"Every second of playing time involved writing out, note by note, the parts of up two dozen instruments, playing them back, making adjustments to the score, playing again, rewriting, then sitting in silence, listening to the inner ear synthesize and orchestrate the vertical array of scribbles and deletions; amending again until the bar was right, and playing it once more on the piano."
— McEwan, Ian (b. 1948)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
New York
Publisher
Double Day
Date
1998
Metaphor
"Every second of playing time involved writing out, note by note, the parts of up two dozen instruments, playing them back, making adjustments to the score, playing again, rewriting, then sitting in silence, listening to the inner ear synthesize and orchestrate the vertical array of scribbles and deletions; amending again until the bar was right, and playing it once more on the piano."
Metaphor in Context
Creation apart, the writing of a symphony is physically arduous. Every second of playing time involved writing out, note by note, the parts of up two dozen instruments, playing them back, making adjustments to the score, playing again, rewriting, then sitting in silence, listening to the inner ear synthesize and orchestrate the vertical array of scribbles and deletions; amending again until the bar was right, and playing it once more on the piano. By midnight Clive had extended and written out in full the rising passage and was starting on the great orchestral hiatus that would precede the sprawling change of key. By four o' clock in the morning he had written out the major parts and knew exactly how the modulation would work, how the mists would evaporate.
(pp. 15-6)
(pp. 15-6)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Ian McEwan, Amsterdam (New York: Anchor Books, 1999).
Theme
Mind's Ear
Date of Entry
05/14/2011
