"The Rival Editors"
Hablot K. Browne (Phiz) - from "The Posthumous Papers of The Pickwick Club"
Texts
Recorded
April 13, 2024
Piano Concerto in D minor, Op. 15 (#1) - Johannes Brahms - Boston Symphony Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf, Artur Rubinstein
1
erupts onto the screen
piano tries to calm things down
but
gets caught in the storm
as material develops
additional hands join from within
that horn always sounded out of tune on its high note
may just be how it
sits in the harmony
are we presenting
or transitioning
or is our transition being
coopted
by a presentation
or what
leaning in to the heroic grandeur of symphonic scale
2
indoors
domestic tranquility fosters deep feelings
worry
and memory
and dreams of a peaceful future
3
personal industry
shoulder to the wheel
contribute to the
culture
as it constructs itself
from solid parts and
diligence
a cadenza moment
to hold back the final perorations
forget not those left behind in the past
a job well done
Two Concert Studies, G. 145 - Franz Liszt - Jorge Bolet
1
figures designed to drape their fingeriness
with magic garments
of crystalline splendor
2
a carnival ride with lights that flash
orders of magnitude
to set the geometries of the stage
it must be
big enough
for the world
intimate enough
for the study or
boudoir
all encompassing
we have come to specifics
time to pack the bags
set things to
rights
solo baritone voice
choral voices
two characters
Verdi thought this was merely strange
it is
but not merely
the realms are distinguished
by provenance of rhetoric
church or
stage
Symphony in B-flat Major, Fassung 1878 (#5) - Anton Bruckner - Staatskappelle Dresden, Eugen Jochum
1
rational durations
opening segments up to the big glory
is
a similar trajectory
to Also Sprach Zarathustra
but Strauss
goes in a straighter
and thus less potent
line
balancing
such expanses as these
in a cosmic endeavor
feet of giants
2
a variation of the same slow quiet pizzicato opening
a hymn
prayers
and souls brought up into heaven
extended
sequence
mirror movement of the first
exposed wind ensembles
their dynamic
environment
is of such magnitude
that they seem extra small
vulnerable
exposed
increments of magnitude
3
slippery ground
perilous void
gnaw of doubt
devil
behind any pillar
4
again with the slow quiet pizzicato
another mirror movement
explorations of places
one might go
from pizzicati low and
slow
a marcato fugue
clash of mightinesses
and here we are
at
the mirror of Zara's Sprach
the gates are opened
Le Chasseur Maudit - César Franck - Orchestre de Paris, Daniel Barenboim
title page in heroic horns
paired with a growing melody
but not
balanced by it
the populace is uncertain
what to make of heroic horn
some are
suspicious
and plot
warning of its rise
and their oppression
or
are we witnesses to its occurrence
scene two
in the shadows menace lurks
an action thriller
Russian Easter Festival, Op. 36 - Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov - Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi
a show-opener display piece
for the touring orchestra
lots of
solos
little to tax the listening ear
evocative titillation
String Quartet in G minor - Claude Debussy - Budapest Quartet
the subject matter moves within its jacket
a population beneath a single
skin
a coolly discriminating ear
forwards materials and techniques
to be a composer
is to be a professional
using the ensemble as a small orchestra
they
together
are
playing for our pleasure first
less so
for theirs
relative absence of social dialog among the parts
as it is typically
signified
{journal entry of November 25, 1996:
deceptively simple surface
clear phrasing
hiding the fact
that what is clearly said
is pretty complex
hard edged and clear}
an unquiet music
spilling over itself
fugueing
the art of adding voices
when there are none left to add
{journal entry of January 10, 2006:
toccata
big and small
fugue
even entrances
not spaced out
stretto
layered
upon stretto}
Etude in D-flat Major, Op. 42 #1 - Alexander Scriabin - Michael Ponti
restless in its tonality
Entflieht auf Leichten Kahnen, Op. 2 - Anton Webern - John Alldis Choir, Pierre Boulez
figures pass through the vocal/polyphonic fabric
voice to voice
as
in Byrd or Philips
Les Pantins Dansert - Erik Satie - Ensemble "Die Reihe", Friedrich Cerha
puppets
Pinocchio
Petrushka
a figure of the Modernists'
sensibilities
as Napoleon/Faust
was a figure of the Romantics'
the clockwork motor within the impression
Mr. Crump Rag - Jessie Crump [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
in an attempt to understand
at an intuitional level
what might be
meant by "country"
as used in the sense of "Country Music"
to see
if
among other things
it's a useful distinction
current provisional categorization
change the question to
in what
venue is this music most itself? |
porch
brothel
saloon
honkytonk
road house
concert hall
Bourgeois parlor
church
stadium
Traffic Jam - Joe Ward and his Swanee Serenaders [from That Devilin' Tune]
dance hall
night club
lounge
the need to fudge on the categories
in any specific instance
is a
test
of the purpose
of making such distinctions
as "country"
at all
can one categorically deny the reality of categories?
this is chamber music
I hear it
as most itself
in a
room
signifies
the rhetoric of the participants
in dialog with
themselves first
us next
the whole professionalism thing
this music is about its business
a small-stage play
set entirely in a room (Endgame?)
except
that
as in such a small-stage play
we end up completely
and
participantly
engaged
in the ongoing dialog among them
a modernist leaning contrapuntalist
there was a fashion among them
as was such modernist leaning contrapuntalists
toward constant
chromatic activity
mustn't ever sit square in anything
especially
anything so crass as a key
what is the social need
that brings music such as this
to the
chamber it lives as itself in?
Tiger Rag - ? [from That Devilin' Tune]
this music doesn't seek to exclude the world outside
pretty fancy guitar
playing whoever it is
Why Don't You Do Right - Peggy Lee [from The Complete Recordings 1941-1947]
the more closely a music associates itself
with its specifically
fashionable venue
the more it associates itself with a time
a
decade
a year
a club
a place on the radio dial
It's Too Soon to Know - The Orioles [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
the venue
of a Victrola in the corner
Just Walking In The Rain - The Prisonaires [from Sun Records Definitive Hits]
or
the new-fangled record-changer
or hi-fi set
venues once
removed
Oh Boy - Buddy Holly and The Crickets [from The 'Chirping Crickets']
and of course
television
and American Bandstand
the national
audience
becomes the only audience that counts
Blue Bayou - Roy Orbison [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
the boomer-teen bedroom
or transistor radio
a huge audience
ripe for fund extraction
It's Happening - Paul Revere and The Raiders [from the Legend of Paul Revere]
unintended consequence
a massive generation
awakens all at once
their obsessions
become all the obsessions
Living for The City - Stevie Wonder [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
squeezing each line out under pressure
Be For Me - Ann Peebles [from Original Funk Soul Sister, The Best of Ann Peebles]
sexual reciprocity
argued on the radio-stage
Intermezzo 3 - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded at the Tintinabulary, Seattle, February 24, 2010]
two notes at a time
in a steady pace
sevenths and ninths
in
a gradually accumulating pitch space
seen always
as
just two
notes at a time
absent the usual signifiers of polyphonic voices
each move contains a
knot of voice-vectors
part of why I thought Morton Feldman was
incorrect
that the Fuxian motions exhaust the field
Long Live The Kane - Big Daddy Kane [from Long Live The Kane]
extended techniques
on the means of production
Banned Rehearsal 319 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [January 29, 1993]
immediately in the thicket's middle
bong bong bong bong bong bong bong
the bottom drawer
where the wind up toys are kept
rawr!
rawr!
improvising while parenting
the collective attention span of a session
is a negotiation among the spans in attendance
collected or not
alert
this is a clutch
funmaker rhythms on a quick slider
one of its best features
big splashy cymbals
douse the place
in drench
concord is sour grapes
at this point
a recess was taken
while a committee was formed
to transcribe the limerick
the editors are always grateful
euphoniumists are often scorned
their deaths go unmourned
tireless spoons
Grampooba the Tuba
{journal entry of December 12, 1997:
a definitely thin and puttery tape
conversational
discord is my favorite chord
concord is sour
grapes
is it whispered here?
a nervous clapping
an attempt
to fill the space of sound
why?
what might creep in
if
silence occurred?}
in the uncanny communion
of hominid and canid
corvids audio bomb
the canids padded feet
running past
quick fours
I'd forgotten how amazing this is
{journal entry of January 29, 2006:
as in hand-drawn motion-capture
animation
an abstraction of the experience
gradually coalescing
into a hyper-immediacy
to the point
where an illusion
persists
that immediacy
unmediated
appears
then
vanishes
Obb is disturbed
wound up}
Prelude in F Major - Ken Benshoof - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded at The Tintinabulary, Seattle, May 26, 2022]
settles into its key
like as
into a truly comfortable chair
Ars Nova Motet "Vos Pastores", Phillipe de Vitry - Elaine Barkin [from Open Space 34]
finding the music inside
 |
| Gradus 319 |
April 17, 2024
Whiskey Rover Down - SeaStar [from Sinners and Angels]
a mashup
of Whiskey in the Jar
and other songs
change key
change song
sea shanty strummers
from seafaring lands
spread like vermin aboard ships
Driving Piles - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded at The Tintinabulary, Seattle, January 25, 2023]
after demolition was completed
the construction site on the next lot
over to our West
spent a morning driving piles into the ground
and
shaking our house
Cum Processit Factura Digiti Dei - Hildegard von Bingen - Sequentia, Barbara Thornton [from Canticles of Ecstasy]
on bowed strings
and a quiet flute stop
if my ear serves
melody over a held tone*
the vertical intervals
can mimic or
otherwise relate themselves
to the patterns of vowels in sung lines
*or
over an implied held tone
smaller ensemble
means
more intimate balance in the sonority
Salve regina, vita, dulcedo - Peter Philips - The Choir of Royal Holiday, The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, Robert Gough [from Cantiones Sacrae Octonis Vocibus]
not intimate in the same sense
in this music
we are utterly alone
enfolded
this music tells us from on high
Die Himmel erzählen - Heinrich Schütz - La Chapelle Royale, Philippe Herreweghe, Agnes Mellon, Greta de Reyghere, Monique Zanetti, Howard Crook, Jean-Paul Fouchecourt, Herbe Lamy, Renau Machart, Peter Kooy, Peter Lika
instruction with reinforcement
a proliferation of prolongations
all packed together
Mein Herz ist bereit, BuxWV 73 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Purcell Quartet, Suzie LeBlanc, Dame Emma Kirby, Clare Solomon
calligraphy in melismas
fanciful curlicues
Médée, Act 3 - Marc-Antoine Charpentier - Les Arts Florissant, William Christie
orchestra and stage on a level
equal footing
their interactions
are personal
human to human
ear to ear
time signatures
are a method of organizing a music's metrical flow
a helpful common denominator
Premiere Courante - François Couperin - Kenneth Gilbert [from Ordre (Re) 2]
intricacy as an end and a means
Sinfonia in A Major, BWV 798 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Edith Picht-Axenfeld
industriously paced doings
Sonata in E-flat Major, WQ. 49/5 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklós Spányi
1
interrupts itself
wanders off itself
perpetual digression
retracing the path
doesn't remove its digressionary procedures
we become this digression's familiar
2
so old-fashioned
one could imagine this
as a movement from
one of his dad's cantatas
an invention on a contrapuntal figure
3
an exploration about the old fortifications
after all
flattery may keep your head
in its wonted establishment
Symphony in D Major (#13) - Franz Joseph Haydn - Austro Hungarian Haydn Orchestra, Ádám Fischer
1
a bustling establishment
on a splendid scale
2
that lovely cello aria
3
guests announced in a loud voice
at the top of the stairs
dance cards
calling cards
formal frivolity some
old
bore wheezing in a side room
4
time for some real party fun now
April 18, 2024
Symphony in D Major "La finta semplice", K51(46a) - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Academy of Ancient Music, Jaap Schroder, Christopher Hogwood
motoric figure binds and measures
no need to bring to a big completion
if it is just a part of something else
nor to balance everything
satisfactorily
Sonata in A Major, Op. 17 #5 - Johann Christian Bach - Bart van Oort
phrases consist of various parts
attached by mechanisms of adjacency
and partial imitation
and propulsion
Sonata in C Major, Op. 9 #2 - Muzio Clementi - Howard Shelley
the complexly figured phrases
of the galant style
braided essay in
miniature
or in the form of repartee
Violin Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 12 #3 - Ludwig van Beethoven - Itzhak Perlman, Vladimir Ashkenazy
1
dramatic
but not narrative dramatic
explorative
dramatic?
demonstrative dramatic?
a dramatic experience not a
dramatic story
2
as usual
the middle movement stays in its scene
emotive
dramatic
soliloquy-aria
alone with its thoughts
3
fashionable
to finish with a vigorous flurry of doings
light of heart
exhilarating
at play
with symphonically dimensioned contrasts
nouveau naivete
this music is made of theater sets
an outline
against a
backdrop
galant with a loosened cravat
home and village
wary
of power and passion
clever modulations in the menuet
pleasant
fellow
say hello to all you meet
a dreamy sort of fellow
grand schemes
Rondino No. 6, ‘Les Jours Passées’ on an original theme in E-flat, Op. 42 - Carl Czerny - Martin Jones
a theme
is a group of figures
embodying a tonality
transitions keep themes apart
turn your good side to the audience
wow'em with the floaty fingers
show'em your shy side
pianistic coquetry
anticipatory wrist wriggles
Polonaise in F minor, Op. 71 #3 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson
the figures that constituted this theme
are at odds
and get along
under protest
those that constitute this other
are young pups
that constitute this other
are effusion-y
deep stuff
Étude in A-flat Major, Op. 10 #1 - Robert Schumann - Florian Uhlig [from 6 Etudes de concert d'apres des caprices de Paganini]
musics on the surfaces of musics
ripples and waves
lines can dive
through
into the liquid pond itself
cavort with naiads
an
adventure in a caprice
Allegro Moderato - Fanny Hensel - Beatrice Rauchs [from 6 Character Pieces]
each several part of this character
is in a just proportion
nothing outsized
here is a character
one may profitably
emulate
Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night's Dream - Felix Mendlessohn - Philadelpha Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy
stand back
that mule'll kick
the scherzo tries so hard
the
hymn has a reluctance to settle down and cadence
so folks can breathe
french horns are good solid folk
here in midcentury
when
orchestras come with full brass and cymbals
it is the way of wedding
marches
to be overblown and repetitious
In Session at The Tintinabulary
April 14, 2024
Upton - Keith Eisenbrey
April 15, 2024
Gradus 393 - Neal Kosály-Meyer
and then
all categories are provisional
not to be extended past
their immediate use
where is this music's home
here in this room
when he plays Gradus
in another space
the music of it changes
to be at home in that
space
different space
different music
at some point the rungs leave off
being of limited pitch count
and
take on
being of limited pitch class count
a pause
to ponder the problem of pitches
to play a chant
in the upper octaves of the keyboard
a note
if played dampers off
will continue
until a new note
plays
but
can reappear
clearly
as the new note decays
to join the prior notes
in their common fate
Postscripts
Drops
Keith Eisenbrey 16: 2015-2016
Études d'exécution imminent - Commentary
I spent 2015 and 2016 both trying out different approaches to the use of row forms and simplifying my expressive rhetoric. Second Thoughts (2015-2016) were recorded in 2017. Corollaries (2016 rev. 2018) were recorded in 2023.
Prior volumes are available at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com
All are free for download.
Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery
listening journal doodles from 2022
