How Classical Composer Richard Sortomme Writes Remarkably Beautiful Music
Classical Composer Richard Sortomme talks about his workspace—his composing studio—and how he created a comfortable and inviting environment, filled with all the assets he needs; orchestral & operatic scores for study, and technology-to allow inspiration to strike whenever it presents itself.
TOPIC TIMESTAMPS
[00:00:00] Welcome/Intro
[00:00:06] Brief tour of studio. Starting with bookcases filled with CDs, DVDs, orchestral & operatic Scores
[00:00:23] Photos from The Juilliard School student days as a concert violinist
[00:00:34] More bookcases with my own scores, books, technology & hard drives, and personal items-ceramics
[00:00:51] Very cool photo of some great violinists at the beginning of the 20th century
[00:01:05] Photo of Einstein: “Imagination is more important than knowledge”
[00:01:13] 2 prints, one of which is Stradivarius
[00:01:19] 2 posters from my 2004 commission by the New York Philharmonic
[00:01:29] 2007 Commissioning Agreement with The Cleveland Orchestra—my 1st of 2 commissions
[00:01:40] More bookcases filled with many of my scores and lots of composing paper
[00:02:00] Turning to where I spend the majority of my time writing-my desk. It is very large; dating from the 1940s
[00:02:20] I write in the old school way—pencil and paper—sketching is first, then I assemble them in a linear line
[00:02:51] When sketching is complete I turn to orchestrating
[00:03:12] When orchestrating is complete I enter every instrument, line by line, into Avid Sibelius
[00:03:23] When entering in Avid Sibelius is complete I export each instrument and then important each into Logic Pro Audio to make a synthetic realization
[00:03:56] 88 weighted key Keyboard with sustain pedal
[00:04:02] Why I compose at the keyboard
[00:04:20] Brother printer to print out large orchestral scores
[00:04:33] Central Station controlling digital signal flow to Logic Pro Audio
[00:04:41] Central Station remote on my desk-easy control of speaker volume
[00:04:51] Apogee Quartet on my desk-controls recording and playback in Logic Pro Audio
[00:05:04] Two Genelec monitoring speakers
[00:05:17] Closing: This is my composing studio, allowing inspiration to strike whenever it presents itself
[00:05:28] I hope you’ll join me next time. I’ll show actual sketches and orchestrations from my 2020 Piano concerto, and demonstrate making the beginning of a synthetic realization
[00:05:55] Goodbye until next time
Follow Richard Sortomme
Official Website: https://richardsortomme.com