Choan GálvezIt's Donald Bousted's birthday and I miss his genius, his humour, and his advice.
This is I Wish You Were Wearing a Hat, a tribute piece I wrote for solo #flugelhorn, performed by his friend Stephen Altoft.
YouTube
Don could be incredibly delicate and expressive on the #ukulele. Enjoy his rendition of Geoffrey Cox's Melody on the "baby elephant" #baritone
Melody by Geoffrey Cox
And, for something completely different, he was always interested in #microtonal music. Bousted wrote for a variety of tunings and instruments, including #quarterTone #accordion.
(Warning: this music is not apt for every audience.)
Donald Bousted: My Time is Your Time - Lore Amenabar Larrañaga
He also enjoyed experimenting with the #ukulele capabilities.
Modernism Is Dead Long Live Modernism.
Modernism is Dead Long Live Modernism (after Alfredo Jaar)
Donald was also an interesting #multimedia artist.
Sand Walking, #polyrhythm and #quarterTone reunited.
Sand Walking (No. 2 of 'Six Times One')
When Donald Bousted tuned his baritone in #fifths he asked me to write some music for the instrument.
I wrote Santa Orosia, a suite of seventeen brief pieces inspired by Aragonese folk tunes. He recorded it fully for the Barry Tone's Fantastic Adventure album.
https://donaldbousted1.bandcamp.com/album/barry-tone-s-fantastic-adventure
Barry Tone’s Fantastic Adventure, by Donald Bousted
31 track album
El Coplé for ukulele in 5ths tuning by Choan Gálvez
Donald honoured me with a few other renditions of my music. Entranced (until the end of the closing credits), for #baritoneUkulele, is a personal favourite.
Entranced (until the end of the closing credits)
And thanks to him, I came to contact a few fabulous composers.
I'm quite fond of Gilbert Isbin's music.
First Light by Gilbert Isbin
And Jim Dalton's
The Comsos Speaks to us in Patterns by Jim Dalton for tenor ukulele
This is Donald playing Donald's (from my Waltz in Progress collection).
'Donald's' Waltz in Progress No.11 by Choan Gálvez
This is A Big One, for #ukuleleInFifths performed by yours truly.
I was working on this piece (for him) when Donald told me he could not keep playing anymore.
He was, he is, A Big One.
A Big One - Choan Gálvez, ukulele in fifths tuning
Note from Stephen Altoft: "To mark the birthday of our late friend Donald Bousted on 21st November, we, duo Contour, are releasing three movements of 19.5, recorded live to video, which were originally one online performance made as part of the 'Mikrotöne: Small is Beautiful' Symposium hosted by the Ekmelic Society in 2021."
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsCN6IYqMsDiOuOYm4jbIGcZetThQyqrh
