Dr. Colin Eatock, composer
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Dance No. 4 for Saxophones

3/5/2022

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The Whoop Group of Warsaw, Poland, has made a pretty cool video of my Dance No. 4 for Saxophones.

The piece is an arrangement of the fourth movement of my Quartet of Dances (2004), for string quartet.
 
The short, lively piece adheres to no established form or genre: it is not a waltz, a tango, a foxtrot, or any other specific kind of dance. I call it a “dance” because it is essentially rhythmic rather than melodic in its conception, with an irregular yet emphatic pulse throughout.
 
As well, the piece comes with its own built-in little manifesto: there is too much seriousness in contemporary music. I claim no exemption from my own criticism, as some of my own works unabashedly strive for profundity and gravity. But in this piece, I have tried to inject some joie de vivre into new music.


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A Salute to Young Composers

7/13/2021

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PictureThis young composer already knows the value of a good eraser.
Moving from one apartment to another is never easy. And in my case, it’s been made more difficult by the fact that I haven’t moved in over 30 years. And while I’ve always prided myself on my non-materialistic nature – acquiring as little stuff as possible, as I travel through life – the accumulations of three decades can add up.
 
This is especially apparent in my storage locker – where I’ve stashed things that I’ve felt the need to “archive” over the years. There are boxes in the back of my locker that I literally haven’t looked inside since I abandoned them there in 1990. Often, I don’t know what’s in them until I open them.



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Four Elizabethan Songs About Love (2016-2018)

6/12/2021

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With most nations in some kind of lockdown or restriction, due to Covid-19, I had to search to the ends of the Earth to find a vocal ensemble that could record my music. But I found them! Western Australia is nearly Covid-free – and the Giovanni Consort, of Perth, was able to create this brilliant video of my Four Elizabethan Songs About Love (2016-2018). I don’t think it gets any better than this.

© Colin Eatock 2021

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A meme for music nerds ...

4/2/2021

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I would be lying if I claimed that the Covid lockdown isn't having a strange effect on me. How strange, you ask? After all due consideration, I created this meme ...

© Colin Eatock 2021
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Don Trumpo

2/9/2021

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I used to work for an opera company, and one of my duties was writing synopses for operas. I enjoyed it, and I soon warmed to the glorious stylistic traditions of the genre. Where else, but in an opera synopsis, do you find words like “lascivious,” “impugns” or “absconds”? And thanks to my years of experience, the following synopsis for a yet-to-be composed opera pretty much wrote itself:


Don Trumpo, ossia il tiranno arancione – an opera in three acts.



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Invitation to Love

12/11/2020

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PicturePaul Laurence Dunbar (1872 - 1906)
“Invitation to Love” is the first of my Three American Poems About Love (2020). The text, by Paul Laurence Dunbar, is as much a glowing reflection on the nature of love itself as it is an expression of love directed towards a specific other.

Dunbar was born in Kentucky, the son of freed slaves. He achieved national and international fame as a poet, an essayist and a novelist, writing both in standard English and in African-American dialect.

“Invitation to Love” is performed here by members of the UK-based Sonoro chamber choir.


© Colin Eatock 2020

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Psalm 146

10/26/2020

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It is widely accepted by scholars that the Psalms were written to be sung. And over the centuries, composers have responded to this implicit challenge, finding in them a rich source of inspiration. This setting of Psalm 146 is the finale to my set of Three Psalms (2018).

The excellent virtual video below was recorded by the Sonos Quartet.


© Colin Eatock 2020

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O magna res (2019)

10/7/2020

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PictureHildegard in an inspired moment.
Bit of a back-story here. In the carefree days of 2019 I composed music for one of Hildegard von Bingen's mystical poems, "O magna res." I did this for a Toronto-based women's vocal sextet called the Schola Magdalena. This group was to have performed the setting in a concert in April 2020 -- but of course that didn't happen. Then, a couple of months ago, I discovered a New York-based countertenor named Phillip Cheah, who produces a series of home-made videos called "Quire of Cheahs." I asked him if he would like to make a video in which he sang all six parts in "O magna res" himself. He did, and this fine little video is the result.


© Colin Eatock 2020

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Spring Night

10/2/2020

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PictureSara Teasdale (1884-1933)
Sara Teasdale’s poetry is personal, subjective and often often confessional in tone, and frequently explores such issues as love, beauty and death. Spring Night is no exception: here, she contemplates natural beauty – admiring it, while also reflecting that she finds it no antidote for the sadness that love can bring.

My setting of Spring Night is performed here by a vocal quartet from Pro Coro Canada, Michael Zaugg conducting.



© Colin Eatock 2020

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Canterbury (2004)

10/2/2020

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PictureThe changes begin.
My piece for cello and piano entitled Canterbury is based on a four-bell change-ringing pattern of the same name. Four “bells” (represented by four piano chords) are presented in all possible groupings – while the cello plays long, lyrical phrases that rise to a high C and descend to the instrument’s lower range.

It is performed in this video by two Montreal-based musicians: cellist Dominique Beauséjour-Ostiguy and pianist Marie-Pier Allard.


© Colin Eatock 2020

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    Eatock Daily

    I'm a composer based in Toronto – and this is my classical music blog, Eatock Daily.

    When I first started blogging, Eatock Daily was a place to re-post the articles I wrote for Toronto’s Globe and Mail and National Post newspapers, the Houston Chronicle, the Kansas City Star and other publications.

    But now I have stepped back from professional music journalism, and I'm spending more time composing.

    These days, my blog posts are infrequent, and are mostly concerned with my own music. However, I do still occasionally post comments on musical topics, including works I've discovered, enjoyed, and wish to share with others.


    – CE

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