Lupin

  My latest idea to get the old creative juices going is to pick a person real or other wise and write a short piece about them. My method is to pick out two of their characteristics and try to put them over in music. It’s a bit like writing their theme music.

My first attempt at this is inspired by the adventures of Arsène Lupin Please don’t get me wrong I have not suddenly become interested in French Literature, rather this was inspired by a television series. In it the title character was a big fan of the books written by Maurice Leblanc and took the main character as his role model. He wanted to act as a gentleman thief and do his thing through guile and using his wits not by hurting anyone. A touch of the Robin Hoods but in French Society.

The two Characteristics I have chosen are Sophistication and action. It is like the magician, putting on an act, being a gentleman and so that the charm offensive hides your true intentions. I think that is a little naive as I can think of many characters in History who were Gentlemen but still committed horrendous crimes. Jack the ripper for just one example. For the second part I have decided to go for an Ostinato. There are many examples of using this in action sections in films and TV. It also makes sense to put the action part in the middle to reflect the fact that like the magical act it is the part you should not see.

So here it is in three parts although part one and part three are pretty well the same. Considering the whole piece is only 30 seconds long, I decided to use the same arrangement for both the clarinet bits. The clarinet was chosen to play the melody because I think it has a more sophisticated sound. While the piano can be very rhythmical as well as being a very capable backing instrument for the Melodic part.

I like the melody, and I think it has the degree of sophistication I was looking for. The sound of a piano and clarinet combine to give a Cocktail Jazz vibe, So there is success there. Through with the time constraint I am not so sure about the Ostinato. I think that maybe it should run through a few more times, so that it would work better.

The result is straight out of Muscore 3.