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Thu, 23 Jan 2025 04:19:49 GMT

In trying to find a clear and recognizable language to write this piece, I have chosen some of the most basic, functionally tonal means: tonics and dominants in F minor, a modulation to the relative major (A-flat), and a three-part form which, through a retransition, recapitulates back to F minor. What I offer is not invention of new "words" or a new language but a new way to make sentences and paragraphs in a common, much-used existing language. I can create a more compelling musical argument with these means because, to my ears, potential rhetoric seems to fall out from such highly functional chords as tonics and dominants more than certain fixed sonorities and pop chords that I have used before.

My musical argument is dependent on a feeling of cause and effect, both on a local level where one chord releases the tension from a previous chord and on the larger structural level where a section is forced to follow a previous section by a coercive modulation.

The orchestration does not seek color for its own sake, as decoration is not a high priority, but the instruments combine and double each other to create an insistent ensemble from beginning to end. Only occasionally, as in the middle A-flat section,

do three woodwind instruments play alone for a short while to break the inertia of the ensemble forging its course together. – Michael Torke

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 04:49:58 GMT

The a cappella motet 'What man is he that feareth the Lord?' dates from 2020 and was commissioned by the Lord Burghley 500 Foundation for a Service of Thanksgiving in Westminster Abbey to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of William Cecil, Lord Burghley.

A setting of Psalm 25: 11-12 and Psalm 112:1-6, the text dwells on the themes of godly living, wisdom and a life of righteousness. Written in a continuous through-composed structure, it falls into three sections. The first is formed around an inverted pedal of C sharp,

which gradually expands outwards. A central paragraph led by the trebles' long expansive melodic line, supported by wordless accompaniment, climbs by degrees to a second climax ('the generation of the faithful shall be blessed') before the eight-part texture

of the motet begins to build from the lower voices. The return of the C sharp pedal signals a recapitulation of the opening material ('there ariseth up light') and it is in this tonal area that the motet tranquilly resolves

('and the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance' ).

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 04:40:42 GMT

Hey, is this working?

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 04:40:37 GMT

Hey, is this working?

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 04:07:59 GMT

Hey ChatGPT, please define the word "pathocracy".

“The term 'pathocracy' refers to a system of government or rule in which individuals with personality disorders or psychopathic traits hold positions of power and influence.

In a pathocracy, the leadership is often characterized by self-serving, manipulative, and destructive behaviors that prioritize the interests of the ruling class over the well-being of the broader society. The concept was popularized by Polish psychologist Andrzej Łobaczewski in his work on political and social systems dominated by pathological personalities.”