The Slayer
Prayer Meetings
It is January 2024. I am at church, my local church – sometime before the annual ‘Week of Prayer’.
With a whole twelve months stretching ahead of us, we begin the year before God. I cannot think of a better way to start the year than seeking God in prayer every day for a week as a church and as individuals — also praying for our community, our nation, and the nations. Praying to God at this time of year, and in this way, is so special. I always feel refreshed and sanctified after the Week of Prayer.
The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective
James chapter 5, verse 16
Only He holds the keys to the future.
Leap Year
I engage in conversation with someone from church. As we talk I find myself saying, “I am in love with someone”. This is the overflow of my heart. The response, “Well… it is Leap Year!”. Traditionally, a woman can ask a man to marry her on the 29th of February. ‘Normally’, it is the man that proposes to the woman. I hatch a plan: I will propose to my sweetheart on that very day.
M S
I have known M S, my sweetheart, for several years. We first met online on Christian Connection in 2016. I particularly liked her strong Christian Profile. A strong Christian woman with a strong Christian man would be a great match! We could talk about God to each other for a very long time!
Super Spirituality
One day I was reading my Bible and listening to some music. I reached a particular point in that reading at the same time a particular piece of music began to play. As I finished the reading, this piece of music finished at the same time. I took a pen and began to write down what had just happened. As I was writing, my pen dried up. As my pen dried up, M S telephoned me for the first time, and we had our first live conversation. Only almighty God could have orchestrated such a sequence of occurrences. This was super spiritual activity! No man could do what God did! Supernatural activity is God’s hallmark in my life. Sometimes, I feel that there is only God and I in this world — and I burst exclamations and thanksgiving to Him!
Over the years, M S and I roughly sketched out ideas for our future. I am always full of dreams and ideas of a fanciful love nest, coupled with travelling the world in the name of Christianity.
Erm…
The end of February approached. And whoever could read my mind knew what I was going to do: propose to M S.
The day had arrived. When I woke up that morning, it appeared that someone had ambushed my plans; all my intentions, somehow, were frustrated and/or thwarted.
“It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord
Romans chapter 12 verse 19
Somehow, it felt more like a postponement. Hope deferred makes the heart sick.
I turned to music composition.
At the time, I was about halfway through composing a series of vocal chamber music pieces.
Favourable Reviews
In September 2023 last year, I produced an album of classical music – all composed by myself. I use a top notation software recommended by someone who is admin for an international contemporary classical composers’ group on social media. He also recommended the necessary playback software. Up until that time I was using a low value app, but now I was going professional with the intention of gaining commissions. The high-quality album I had produced was my ‘calling card’.
Around this time there were discussions happening at my church about the desire for more biblical worship songs. Someone even suggested these New Songs could be written together with orchestral arrangements. I received that as an unofficial commission.
Go!
With this fixed in my mind I set about composing for smaller vocal ensembles that could easily be orchestrated. By the end of the year, I had two songs. And by February I had two more. These songs were written in the classical style.
Lyrics
The text for these songs were based on poems I had written about my geometric, abstract artwork created using image manipulation software. Originally, they started life as composed photographs of church buildings. Now, they were abstracted. There are now forty of these artworks in my catalogue. And so, naturally, being a Photomedia Practitioner I made videos of the art.
Each church art piece and video had a title. From this I wrote a poetic representation. This literature formed the basis of my vocal chamber music project. On the morning of Leap Year Day, I decided to draft in another poem not on my original list. In direct reaction to thwarted love I added: The Slayer.
Here is the poem reworked as a song:
Analysis of Lyrics
In my video of the artwork I chose: J. S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Part 1, For Christmas Day, Chorus. The music opens with timpani drums followed by the playing of stringed instruments and trumpets. In my composition, soprano and tenor literary sing the words: Strings and trumpets.
This is followed by solo soprano singing, in idiomatic style, a description of what the chorus sounds like.
Next, both soprano and tenor sing a description of how the object, which looks like a tank, behaves in the video.
This tanklike object, or Slayer, has an eye that emits flashes of lightning – so the tenor sings. This is followed by manoeuvres across the screen – as sung by the duet.
The tenor then sings of what can only be described as: a time of battles in the heavens where God directs this death angel to mercilessly slay. Only the holy will escape that future apocalypse.
The soprano then points the judgement finger, singing that expiration will be accompanied by high music. The singing of her last line, “It is your companion,” is chilling, because it is delivered in a quiet, low tone – a complete contrast – to underpin the seriousness and finality of the unfolding events.
The tenor finishes by telling us that this Death Angel is obeying God’s command.
A Coffee Morning Concert
After I had drafted these words that morning, I went to a solo piano recital at a church a couple of miles away. Maybe I would get some inspiration as to how to set this down as music.
At the concert in the tea area, conversation was light-hearted and jovial. When the concert was due to start, I sat next to someone who happened to be an art collector. Although I did not recognise her, she recognised me as an artist. A few years ago, she saw one of my art pieces at an exhibition and made the purchase. Naturally, I was delighted.
The concert was an hour long. During the playing of one contemporary piece, I began to hear in my mind’s ear how I was going to compose the music for The Slayer.
As I was leaving the church, I found myself talking with other music appreciators – one of whom was also a pianist. We smiled broadly during conversation, and likewise as we parted.
Analysis of the Music
The vocal chamber ensemble for this series is made up of: Violin, Soprano, Tenor and Piano.
After lunch I started at the piano, initially striking chords and notes that were not in any key. The scratchings I made on manuscript paper were transferred to computer software where I further developed my ideas. The finished piece was a three-part fugue where the violin provided the third line. The violin also answers subjects with further questions. The vocals bring dissonant, hair raising, meaty asides to an otherwise tight and skinny instrumental Dux and Comes, i.e. ‘Leader’ and ‘Companion’.
So, what is a fugue, what does it mean? It is a French word that means ‘flight’. A fugue can also be described as two jumbo jets refuelling in mid-air, one slightly behind the other. Or it can be likened to a chase. Musically speaking, a fugue is a piece of music where two or more independent lines of music entwine one another, one starting later than the other. Of course, there are rules to fugal writing – but the most prolific exponent of the form, J. S. Bach, was notorious for breaking them!
Two examples of fugues: 1) The famous Toccata and Fugue by J. S. Bach, BWV 565. 2) The nursery rhyme London’s Burning.
A Second Layer
The Slayer is composed with 5 beats to the bar. There is also another famous piece in this time signature. It was used decades ago in War of the Worlds adaptations that terrified people. It was also played to young children in a setting which caused them to cry. The piece was Mars – The Bringer of War from The Planets Suite by Gustav Holst. The Hollywood composer John Williams also re-worked the piece, transforming it into Star Wars – particularly the dramatic concluding bars.
A Biblical Perspective
Moses was God’s chosen man to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. He went to Pharaoh asking him to release the Hebrew slaves from Egyptian bondage so that they could worship God and live in freedom in another land. Pharaoh refused. Not once, but every time Moses pleaded. Every time Pharaoh said, “No,” God sent a plague. The final plague God sent was death delivered by the Death Angel. This Angel would slay the firstborn of every household. Prior to this deadly plague, Moses was instructed to tell the Israelites to put the blood of a lamb on the door posts and lintels of their homes. When the Death Angel saw the blood of the lamb, he would pass over, and not bring death to the inhabitants. Hence, the Jewish Passover – from which we celebrate Easter. Jesus Christ was raised from the dead on the Sunday after Passover.
The Video
The full title of this composition is: The Slayer – Apocalypse with Fugue Form. I could only have arrived at this definitive during the making of the video. This is a futuristic video with foundations in the past.
The final, finished video is quite striking in terms of editing, special effects and transitions. Fluke, after unbelievable fluke, after unbelievable fluke occurred in the process of making this video that a probability mathematician would find difficult to explain. I read once that occurrences like these gives rise to an intelligence beyond human intelligence.
Love
I need to give and receive love as God designed. The obstruction of this led me to write the words of this song, to compose music hitherto I would not consider, and be the recipient of happy accidents.
After I finished making the video I said to myself, “Only the pure in heart will understand”.
So…
The score is now available to download from my website for interested peoples and musicians, at Michael Bobb Productions. Audio and video recordings:
I use one distributor who distributes my audio to a suite of platforms around the world.
As for different types and sizes of ensemble, yes, The Slayer could enjoy different expressions. A string quartet would be interesting to watch, for example. But, a full-size orchestral sound may give it a different edge, a different understanding.
At the time of composing this piece, it felt like a departure from my usual style. However, since then I have written pieces that could easily wear that label. In fact, every piece in my vocal chamber music series has individuality and character – even idiosyncratic personalities! Above all, they are art.
Here is a list of the ten Vocal Chamber Music pieces in alphabetical order. So far, eight have be completed.
The Return of Christ
The Slayer
The Star in the East
TORN
You Are My Peace
For more information, visit: https://www.michaelbobb.com
Greensleeves + 3 Variations
After this traditional tune, I play three variations on the piano. I composed these variations in 2020.
Analysis:
Variation 1
The title of variation 1, is: “The Twos”. This name comes from a two-note chord in the right hand which acts as punctuation, whilst the left hand plays the melody in the lower part of the keyboard emulating a sonorous cello. These two-note chords are a tone or semitone apart throughout, except on one occasion. These rather terse sounding chords are always forced. The whole variation sounds like a tussle between mellow and sour.
Variation 2
The title of variation 2, is: “The Slide”. In this variation, the left hand literary slides up and down the keyboard as fast as possible. After each slide, the right hand plays a single note which is held for a judged length of time, acting as a distinct contrast to the quick notes of the sliding left hand. The struck single notes are held depressed for as long as artistically possible. Imagine these notes being played on the down bow of a violin. NB: the slides are flamboyant, free and need not be accurate.
Variation 3
The title of variation 3, is: “The Agitator alla Toccata”. A translation of this would be: “to be played agitatedly in a manner where touch and virtuosic technique is required”. This is firmly a postmodern variation on the traditional Greensleeves tune. The pulsating left hand hammers out the melody and combines obsessively repeating notes at certain key junctures with continuous sweeps of passagework. It can be seen, and heard, as relentless driving machine-like kinetic movements at a moderately fast pace. Although the right hand retains some resemblance to the vertical movement of the melody, the notes are dissonant. On their own, one could hear a logic but, when played with the left hand the whole piece almost does not make sense. Highly entertaining with an emphatic end.
Click here to hear me play: Greensleeves + 3 Variations
Scarborough Fair
The traditional folk song, Scarborough Fair, dates back to Medieval times and refers to an old fair in Scarborough, Yorkshire. The market fair included traders, merchants, entertainers and food vendors, starting from the 14th century until the 18th century. Today, several fairs are held in remembrance of the original.
‘Scarborough Fair’ Lyrics
The lyrics in ‘Scarborough Fair’ are about unrequited love; a man trying to attain his true love. The young man requests impossible tasks from his former lover, saying that if she can perform them, he will take her back. In return, she requests impossible tasks of him, saying she will perform hers when he performs his. In the Middle Ages, the herbs mentioned in the song represented virtues that were important to the lyrics. Parsley was comfort, sage was strength, rosemary was love and thyme was courage.
Simon and Garfunkel’s Version
“Paul Simon learned the song in 1965 while visiting British folk singer Martin Carthy in London. Art Garfunkel adapted the arrangement, integrating elements of another song Simon had written called “Canticle,” which in turn was adapted from yet another Simon song, “The Side of a Hill.””
History of the Folk Song ‘Scarborough Fair’ – LiveAbout
My Version
In my re-imagined/re-composed version and recording of the traditional tune, thought was given to the costume and the videography. During the editing light balance and overall visual appearance were adjusted to convey a dreamlike, fairytale atmosphere. When I was recording the vocals it seemed, at times, as though I was fighting an invisible enemy. This gave my voice a different quality: (a) a sense of weak, youthful innocence similar to a feeling of indolence (Scarborough Fair), (b) a strong, macho/masculine presence similar to a military officer recounting events on a battlefield (Canticle).
Click here for the video: Scarborough Fair/Canticle
Margaret
🎵 Margaret, take me to the hills
🎵 Margaret, take me to the place
🎵 Where we are running
🎵 As fast as fast can be
🌷
Margaret, take me to the place
Where I can see you
🌷
🎵 Margaret, take me to the wind
🎵 Margaret, take me to the place
🎵 Where we are flying
🎵 As high as high can be
🌷
Margaret, take me to the place
Where I can see you
🌷
I’m running…
🌷
Music Review
Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565
This is the most famous piece of organ music ever written!
From the very first notes it demands your attention. But, was it really composed by Johann Sebastian Bach? Well, surely everybody knows it was because, after all, that’s how we came to know the piece.
However, a very small ‘however,’ one or two quarters have made remarks about this music that are interesting.
Bombastic, outlandish and downright outrageous?
Sweeping, catchy proverbs after sweeping, catchy proverbs?
And, would maestro Bach ever compose in such a style so different from all his other output?
Answering the first question, my thoughts are that it is extremely flamboyant, debonair and daring.
To answer the second question I would say that, at times I couldn’t bear to hear the piece. It sounds so like the music you would hear when you are put on ‘hold’ on a customer services call. Or even a piece of elevator music. One cannot escape the fact that it is, as the title implies, virtuosic.
And to answer the third question let me say that, all great composers have the ability to write in a wide variety of different styles — the wider the variety, the greater the genius. Whether the quieter nuances or the spicy fireworks, if one can compose without limits, one is unlimited — a master. It is my opinion that Bach probably wrote the Toccata before breakfast. A mere exercise a virtuoso could dash off to dazzle and impress anyone who happens to be within the church’s vicinity.
For this post I will be taking the first movement, the Toccata.
Recordings
Not all recordings are equal.
I have been enthusiastic and passionate about music, particularly the ‘classical’ genre, for my entire adult life, and have come to realise that different recordings of a piece can vary, one to the other — and quite a bit, too.
The piece under the spotlight here was composed for church organ, probably before 1708. There are also arrangements for orchestra, solo violin and the piano. It has been said that the moment a piece of music is re-arranged from its original, it has been re-composed.
I see the piano as the musical instrument of my choice since 1990. An eminent guitarist said a few years ago, “Whilst stringed music is for the emotions, piano music is for the intellect”. So, join me on this particular musical excursion, on the piano, with Bach’s legendary Toccata.
In my CD library (yes, they do still exist) are four CDs that include recordings of the Toccata on the piano (see below). Over the years I have developed a musical palette whereby I can tell within the first few bars of a recording whether it will be satisfying and pleasurable. If only I had all the ultimate recordings then I could rest! I want all of them — now!
Sheet Music
As you can see below, there are four different publications of the Bach piece in my library – all arranged for solo piano.
These publications, with the help of recordings to an extent, shows one how to play the notes. However, playing the music is an entirely different game – I love affair – making the notes leave the page and into the ears.
Music is to be enjoyed and not endured. Making music is not a mechanical process played by automatron robots, but a dance between musician and listener, between a man and a woman. The heart, the intellect and the spirit of a person are all at play. To me, it is all about communication – two-way communication.
Music is nostalgic — enjoying the past now. Music is predictive — drawing down from tomorrow and enjoying it now. Music is art.
And how does one translate two notes on a page to two notes on the airwaves? Answer: interpretation. What statements are you going to make? What phrasing are you going to articulate? Are there any emphasis you could bring to highlight a point or two? And what is the overall shape, the story you want to tell: the starting point, the endpoint, and the interim?
My Interpretation
And so to my interpretation of the Toccata from Bach’s BWV 565…
Thirty-five years ago since I became aware of the work, I am now hearing it call out to me: “Rubato!” and, “More rubato!” And sometimes I never pay the stolen time back! As I have been familiar with the piece for such a long time, I am instilling more musicality into performances — which, of course, is inseparable from elements of my personality. And so, naturally, I have made recordings – just for fun.
Section 1
The last recording I made brought with it a surprise. Up until that date I had always played the opening with the same notes. But, for the first time it dawned on me to play the same passage with extra notes. I tried it. And, it worked! With these new notes came a new interpretation on how they should sound. In short, there is a deliberate slowing down of the opening, together with increased volume dynamics, and becoming more emphatic as the music descends down the keyboard into the sonorous depths of D minor… And that’s just the opening!
Look out for another exaggerated detachment — this time two notes. And the music continues…
Section 2
In this section I draw further on my feelings on how poetry should be performed. This is played out with more manipulation of the timings. When, as I tell the story, I repeat a particular chord sequence, the chord sequence anticipates, predicting that something different is about to happen — a new scene, as it were, is just around the corner. This predictive text is not written in the score but comes from my memory of an old recording on audio cassette tape played on a church organ…
Section 3
Much more rubato and dramatic storytelling…!
Enjoy!
My own review of my own performance? Stately. Pronounced. Flights into the ether? Faithful to the term ‘toccata’. Organistic.
In Search Of The 32
Ludwig van Beethoven.
Beethoven’s thirty-two piano sonatas have been called, by a few, the New Testament of solo keyboard music; J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, the Old Testament.
Let’s get to the matter of the topic: performance. For over thirty years I have been listening to recordings of the 32. Within the music, and between the notes, are essences of Beethoven and his classical/romantic world. Beethoven’s family and family life, and educational development; his forebears and teachers; his own established life as a pianist and composer; antiquity and culture of his time; his muse and acquaintances; even war and politics of his era — all made the man: Beethoven.
Beethoven’s early solo keyboard sonatas were written to be played on harpsichord or fortepiano — this includes sonata no. 8, op. 13 named grand sonate pathétique by the publisher. In my opinion this is because of the soothing, gentle, rocking and emotionally atmospheric elements of the second movement. As harpsichords do not have a sustain pedal, I have played this particular music without pedal — and, to my delight and wonder, it is more poetic. All my sheet music scores shows pedal.
Several years ago I went to Robert Morley & Company based in Lewisham, London looking for a piano. I had a collection of scores as test pieces. Piano after piano were left wanting. And so I took a leap: I tried a piano out of my bracket. It was Beethoven; I heard Beethoven! The piano was a British made Broadwood. Needless to say, Broadwood gave one of their pianos to Beethoven. Could the truth of the 32 be heard in a Broadwood?
Earlier today I received a subscribed email that linked to an article on the thirty-two sonatas. All extracts played on pianofortes. All eminent pianists or musicians with fine interpretations. All Beethoven…?
Michael Bobb – Artist • Author • Occasional Composer
Friday 26th August 2022
This recording includes Sonate Pathétique — without pedal. It is played on an Elysian piano, not a Broadwood. Listen for the poetry… and enjoy the poem!
Splashes of Ink 