"Mr. Bob Sawyer's Mode of Travelling"
Hablot K. Browne (Phiz) - from "The Posthumous Papers of The Pickwick Club"
Texts
Recorded
March 23, 2024
Semper Fidelis - John Philip Sousa - Philip Jones Ensemble, Elgar Howarth
crisply pressed scales
Mama's Black Baby Boy - Unique Quartet Fall [from Really The Blues]
soloist, answered
by chorus
as
a soloist might be answered
by a guitar
Symphony in D minor (#1) - Charles Ives - New Philharmonia Orchestra, Harold Farberman
in dutifully mock Dvorakian duds
fails to energize the workings out of
figures
try as he might
slow movement is a grand opera showcase for the female lead
played here
by oboe
drags itself up to a moment
that might have been a telling one
but
the clumsy written out ornaments get in its way
winding up for his big patriotic moment
to get the applause roaring
has to fill the time with something
so he noodles around
3 Preludes, Op. 35 - Alexander Scriabin - Michael Ponti
a bird
that never lights on stem or twig
a forest pool
overgrown with shadows
a crag
held firm in mountain's grasp
Passacaglia, Op. 1 - Anton Webern - London Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez
a sequence of tones
in even spacing
a synthesis of pitch and time
we proceed with grim faces
Symphony in E-flat major (#2) - Franz Schmidt - Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi
1
our spirits bubble and burble cheerily
frothy fountain
drums portend
lush vegetation
perfumed fronds
we come
back around the bend
to burble and bubble once again
fortified in
courage
but again
drums softly portend
our resolve is
firm
2
plain clothes
in common fabrics
and home-some patterns
as a base
from which to variationize
hearkening back
to music's more innocent decorative role
social image of the era:
the glittering ballroom
a-swish with
skirts
and elegantly monocled evening coats
another
the lurking demimonde
another
the over-furnished library
oh heck
let's back to the ball
transformation after transformation
to find the exit
3
in private quarters
to work out some mellifluous polyphonies
a glorious garden thereof
acres and acres
open above to the
wilds and the mountains
shall we start again?
destiny beckons heroically
oh triumph!
oh empire!
Ragtime - Igor Stravinsky - Noel Lee
tiny figures
tightly constricted motions
sardines
dancing in
their cans
Ancient Dances and Airs for Lute - Ottorino Respighi - Philharmonica Hungarica, Antal Dorati
music
conscious of a history behind the current
let us play some old music
on our new orchestral lute
why settle
for a mere antique instrument
our lute
is amplified
and
tricked out
with all manner of sounds
Z mrtveho domu, Act 2 - Leoš Janáček - Vienna Philharmonic, Charles Mackeras, Jiri Zahradnicek, Ivo Zidek, Vaclav Zitek, Dalibor, Jedlicka, Antonin Svorc, Jaroslava Janska, Vladimir Krejcik, Richard Novak, Beno Blachut, Zdenek Svehla, Eva Zigmundova, Zdenek Sousek, Jaroslav Sousek
the weave transforms the thread
a grotesque parade
situations have tempos
into which sung words are fitted
change in
tempo
is change in point of view
the ongoing musical fabric
follows its own logic
the characters
are borne along
in its flow's oppressive insistence
Dances of Galanta - Zoltán Kodály - Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz
as solo display dance
rather than
as social-dancing dance
part of modernist music
was a yen to observe other musics
through
its own lens
with a possibly acquisitional intent
of course
sometimes that music entered the field
from within the
life-experience of the composer person
national pride showcase
a bit like An American in Paris
but
this one actually goes
a thrill ride
hooplah
April in My Heart - Billie Holiday (with Teddy Wilson and His Orchestra) [from The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia]
the singer is the only soloist among the musicians
who isn't also part
of the backup support
Chaconne for String Orchestra - Lockrem Johnson - uncredited
perhaps one or two players per part
I wonder what it would be like
with just one
(might not be practical in terms of various divisi
passages?)
I'm still too buried in my recent performance of this
(as a piano solo)
to really hear it
without simultaneously forming it with my
mind-hands as it goes
The Bells - Billy Ward and The Dominoes [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
novelty song
a weeper
terminal regret
Summertime Blues - Eddie Cochran
minimal drumming
just slap bass and clapping to my ear
perhaps an
occasional tambourine
Sally Go 'Round The Roses - The Jaynetts [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
although the topic seems clear
the details of how any one line
connects with the others
are not made plain
dark side of The
Shirelles
I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
exquisite balance
in the recorded/engineered arrangement
lots
going on
more than one would guess
from its transparence
Call Me (Come Back Home) - Al Green [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
another example
of the same fine school of arrangement and engineering
no showboating instrumentalists
they do their jobs and do them
well
Running on Empty - Jackson Brown [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
drums and guitar
are more forward in the sound here
the artist's
presented personal history
becomes part of the mythos
riding the
showboat
Concerto a Quattro - Robert Starer - Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz, Bernard Shapiro, Christopher Sereque, Seth Krimsky, John Cerminaro
our soloists enter
one at a time
introducing themselves
to
us
they may know each other
already
demonstrably musical
at every moment
post-modern commission fulfillment
wind
quartet
(oboe clarinet bassoon horn)
strings and percussion
we join very little in progress
we make the most of it
dishes away
a synthy sound
a sound of low bits is outside
outside?
us?
watching a crow across the street
dishes and a guitar
song
A New Year Hello (from both of us)
a late Sudden
Song
from back in the day
the guitar has a scratch worthy itch
another:
I Wish I Could Be In Seattle Tonight
go to movie
buy me a book
go to the Space Needle
and take me
a look
another year gone by
and I'm still here
Space Towers - Sun Ra [from Monorails & Satellites]
all the cross-rhythms scrape each other
as they shove themselves through
imperative propulsion
an image
through which
the
cross-rhythms squeeze
metallically
yeah
that's how that score goes in my head!
Sounding The Curve - Tom Baker [from Sounding The Curve]
same two pitches
same order
different durations
base of
operations
our firmest foot
derivations
become a new place
standing for
the base
(in place of it)
Track 1 - Aaron Keyt [from 7(7)]
a zenic garden
in Absurdistan proper
Man Basiyo Saanwariyo - Sachin Jigar [from BollyGood Volume 1]
processed voice
so that
voice is comfy
in process
with
everything else
I Dream a World - Connor J. Koppin - University Temple Chancel Choir, Chris Vincent, Dennis Haack, Laura Haack, Howard Wolvington [recorded live at University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle, January 20, 2019]
American Sacred Pop Choral
appropriate
for any pastel church
I'm not fond of the piece
but we're singing it quite well and sound
pretty good
No Place To Go - Peter Nelson-King [recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, July 22, 2023]
insistently conflicting agendas
fierce knots
sudden
electro-sparkle dust
striking
transients kept away
text
unfortunately inaudible
as to intelligibility on my recording
O Virga Ac Diadema Purpurae Regis (De Sancta Maria, Sequentia) - Hildegard Von Bingen - Sequentia, Barbara Thornton
around a constant
we measure the extents of our lines
Gelo Ha Madonna Il Seno - Carlo Gesualdo - Delitiæ Musicæ
pause for experience to take a breath
that's a pile of weird
to
take in all in one go
Veni Sancte Spiritus - Peter Philips - The Choir of Royal Holiday, The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, Robert Gough [from Cantiones Sacrae Octonis Vocibus]
the melodic shapes of plainchant
persist
into the melodic shapes
of baroque ornaments
and Chopinesque finger-flights
and
Schenkerian prolongations
they are a basis of European-derived music in
general
the various systems of tonality
that have come and gone
are a
record
of our negotiation
with those shapes
in dialogue
with the vertical sonorities
of multiply-voiced simultaneities
Also Hat Gott Die Welt Geliebt, SWV 380 - Heinrich Schütze - La Chapelle Royale, Phillipe Herreweghe
hat Gott
hot got
got hot
Gott hat
we are given time to be with the text
and with its words
halting rhythms
as though coming apart
David et Jonathas, Act IV - Marc-Antoine Charpentier - Pinchgut Opera, Antony Walker, Orchestra of the Antipodes, Dean Robinson, Paul McMahon, David Parkin, Andrei Laptev, Anna Fraser, David Greco, Cantillation, Anders J. Dahlin, Simon Lobelson, Richard Anderson, Sara Macliver, Ashley Giles
their big pledge scene
ritual enactment
La Tenebreuse - François Couperin - Kenneth Gilbert
colliding ornaments
brought in from all voices
Sinfonia in B minor, BWV 801 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Edith Picht Axenfeld
this one goes more lightly on clavichord
than (as here) on harpsichord
Noel sur les jeux d'anches - Louis-Claude Daquin - Marie-Claire Alain
presumably
composed as a little something special
for yuletide
celebrations
to repeat
to delight again
in each moment of it
on its paths
those
from start to hinge
and those
from hinge to end
deep in thought and puzzlement
then
an amusing game
La D'Héricoult - Jacques Duphly - Christophe Rousset
less clotted with colliding trills
than Couperin
enlightened
less convoluted
than CPE Bach
untangled
Joseph est bien Marie - Claude Balbastre - Marie-Claire Alain
was the church's music of the era
generally more old-fashioned
than
the court's music was?
Sonata in G Major, WoO. 14 - Muzio Clementi - Howard Shelley
notation
as a form of short hand
the theme itself
is a variation
upon an archetype theme
a
binary-in-brief
I to V
I to V
[something else] to I
[something else] to I
sixteen bars is enough
its clockwork
shows
at every moment
repeats for clarity's sake
transparence
as to the operating framework
Symphony in D Major (2nd Version), K300a(297) - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Academy of Ancient Music, Jaap Schroder, Christopher Hogwood
shopping oneself around
for employment
one needed something fresh
and special
just for the occasion
from the potential patron's point of view
the question might arise as
is this
what I want
to put myself forward
as having
paid for?
could one trust
a voice such as that
enough
to hire them?
out in public?
with my name on it?
fascination of
and distrust of
the creative voice
a rondo works on the same principal
as sets of variations
but
the archetype is generally reduced even further
each part of it
is a plain-as-day version
it separates each new variation
with the model version of the archetype
Caprice in B minor, Op. 1 #2 - Niccolo Paganini - Salvatore Accardo
within a bowed figure
a polyphony appears
in a game
of
quick-as-bats beat swapping
Symphony in C Major (#9) - Felix Mendelssohn - English Bach Festival Orchestra, William Boughton
one presumes
it will wander more toward C Major eventually
adherence to the learned models
of polyphonic practice
no matter
where it is
we may take them
where Ludwig brawls
Felix beds
the mother baroque
both teacher and sister are watching every note
no matter where he wanders
he will dig himself out somehow
it may
be tedious at times
but he's full of clever tricks
Klavierstücke in E-flat minor, D946 #1 - Franz Schubert - Alfred Brendel
figurational variation is ironic commentary
dire passion
coexists uneasily
with lyric reverie
a troubled innocence
6 Concert Studies on Caprices by Paganini, Op. 10 - Robert Schumann - Peter Frankl
what begins as fingerflash
ends in sneaky polyphonic workings
the landings of the melody
upon its internal articulation points
echo
into the basement
mercurial
In Session at The Tintinabulary
March 22, 2024
Banned Telepath 103 Magnuson - Jennifer Chung
March 24, 2024
New Sabbath - Keith Eisenbrey
March 25, 2024
Banned Telepath 103 Tintinabulary - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer
Banned Rehearsal 1097 - Jennifer Chung, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer
March 26, 2024
379 Herr Gott, du Herrscher aller Welt - Aaron Keyt
385 In Gottes Namen fang ich an - Aaron Keyt
385a In Gottes Namen fang ich an (option 2) - Aaron Keyt
March 28, 2024
425 Jesu, Seelenfreund der Deinen - Aaron Keyt
433 Du Lebensbrot, Herr Jesu Christ - Aaron Keyt
Postscripts
Drops
Keith Eisenbrey 15: 2014
Early 2014 found me completing the first part of Études d'exécution imminent - the project that would keep me busy into 2021. Another was written for Ben Boretz, in celebration of his 80th. J was composed while thinking about the late J. K. Randall. The six movements of Another are Sphinxes, Scarabs, Pools, Potions (first batch), Potions (second batch), and Smoke, which movements can intermingle in performance and sometimes do, and so I include here three quite different versions for your enjoyment - two on clavichord and one live version on piano.
J and the second version of Another were recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, The Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, in 2016; the other tracks were recorded at my home in 2015.
Prior volumes are available at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com
All are free for download.
Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery
listening journal doodles from 2021
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