"'My Dear Sammle,
'I am wery sorry to have the plessure of bein a Bear of ill news your Mother in law cort cold consekens of imprudently settin too long on the damp grass in the rain a hearin of a shepherd who warn't able to leave off till late at night owen to his havin vound his-self up vith brandy and vater and not being able to stop his-self till he got a little sober which took a many hours to do the doctor says that if she'd svallo'd varm brandy and vater artervards insted of afore she mightn't have been no vus her veels wos immedetly greased and everythink done to set her again as could be inwented your farther had hopes as she vould have vorked round as usual but just as she wos a turnin the corner my boy she took the wrong road and vent down hill vith a welocity you never see and notvithstanding that the drag wos put on directly by the medikel man it worn't of no use at all for she paid the last pike at twenty minutes afore six o'clock yesterday evenin having done the jouney wery much under the reglar time vich praps was partly owen to her haven taken in wery little luggage by the vay your father says that if you vill come and see me Sammy he vill take it as a wery great favor for I am wery lonely Samivel n b he vill have it spelt that vay vich I say an't right and as there is sich a many things to settle he is sure your guvner wont object of course he vill not Sammy for I knows him better so he sends his dooty in which I join and am Samivel infernally yours
'Tony Veller.'"
Charles Dickens - from "The Posthumous Papers of The Pickwick Club"
Texts
Recorded
Album für die Jugend: Melodie, Op. 68 #1 - Robert Schumann - Florian Uhlig
four notes in stepwise descent
one note
per two each
of the
left hand figure
followed by
four notes
in a permutation of
stepwise
one note
per each one
of the left hand figure
duration and content disbalanced
Piano Concerto in E-flat Major - Franz Liszt - Pro Musica Orchestra, Vienna, Michael Gielen, Alfred Brendel
the orchestra steps aside for the soloist
great man theory
our hero enters a mysteriously lit cavern
pitch and amplitude are thought of
in some circles
as parameters
that can be modeled
in mathematically consistent ways
what would pitch be
or would it be possible even
if we could hear
pitch
without amplitude
or without differentiation of amplitude
beyond on/off?
or
if we could hear amplitude
without
pitch
Brahms gets into a knockdowndragout
with the theme
swordplay
sumo shoving
cloaking device
weaponized aesthetics
wanders into wonder land
faery magic
but now
back to the
battle in progress
this set of variations
follows a pattern of affect
(twice)
as the variations follow each other
Big Loud Fast
Slow Quiet
Small
Big Loud Fast
(a Brahmsian
go-to
frame)
a
pre-Beethoven schema
many of Mozart's
and heaps of Haydn's
Slavonic Dance in C Major, Op. 46 #1 - Antonín Dvořák - The Cleveland Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnányi
plays with two and three
Wagner - Götterdammerung, Act III: Siegfrieds Trauermarsch - Feruccio Busoni - Wolf Harden
a transformation of an original
not the same piece at all
Siegfried's death march
the highest glory
of Germanist
Idealism
Symphonie in D minor - César Franck - Orchestre de Paris, Herbert von Karajan
1
seethes
then bursts
back in the cage
former
happier
days
recalled fondly
but then
the
trouble arose
noble struggles
sweet dreams in the quiet farmlands
but no
this cage must be shaken
with passion
till that
glorious day
2
meanwhile
back at the homestead
anxious waiting
hopeful prayers
from an honest heart
claustrophobically melodic
so much stepwise motion
take
Dramamine
3
sudden good news
more prayers
a dangerous jump
from
depiction to proxy
a blessed vision
cartoon harp heaven
happy homecoming
1
two-piano music
a sound
like a piano
with something
wrong
the notes are in two places at once
2
incessant bombast
3
this music
can't quite
think
of anything
to
say
4
this music
is surrounded
by a midge cloud
of
sparkles
Sonata in F-sharp minor, Op. 23 (#3) - Alexander Scriabin - Ruth Laredo
the space inside this music
has a magnificent echo
the air is
clear
ride like the wind Bullseye!
through raging storm
we'll force our
way
{journal entry of January 30, 2006:
passion is never resolved
only answered
peace intrudes chaotically
and evaporates
or effervesces nervously
like throwing things
into an ever more ravenous pit}
Palm Leaf Rag - Scott Joplin - William Albright
did these pieces have such titles
because the music publishing industry
required them
must be fashionable to sell
or
are they in any
way pertinent to the piece?
Passacaglia, Op. 1 - Anton Webern - London Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez
a violence is enacted in our presence
encoded as variations on a bass
line
Vieux Sequins et Viellies Cuirasses - Eric Satie - Frank Glazer
these titles are clearly literary
as is the concept of an ironic conceit
this music mimics literature
Seven Pieces for Piano: Lento, Op. 11, #1 - Zoltán Kodály - Jenö Jandó
spare as Webern
transparent as Debussy
London Blues - Jelly Roll Morton's Jazz Orchestra [from Really The Blues]
they could keep this going for days
phraseological rhetoric
as a texture
over a contorted surface
answers are clearly answers
but not expectable ones
a
labyrinthine enclosure
of many rooms
nothing so imprecise as a
tremolo
except as color
briefly
fond of using BACH
as
a tune bit
Go Down Old Hannah - Iron Head Baker [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
addressed to a corpse
at its burial
Quartet for Flute, Oboe, Cello, and Harpsichord - Henry Cowell - Continuum, Joel Sachs
our host invites his guests in
there is nothing here that isn't right
there
being clear every moment
is doing something
using a phraseological rhetorical model
from the past
as an
adequate medium
in which to compose this
now
Symphony #2 - Bohuslav Martinu - Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Peter Flor
all statements are collective
no instrument plays alone
buddy
system
listening back to the fin de siècle
a bit of the
Franck-stepwise melodic glut
combined with obsessively mixed
orchestrations
and seventh and ninth chords
quite the soup
never lift bow from string
circling figures
in a colorful
dance
building up
to a change of scenery
to another buildup
to another change
of another scenery
all anticipation
all the time
again and again
{journal entry of December 4, 1997:
1
a dance in three
every other
so heavy on the hemiola
as to switch tempi
dialing from one to another
as on a radio
2
circling themes
slow to circle elsewhere
piano punctuation
3
point of style
an evaporation
a sudden weightlessness
4
a distinctive mixed tutti sound
strings in parallel octaves?
wide spaced?}
1
I think we got it
2
Susan nails it and I think my pedaling was perfect
Theme and Variations, Op. 42 - Erich Wolfgang Korngold - Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, Willy Mattes
a child could follow along
perfect for the symphony hall crowd
terminal nostalgia
for a time
two wars back
or so
Sweet Little Sixteen - Chuck Berry [from The Best of Chuck Berry]
recorded on a rubber band
still bouncing
fun piano playing in the
back of the mix
The Monkey Time - Major Lance [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
a dance-ad song
with an historical conceit
Laughing Song (William Blake) - Allen Ginsberg [from Holy Soul Jelly Roll]
he keeps time like a poet
A Love Vibration - Ann Peebles [from Original Funk Soul Sister: The Best of Ann Peebles]
precise drummer
in time
and volume
Badlands - Bruce Springsteen [from Darkness on the Edge of Town]
he's back!
sings like he has his mouth full
Savage Breast - The Stranglers [a Rescued Record]
80s
lean in
to the artificiality of industrial music
made of
machined sounds
and we are heading off to pick up Aaron
Karen has discovered something
The Little Yellow Lemon Guy
says hello
here we go
we
sing in canon
while driving
from memory
another venue
the front seat of a moving car
a capella
fashion check
here's Aaron's exit
something is ticking
perhaps our turn signal
and
via hyperspace
we arrive
instantly
at Banned
Rehearsal Headquarters
at the Greenwood Big House
with a trombone
which holds forth
on the last few months
we pluck and clang
in support
even strum some
double wheezers
elephant seal
chamber song
clavichord interrupts
big hope
for our slopes
rock and bone
and wind-up thingums
wound up
and
released
thumb piano
the banned has met
Stellar - Stan Brakhage
outer space
from whence being appears
Lonely - Emily Doolittle - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded June 29, 2022]
open intervals
in a closed space
Organism - Christian Asplund - Tom Baker [from Sounding The Curve]
edges of betweens
intonation becomes this whole thing
after
workout
a study in stillness
Who Would True Valour See - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded September 11 and 27, 2015]
hobgoblin nor foul fiend
shall abate his off-plumb lines
everything someone is doing
is a thing
they are doing
blowing
bowing
hitting
playing
collaging
dreamscape
all the contents
are certifiably avant-garde
therefore
it is an avant-garde closet
Keith Eisenbrey at Seattle Composers' Salon - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, January 5, 2018 (John Teske's recording)]
a box of parts to play with
Second Thoughts
A a through D d
the sensual experience of thinking
Sonata in E-flat Major (Homage to Stevie Wonder) - Jeremiah Lawson
frustrates any desire
for it to be professionally slick
confounds
any desire
for it to be lame
in any way
O Clarissima Mater (De Sancti Maria Responsorium) - Hildegard Von Bingen - Sequentia [from Spiritual Songs]
the walls of this music
are firmly planted
we abide and move
within them
Se da si nobil mano: Amor, pace de chero - Carlo Gesualdo - Delitiæ Musicæ, Marco Longhini
accompanied by harpsichord
for emphasis
Regina caeli laeterna - Peter Philips - The Choir of Royal Holiday, The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, Robert Gough
filling space
with the sweetness of the word
alleluia
Es wird das Szepter von Juda, Op. 11 #1, SWV 369 - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana
similar
but not exact imitation
as in a fugue entrance
schema
a foot in the door
music to lose oneself in
Passacaglia in D minor, BuxWV 161 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella
intervocal friction
Médée, Act IV - Marc-Antoine Charpentier - Les Arts Florissant, William Christie
eras
have their proper sizes
for operas
to be
culturally appropriate stage layouts
and acoustic spaces
how
close to it
we are expected to be
back when a tutti meant something
Premier Courante - François Couperin - Kenneth Gilbert [from Ordre (la) 5]
ornaments ornamenting ornaments
Invention in C Major - Johann Sebastian Bach - Edith Picht Axenfeld
touch has an entirely different meaning for this
music adjusts to the
keyboard in use
I know the segments repeat
but it is a new adventure
different
each go round
the end is not where we got
to it's just the end
stop
Sonata in D minor, Wq. 65.23 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklós Spányi
we think it over
reconsider
playful
under the stern eye
Ifigenia in Tauride (Romasa Traetta): qual destra omicidia - Franz Joseph Haydn - Orchestre de Chambre de Laussanne, Antal Dorati
we began to want our theater
to be more versimilitous
but
at
a distance
so as to avoid the uncanny
In Session at The Tintinabulary
April 21, 2024
Atlantic - Keith Eisenbrey
April 22, 2024
Banned Telepath 104 Seattle - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt
April 23, 2024
Chaconne, Op. 29 - Lockrem Johnson - Keith Eisenbrey
I'm working on making home recordings of the pieces I performed at the Lockrem Johnson Centennial Celebration last month.
Banned Telepath 104 Tucson - Steve Kennedy
Banned Rehearsal 1098 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt
Postscripts
Drops
Keith Eisenbrey 16: 2015-2016
Études d'exécution imminent - Commentary
I spent 2015 and 2016 both trying out different approaches to the use of row forms and simplifying my expressive rhetoric. Second Thoughts (2015-2016) were recorded in 2017. Corollaries (2016 rev. 2018) were recorded in 2023.
Prior volumes are available at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com
All are free for download.
Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery
listening journal doodles from 2022
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