>Steve Schwartz wrote re rests:

>This [ad lib note/rest values] was carried to a constructive principle,
>by the way, in Britten's first church parable, Curlew River.  Britten even
>invented his own notational symbol for the score, the "curlew" (which looks
>like the icon of a bird in flight - sort of a fanciful "m," since I'm
>confined to plain-text).  The curlew marks the point where the all the
>parts come together and proceed in strict time.

Now this I didn't know. (Of course, it's a sad day when I don't learn
*something*). Necessity is the mother of invention. And I'm not surprised
that Britten solved his "problem" in a typically resourceful manner. The
more Britten I hear (excluding his songs), the more I like his music and
I suspect I would have liked him too on a personal level.

Dave Pitzer