"Operation: Sprechenhaltestelle" World Premiere

devlin1 · Post by **devlin1** » Thu Nov 11, 2010 6:49 pm

Hey hey, people. I've written a piece for wind ensemble, and it's being performed by the Irvine Valley College Wind Symphony on December 11th at 7:30 pm. It would be fuckin' awesome if any of you were to come.

The piece is called "Operation: Sprechenhaltestelle," and is inspired by the introductory adventure of the same name written by Merle Rasmussen for the RPG Top Secret, originally published in 1980. This is a stealth geek thing -- nobody in the ensemble is aware of why the piece has such a weird name, or why its first movement is entitled "How To Be An Effective Administrator." Not a single person has so much as asked! How crazy is that? I find that pretty crazy.

Anyway, it's the first music of any appreciable length I've written in, like, 16 years or something, but it's also easily the best thing I've ever written, too. In fact, as creative things go, of any medium or form, it's probably my favorite thing I've done. The ensemble's having fun rehearsing it, so I'm sure it'll be a great performance. If you miss it, you will literally regret having missed it.

(We're also playing some Bach and stuff, but whatever.)

jimmy corrigan · Post by **jimmy corrigan** » Thu Nov 11, 2010 7:03 pm

rad! and that is crazy, mike. crazy like a fox.

i will try to make this, but can't promise anything yet.

btw, we (andy, sam, chris and i) are playtesting "action city!" right fucking now.

devlin1 · Post by **devlin1** » Thu Nov 11, 2010 7:13 pm

~~[quote="jimmy corrigan"]~~rad! and that ~~[i]~~is[/i] crazy, mike. crazy like a fox.

i will try to make this, but can't promise anything yet.[/quote]
I totally understand.

You were great in "BFE," by the way.

~~[quote]~~btw, we (andy, sam, chris and i) are playtesting "action city!" right fucking ~~[i]~~now.[/i][/quote]
Right fuckin' on. I hope it goes well/makes sense.

opwunder · Post by **opwunder** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 9:45 am

Congrats! I hope the concert is a success.

Skyman · Post by **Skyman** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 8:46 pm

Sweet Mike!

devlin1 · Post by **devlin1** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 11:25 am

Hey, big thanks to you crazy knuckleheads (and Shawn) who came up for the premiere of "Operation: Sprechenhaltestelle." I think it's no exaggeration to say that the evening was a success far beyond my expectations. (I did not expect to have total strangers stopping me in the lobby to tell me how much they liked it.) It was an extremely rewarding experience, especially because I had so many friends there.

So... thanks!

jimmy corrigan · Post by **jimmy corrigan** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 8:54 pm

thank you! as i said last night, i was extremely impressed by the composition and the performance. you could literally feel how much the ensemble enjoyed playing your piece. so proud of you, dude. can't wait until the next one. congrats, mike!

(btw, now you totally need to run o:s with your piece playing the background.)

mordraine · Post by **mordraine** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 9:26 pm

It was really awesome! Loved your piece! The rest of the show was pretty good too. Shawn mentioned that she had been to symphonies a lot of times before and doesn't remember having as much fun as Saturday.

devlin1 · Post by **devlin1** » Mon Dec 13, 2010 2:28 am

Oh, it was definitely the most fun I've had at one of our concerts, that's for sure.

In all seriousness, though, generally speaking that was about the best I've ever heard that ensemble sound. Yeah, mistakes were made and etc., but overall I'm not sure we've ever sounded better (in my year and a half playing with them, anyway). We've certainly never had a curtain call like that before. And you should've seen our director backstage -- he was bouncing off the walls.

I'm glad you guys enjoyed yourselves, though. It wasn't exactly a short drive, so it would've sucked extra-hard if we'd been all shitty and stuff.

We have four concerts next year, and at least one of them will have another piece from me, so I'll keep everyone posted about that.