understand an excellent selection of sampled pianoforte sounds, and it is one of the most realistic of instruments when these are used in a computer sequencer.

And if the Second Sonata is unsuitable, why not then the Third, or the Fourth, or the Fifth?

I'd be delighted nevertheless if he were prepared to do this; let's wait and see.

Just one further point: Mr. Tuba-king does not I think read this forum regularly. But he is one of the few who are still permitted to participate at the "r3ok". Most of the thoughtful and serious men who in former times made so many remarkable contributions there are now locked out. So perhaps an intermediary might put the idea to him, if it is thought desirable.

Do please let's leave "r3ok" references out of this subject where they might seem to have no place to be at present, to the extent that these pieces have not been discussed there before.

Anyway, nos. 3 & 4 have been typeset and performed on various occasions and there is a possibility of a recording of them both in the near future along with some other piano works of mine including a much more recent and larger-scale one, Sequentia Claviensis; I'll be happy to provide more news and details once that's all been taken care of. In the meantime, let's see what Mr Tuba King thinks, although there's no substitute for real performances, live and recorded, as far as I am concerned; I don't doubt that you'd agree. I also understand that a pianist is working on a performance of my second piano sonata from the copy of the ms.; I wish him luck, especially given the aforementioned state of that copy!

Oh - and, by the way, my piece for two violins, viola, cello, double bass and soprano is a string quintet, not a string quintette...

[ahinton]

. . . Mr Tuba King would need far more than two weeks at it if he were to typeset it!

Er - just to be perfectly clear, it was not exactly type-setting I had in mind; I was thinking of a virtual performance such as Mr. Tuba-king did so well of Sorabji's Toccata Seconda, thus enabling members and guests to hear the work directly by clicking on a link. That Sorabji example appears in another thread: http://artmusic.smfforfree.com/index.php/topic,190.0.html

...

There is available I understand an excellent selection of sampled pianoforte sounds, and it is one of the most realistic of instruments when these are used in a computer sequencer.

Apologies for bumping this thread more than a decade since anyone last posted in it, I can confirm that the score of my second piano sonata, despite the appalling condition of the only available copy of its ms. (a badly faded photocopy of the original which, as I mentioned, was stolen long ago and has never been seen since), has recently been typeset and the work is due to receive its complete première in Århus, Denmark on 28 October this year; I estimate that the entire work plays for around 65 minutes.

Even more remarkably, the editor who typeset that score has even more recently prepared an equally splendid typeset edition of the ms of my string quintet (which is the topic of this thread), a mammoth task given its 170 minute duration.

Most of my scores have now been typeset and information about them will be found at http://www.sorabji-archive.co.uk/hinton/biography.php and other pages that can be linked to from there, as well as by writing to sorabji.archive@gmail.com .