Most of the aborted pieces were rejected because either (1) the Mellotron made them sound 'wooden', (2) they just have too many fast runs in them to make it plausible, (3) I just couldn't play them or (4) some of the voices the pieces demand are just not available for the Tron. The orchestral version of the Ravel calls for a harp which is used extensively in the second half of the piece. Such a thing just doesn't exist for the Mellotron and rightly so, I have to add. The mechanics of the instrument are built more (but not only) for legato than anything else. 'My' version used sampled harps just as filler, but since that was not in keeping with the spirit of the project it was abandoned about halfway through.
Mike
bayofkings7 wrote:
Mike - That is one of my very favorite classical pieces, and VERY
nicely done!!! The epitome of melancholia!
Now, if you have done Ravel's "Pavan For A Dead Princess" I might
just cry ...
--- In newmellotrongroup@ yahoogroups. com, Mike Dickson
<mike.dickson@ ...> wrote:
>
> It's a fairly open secret among a few people here that I'm workng
on a
> fifth and (if planning is right, final) album which I hope to have
> released some time soon.
>
> The album will be my take on a number of well-known classical
works,
> recorded by me over the preceding five months or so. I don't read
music
> and so it has been a slow and painful process at times, with me
> invariably surrounded by musical charts of my own creation as well
as
> coloured scores, annotated manuscripts and post-it notes everywhere
in
> sight. However, I have pressed on despite all the difficulties as I
> think the end result is going to be extremely worthwhile and comes
with
> a bit of a twist.
>
> The one major difference between this and other attempts to record
these
> pieces is that /everything /on the album will be played on the
Mellotron.
>
> The album is to be called */mellotronworks /*and I've taken the
bold
> step of giving the good readers of this mailing list a preview. You
can
> download my version of Samuel Barber's 1936 masterpiece /Adagio for
> Strings/ from the following link:
> http://www.mikedick son.org.uk/ mellotronworks/ Barbers%20Adagio .mp3
>
> Comments welcomed.
>
> --
> Mike Dickson, Edinburgh
>
> Free Music Project: http://www.last. fm/music/ Mike+Dickson
> Or http://www.mikedick son.org.uk/
>