Harvard University Music Composition Seminar January 30, 2023 In this talk, I presented my recent works, Vignettes, for solo piano, Meshahid, for piano and orchestra, String Quartet No. 2, and Aruah, for mixed octet. The end of the video includes a Q&A segment that includes questions from Harvard professors Chaya Czernowin and Hans Tutschku, and the graduate student composers.
Thanks for sharing this lecture, it was very informative and I found the insights into your process fascinating... I think it is refreshing that you bring eastern elements into the western tradition but on your own terms and in your own personal language. But I think it's great that you still embrace certain elements of the great western classical tradition, rather than trying to avoid them like death as SO many other contemporary classical composers have and yet you still manage to bring your own voice out...for instance, I can hear the Debussy and Ligeti influences but I would never mistake it for them, as it sounds totally new. I really like how you presented the piano original in the vignettes and then compared it to the orchestral version back to back. Amazing how you managed to get essentially a piano concerto out of these miniatures, and I have to say, it really flows well together and seems inevitable even though it wasnt intended to!!! And bringing back the first movement reorchestrated at the end was a stroke of Beethovenian genius IMHO...One question, do you think of or see yourself as something of an Arabic 'nationalist' composer??? Not in any political sense or in the late 19th Century sense, but maybe like a Bartok or Takemitsu appropriating their heritage???
First of all thanks for your comment and for watching this lecture. I’m so glad to be able to share it with more folks. It’s a lot easier to talk about my process when there are folks in the room, and not just me in my composer lair 🤣 - to answer your question, no I don’t see myself really in any way to be quite honest. I recognize the things that I’m doing can be denoted in a myriad of ways, but do I “see” myself that way? Absolutely not. I think that’s part of why I’ve been able to change aesthetics in a relatively short amount of time (i.e. going from pieces like Maelstrom and Kaman Fantasy to pieces like Aruah and my second string quartet). I think the moment one starts to see oneself “carrying a flag” so to speak, that’s where the trouble begins to start. That being said, I’d probably see myself resembling Takemitsu slightly more than Bartok - there i managed to answer the question 🤣🤣🤣
@Saad Haddad Composer Thank you and I understand that it is too hard for an artist to really categorize themselves in that way and not end up feeling pigeonholed in their creativity...great lecture, great music, please keep it coming!!!
Wow Saad! This was such a delight to watch! I was just accepted to Harvard's Music Comp PhD. I wish I was there to witness this lecture live. Thank you again!
@@saadhaddadmusic I am curious if you printed the score and parts, or does the orchestra read it off an Ipad or similar? And if you have the score and parts printed, is there a printer at Colombia that will print larger paper scores for you? (and perhaps larger paper parts).
@@davidyoung6331 all of that has happened in the past - sometimes I’ve even printed at kinkos which I don’t recommend (yikes!). Orchestras generally don’t play off of iPads still, but basically every chamber group I’ve encountered reads off their iPads which is great because then page turns no longer become an issue :)
@@saadhaddadmusic I have my string quartets / piano quartets printed at Black Ribbon Printing in Castle Rock, Colorado. Matt Franko has been doing this for some time and caters to the hollywood music for film industry. I write my scores and parts at 12.5 inches by 9.5 inches. I do the engraving. Black Ribbon prints and spiral binds. If the parts are not too large, he will saddle stitch them. It costs a bit, but not necessarily a lot. I would recommend that you give Black Ribbon a consideration if you want someone experienced to print and bind your music.
Harvard University
Music Composition Seminar
January 30, 2023
In this talk, I presented my recent works, Vignettes, for solo piano, Meshahid, for piano and orchestra, String Quartet No. 2, and Aruah, for mixed octet. The end of the video includes a Q&A segment that includes questions from Harvard professors Chaya Czernowin and Hans Tutschku, and the graduate student composers.
Thanks for sharing this lecture, it was very informative and I found the insights into your process fascinating... I think it is refreshing that you bring eastern elements into the western tradition but on your own terms and in your own personal language. But I think it's great that you still embrace certain elements of the great western classical tradition, rather than trying to avoid them like death as SO many other contemporary classical composers have and yet you still manage to bring your own voice out...for instance, I can hear the Debussy and Ligeti influences but I would never mistake it for them, as it sounds totally new. I really like how you presented the piano original in the vignettes and then compared it to the orchestral version back to back. Amazing how you managed to get essentially a piano concerto out of these miniatures, and I have to say, it really flows well together and seems inevitable even though it wasnt intended to!!! And bringing back the first movement reorchestrated at the end was a stroke of Beethovenian genius IMHO...One question, do you think of or see yourself as something of an Arabic 'nationalist' composer??? Not in any political sense or in the late 19th Century sense, but maybe like a Bartok or Takemitsu appropriating their heritage???
First of all thanks for your comment and for watching this lecture. I’m so glad to be able to share it with more folks. It’s a lot easier to talk about my process when there are folks in the room, and not just me in my composer lair 🤣 - to answer your question, no I don’t see myself really in any way to be quite honest. I recognize the things that I’m doing can be denoted in a myriad of ways, but do I “see” myself that way? Absolutely not. I think that’s part of why I’ve been able to change aesthetics in a relatively short amount of time (i.e. going from pieces like Maelstrom and Kaman Fantasy to pieces like Aruah and my second string quartet). I think the moment one starts to see oneself “carrying a flag” so to speak, that’s where the trouble begins to start. That being said, I’d probably see myself resembling Takemitsu slightly more than Bartok - there i managed to answer the question 🤣🤣🤣
@Saad Haddad Composer Thank you and I understand that it is too hard for an artist to really categorize themselves in that way and not end up feeling pigeonholed in their creativity...great lecture, great music, please keep it coming!!!
Wow Saad! This was such a delight to watch! I was just accepted to Harvard's Music Comp PhD. I wish I was there to witness this lecture live. Thank you again!
Woah! Congrats! Seems like an amazing program - it was a lot of fun to engage with the students there! Congrats again that’s a big deal!!
it reminds me of rhett butler and and scarlett on their last night
Very nice, prof Haddad. And a very nice presentation. Excellent engraving.
Very kind of you and I’m glad you enjoyed watching this one!
@@saadhaddadmusic I am curious if you printed the score and parts, or does the orchestra read it off an Ipad or similar? And if you have the score and parts printed, is there a printer at Colombia that will print larger paper scores for you? (and perhaps larger paper parts).
@@davidyoung6331 all of that has happened in the past - sometimes I’ve even printed at kinkos which I don’t recommend (yikes!). Orchestras generally don’t play off of iPads still, but basically every chamber group I’ve encountered reads off their iPads which is great because then page turns no longer become an issue :)
@@saadhaddadmusic I have my string quartets / piano quartets printed at Black Ribbon Printing in Castle Rock, Colorado. Matt Franko has been doing this for some time and caters to the hollywood music for film industry. I write my scores and parts at 12.5 inches by 9.5 inches. I do the engraving. Black Ribbon prints and spiral binds. If the parts are not too large, he will saddle stitch them. It costs a bit, but not necessarily a lot. I would recommend that you give Black Ribbon a consideration if you want someone experienced to print and bind your music.
@@davidyoung6331 thanks for this rec! I have heard of them and I’m sure others in this community would benefit as well from this!
Gotta love a good Lou Harrison fantasy thing
man you committed