Preface
"there are composers who plunge into their work urgently following their music into strenuous fantastic voyages of discovery, perhaps of self discovery; there are composers who apply themselves strenuously to discern and implement what their music requires of them, going where it needs them to go, fulfilling its demands out of a sense of intellectual, artistic, ethical obligation; there are composers who work from the outside in to energize their music to be as powerful self-projected personified presence as they can forge; there are composers who remain intactly disciplined, keeping intact and fulfilling rigorously their well-formed vision of how their music might perfectly do the work of reflecting on their persons as they conceive they would want, and deserve, to be reflected. from what point of view their music might be variably admirable, or engaging, because of these biographies, is probably not indeterminate but certainly indeterminable. is there any reason you'd want a key to this code?"
- Benjamin Boretz "not another little review" from "inside in . . . / . . . outside out" Open Space Publications, 2020
Texts
Streaming
Wayward in Limbo
With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series now moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is curating and commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of exclusive material. Many of these will be essentially “live” performances recorded at home for this occasion. Others may create a mix of pre-recorded material that has not been previously released elsewhere.
- from the Wayward Music Series website at https://www.waywardmusic.org/.
Kyte Mika
an evenness in the measure
1 from 2 from 3 from 4
indistinguishable except by ordinal position
markers for larger
structures are sparing
also
possibly
evenly spaced and
counted out
and
of which content
as such
is effaced
rubbed smooth
it isn't sameness quested for
but a cleanly
presented mathematic
charted art
arted chart
this one starts out almost like one of my corollaries
for me the heavy
reverb has a distancing effect
and not just on the acoustic signal
imitatio spatio
the forever circling harmonic sequence
unorders order into unorder
lyrical def. with the ways of a sung voice
Recorded
July 4, 2021
Sonata in A Major, Op. 30 #1 - Ludwig van Beethoven - Itzhak Perlman, Vladimir Ashkenazy
negotiation between brusquery and politesse
economic work
so that
no notes are wasted
everything works to the advantage of the whole
he does try
Die Winterreise, Part 2 - Franz Schubert - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore
E-flat Major to C minor
sneak back to E-flat Major end of
Letzte Hoffnung
let's try D Major/minor
A Major to G minor
F Major
!
D minor inflected Die Wirtshaus
F
minor C minor
A minor : Major : minor : Major
::
B
minor
the clean accompaniment is like line drawing
Etude in E-flat minor - Frédéric Chopin - Cecile Licad
an emptied house never returned to
in which we wander distraught
also a study
in how a sequence of harmonies inhabit
but don't
clarify
the key
we are not on a guided tour
we're on our own
Track 5, Selections from The Nutcracker - Piotr Ilyich Tchakovsky - Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy
this house is full
and lively
imported culture
Sonata in F-sharp minor, Op. 23 (#3) - Alexander Scriabin - Vladimir Ashkenazy
Scriabin myth:
the Chopin period
the Wagner period,
then his
own tonal explorations
interesting that he is placed with two such original tonal thinkers of the
past
but I think he was always on his own explorations
even during
the Chopin and Wagner periods
he was making his own study
of how
to retrostruct tonality
I think
he also dug their ability to evoke
an attractive fantasy land
instant suspension of the implausible
hinge
worlds in words
complete with Rachmaninovian Tune Bird
!
(show off)
note how similar the rhythm and sonority of the last
chords is to the Hammerklavier's opening salvo - very like indeed yes indeed
a different thought thread is picked up here
this opening is trying for
Berliozian nakedness
how like an Anglican
Yankee Rectitude
but Land of Cotton bucolic
ante bellum sentimentality
very
like Hollywood's early Civil War films -
The General
Gone with the
Wind
here comes the war
so heroic
like the pianist at the silent movies
accompaniment of the illuminations
his politics are suspect
the 2nd movement is about Europe
(this is a nice recording
sells it utterly
one of Bernstein's
strongest
he takes requisite care to clarify everything
theatrically)
having a bit of a Tchaikovsky moment there
every once in a while I hear
what I think must be Maestro Bernstein
moaning along
I sincerely
wish he hadn't
sincerely
destiny had become manifest
all was well
patriots may safely sleep
happy ending
party time
last movement is a bit of a paste up
job
lots of flags
oh the hooplah
July 5, 2021
Searchlight Rag - Scott Joplin - William Albright
2 part texture
bass and tune
each with augmentations
Daphnes et Chloe - Maurice Ravel - Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz
it wafts from below
an ardent glow
the music promises glorious costumes
seamless and glowing
zepherous
gracefully curved
each impression vanishes immediately
material returns
but there is
no image of progression
outside of the presumed narrative
but all
of the stage is there
every gesture
every light
every drape
falling
from
every body
Sonata 3 - Claude Debussy - Zino Francescatti, Robert Casadesus
tune wisps
formed of wire
geometries
instrument characters play a flirty chase game
Finnegans Wake Chapter 1, Part 2 - James Joyce - Neal Kosály-Meyer [April 22, 2014]
. . . now after all that
lift we our ears
spring again springs
anon
here is vicekings Grab
thingmud
all that is writ in
this dirt
miscegenations on miscegenations
lissome lissome
and they all drank free
lose yourself in Heliopolis
under
the sacred rooftree
under the salmonhouse
'twould dilate your
heart to go
repose you now
finn no more
the hubbub caused in Edenburough
Bad Luck Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]
there is a lyricism to how, say,
a Beethoven melody floats on the points
of its accompanimental figuration
this is a similar science
How About You - Tommy Dorsey [from Goodbye, Babylon]
witness poem
unfancy
anyone can do it
I Believe I'll Dust My Broom - Robert Johnson [from The Complete Recordings]
almost like he'll skip a beat on occasion
but I don't care to go back to
count
The Lamp of Memory - Peggy Lee [from The Complete Recordings 1941 - 1947]
the arrangement and instrumental performance
is a truly well cut gown
nearly steals the show
interesting place harmonically to end
Who's To Blame - T. Texas Tyler [from Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]
it might a been your fault
come on Perky
just say you're sorry
idiot
Twice the Lovin' (Half the Time) - Jean Shepard - [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]
"I'm gonna tear your playhouse down"
I think Ann Peebles used that line
too
Great Balls of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis [from Sun Records Definitive Hits]
on point
quick echo rhythm
between his aw shucks lust
and
the keyboard
July 8, 2021
Symphony in B-flat minor, Op. 113 "Baba Yar" (#13) - Dmitri Shostakovich - Moscow Philharmonic - Kiril Kondrashin
narrow intervals circle forever
things have not gotten better
since Boris
unrelenting terminal weariness
wandering in a
deep hole
sullen morale of the damned anyway
even the bright
Spring leaves
fall in the end
the outer shell has cracked
In Session at the Tintinabulary
July 5, 2021
Banned Rehearsal 1029 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer
We gathered on and around the porch to enjoy Karen's delicious home-made cherry ice cream and to celebrate the 37th Bannediversary with proper noise.
Postscripts
::Consult the Oracle
known nor possible obtained to john pater
volo ut ubi sum ego illi
sint mecum ut maybe also may work
Reality Check::
attacked by a cavalry of leaves
it is violet now and I am not
der Mond scheint
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