Requiem Aeternam

Bollocks. I wrote a new song last night for 'Musical Chairs' and I was sure I had a belter of a choral number. But no, it would appear not. I tend to do this, though - create something and love it, then return to it hours later and hate it. I think I might be a bit too picky, or maybe a bit hard on myself? OR, maybe it's that I am merely a perfectionist and want to get it right. Either way, it's frustrating the hell out of me and I'm getting sick of ripping up bits of manuscript and gluing them back together!

I have been looking at/ listening to the works of other theatre composers today and it would appear that Mr. Lloyd Webber could arguably be a bit of a thief. I know, a BOLD statement to make... but I think he might have to thank Mr Puccini for a few things in his career. Having said that, 'Evita', one of his better scores, is beautifully constructed; although I can't think for the life of me why anyone would want to write anything in 10/8 time. When he wrote the opening requiem, he must have thought 'I'm going to out-smart Mr. Sondheim with this one', but alas, he failed. Sondheim works with time in a way that colours the music, whereas Webber uses it to simply be a bit of an arse, I think. A sufficient 5/4 would have done the job and then us conductors wouldn't have to go through endless treatment for Repetitive strain Injury!

Since I've mentioned it, here it is:





Now... after listening to this, try and compose something half-way decent. It's bloody hard!