"'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
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
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
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
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
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
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]
instruments
are operated
toddle interaction
continues
inexhaustibly
John's harnomaka
time is logged
and sounds are made
communication kept away
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]
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
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
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
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
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
this one
is now
officially
completed
and out of
clavichord workshop
August 9, 2024
Sinfonia 16 (midi) - Keith Eisenbrey
as is this
the last
one
August 11 2024
Elparan - Keith Eisenbrey
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
on the patio
August 16, 2024
Sinfonia 15 (clavichord) - Keith Eisenbrey
Sinfonia 16 (clavichord) - Keith Eisenbrey
Sinfonia 12 (piano) - Keith Eisenbrey
("...what I could hear, trying to crawl out from between the lines of your last ferocious sonata...") - Benjamin Boretz
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.
