{"id":4389,"date":"2022-05-04T21:03:50","date_gmt":"2022-05-05T02:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=4389"},"modified":"2023-08-13T20:01:57","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T01:01:57","slug":"belladonna-amaryllis-halvorson-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/belladonna-amaryllis-halvorson-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Poisonous Beauty: A Conversation with Mary Halvorson (Part Two)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We continue our conversation with Mary Halvorson (Part One here<\/a>) with a focus on her compositional process, the origin of her new sextet, the selection of the Mivos Quartet, and how Belladonna <\/em>(Nonesuch, 2022) and Amaryllis<\/em> (Nonesuch, 2022) connect to some of her other projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PostGenre: One of the more fascinating things about Belladonna <\/em>and Amaryllis<\/em><\/strong> is that while they sound distinct from your other recordings, partly due to instrumentation, you can still tell you wrote them. In other words, your voice is still there.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mary Halvorson: Right.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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PG: In terms of writing your own part, did you have to change what you would normally play to fit the rest of the larger ensemble, or did you build your part first, then fit everyone else around it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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MH: It ultimately depended on the piece. When I am writing for larger groups, I often start with the guitar part, mostly because I\u2019m literally starting my composition process by playing my guitar and seeing what comes out of it. To some extent, I did that on these recordings as well. But with Amaryllis,<\/em> because I had the sextet, I would sometimes start my compositional process with an instrument other than the guitar, for instance, the vibraphone. I think, as a result, there\u2019s more density in the harmonic aspects of the compositions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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