Playlist

Preface

"'The Poem which I am now about to read to you was written by Eeyore, or Myself, in a Quiet Moment. If somebody will take Roo's bull's-eye away from him, and wake up Owl, we shall all be able to enjoy it. I call it - POEM.'
This was it.

Christopher Robin is going.
At least I think he is.
Where?
Nobody knows.
but he is going -
I mean he goes
(To rhyme with 'knows')
do we care?
(To rhyme with 'where')
We do
Very much.
(I haven't got a rhyme for that
     'is' in the second line yet.
     Bother.)
(Now I haven't got a rhyme for bother.
     Bother.)
Those two bothers will have to
     rhyme with each other Buther.
The fact is this is more difficult
     than I thought,
I ought-
(Very good indeed)
to begin again,
But it is easier
To stop.
Christopher Robin, good-bye,
I
(Good)
I
And all your friends
Sends-
I mean all your friend
Send-
(very awkward this, it keeps
     going wrong)
Well, anyhow, we send
     Our love
END.

'If anybody wants to clap,' said Eeyore when he had read this, 'now is the time to do it.'"

A. A. Milne, from "The House at Pooh Corner"

Texts

Live

August 13, 2024

Confluence I
Jennifer K. Chung, Aaron Keyt, Peter Nelson-King, Greg Powers, Mary Riles, Jenny Ziefel
Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle

if I listen
to what I hear
is it
by that
music
or
does music arise
in appearance
by other means

Fanfare for a Seismic Retrofit - Aaron Keyt - Peter Nelson-King, Greg Powers

a fittingly fun fanfare

Malinconia - Friedrich Cerha - Peter Nelson-King, Greg Powers

Peter sings
while Greg plays mutes
with his trombone

he plays
his mutes
aloud

Dos sonetos de amor - Jeremy Gill - Peter Nelson-King, Mary Riles

a chamber music
is part conversations
among its players
within the music
being played
could there be a threshold
past which
the conversation
is a depiction
of a conversation
and not one happening
within the music
the sense
of the music
hiding
behind its conceit?
becoming
merely orchestral?

Six Variations - James Dapogny - Peter Nelson-King, Jenny Ziefel

colorful gloss

Eight Haiku - Justin Rizzo-Weaver - Peter Nelson-King, Jenny Ziefel

the strongest piece on the program
that wasn't by Aaron
poem-painting thinking
with the intervals between

selections from Koi Songs - Aaron Keyt - Jennifer K. Chung, Aaron Keyt

the conversation here
is within the negotiation
of making a music of it

Four Tankas - Jirayr Shahraminyan - Peter Nelson-King

watercolor lightness
for appassionato lines

aether - Jordan Nobles - Jennifer K. Chung, Aaron Keyt, Peter Nelson-King, Greg Powers, Mary Riles, Jenny Ziefel

all together now
for shifting shoals
in fogbound waters 

a music
with no front or back
nor destination 

the players become their locations
around
in a less than virtual space

Recorded

August 11, 2024

Symphony in A Major, Op. 90 "Italian" (#4) - Felix Mendelssohn - Wiener Philharmoniker, John Eliot Gardner

1
bouncy flouncy triplets
a young heart's music
joie de vivre
can not be denied
its joie 

2
the flutes
duetting above the strings
is charming
the night
and its romances 

every block
a new intrigue 

3
now for a song
and tales of ancient heroes 

4
whipping along
with urgent hurry

Humoreske, Op. 30 - Robert Schumann - Wilhelm Kempff

melody
raindrops
window dripping
repeats interrupting repeats
someone's been listening to Scarlatti I think 

interwoven movements
masterful use of register
Schumann needed no exoticism
beyond his own imagination

3 Mazurkas, Op. 56 - Frédéric Chopin - Vladimir Ashkenazy

1
modulation
by slipping down the chromatics 

2
between keys
is the key we're in here 

3
between walls
no windows
but my song
will lift my spirits
beyond the ceiling

{journal entry of September 9, 1996:

middles and beginnings are switched}

Romanze in G minor, Op. 21 #3 - Clara Schumann - Susanne Grützmann

the figuration tries to escape
it has flown for now
and we are forlorn
and empty
even returned
it struggles to flee

Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Op. 56a - Johannes Brahms - Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Charles Mackerras

light on its feet
no wallowing allowed
fluid voice leading
comes alive
thusly brushed

August 12, 2024

Racconti fantastici, Op. 12 - Ferruccio Busoni - Wolf Harden

fugato
no nonsense
we're being serious here
it hides behind some big fists
but
is never truly gone
always ready to insinuate itself
back into the action

Piano Concerto in C-sharp minor, Op. 30 - Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov - Hamburg Symphony, Richard Kapp, Michael Ponti

effective dramatic moments (tm)
strung together
with nothing but gossamer
and a serious piano-playing face
(and bombast)

Gymnopédie 1 - Eric Satie - Double Duet Ma.Gr.Ig.Al [from The Eccentrics]

orchestrated for small theater orchestra of street instruments

Eli Green's Cake Walk - J. Cullen and W. Collins [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

proceeds
as by a schematic plan
of chords and figures 

two banjos
if I am not mistaken

4 Preludes, Op. 33 - Alexander Scriabin - Michael Ponti

1
alone with a dream of floating tonality 

2
this tonality wrote a lovely poem for you 

3
this tonality is stern 

4
and this one is passionate
but heavily burdened

Fireworks, Op. 4 - Igor Stravinsky - New York Philharmonic, Igor Stravinsky

clearly
the spectacle of it is inspired
or inflicted
by Rimsky-Korsakov
but
the differences are telling 

Igor
keeps track of the notes he's using
is willing to stretch his instruments
into new colors 

chamber orchestra thinking

Prelude: "Feuille Mortes" - Claude Debussy - Paul Jacobs

elusive
coy
clever

Seven Pieces for Piano: Rubato, Op. 11 #7 - Zoltán Kodály - Jenö Jandó

a large irregular object
among the planets

Lux Aeterna - Howard Hanson - Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz - Ilkka Talvi, Susan Gulkis

sacred impressionism
how perverse 

this material takes itself
humorlessly
serious 

eyes raised heavenwards
palm to palm
fingers vertical

Cumberland Gap - Frank Hutchison [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

guitar thinking
both hands are involved in each note sounded

Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra - Arnold Schoenberg - New York Chamber Symphony, Gerard Schwarz, American String Quartet

small string ensemble
large string ensemble
winds
brass
percussion 

the pixies are loose in the museum room 

peaceful spirits hang out here

frowning grimly
the keeper staggers home
to face the music 

but

no hurry
there's still time

safe and secure
in domestic business 

winds up
to what might be
a few
and several
endings all 

the musics pile on daddy's lap
for a bednight hug

Billy The Kid (Ballet Suite) - Aaron Copland - Seattle Symphony, Gerard Schwarz

this recording is somehow bland
rubbed smooth 

beneath an empty sky
boom boom ka boom boom
comes to its ceremonial
abrupt
end

August 13, 2024

Four Transcriptions from Emerson: #3 - Charles Ives - Charles Ives [from Ives plays Ives]

the aroma of turgid prose

Grievin' Blues - John Lee Hooker [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

pulling at its chain
driven deep

Bye and Bye - Bob Angliano Quartet [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

chamber singing sociability
sharing the fun of singing together

Ruby, My Dear - John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk [from Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane]

its grip on the firmness of its time
never falters

Sinfonia and Fugato - Vivan Fine - Robert Helps

chromatic homogeneity
obscuring
but not erasing
its essential rootedness

Combination of the Two - Big Brother and the Holding Company [from Cheap Thrills]

a live performance
little rhythmic hoot hoots

Tobacco Road - Paul Revere and The Raiders [from The Legend of Paul Revere]

bragging
on the humble lowness
of ones origins
for authenticity points 

groady guitar shredding

Stardust - Willie Nelson [from Stardust]

sings casually
as though simply saying

Let The Passers By - Jill Borner, Keith Eisenbrey, Dan Sedia [recorded live at Bard Hall, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, March 18, 1983]

my triumph
of sandblock virtuosity 

"till all the fool fell off it"

Twenty Four - Mudhoney [from Superfuzz Bigmuff]

call and response
a social hierarchy

August 14, 2024

Banned Rehearsal 327 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [April 16, 1993]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 327 930416

instruments
are operated
toddle interaction 
continues
inexhaustibly 

John's harnomaka 

time is logged
and sounds are made
communication kept away 

Do Re Mi

all gone
attention mismatches
we bellow in frustration 

cyclic overwhelmment

unlearning how to talk
can you dance
hop like a bunny 

binga binga bing bang bink 

glossolalia and drumming syllables
we are trying too hard 

ambulance
rattle rattle
where's John's tail
homo smart-ass 

{journal entry of January 22, 1998:

a rather weary perfunctory session
mostly just hanging out with John
homo smart-ass}

Last Night I Said Goodbye to My Friend - Moe Tucker [from I Feel So Far Away - Moe Tucker Anthology 1974 - 1998]

dead pan march rhythm

Banned Rehearsal 645 - Karen  Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer [January 10, 2003]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 645 030110

electric guitars
and a small drum machine
set in motion 

fingers on each moment
immediacy of potential
for transformation
a sound
can be sustained
with continuous effort
or
set to go
at a single moment
thence
to continue
for its prescribed routine
or
to be shut off
in another single moment 

the small drum
has morphed
into other small percussions 

a gentle and engaged session

Fallout - The Tiptons Saxophone Quartet [from Laws of Motion]

happy reeds
happy embouchures

Luke 6: 20-26 - Keith Eisenbrey - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Glynn Olive [recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, May 3, 2013]

they sang this well
words of Christ
to be sung by two voices
of indeterminate gender

Encounter Crossroad Labyrinth - Yuji Takahashi - Julia Hsu [from Open Space 44]

a creatively structured list/sequence
so that
we are led to think
across memory
away from the leading edge
or simply
extending the leading edge
back
through the arrow's feathers

Banned Telepath 97 South - Steve Kennedy [February 27, 2023]

a slow tour of sounds
drums
bells
and stringed pluckers 

to take several tours
later
in sequence
as looped
into
the eventual
Banned Rehearsal

O Viridissima Virga, Ave - Hildegard Von Bingen  - Sequentia [from Canticles of Ecstasy]

music
is a door 

to dance
in space

Geistliche Chor-Music, Op. 11, SWV 369-397 (1648), Volume 1: X. Die mit Tränen säen - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana

from the beatitudes I believe 

lovely use of metrical tempo shifts!
I am in awe 

punctuatory cadences
not the goal posts

Mensch, willst du Leben seliglich, BuxWV 206 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella

uplifting arms

L'Antonine - François Couperin - Kenneth Gilbert

fancy footfalls

Sinfonia in E minor, BWV 793, - Johanne Sebastian Bach - Edith Picht-Axenfeld

old school
solid German values
gothic and clear

August 15, 2024

Sonata in D Major, Kk. 237 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

adding to the figure
at its front end
structurally articulating cadences
are delayed
as a means of underlining them

Sonata in C minor, Wq. 51/3 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklós Spányi

balanced responses
slyly leading questions
the conversational phraseology
incites us
to personify the figures
to imagine people
conversing

Symphony in C Major, Hob. I:60 "Il Distratto" - Franz Joseph Haydn - Austro-Hungarian Orchestra, Ádám Fischer

adagio intro
a sleeping village street
which awakens to dawn 

indoors now
in a ceremonial
waiting
room
instructions given

a staged ensemble
street scene conversation
here's the street musicians
to entertain
while we await plot 

this may be a brawl
right here
clashing swords
and peril in the outcome 

but
here
it is quiet
and
at peaceful prayers
dreams of handsome officers
in braid
and medallions 

now let's tune up
just in time
for the fast finale

Flute Concerto in D Major, K. 314 (#2) - Wolfgang Amadues Mozart - Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Neville Marriner, James Galway

master of the entrance
the timing
with which
figures
appear 

stock cadences
allow the ear a rest
to recalibrate
for
the soon
to be ensuing
new
melodic figures
to follow

Symphony in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastorale" (#6) - Ludwig van Beethoven - Stockholm Philharmonic, Wilhelm Furtwängler

except track 1
which didn't
and won't
rip properly :-( 

a nice nap
in a sunny meadow
beneath a friendly tree
a slowish tempo
that hurries along 

this one is plump
the wagon
rolls with the hills 

the weather turns
the sky darkens 

the pastorality of it
is picturesque
but
the fact that it is not set
in a noble court
is also telling 

what it depicts
is available to any

Caprice in E minor, Op. 1 #15 - Niccolo Paganini - Salvatore Accardo

parallel octaves
and fingery bow work

Euryanthe, Act 2 - Carl Maria von Weber - Staatskappelle Dresden, Marek Janowski, Jessye Norman, Nicolai Gedda, Rita Hunter, Tom Krause, Siegfried Vogel, Rundfunkchor Leipzig

much anguish
over fidelities
and wagers
and jealousies 

as does any proper Romantic figure
he soliloquizes in verse 

scattered scraps of lines
forefigure Eglantine
and her heroine-ic high notes 

new scene
some work for the flute
and clarinet
and viola
and bassoon 

agreement among two
is signified
by syllable to syllable
coordinated
singing 

hollow drums
an unsettled day breaks
and promptly goes
all to heck 

apparent betrayal
of faith
and protestations
of innocence 

what is a poor tenor to do? 

effective
dramatic
use
of choral pianississimo
for
an ominous hush of dread 

all the guys
point
at the evil Verträterin

Sonata in C Major, D. 958 (#18) - Franz Schubert - Paul Badura-Skoda

living in Kierkegaardian tension
the inner is not the outer
they do not accord
peace of spirit
is not an accomplishment
for a restless soul
facing a chasm
that can't be crossed

In Session at The Tintinabulary

August 2, 2024

Sinfonia 15 (midi) - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 15 Sinfonia 15 240802 Midi

this one
is now
officially
completed
and out of clavichord workshop

August 9, 2024

Sinfonia 16 (midi) - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 16 Sinfonia 16 240809 Midi

as is this
the last
one

August 11 2024

Elparan - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 58 Elparan 240811 [240811]

continuing my weekly discipline
of writing arrangements
of melodies
found in an 1846 shape-note song-book

August 12, 2024

Banned Rehearsal 1105 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Neal Kosály-Meyer

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 1105 240812

on the patio

August 16, 2024

Sinfonia 15 (clavichord) - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 15 Sinfonia 15 240802 [240816] Clavichord

Sinfonia 16 (clavichord) - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 16 Sinfonia 16 240809 [240816] Clavichord

Sinfonia 12 (piano) - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 12 Sinfonia 12 240530 [240816] Piano

("...what I could hear, trying to crawl out from between the lines of your last ferocious sonata...") - Benjamin Boretz

Keith Eisenbrey · Benjamin Boretz - What I Could Hear [240816]

I had a productive morning. A lot of music came together and it was quiet.

Postscripts

Drops

Selected recordings of my compositions can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com

All are free for download.

Playlist

Preface

"THE LORD:

Appear quite free on that day, too;
I never hated those who were like you:
Of all the spirits that negate,
The knavish jester gives me least to do.
For man's activity can easily abate,
He soon prefers uninterrupted rest;
To give him his companion hence seems best
Who roils and must as Devil help create.
But you, God's rightful sons, give voice
To all the beauty in which you rejoice;
And that which ever works and lives and grows
Enfold you with fair bonds that love has wrought,
And what in wavering apparition flows
That fortify with everlasting thought.

(The heavens close, the Archangels disperse.)

MEPHISTO (alone):

I like to see the Old Man now and then
And try to be not too uncivil.
It's charming in a noble squire when
He speaks humanely with the very Devil."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - from "Faust", translated by Walter Kaufmann

Texts

Recorded

February 25, 2024

Theme and Variations in C Major - Ferruccio Busoni - Wolf Harden

let's be square
let's be square again
we'll be square for awhile
quite charming
but square

we'll be so
in the face of anything else
that might happen
out there
in figuration land

Serenade for Wind Instruments in D minor, Op. 44 - Antonín Dvořák - London Symphony Orchestra, István Kertész

ceremonial and celebratory
but not cheerful
more like a parade of judges
and other very self-important people
trailed by urchins and their caretakers

a most pleasant picnic
the kiddos play spinning games

turns trills appoggiaturas
all the old graces persist
as signifiers of lyrical flowingness 

to play a note
one must understand its place within its utterance
one's understanding of it
becomes it
but
in a variously fraught synthesis
of it
and of understanding 

what did I mean by that?
by that
I meant
that
that I meant 

the judges process off
with no loss of self-importance

Khovantchina, Act I - Modeste Mussorgsky - Sofia National Opera, Atanas Margaritov, Dimiter Petkov, Todor Kostov, Lyoubomir Bodourov, Stoyan Popov, Nikola Gyuzelev, Alexandrina Milcheva-Nonova, Milen Paounov, Maria Dimchevska, Dimiter Dimitrov, Nadya Dobriyanova, Verter Vrachovsky

drunkenness from the night before
interrupts the peaceful morning 

conversational
not in the rhythms of actual conversation
but in the schematic presentation of pulse-organized music
or
this singing isn't pretending to be speaking
this singing completes its sentences
balancing its phrases  

the stage populates with chorus members
the Greek chorus has become an active character
voice of the people
and suddenly
the maiden enters
in peril
at the top of her lungs 

he keeps setting her off 

the audience is addressed
as a narrator might provide some analysis
or commentary 

a drama of musics
acts out
in the drama of stage 

that sounds like the curtain

Don Juan, Op. 20 - Richard Strauss - Staatskapella Dresden, Rudolf Kempe

impatience
then total focus to overwhelm
irresistible
only to refocus
cadence through a chromatic thicket
adventure time

this is presumably Byron's Don Juan we have here

February 26, 2024

Karelia Suite, Op. 11 - Jean Sibelius - Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi

music arises from below
or from a distance
the victorious parade past
in their wake a waste of sorrow

taking apart Das Rheingold's opening upward sweep 

Spring will come one morning without permission
whistling merrily off to the happy fields
pompous palace
busy streets

Sonata in F-sharp minor, Op. 23 (#3) - Alexander Scriabin - Michael Ponti

struggling through an impasse of so many possibilities
round and round
testing each door over and over
rattle the hinges 

melody and figuration cross paths in opposite directions

Quartet in F Major - Maurice Ravel - Budapest Quartet

fantastical limpid delights
nymphs and naiads
civilized polish over what is not spoken of
painted in muted tones and flowing lines
faerie peril
faerie weariness
faerie furioso 

hangs on its penultimates
to turn elsewhere

Quartet in B Major, Op. 7 (#1) - Béla Bartók - Juilliard String Quartet

expressionist anguish
it melts alone
they meet in secret
furtive glance across shoulder
stern words
keep it quiet
a flickering screen
a slow pantomime 

string quartet as expressionist theater

Peccadilles Importunes - Eric Satie - Frank Glazer

a mechanical device
deflationistical

4 Songs, Op. 13 - Anton Webern - London Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez, Heather Harper

the illusion of melodic cohesion interrogated 

doublings of instruments set aside with derision 

imitation dissected
divided for study

Der Geburtstage der Infantin - Franz Shreker - Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Lothar Zagrosek

far from the cares of the kingdom's subjects
a princess
functionally
was a pawn
in a global game
of keeping peace
by arranging marital relations
among a set of dysfunctionally inter-related ruling families 

lush expansiveness of nostalgia for the Empire
as it once stood in our fond remembrance

February 27, 2024

An American in Paris - George Gershwin -  Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy

imbuing Paris
with the image
of the heartland
of America's self-mythology 

a series of vignettes
complete with fleeting chinoiserie 

may as well be a broad appeal movie 

sound-stage Paris
though I think Gene Kelly & Company improved on it 

great tunes
but arranged more like a medley than like a piece

we must be back near the hotel
there are the car horns honking

Chinatown - Louis Armstrong [from That Devilin' Tune]

a seriously noisy surface from the vinyl 

energetic performance
live?
guess so there's the applause

An Outdoor Overture - Aaron Copland - London Symphony Orchestra, Aaron Copland

music for another hokey ballet?
{NB, no, not so it would seem} 

sharp orchestration
using simple means with an ear open

change scene
play with tune bits for a bit
then play the tune the bits are from 

get all big
change the scene 

narrative

Evocations - Carl Ruggles - Buffalo Philharmonic, Michael Tilson Thomas

grumpy
occult
bad news
music turned inward
American Expressionist

Lord Will Make a Way - Elder A. Johnson [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

wild vocal yodels
right into the guitar's upper squeal

Have I Waited Too Long - Faron Young [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

home on the range
cowpoke dance

Break-Up - Jerry Lee Lewis [from Sun Records Definitive Hits]

an excellent example of his pianistic shenanigans

Adoramus Te Christe - Lake Washington Singers, Betty Eisenbrey [recorded live April 16, 1963]

nicely done Mom!

School Boy (William Blake) - Allen Ginsberg [from Holy Soul Jelly Roll]

a translation
using pitch to follow the rhyme

Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

comes at you from all angles

Eppesithalamium - Milton Babbitt [from Eric Carlson's Slowly Expanding Milton Babbit Album]

everything a conversation could be

No Art In The West - The PKs [recorded live in the Bickleton Manse, 1983]

great drum playing Karen!
back in youth
when the image was clear and clean

It's Christmas All Over The World - London Symphony Orchestra, Placido Domingo [from Joy To The World]

the sea sun of joy
brings us by a sudden lurch of recirculation
slam whap
into the ridiculous
(type: fucking;
as in
"fucking ridiculous")

Banned Rehearsal 316 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [January 3, 1993]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 316 930103

our common play time
nursery school rules
don't be a hog
don't stomp on others 

our own uniquely liberated intonation 

improvisationally developed linguistics

this was recorded in the Northwest Room
now lair of young men
before we framed in the half-garage
it has a right-in-your-face sound to it 

the boy speaks in single word poetry natively
briefly 

punctuational yawns

is this music?
why would it want to be? 

it is a record of an episode in our lives
an intentionally staged phonograph 

what does music hide?
keep obscured behind? 

stupendously too much for direct-to-cassette mastering
so gloriously resplendent tintinnabulation
pan pipery
bow bouncing
box thumping 

we demonstrate
that our free reeds
are free of a common intonation 

and the Aaronsbundler makes a cameo 

a surface to rub vigorously

the outfielder is not responding at all 

jolly John!
playing ball off the headbone
and the unmistakable shriek of 18 month old glee
I deliver the lecture toward correct parenting 

boncy ball boncy ball boncy ball

my foot is completely numb

Hold On Be Strong - Outkast [from Aquemini]

slow entry
timed perfectly with the tea kettle whistle 

I have no recollection of why I have this album

Preludes 1 - 4 - Ken Benshoof - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle, October 6, 2006]

I love how his rhythms trip over themselves
catching up with their continuations

nicely sensitive playing there past me
yes I have my moments

Again a Gun Again a Gun Again a Gun Again a Gun - Empty Cage Quartet [from Stratostrophic]

a thornbush opening
clearing into trumpet
helped by drums and bass ministrations
relaxing down to just the bass
taking time
the winds
entry with drum
who plays with the bass
while reed and brass lengthen the line
set a time plan
now we're all cheering on the drums

Puppet Pieces - Kam Morrill - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded at The Tintinabulary, Seattle, July 20, 2018]

cues for a never-to-be puppet show

Wire Sculpture for Ben - Craig Pepples - Julia Hsu [from Open Space 43]

the pitch of the sounds leads through itself
we view these notes lengthwise

Banned Rehearsal 1067 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [recorded at The Tintinabulary, Seattle, January 2, 2023]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 1067 [230102]

we trend toward quiet
but a case is opened
and out comes the banjo
joined soon by seed pod rattle
xylochatter
tenor banjo
xylophone
snare drum
plus additional percussion
as might be handy 

not a performance of music
but an episode of playing with sounds and noise makers

February 28, 2024

O Vis Aeternitatis - Hildegard Von Bingen - Sequentia, Barbara Thornton, Laurie Monahan [from Canticles of Ecstasy]

furling into emptiness
outside of its confines
the wicked world

Baci soavi e cari: Quanto ha di dolce amore - Carlo Gesualdo - Delitiæ Musicæ, Marco Longhini

and here we are
in it

I suppose there is word painting in there
if one knew the language
but also
clearly
working with the sounding rhythm of the words
as they form their poem

O quam suavis est a 8 - Peter Philips - The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, The Choir of Royal Holiday, Robert Gough

flowering from concord
dancy rhythms for sacred use

Erhore Ich Wenn Ich Rufe - Heinrich Schütz - University of Puget Sound Women's Chorus, Sylvia Munsen

tempos in tempos

Praeludium in D Major, BWV 139 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella

a procession with great anticipation
sit down folks
this is serious business
an extensive prelude
must have been quite the event

Messe pour les Covent - François Couperin - Barbara Baird

fills its container
roots reporting in
all committees present
every moment of ceremony is filled with experience
music
if nothing else
is available 

this is intense 

I wish the engineers hadn't cut off the reverberation of the ends of these pieces

Médée, Act I - Marc-Antoine Charpentier - Les Arts Florissant, William Christie

begins honestly enough
with a ballet in praise of the producer
a master of the small moments
playful bass lines
the procedure is irregular
but the result is gracious 

opera number:
an enactment of a dramatic moment 

narrative clues 

this is a ballet
you may chatter

we live in an age of revivement
of recollection
and reenactment 

conversation hinge aria plate
it splays feelings out into the world
at right angles to time's flow

music and language share a time scale
or several
in our cognitive apparatus

each character always in character
puppet-like
must be a happy act ending
the chorus scatters confetti and rice and tickertape
trumpets no less
how thrilling

music is a means of keeping chaos constructively in order

Nach dir, Herr, verlangt mich, BWV 150  - Johann Sebastian Bach - Gächinger Kantorei, Helmut Rilling

endless weeping figures

the choral me
a construction of notes
moralistic
keep things in line
constructing the bones of a Lutheran Liturgy
competing with the whole of the past 

does the choral me exist before Bach?
as a ghost behind the Mass perhaps
dunno
but
if it did
did it contain so may individuated voices?

units within the choral me

Sonata in C Major - Daniel Purcell - Stanislav Surin [from Hudba v Trnavskej Katedrale]

polite life loves its happy endings
and endless flattery

Acis and Galatea, Act II - George Frideric Handel - Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwoard Dawn Kotoski, David Gordon, Glenn Siebert, Jan Opalach, Seattle Symphony Chorale

but alas
no happy happy happy shall last
plate upon plate
four upon four
confounds accounting

the chorus was instructed to enunciate the k of hark
so that it wouldn't sound like they were singing har har har
so
the enunciation aids the comprehension of the text (the words)
but not of the music
which is as perfectly clear with har as with hark
(the enunciated k does not make it less silly) 

whining
disdaining
over and over
life is a pain
indeed! 

altogether too fond of melismatics that run on and on
here comes the party crasher

morendo endo for Acis
poor chap
he is no more
no more
no more

February 29, 2024

Concerto in D Major, RV 93 - Antonio Vivaldi - Chamber Orchestra of St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Vladimir Altschuler, Marco Tsessos

a movement is a costume
an impression to be made in an extended moment

Noell 11, en Recit en taille - Louis-Claude Daquin - Marie-Claire Alain

ornate upper registers
clear and functional bass
a two voice counterpoint
as a contrasting continuation

Keyboard Sonata in C Major, Wq. 65.8 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklós Spányi

very polite when folks are paying attention
but playful when backs are turned
rarely lands where one knows he must have
same platform
different geometry 

loves phrase ends cut short
or spilling off into glittery figure play

La Felix - Jacques Duphly - Christophe Rousset

the naming conceit in French keyboard pieces
a piece is
or depicts
an object
animate or un
or a state of moment (mood)
often
the specific connection is lost to time
and generations of speculation

Sinfonia in E-flat Major - Johann Christian Bach - Camerata Budapest, Hanspeter Gmür

1
a burst of sound
then fiddly stuff
signifying theatrical expectancy
the appearance of a second subject
means
you'll have to be patient
so  get all your sitting down
and fidgets
done with 

2
such polite grace
on all points of etiquette
the picture of idealized society
the form without the subterfuge 

3
then we can be happy and gay
all is innocent peace
(pre-fall)

I finti eredi (Giuseppe Sarti) - Franz Joseph Haydn -  Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Antal Doráti, Aldo Baldin

there is a clear practical benefit
for operas to be constructed of individual pieces
they could then be swapped in  and out
as occasion suggests 

hey Joe
could you crank out a tenor aria for tonight?

Symphony in G minor K173dB(183) - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Academy of Ancient Music, Jaap Schroder, Christopher Hogwood

we are led by the hand
our attention is taken and directed
nothing is hidden 

interrupting continuation 

the cellar is a few steps deeper than that sir 

we love our easy chairs
parasol boat
floats blissfully
but with feelings
(inner drama)
in hinted words 

full blown Sturm und Drang
very fashionable
at all the finest opera houses
and concert halls
so exciting

Sonata in D Major, Op. 10 #2 - Muzio Clementi - Howard Shelley

a two-movement sonata form
from Clementi no less
charming as always

there is a notion about keys
that they are associated with specific things or ideas
if they were
then that would be like a mass synesthesia within a cultural milieu
or defining its own cultural milieu 

is culture itself a mass synesthesia?

Sonata in A-flat Major, Op. 5 #3 - Jan Ladislav Dussek - Tulja Hakkila

and another!
all the rage
composes with coquetry
all the passion of an elopement adventure
in the dead of night
for your imagination to wander upon
each key
a window into the story so far
whole lotta banging going on
adventures of a lovable me
so charming
living the Don Juan life
Chico Dussek
who me?

Sonata in E Major, Op. 14 #1 - Ludwig van Beethoven - Artur Schnabel

I worked on this one for quite awhile
it's a pretty radical piece in its way
for its plainness if nothing else
each bit is exactly that bit
and not its neighbor bit
with an appassionato melody in the second section
out of thin air
such specific figurations
tears pulse apart
and wrestles the parts to the ground in triumph

Symphony in D Major, D82 (#1) - Franz Schubert - Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Karl Böhm

1
I am being grand indeed
but there's trouble hidden in me

no doubt produced here
on a grander scale than Franz ever heard it with 

go straight
until lost
then turn
keep going
you'll find it for sure 

2 

so exquisitely tasteful
hold up
where is this from
the inside does not match the outside
oh the tragicomic irony of it
reveals an undertow 

3
makes hay out of the extra figure
thrown in for fun
differentiated menuet
and more homogeneous trio?
definitely 

4
all are working to the common end
an exciting theater of spectacle and noise

Caprice - Niccolò Paganini - Nathan Milstein

gymnastic theater
circus act
or the image of a circus act
as something else

Sonatina in C Major, Op. 55 #1 - Friedrich Kuhlau - Loredana Brigandi

lessons in compositional comportment
suitable for all sexes or mixed company 

another two-movement-er

Polonaise in B-flat Major, Op. 71 #2 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson

the key has been redecorated in the strangest taste
lovely but idiosyncratic

In Session at The Tintinabulary

February 25, 2024

Castle Street - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 34 Castle Street 240225 [240225]

February 26, 2024

Banned Telepath 102 South - Steve Kennedy

Banned Telepath 102 Tintinabulary - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey

Banned Rehearsal 1095 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 1095 240226

February 27, 2024

274 Jesu, geh voran auf der Lebsenbahn - Aaron Keyt

274a after Jesu, geh voran auf der Lebsenbahn - Aaron Keyt

February 29, 2024

203 O König Jesu Christe - Aaron Keyt

243 - Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verdebt - Aaron Keyt

277 Mir ist Erbarmung widerfahren - Aaron Keyt

Postscripts

Drops

Keith Eisenbrey 14: 2011-2012

After having worked closely as a pianist with the prelude cycles of my local colleagues Lockrem Johnson, Greg Short, and Ken Benshoof, and being a long-time admirer of the cycles of Chopin and Scriabin, I began to wonder what a set of preludes written by me, one in each key, would be like. 

"Welcome to my planet. I come in peace." started as an idea for something else entirely that took on a life of its own. Prior volumes are available at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com

All are free for download.

Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery

listening journal doodles from 2021