"Art, as practiced, is a zero-sum game. Your towering mastery is my cowering inferiority (or I guess vice versa). Expression is not necessarily even a game at all, and conceivably accommodates infinite varieties of interest outside of any defining issue of hierarchization. ("Great Expressor": sounds silly, right?) So maybe Art and Expression are two separate issues which merge in Works of Art; or just different ways of looking at (or listening to the whistle of) the blackbird."
- Benjamin Boretz - "3: (A Train of Thoughts)" from "inside in . . . / . . . outside out" Open Space Publications, 2020
Texts
From Recent Arrivals
November 6, 2021
Upshift - Tom Swafford [from Bound to Go Away]
motor phrase
inflates in new ways
at new moments
I Listened to the Wind Again - Jürg Frey - Hélène Fauchère, Soprano; Carol Robinson, Clarinet; Nathalie Chabot, Violin; Agnès Vesterman, Cello; Garth Knox, Viola; Sylvain Lemêtre, Percussion
in the time of a heavy oscillation
each tone complex is a leaning
counterbalanced
a word is sung from nowhere
and another
a clarinet
on the counterbalance group
and a drumhead
emerges
recognized
I imagine a violin also
cello perhaps
viola
my best guess
voice
violin
cello
clarinet(s)
and percussion
a bass drum
and vibraphone
the bass drum is making something in the room vibrate
back to
hearing a viola timbre
its center of gravity
midbody
describes a solemn orbit
Sketch for Reconstruction - JJJJJerome Ellis [from The Clearing]
a box made of pulses
here are some things in the box
now those
things out of the box
now in another box
now in both boxes
El Beso del Final - Christina Aguilera [from Mi Reflejo]
vocal, improv type:
like a sax player, hyper ornate.
Latinate
sound to the band.
something about a last kiss?
my Spanish is
woefully and shamefully nonexistent
Recorded
November 6, 2021
Ragtime Annie - Eck Robertson [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]
not far off in procedure
from Tom Swafford's Upshift above
fiddle
fun
on a motor pulse phrase
Finnegans Wake, Chapter 6 (continued) - James Joyce - Neal Kosály-Meyer [November 21, 2020]
so so my precious dear
streaming faces
so long as the locksmith
laughs
eleven no blank ye
to put it all the more plummily
borrow the question
hopelessly vitiated
temporarily wrapped
in obscenity
take your tongue out of your inkpot
don't I love thee
unfallable encyclical
gather behind the satraps
newhere so
airly
wait a momentum
my good enemy
After You've Gone, Take 1 - Art Tatum [from Classic Early Solos]
the song
as such
is mostly intact
though
it
occasionally rushes
through the boring bits
or
takes a
powder
for a bar or two
Rodeo (Four Dance Episodes) - Aaron Copland - Seattle Symphony, Gerard Schwarz
of course
this
is
the West of the movies
a complete
fantasy
essentially undemanding
just sophisticated enough sounding
to pass
as high brow
(the very definition of middle brow?)
flattering to
our image of ourselves
mass market propaganda
pretty pictures
heroic nice guys
the problem is
that Copland
apparently
didn't have a clue
just how oddball
the music of rural America
was
or
realized
that
that kind of weird
wouldn't sell to a dance
audience
Concertina for 12 Instruments - Igor Stravinsky - London Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas
busy bustle
city street
at last
calmly home
comfy
chair
they say hoot
almost as Hüt
or
to rhyme with Yew
What Time Is It - The Jive Five [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
were the backup singers dressed like little clocks?
bedderhurryup
I Have Loved Me a Man - Morgana King [from Gemini Changes]
this could be kind of incestuously creepy
but then
proudly
proclaiming
to have done
what my Mama did
a sentimental
compliance with traditional roles
Starting All Over Again - Mel and Tim [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
sets itself up
like in a musical
the song arrives within the story
the sort of personal message
formerly reserved for epistles
it reveals a realm of communication
from literature
into
song
Barracuda - Heart [from Greatest Hits]
white girl
finding a way into Tina Turner
bad girl power suit
I remember hearing this song
when it came out
I was 18
and
didn't get it
puzzled by it
more than anything
why is
this popular?
too produced and constant
for my taste at the
time
Athena - The Who [from It's Hard]
trying to write a Bob Dylan
wordy verse
November 9, 2021
old stock
the tape wavers across the head
a physical-historical
factoid
artifacted digitally
in an unstable
(virtual)
ear
sample
of the path
of the virtual ear
of the signal
projected
here
we once were tape heads
with virtual
tape head ears
on them
ear L erase R ear
Virtue Al
(A Head of His Time)
heads
have ears
signals have virtual ears
space left blank
on
purpose
these tapes arrived here
at about the same time Ben's
"One" tapes did.
Wave for the tape, Al!
Septet, but Equal - Milton Babbitt - Composers Ensemble, Paul Zukofsky
polyhedrons sliding
along crystalline-generated angles
in such
guise as to speak
they have lots to say
Banned Rehearsal 455 - Isaac E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Neal Kosály-Meyer [June 7, 1997]
Isaac practices his linguadentals
we honk and blat
springs are
loudly shaken
the Kingsbury is forsaken
for the Mighty Wurlitzer
Isaac continues to linguadentalize
we are teetering edgeward
we stop in time for drums
and other percussions
woods metals
skins
low piano note
and zither strum
at last the violin
calmly
the violin is having a chat
with the linguadentalist
dada:bowbow
Isaac, I think, babbling, and playing piano with his dad.
The best part
is the babbling.
Must be one of those
some in, some not
sessions.
A possible start, just a few minutes in:
at the
slide-whistle entrance,
things begin to come off like sounds.
And
we still get plenty of babble
springthing on cymbal
or perhaps
just 620 septillion.
A thin tape.
must be duets, or trios.
Isaac begins}
Track 1 - The Humidiflyers [from Humidiflyers 2002 (private tape)]
The Humidiflyers
(Devin Gaylord, Ian Grunfeld, Rick Hoag, Darren
Reynolds)
were the first EMP arising band
that Neal introduced
Karen and me to
back when we were emerging
from the world of small
children,
in the early oughts.
They were working on an EP
(Blue Ducky)
and these
I presume
were tracks
and premastered takes
they shared with Neal
during that process.
They were excellent musicians all,
dripping with chemistry.
Ian, the vocalist, turned up years later
as the opener for the
show
Your Mother Should Know
put on at The High Dive (in Fremont)
to benefit the Wobblies.
given how sparse the individual tracks are
the crazy texture of the
whole together is quite a trip
it is a track with sounds on it
is
it music?
does it need to be?
Zazaru - $.99 Dreams (Matt Crane, Adam Diller, Tom Swafford) [from Brood of Bau]
such a swarm of sound
one starts to hear things
coming from behind
I can't remember exactly
where or when
we heard these guys
but it's got to be back in the blog
somewhere since this dates
from 2012
my vague recollection is
a wine bar somewhere
on a
bill with one of Jim Knodle's projects
Maple Leaf 170220 - Keith Eisenbrey [February 20, 2017]
recorded in our backyard one morning in February
birds traffic something
tapping
(not sure what)
possibly a slow drip in a drainpipe nearby
I think I can hear me
rattling dishes
inside in the kitchen
as I unload the dishwasher
unidentified moving objects
rain?
must be,
the dripping has sped up
The King's Hunt, Fvb. 53 - Giles Farnaby - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
a firm stepped thread
for a while
followed by diverse tactics
leaves Pachelbel's too famous Canon
hopelessly mired
Lukas-Passion - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana
I love how he sets the ornate title page
long recitatives
tenor narrator baritone Jesus
a whole and delightful tiny choral intrusion
just to set "Nie
keinen"
the choral intrusions increase in length
and frequency
in the
trial portion of the narrative
as the story goes
to a more public
stage
ends with narration
severe
a final chorus to match the
title page
notable: voices alone, no instruments
Die Wohltemperierte Klavier, Band I, Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp Major - Johann Sebastian Bach - Sviatoslav Richter
reach out
roll back
get a good stance
reach out
clear a
space
to dance within
Sonata in D minor, Kk. 141 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
clockwork and its mechanical precision
a globalized environment
to
discover the music in the machine
the soul inside reason
Kurze und Leichte Klavierstücke, Andantino e grazioso in B-flat Major, Wq. 114/2 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklos Spanyi
folds in upon itself
turns tenderly
embraces
1
opens with a question
say what?
response and
discussion
follow-up question
2
worries grow
comfort is provided
doubts intrude
reassurance permeates
decision is made
3
time to play
vigorous exercise
Sonata in C Major, Op. 1 #2 - Friedrich Wilhelm Kalkbrenner - Luigi Gerosa
I read through the first movement of this just this morning
[of the day
of listening]
the rest will follow Thursday and Friday
[not quite
true]
trades in the sort of bald major-minor melodrama
that
Schubert transfigured a few years later
so sunny
so clean
theme and variations
hence the squareness to open
If the19th Century
is
among other things
the era of the
Bourgeoisie rising
this is for their comfort
and flattery
simple and pure
not indulging in ultra-sophisticated contrapuntal
or structural games
for display only
3
proves it's only a game
repeat verbatim
Etude in C minor, Op. 10 #12 - Frédéric Chopin - Alfred Cortot [1942]
tattered standard
in battle breeze
Stumbling - Mitchell's Jazz Kings [from Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]
the new dance craze
to cut loose
and keep the old Victorians away
Honey Just Allow Me One More Chance - Henry Thomas [from Allen Lowe's Really The Blues]
essentially a celebration
(in the negative)
of staying out
drinking all night
for playing in 1920s dive bars?
When You Got A Good Friend (SA-2584-2) - Robert Johnson [from The Complete Recordings]
better advice given here
than above
a less than memorable song
(as a song)
played and sung well
but that lyric was a rush job
Music for Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' - David Diamond - Seattle Symphony, Gerard Schwarz
the unfortunate part of theatrical incidental music
is that it is tied
by its title and history
to an external story
at least with Romeo and Juliet
the material is
or has become
so mythic as to nearly disappear
in a multiplicity of
ramifications
what's nice here
is that none of these little pieces
presumes to
carry the whole edifice
more like a display of stage designs or costumes
from some past
production or other residue
Tran La Ezy - The Musical four Plus One [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]
proto Chuck Berry with great lazy fiddle playing
Mosaics - Howard Hanson - Seattle Symphony, Gerard Schwarz
all serious like Ruggles comes on
can't hold it
quite
must
have his big builds
evoking ancienthood
as a feeling
tourist
antiquity
documentary ready
I suppose it fulfilled a commission
November 11, 2021
Young Rats - The Lake Washington Singers, Betty Eisenbrey, JoAnne Deacon [April 10, 1962]
barely even time for a smile
Groovin' - The Young Rascals [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
who am I to this?
Is it addressed to a prospective mate?
It is as though I am an observer
watching this song in a movie
Do You Hear What I Hear? - The Lake Washington Singers, Betty Eisenbrey, JoAnne Deacon [December 1972]
that's me
on the snare drum
age 13
instrumental first track
but structured as though
there were a
verse chorus and bridge
one wonders whether he liked everything about it
but the vocal
it certainly makes plain
the by-then-pedestrian structural habits
of industrial music
this is how it goes
because this is how
things always go
Intermezzo 2 - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded at Bard Hall, December 17, 1982]
at issue:
how might a music put itself together logically |
(that
is, plausibly)
expanding its scope
using plausible ramifications
of itself
AND
with recourse
to as limited a rhetorical
vocabulary
as can be mustered
so as
not to obscure
or
elide
the plausibility
of its putting itself together
how
that is
to grows a radish
a list of notes
a sequence of duration types
(short/long)
flat dynamics
(but not dead dynamics)
original title
"Feather Light Turning"
derived from AW's
suggestion
"a feather turning in the light"
even then
I
resisted directly descriptive titles
they say too much
allow too
little
I was also trying to understand
with my composing mind
what it
might mean
to explore within an interval
to chart the innards
step by step
little if any thought was given
to how this
might exist in the concert music world
and yet
I would gleefully
indulge in a tonal pun (still will)
and succumbed
to what amounts
to a climacteric peroration
rhetoric is a tougher nut to eschew
than one might think
I Ain't No Joke - Eric B. & Rakim [from Paid in Full]
I am being put in my place
OK
I suppose I do no less
Banned Rehearsal 300 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [August 16, 1992]
Neal must have been up for a visit from San Diego
I don't think they had
moved back yet*
drumming thumping jingling and light hooting
some
howling
takes the cassette tape a bit past its capacity
when the
door opens I hear bells
when the blue light comes on
I know it's
not long
red light black light
blat bursts blast blues
in
memoriam John Cage
in the person of a southe'n preacher
things
ain't gonna be the same
since
you gotta adjust for the time zone
differences
let me start over
'tain't neether
the window is
clothed
thou shalt not tape life liberty or property
without doing
process
just and fair condensation
the rest escapes me
British soldiers
shall not be quartered in our homes or
brothels
*the K-Ms must have visited more often than I remember in 1992 & 1993 as they show up in the listing frequently before they moved back for good in '94
 |
| My Journal Entry of March 5, 1995 |
beware mankind
then some yelling
November 12, 2021
Gradus 1 - Neal Kosály-Meyer - Neal Kosály-Meyer [January 21, 2002]
and so it begins in earnest
15 years after the San Diego series
strangely I don't see that I entered these in my journal
at the
time for a while
not sure why not
that lowest A-nat was not the Yamaha's strongest feature
the mic I was
using was OK but not great
I did the transfers from DAT to computer soon
after each session
sessions were single rungs
30 minutes
there isn't a great deal of space here
for Cagean silence
that must have arisen later
or become more pronounced
much
more concerned
with the rolling thunder of the partials
(speaking
of which
a crack of doom thunderclap
hit here at about 1 AM this
morning)
(quite the amazing sound system ions have!)
our
post-session conversation
centered on piano-technique issues
I was
concerned with string breakage
which was a significant
(and
expensive)
problem with that piano
hammering on a single note
with the pedal down
was a trial by worry for me
Not About You (The Lament) - The Hope [from In The Deep]
wallowing in billows of glory voice
lost in rapture
Gradus 209 - Neal Kosály-Meyer - Neal Kosály-Meyer [April 2, 2012]
10 years later
and almost 10 years ago
still going through the
A-nats
different piano
different recording device
2 rungs
per session
the reverberation of high piano notes is a shimmer
due
to the channel configuration
between microphones and the speakers
the high notes
are to my left
the low
to my right
this is strange to me
leave room for John Cage
in word mind
about musical structure
and identity markers
in experience
how do we learn
and signal
that a certain patch of experience
is a piece
or a piece of a piece?
we set the piece apart
we take it apart
if not distinct from environmental sounds
per Cage
then is it
that the piece is indistinguishable
from the ongoing flow of
experience
or
is it
that the ongoing flow of experience
is coopted by the piece
a segment of it
is cordoned off
involuntary servitude
Overture - Dead Bars [from Dream Gig]
If I am not mistaken, that's our boy Neal on the keys for this
In Session at the Tintinabulary
October 31, 2021
Banned Telepath 77 Toad Hall - Aaron Keyt
Aaron sent sounds just after I had put together Banned Rehearsal 1037, so I included these in Banned Rehearsal 1038
November 5, 2021
Two Part Inventions in A Major and B-flat Major - Gavin Borchert - Keith Eisenbrey
These were originally composed for piano, but they work fabulously on clavichord, with just a few adjustments to keep the notes within the 5-octave range. Enjoy!
November 8, 2021
Banned Telepath 77 Southern Fried - Steve Kennedy
Banned Telepath 77 Tintinabulary - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Neal Kosály-Meyer
Anna and Neal reach to us by phone, talking about consciousness as they understand it
Banned Rehearsal 1038 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer
and we put it all together
in glorious sci fi
November 12, 2021
Two Part Invention in B-flat major - Gavin Borchert - Keith Eisenbrey
I recorded the next Invention (#5 of 19) but I haven't had a chance to edit it down and share it with Gavin yet. Next week it will be here, I hope.
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
could call a name and on a dark night when
for any one to stand out there is one
sign one drink loggers is appeased collection
Reality Check::
the bridge
densely mirrored
receding into
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