home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
17 Bit Software 1: Collection A
/
17Bit_Collection_A.iso
/
files
/
634.dms
/
634.adf
/
s
/
text
< prev
Wrap
Text File
|
1990-04-05
|
12KB
|
242 lines
PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION
by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (1839-81)
SOME PERSONAL NOTES BY ROB BAXTER:
When I first set out to produce Pictures at an Exhibition for the
Amiga I had no idea that it would develop into such a massive project! My
original intention had been to produce a self-contained collection on one
disk (like my previous Amiga disks), but very early on in the preperation
of "Pictures" it became clear to me that the sheer number of "instruments"
called for by my arrangement meant that I would have to expand the set to
cover two disks.
An obvious solution would have been to "crunch" all the files - a
nice idea, not only would it allow me to cram more stuff onto a single disk
but it would also seriously cut down on loading time for a given file.
However, firstly, I'm not really sure how to crunch a Sonix piece, together
with all it's instruments (thereby betraying my woeful lack of techno-
skill!), secondly and more importantly, by doing so I would have "locked
out" a lot of people who might want to use my Synthia instruments in their
own Sonix creations. So there, I'm really just a harmless old
philanthropist! (a WHAT.....?)
***** IMPORTANT *****
~~~~~~~~~
This arrangement of Pictures at an Exhibition covers two disks. If
you have only received one disk then you will not be able to enjoy the
whole piece! Make sure you have got both disks.
The music on these disks will run on any Amiga with a minimum of
512k of memory. It is at its best if you have a two drive system, with
Pictex1 inserted into df0: and Pictex2 inserted into df1:. This allows you
to listen to all of Pictures at an Exhibition with no further intervention
by you.
If you have a single drive system, you will be given an on-
screen prompt when Disk One is finished (standard requestor, no messing!),
asking you to insert Disk Two (PictEx 2).
If you only have a single drive system, the requestor that will
appear at the end of Disk 1 leaves the Amiga menu bar at the top of the
screen. This is messy but in no way does it interfere with your enjoyment
of the music, it just slightly screws up the screen appearance!
If you're fussy about such things, here's a tip to all single drive
users. Swap from Disk 1 to Disk 2 while the final part of Disk 1 (Samuel
Goldenberg & Schmuyle) is still playing. This will avoid the nasty menu bar
coming along to clutter up your screen! Two drives, no problem!
Just a brief note about the f3 filter option. As on my other disks,
when you boot up, the Amiga's internal filter is disabled (unless you have
an A1000). Pressing f3 will toggle the filter between off and on. Turning
the filter off greatly reduces aliasing, but makes the overall sound very
muddy! I strongly recommend that the filter be left OFF!! (NOTE - please do
not try to press f3 once you have elected to play the music as it will not
work and could mess up the printing on the screen. f3 should only be
selected - if at all - from the main startup menu screen!)
--------------------------------
Unlike my previous disks, there is no option to listen to individual
pieces of music - I felt that Pictures should only be heard as a single
continuous entity. Of course, if you have a copy of SONIX, you can load up
individual files at your leisure if you wish to hear sections in isolation.
To preserve the flow as much as possible and keep disk access to a
minimum I have, wherever practical, realised two or even three sections of
Pictures in a single file. This presents its own difficulties, not least of
which is the different tempo requirements and time signatures which must,
somehow, be executed during one .smus file in SONIX. The other main
difficulty is the number of "instruments" which must be loaded to cater for
such a multiple file, each piece of music within a multiple file needs its
own unique set of instruments (apart from such common requirements as
strings or brass etc.). This puts heavy demands on memory (and file loading
time, for which I apologise), a lot of SYNTHIA instruments can use up a lot
of RAM!
For the first time I am supplementing my SYNTHIA-generated sounds
with sounds and effects created using the SONIX "Analog Synthesiser". One of
the effects which I wanted to include in my version of Pictures was that of
"glide" or "portamento". SYNTHIA, despite its superb facilities in other
respects is quite unable to duplicate that effect satisfactorily, so I
turned to the SONIX synth which has an excellent portamento capability. Up
until now, I had only used SONIX as a means for putting my scores together
and for adding expression to my SYNTHIA instruments via the powerful "RFF"
sample enhancing facility. As I began to work seriously with the Analog
Synth I learned that it was, despite its simple controls, a very powerful
musical tool. As I progressed with Pictures I began to incorporate more and
more Analog effects into the fabric of the music, developing from simple
glide effects into more and more complex and telling voices.
The Analog voice is first heard in "The Gnome" where it provides a
simple gliding call to the slow section, giving it something of a "fifties
Science Fiction" feel! Its power begins to become apparent during Bydlo but
one must wait for the closing piece, "The Great Gate of Kiev" to hear the
Analog Synthesiser produce some of the most rousing sounds in the whole
set!
Perhaps the most compelling reason for using the Analog Synth is
that it is quite economical on memory! On a disk, an Analog file only uses
up a mere 512 bytes - this is because you are only saving a short set of
parameters for "setting up" the Analog Synth (the Synth proper is
incorporated into SONIX itself, and also into the "PLAY" program which I use
to perform the finished music outside of SONIX). When the SONIX/PLAY Analog
Synth is "activated" (by loading a parameter file), it only needs a few
kilobytes of RAM in which to work, so it is an invaluable tool when you wish
to create music with a rich palette of tone colours.
Despite my obvious (and newly found) enthusiasm for the SONIX Analog
Synthesiser I would still suggest restraint in its use! A piece of music
created entirely using the Analog Synth would, I imagine, eventually sound
rather dull (although I don't rule such a venture out entirely!). It is at
its very best when used in combination with the more complex sounds produced
by SYNTHIA, or with imaginatively sampled sounds obtained via a digitizer.
ABOUT THE MUSIC:
Pictures at an Exhibition was composed by Mussorgsky in 1874 in
memory of his friend, the painter and architect Victor Hartmann. It
represents, in musical terms, a stroll around a gallery in which Hartmann's
paintings and drawings are on display - each piece within the work
reflecting the impression made on the composer by the various exhibits he
encountered during his visit to the gallery.
The main themes are as follows (PRESS SPACE):
PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION:
1. THE GNOME - a limping dwarf.
2. THE OLD CASTLE - a minstrel plays at the castle gates.
3. TUILERIES - Children play and quarrel in the Tuilerie gardens.
4. BYDLO - A Polish Ox-Cart on enormous wheels.
5. BALLET OF THE CHICKS IN THEIR SHELLS.
6. SAMUEL GOLDENBERG & SCHMUYLE - Two Polish Jews, one rich, one
poor, in a burlesque arguement.
7. LIMOGES - A busy marketplace.
8. CATACOMBAE and CON MORTUIS IN LINGUA MORTUA - The catacombs of
old Paris.
9. THE HUT ON FOWL'S LEGS - The hut of the death-witch of Russian
folklore, Baba-Yaga.
10. THE GREAT GATES OF KIEV - The gate of the ancient Slav city of
Kiev as projected by Hartmann.
In addition to the above there is a prelude entitled "Promenade"
which also occurs in several variations throughout the work. The recurrance
of this distinctive motif serves to represent the personality of the
composer, his moods and thoughts as he moves from picture to picture.
Mussorgsky wrote Pictures at an Exhibition for solo piano, but there
have been many attempts to "improve" on the original, with orchestrations by
Ravel, Henry Wood, Walter Goehr and Tushmalov. Ravel's interpretation
becoming by far the widest known and it is possible that it is only because
of Ravel that the work remains popular today. However, in recent years, the
original piano version by Mussorgsky himself has begun to gain the
recognition it so richly deserves. Mussorgsky knew what he was doing!
The "tradition" of interpreting Pictures at an Exhibition for new
media continues into the late Twentieth Century. Older Amigans may remember
the remarkable rock interpretation by Emerson Lake and Palmer in the early
Seventies, notable for its blending of unaltered passages from Pictures
(especially the repeated Promenade) with unashamed rock and roll and flashy
keyboard pyrotechnics! This version is also memorable for its pioneering
use of the modular Moog synthesiser in a live rock concert setting - not a
prospect for the faint hearted - but pulled off with panache by Keith
Emerson!
Later on in the seventies, the Japanese synthesiser musician Isao
Tomita released an almost faithful version of Pictures, again using the Moog
synthesiser. In addition to the Moog, Tomita also employed the Melotron
(anyone remember the Melotron?) which was a sort of clunky mechanical
ancestor of the modern sampling "synth" (a curse be upon them!), which used
tape loops of pre-recorded orchestral instruments or choirs. This gave the
Tomita version a very orchestral sound which owed a great deal to Ravel.
So here we are at the start of the Nineties, with what I believe to
be the first version of Pictures at an Exhibition for unaccompanied
microcomputer! Although I've used a lot of very colourful electronic
tonalities in this arrangement, I've actually taken the music directly from
the original scoring for solo piano so this version stands at the borderline
between a simple piano reading and a full blown orchestration! I hope you
enjoy listening to it.
ROB BAXTER. MARCH 1990
THANKS GO OUT TO ALL THE FOLLOWING:
My mum for making me possible; The legendary PSW for making a lot
more things possible; Dave Parkinson for sending me the Stockhausen tapes;
Ian Linacre for opening my eyes (ears?) to what this lovable little micro
could do; 17 Bit Software for flying the flag (BIG BIG thanks there!!);
Alistair Brimble for some of the best SONIX work ever. And my four cats,
Pascal Catlump the mother superior, Mr. Saunders the prodigal son, Whicker-
Basket the emotional sponge and Rottweiller the young pretender.
AND SPECIAL THANKS TO THESE PEOPLE WHO WILL PROBABLY NEVER KNOW!
Harry Olson & Herbert Belar for modularity, Bob Moog for putting it
all in a box, Wendy Carlos for opening up that box, Max V. Matthews for
giving the computer a voice, Commodore Amiga for a computer (that didn't
have six zeros in its price!) capable of singing with that voice and "The
Other Guys Software" for finally putting that voice on a disk and calling it
SYNTHIA! Oh, and Jeff Minter for releasing Trip-a-Tron on the Amiga (a
garland of Martian Fire Flowers for that one!).
ALSO AVAILABLE BY ROB BAXTER FROM 17 BIT -
CLASSIX1
- Music by J. S. Bach (17 Bit Disk 448)
CLASSIX2
- Music by J. S. Bach,
G. F. Handel
J. Pachelbel (17 Bit Disk 540)
Am I the only person doing serious classical music on the Amiga?
-----oOo-----
QUASI-HISTORICAL POSTSCRIPT...
I said above that this is the first version of Pictures at an
Exhibition arranged for a solo micro... That is actually not true! Back in
1987 I produced a full arrangement of Pictures as a demo piece for
Rainbird's "Advanced Music System" on the Amstrad CPC series of 8 bit
micros. The Amstrad's sound chip left a lot to be desired but that early
version of Pictures can be considered to be a dress rehearsal for the
considerably more ambitious arrangement which you now have!
-----oOo-----
VERY IMPORTANT BIT OF ADVICE:
IF YOU MAKE BACKUPS OF THESE DISKS, PLEASE ENSURE THAT THE COPIES
ARE NAMED PICTEX1 AND PICTEX2, LIKE THE ORIGINALS, OTHERWISE THEY WILL NOT
WORK!!!