"My revelation was: there are things you want to say, anxieties you want to engage, arising from anything in your life, arising in your perception from your perspective as a composer, that are not music itself (because they're explicitly about something(s)) or poetry either (because that's a different perspective of saying),and cannot be discourse (because that's a closed world in which some things are unsayable, or even indiscernible except as composite masks) - but such things may, still, be composable as something - not as music, but as music is composed, as something being what it is about: as languagemusic, composed out of the specific sensibilities which belong to you as composer, listener, reader, writer, player, speaker. "
- Benjamin Boretz - "(Liner notes for) / Language ,as a music
/ six marginal pretexts for composition"
from "inside in . .
. / . . . outside out" Open Space Publications, 2020
Texts
From Recent Arrivals
November 5, 2021
October, 1984 - Olivia Block
we are far inside
a place
air is moving somewhere
not near
us
then it is
we are near
moving
flowing
substance moves
to inundate
swamp
and scramble
signals arrive
blow past
ashore
we are in a space
emptied
then filled
slow long surf
we have been where before
Ginseng - Laurel Evers - Jim Knodle, Scott Brown, Jack Endino, Matt Cameron, Laurel Evers [from Standing Joys]
syncopatic-metric combo
hectical push groove
raunchuendos
with
it pops
It Isn't a Dream - Melissa Dunphy - Cornell University Chorus, Robert Isaacs
SSAA
a story being told
in a space
that echoes certain phrases
back
and
back
flinging the tale
into poemmusicland
Bottomless Hole (Handsome Family) - Star Anna [from Songs to Keep You Up at Night]
a first person folk tale Poe-ism in a way (Karen says like the Boss in Nebraska - sure)
October 30, 2021
Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Fvb 51 - John Bull - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
technically brilliant
a master class in composition
is it expressive
yes
clearly
though the emotions one might name
are a mix
of calm peace,
placid
like a quiet pond at sunrise,
and a frictionless warm glow
each smallest
ripple
an elegy
phlegmatic confidence
the daily island life
Symphoniae Sacrae II, Op. 10 #27 "Freuet euch des Herren, ihr Gerechten" - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana
metrical design
another master class for composers
but corporately expressive
each musician contributes
to the emotional burden of the whole
from the inside
out
the whole
is expressive
because
each individual is
communally
but
so that
the composition
of the whole
bends
the individual expression
into a
harmoniousness
social coercion
Die Wohltemperierte Klavier, Band 1, Prelude and Fugue in G minor - Johann Sebastian Bach - Christiane Jacottet
precise finish to each trill
this expression is made of bricks
the initial figure is lopsided
supple sinews
glistening hide
animal grace
Sonata in C Major, Wq. 63/35 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklos Spanyi
domestic life dispensed by paternal beneficence
each petition considered
then
decided
a character study
aspirational and instructional
an ordered existence
oops!
where did that come from
nothing a pleasant game of cards won't cure
private social graces
October 31, 2021
Don Giovanni, Act 2 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, Nicolai Ghiarov, Franz Crass, Claire Watson, Nicolai Gedda, Christa Ludwig, Walter Berry, Mirella Freni, Paolo Montarsolo, New Philharmonia Chorus, Henry Smith
Giovanni and Leporello argue,
then trade places
they conspire
almost literally
in duping Elvira
G's lutish serenade is truly beguiling
seducing the audience
(Mozart tips his hand and winks)
G scatters the forces arrayed against him
his
single successful ploy in the entire story
violence
matches G's lute tune
in beguilishness
a wonderfully humane moment
the
scattered forces regroup
come to a more resolute agreement
back each other up
realize whom they are dealing with
a darn seriously amazing ensemble piece
sociopolitically
Leporello
is in a real pickle
perfidy of the servant economy
Mozartean recitatival nonsequiturs abound
everybody stop now
the MAN is going
to speak
Ottavio
the mic is yours
interesting that he finally comes around
after hearing testimony from the peasant
Elvira thinks there may be something
salvageable out of the Don
even after all that
(must have been quite a night!)
the switcherudes
meet again
in the graveyard
where all
are equally low
|||
In
some productions Massetto and the Commendatore are played by the same voice.
It could be staged
such that
the Statua Gentilissima
is Massetto
in disguise
he comes to supper
and Don Giovanni
is undone
by his own (unselfacknowledged)
terror
and credulity
the most coldest hand
the demons coming out of the pit
are Ottavio
Anna
and Zerlina
in disguise
they drag him
into the cellar and
kill him
emerging then
knives in hands
in bloody costume
for
the bad dude's
get what they deserve chorus
at the end
|||
Anna dispenses high notes with
liberality
noblesse oblige
Mozart and duplicity
how about that party scene
not
just an orchestral stage multiplicity
but also
a conversation
between Giovanni
and Leporello
thick as thieves
do a thing
vary that thing
but interrupt
halfway through
the varied
thing
with
some other
thing
embed freely
Lim reads this
as music made of
figurations
the figures
make the key
the key
is not
something
the figures
are
in
interesting
November 2, 2021
Etude in F minor, Op. 10 #9 - Frédéric Chopin - Alfred Cortot [1933]
the melody is in no meter known to mankind
the grumbling in the bass
gets
angry
when it pulls too hard on its leash
The Christian Warfare -The Original Sacred Harp Choir [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]
it's in the book
first
with solfeggio
then
with the verses
just as they sing
it
singing is a ritual
and a catechism
teaching the singers
to be cogs
in a
machine
an analytic
with a social similarity to bell choir performance
each
player gets a selection of notes to play
important to understand
that this is
not a music for public performance
it is for participants alone
lab coats
bubbling retorts
plasmodic discharges
angry nationalism
contention
and strife
little canons
drift by
out the window
in the storm
queasy moments
Don't Forget Me, Little Darling - Parker and Dodd [from Evans 78s]
guitar and banjo
two voices
tenor on the tune
female voice (I think)
as an
upper harmony
though I would completely believe
a falsetto sort of voice
more
likely
the more I hear
If You Build a Better Mousetrap - Peggy Lee [from The Complete Recordings 1941- 1947]
mix a better toddy
sweep a better floor
lying bigger lies
a dilemma
for
discussion
amidst the entertainees
at the nightclub tables
Organum - Carl Ruggles - Buffalo Philharmonic, Michael Tilson Thomas
we don't talk about it
we buried it
Walkin' the Boogie (single version) - John Lee Hooker [collected from Neal Kosály-Meyer's Bo's Milieu]
a story teller
telling stories
on top of a rhythm game
bump de wadda wadda waaaa
I think the backup guys
are saying
"sweeter than
easy"
Alive - The Lake Washington Singers, Betty Eisenbrey, Joanne Deacon [April 10, 1962]
a rather severe study in large intervals
in canon
like an ostentatiously
chromatic fughetta
Do I Move You - Nina Simone - [from Sings the Blues]
move groove soothe move
an inquisition
quiver liver
Era of Peace - The Lake Washington Singers, Betty Eisenbrey, JoAnne Deacon [from Betty's Picks]
a plea for such
with uncomposed accompaniment
staccato block chords
precursor
to #meaningful #sungword #music
Beauty and the Beast - David Bowie [from Heroes]
engineered artificiality
masked multiples
half a song at best
Intermezzo 2 - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded February 23, 2010]
begins with permutations
and a summary
an extrapolation
re-summarize
leap
logic
resummarize
repeat
a tonality that emerges from a seed
(which is a pretty
good synopsis of the Intermezzo project as a whole)
next task
was to dig into
what seeds
consist of
here 3 notes make groups
sometimes 4
there are overlaps
of gestures
clearly I was somewhat obsessed
with the Chopin section of
("...my
chart shines high where the blue milks upset...")
still am
to the point of
trying to regenerate it
from homegrown principles
didn't manage that of course
but something else for sure
Let Him Go - Bonnie Guitar [from Dark Moon and other Country Favorites]
a letter to the other woman
you won't miss him
hm
you wouldn't even know he's
gone
I hope he didn't read the letter
Banned Rehearsal 299 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [July 31, 1992]
messages
are you there
and you are here
happy birthday
is sung by Aaron
to
Karen
Aaron is Sam
He am Sam
reads the tale
house mouse
quiver liver
cumulative verse
words on words
with dulcimer and kalimba
a train a train a
train a train
very clever
 |
| my journal entry of February 10 1995 |
box fox
mouse house
here there
anywhere
would you oh
could you oh
in an administration
by Ross Perot
goat boat
boat goat
complete with summaries
say yea though I travel
wherever I go
I still shan't eat them
in an administration by Ross Perot
the whites are not
green
eggs don't got hocks
ham hawks
drumming
can you hear the constituent
elephants
of the balances of your body
November 3, 2021
Eusebio Consumed - Mary Lee Roberts [from Open Space 9]
inside a metallic tube
it bends around us
semiarticulating chambers
we pass
through
de-organizing
{my journal entry of January 4, 2004:
concerned with elemental forces and speaking
- in the time of syllables and
seaswells
Banned Rehearsal 629 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer [January 18, 2002]
let us make pretty sounds
at the time
I was not happy
with how the room was
miked
I believe
we had a single stereo mic
in the middle
lots of transparence
but not much presence
golly almost 20 years ago
oversells the proximity effect
the little bells sound good
it misrepresents the size of the space
the space is livened
with some partial amplification
and loudspeaker noise
radio static
bird tweet
and rattle
to tambourine
we work the setup
tok!
disintegrated residue
the tide waxes inward
there are strange stations
out there in radioland
a wind that comes and goes
for striving after
the whole becomes dire
and prophetical
portentiosity unleashed
alarum sounds
and crashing waves of tam tam
magnificently weird
November 4, 2021
Hoosier Daddy - Antique Scream [from Sink the Sun]
I barely had time to sit down
a quick come-on
spoken
and some guitar stuff
Banned Rehearsal 810 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [March 26, 2012]
we poke at it
to discover what it might be
a bass guitar is practiced
like an
annoying gnat
passive aggressive poison
when it goes away
the sound becomes a
sound
an explorable territory
full of unknowns
the bass wanders around
unable
to recall its past
we assist in its losing that
the mimicry of walking
is
unfortunate
but fairly innocuous
we don't jam
stuck again
sort of comes and
goes
works pretty well
with the tall trees
across the street
getting blown around
a
steadyish force
some hyper birds
screeching at each other
some wiggly lines
descending
repeatedly
it's a living
a bit of an assault
Fantasia, Fvb. 52 - William Byrd - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
voices in imitation
piled on top of each other
pitches
notes
have multiple
cross-indexed contextualities
when the meter shifts
follow the footwork
light
as a butterfly
fancy dance
Die Sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz, SWV 478 - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana
query
was this a Lutheran thing
to make a setting of these particular texts
{answer:
no there is a Latin setting from ca. 1500, but this is a pretty early
one}
or did it predate that schism
birth of the sacred oratorio
a sung passion
play
the picardian nature of the cadences
is a punctuation
a marker
surely
as
effectively transformative
as Wagner ever dared hope to be
Die Wohltemperierte Klavier, Band 1, Prelude and Fugue in F minor - Johann Sebastian Bach - Christiane Jacottet
his hand is everywhere
his face nowhere
these thoughts are complete
they don't
turn themselves
in on themselves
Sonata in D Major, Kk. 140 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
we'll have some fanfares and flourishes
the clowns will jape into their beards
no stick up this dude's keester
playing for delight
not instruction
Kurze und Leichten Klavierstücke, Allegro di molto in D minor, Wq. 114/1 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklos Spanyi
not even a minute long
it sounds like one of his dad's inventions
turned inside
out
a sunny bright night
it was a lovely day
today
was it not
gracious lovely duds
enforce slow movements
November 5, 2021
Sonata in C minor, Op. 5 #1 - Ludwig van Beethoven - HJ Lim
ends for good
right in the middle
then picks up elsewhere
entirely outside the
same times
his voice leading
holds characters
much as Mozart's characters do
in his
operatic ensembles
everything going on around the melody
is a dialog
third
movement:
the figures scurry
to escape the downbeat
which chases them
to
pounce
it's an awesome scrap
victory unassured
peace has been restored
or so
we say
tee hee
Sonata in F minor, Op. 1 #1 - Friedrich Wilhelm Kalkbrenner - Luigi Gerosa
enters like a barker showman
spins his magic
one-dimensional
but magic
anyway
strictly melodic
this music is looking itself
in the mirror
those double
trills are a bear
pretty great tunesmith though
a clever padder
a jolly fellow
Etude in F Major, Op. 10 #8 - Frédéric Chopin - Cecile Licad
just strolling down the walkway
in the early AMs
swinging a cane
in playful
twirls
circus peril
In Session at the Tintinabulary
November 1, 2021
a tone alone
makes its own
fellows
from its innards
the place
upon which they
expand
is neither vertical
nor horizontal
but internal
and curved
possibly
polyplex
the second rung
is the 6th D Down
pretty low
and the 2nd E down
pretty high
the high E and its fellows
have a palpable acoustic effect
on
the low D and its fellows
oddly
less so
the other way around
fewer audible
partials to affect?
Special Mention
Much of my musical energy during the first year of the Pandemic went into producing this virtual recital of recent solo piano music by my long-time collaborator, Aaron Keyt, and by me. There are 9 reels total in the playlist, ranging from 10 to 20 minutes or so each, the whole stretching for just under 2 hours. I am quite pleased with the results, especially with how well I manage to illuminate the extraordinary "in-your-presence-alone" intimacy of Aaron's compositional voice.
Postscripts
::Consult the Oracle
this to thank me for I had to such skill
was no disturbance in her play had that
happened her entire honored so would
Reality Check::
soon
the stone
would draw thunder
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