"outcast bones from a thousand biers
click us a measure giddy and gleg
and
caper my children dance my dears
skeleton rattle your mouldy leg
this
one was a gourmet round as a keg
and that had the brow of semiramis
o
fleshless forehead bald as an egg
all men s lovers come to this
this eyeless head that laughs and leers
was a chass daf once or a
touareg
with golden rings in his yellow ears
skeleton rattle your
mouldy leg
marot was this one or wilde or a wegg
who dropped into
verses and down the abyss
and those are the bones of my old love meg
these bones were a ballet girl s for years
parbleu but she shook a wicked
peg
and those ribs there were a noble peer s
skeleton rattle your
mouldy leg
and here is a duchess that loved a yegg
with her lipless
mouth that once drank bliss
down to the dreg of its ultimate dreg
all
men s lovers come to this
prince if you pipe and plead and beg
you may yet be crowned with a grisly
kiss
skeleton rattle your mouldy leg
all men s lovers come to this"
don marquis - from "archy and mehitabel"
Texts
Recorded
Sinfonia in B-flat Major, Op. 3 #4 - Johann Christian Bach - Camerata Budapest, Hanspeter Gmür
choice of key
involves considerations
of how the string sections'
open strings appear within that key
and its prolongations
and
what horns sound like
on those notes
in this movement
the horn sound is high and bright
Symphony in G Major "Alte Lambach", K45a(A221) - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Academy of Ancient Music, Jaap Schroder, Christopher Hogwood
vigorous effective orchestration
primed for maximum whammy
April 28, 2024
Keyboard Sonata in A Major, Hob. XVI:26 - Franz Joseph Haydn - Christine Schornsheim
ideas begin in their several boxes
converse across the cubicle walls
some do so at length
underground communication
irregular
channels
Variations on La folia d'Espagne, Wq. 118/9 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklós Spányi
the theme could hardly be more plain
jumps right into figuration play
played on a fortepiano I think
for the power available
and
that nice mute stop
delicate
Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 9 #3 - Muzio Clementi - Howard Shelley
if Romantic sensibilities leaked out of the late Galant
what might its
tells be
Piano Concert in B-flat Major, Op. 19 (#2) - Ludwig van Beethoven - Chicago Symphony Orchestra, George Solti, Vladimir Ashkenazy
softens up his keys with heavy blows of clenched fists
Caprice in E minor, Op. 1 #3 - Niccolò Paganini - Salvatore Accardo
dramatic cold open
in parallel octaves
12 German Dances, D. 790 - Franz Schubert - Alfred Brendel
melodies in flowing draperies
stolidly graceful
not an art-dance
such as found in baroque suites
but more like program music
depicting particular episodes of dance
such as Chopin
waltzes
charmed times recalled
as slumber approaches
Fantasy on Polish Air, Op. 13 - Frédéric Chopin - Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Kazimierz Kord, Garrick Ohlsson
the soloist
as an imagined singer
less effective with the noodly
arpeggiations
a series of musics
with little concept of doing more
to help them
than direct abutment
hadn't figured himself out yet
6 Concert Studies on Caprices by Paganini, Op. 10: #1 in A-flat Major - Robert Schumann - Florian Uhlig
multiple bases for metrical reference
through the magic of figuration
and scale-degree echo
syncopations
in the polyphonic play of
implications
6 Melodies: #2 "Allegretto" - Fanny Hensel - Beatrice Rauchs
keeps to its mood
Loreley - Clara Schumann - Dorothea Craxton, Hedayet Djeddikar
an urgent propulsion
has us by the throat
Vallee d'Obermann - Franz Listz - Alfred Brendel
hypnotic
in its ever narrowing focus
the needle's eye of the
needle's eye
Sonata in F minor, Op. 5 - Johannes Brahms - Yefim Bronfman
1
annunciatory calling card
to the stage of culture fame
a
group of contradictory impulses
2
an early intermezzo
could stand alone as its own sonata
3
the circus clown is back
to turn somersaults
play card
tricks
and tell stories
lose theirself daydreaming
4
revisit our intermezzo
brooding in a corner
5
our better natures
offer comfort
and encouragement
Mefistofele: Prologue - Arrigo Boito - London Symphony Orchestra, Julius Rudel, Ambrosian Opera Chorus, John McCarthy, Norman Treigle, Plácido Domingo, Montserrat Cabeallé
the idea
was to incorporate all of it
the whole universal shebang
what else was worth grasping
the age of megalomania
this Mefistofele wears Prada
the sense of an operatic offstage realm
the stage's outside realm
Symphony in B-flat Major (#5) - Anton Bruckner - Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Wilhelm Furtwängler (October 25/28, 1942)
try not to think who might have been listening in the hall
1
it approaches more quickly
than is quite comfortable
then
finds the strangest distance
to be at
from us
huge
and
right up close too
an older
live recording
the drums sound amazing
lifted from
a 78 rpm master?
this music thinks to itself
we're not invited
but there we are
suddenly
we dropped right out
of where anything can be
to play this back properly
I would need to be listening
where I was
within the presumed Sonata Allegro form
I would
not know how this music is
there is no else for music to be
besides what you hear
2
mirror movement
prism movement
light bender
through
the glass obliquely
the music keeps going away suddenly
obsessive
balance
balances
balancings
3
the outsider movement
full of distractions and temptations
devious and intriguing games
offset metrical universes
4
obliquely go we again
the refractory
get to work
we've got a whole fugue to haul
here
I guess God talks
with full brass choirs
here
divine victory
more glorious triumphal
I love the space around this recording
non-generic
and the
orchestra is out for blood
no foolin'
Symphony in E minor (#5) - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Wiener Philharmonic, Lorin Maazel
to show just how heart-on-sleeve a fellow can get
in this day and age
when being about something
was what music was about
denying
any specific target
is obfuscation
every episode
is clearly
about
something
you supply the thing
it is about
it's like cartoon high school
so fraught
and then to throw an idée
fixe into the mix
practically begging
to be about stuff
even
jumps out of the closet at you
doesn't help
that I played timpani in this
at Orchestra Camp
back in the day
and here
we have Idée Fixe
in his palace
full honors
imperial pomp
banners stream
cannons blast
cavalry
charges
such glory
victorious army
marching on parade
Symphony in E minor, Op. 95 "The New World" (#9) - Antonín Dvořák - Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, Georg Solti
two big long-familiar E minor symphonies in a row
I remember being
puzzled
as a kid
as to how composers decided
to stop doing
one thing
and start doing another
I surmised
that each
segment
must
correspond
to one day's work
new day
new music
if this symphony
is modeled on an operatic trajectory
and the
first movement
stands in the place of the overture
then
the
second movement
is the curtain open
to present the first
scene
relies on the charisma
of the long line
the flutes enter
and many pages are turned
happy peasant charm
Sonata in F-sharp minor, Op. 23 (#3) - Alexander Scriabin - John Ogdon
sonatas must be both symphonic and operatic
and symphonies must also be
operatic
this music goes for symphonic
but keeps getting
distracted by its own workings
which come apart
when observed
much
as the old galant era tonality
was then disintegrating
1
no overture here
cold open
on the Finnish steppe
hero in the watchtower
pizzicato low strings
texture of nervous worry
wide-screen engineering
relies on the charisma of the soloist
the
music needs to make it plain
it is the real
name-brand
soloist
with all their fame
with them
there
on
the stage
all for you
2
let's try this again
and again its going all appassionato
3
new approach
vigorous work
a crowd at the gates
Gaspard de la Nuit - Maurice Ravel - Vlado Perlemuter
whatever an orchestra can do
a piano can also
and should
without respite
keyboard clouds
a landscape painting
muted colors
quiet
water
indistinct horizon
color as effect
as
what it's about
relies on its
picturesqueness
Les Pantins dansent - Eric Satie - Frank Glazer
stakes its claim
elsewhere
firmly not fancy
Pan og Syrinx - Carl Neilsen - Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Herbert Blomstedt
everything breaks apart
the bonds no longer hold
Whirligig - Ruth Crawford Seeger - Jenny Lin
a clever toy
'Taint So Honey, 'Taint So - Al Bernard [from That Devilin' Tune]
social entertainment
comic song clowning
China Town - Louis Armstrong [from That Devilin' Tune]
cookin' band
an image of prowess and showmanship
Organ Concerto in G minor - Auburn Sympphony Orchestra, Stewart Kershaw, David Di Fiore
recorded on an organ
in a space
neither of which
exists
anymore
an old-fashioned concerto
in the sense
of the image
of how
the soloist's sound
interacts
with the orchestra's sound
id
est
as an equal
contrasting sound
rather than
as a
Napoleonic Hero
a piece for organ and orchestra
as two choirs
but all
within
an image
of what a piece must be
symphonic
dramatic
wide emotional scope
Your Hands in Mine - Florence Price - Lara Downes
concert arrangement of a song
using occasional Broadway inflected
harmonies
a step aside from lounge piano
Sonatas and Interludes: Sonata II - John Cage - Adam Tendler
mechanical music for machine performance
Feelin' Good - Junior Parker (Little Junior's Blue Flames) [from Sun Records Definitive Hits]
cookin' guitar plucker back there
Rave On - Buddy Holly [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
music as fashion accessory
Seafair Bolo Records!!
wholly wholesome
Take Time to Know Her - Percy Sledge [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
witness and preaching
complete with organ and choir
Angels of Mercy - Paul Revere and The Raiders [from The Legend of Paul Revere]
tuning into the sound o' the times
interesting synth/organ sound bright
and shiny
NBC Mini-Series: Holocaust - Morton Gould - Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz
I may have watched this mini-series back in the 70s when it aired
Intermezzo 3 - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at Bard Hall, March 18, 1983]
hanging sounds in space
as much installation as piece
tempo
(slow)
allows time to move
within the space
occupied
by the sounds
as they are hung there
the out-of-tune piano is
loving this
Wreckin' Ball - Girl Trouble [from Hit It Or Quit It]
massive school gym reverb
Banned Rehearsal 320 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [February 6, 1993]
we chose
as parents
that our kids
would be a part of the
sessions
for as long as they would put up with it
thinking
it would
perhaps
be an influence
I presume it was
but immersive influence
is a multi-valent vector
not an
artistic path
for the faint of heart
dulcimer shaker and toddler and flute
brief hint of Aaronsbundler on
dulcimer dolcissimo
as thought become words
words become thought
says rattle
and enunciates the tt
apple
rattle
piano
all rhyme
Uncle Dij does dijeridu
too dark to find it
dij and dulcimer
and bell and whistle
two dulcimers
the dulcimera
pick
J learns the word
pick
on February 6, 1993
squeeze box toy shakers
cleanse the sound
it's a nose pick
we learn something about music
as one among us
learns
language
an outsider theory
on the extinction of the dinosaurs
made the
baby cry
it ends
good dog
gets the bone
good dog
bone
this old man
come rolling home
the hint of Aaronsbundler
has awakened the Wurlitzer Funmaker Sprite
$200 at a music store
in Greenwood
acquired early in Banned
Rehearsal history
before the move to Seattle
so
sometime in
'84
what's red and green
and goes 100 miles an hour
a frog in a
blender
shake
rinse
microphones capture nothing
it all flows
right through
unimpeded
in principal
ends on V
opening sound
as though recorded over a pre-existing sound file
signifies a DIY vibe
24 Preludes: #5 - #8 - Ken Benshoof - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, June 6, 2009]
such gentle-souled music
Min Hametzer - Kia Sams - Prospect Choir, Kia Sams
if
the meaningfulness of an episode
is
what the words are
saying
first
then
without translation
or other outside
help
we
are left adrift
with the music
only
even
if clearly
not the show
Banned Rehearsal 828 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [January 21, 2013]
playing
and exploring
and trying
and hearing
some sounds
maintain a constant presence
some lurk
in
shadows
some enter
shyly
through the underbrush
tam tam gets all excited
we are a coalesced sound
well worth an
inquiry
about
how each part
might be being done
and
with what
so many
one-of-a-kind instruments
so many possible techniques
and activities thereof
So Dawn Chromatically Descends to Day - Kate Soper - Kate Soper Sam Pluta
a theory of musical reference
with some leaps of logic
unexamined
following up
on a presumption
of a common evolutionary
source
for language and music
with poetry as the evidence
but
neither music
nor language
nor poetry
is
defined
they are left hanging
as bare references
Banned Rehearsal 1069 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [January 30, 2023]
banjo
glockenspiel/xylophone
synth
banjo has moved to the pipesqueaker
a length of metal tubing
with
foam insulation
grasp firmly
squeeze and twist
the pipe
squeaks!
round two
xylophone station
finds some hanging metal
that
can be struck and rung
xylophone finds a voice
synth mutters to
itself
light percussion keeps it real
In Session at The Tintinabulary
April 26, 2024
Sinfonia 12 (midi) - Keith Eisenbrey
this is now out of clavichord workshop
with some hope of a recording on
that fine instrument soon
I came pretty close twice this week
April 28, 2024
Pilesgrove - Keith Eisenbrey
as a discipline
I am composing a setting of a shape-note tune each
Sunday.
Gradus 394 - Neal Kosály-Meyer
plethoras of notes
stepping deliberately
transparent intent
homogeneous motion sets
within hand-positions
(register/eye-span)
for stretches of this rung
the hands are
close together
and shift in tandem
the hands have gone briefly
apart
allowing a larger
more variegated sense
of local
register
new rung
single tones open
similar stepwise shapes
rhythmic
figures allow direct comparison
of moment to moment
{NB: I'm guessing there will be no blog next week, as we will be out of town}
Postscripts
Drops
Keith Eisenbrey 17: 2017-2018
Études d'exécution imminent - Illustrations
In this segment of the Études d'exécution imminent I combined existing musics with settings derived from mod-17 row forms treated as sequences of interval-classes rather than as sequences of row-classes. Ghosting is an accordion piece by Amy Denio that caught my fancy. The Chorales' melodies were extracted from the Bach-Riemenschneider volume of harmonized chorales, and Frankie and Johnny was formed from the traditional American song.
Tracks:
Ghosting Doubles (after Amy Denio) (2017)
01. first sighting
02. second sighting
03. third sighting
Chorales (2017)
04. Aus meines Herzens Grunde
05. An Wasserflussen Babylon
06. O Ewigkeit du Donnerwort (one way)
07. O Ewigkeit du Donnerwort (other way)
08. Jesu, nun sei gepreiset
09. Jesu, meine Freude
10. In dulci jubilo
11. Alle menschen mussen sterben
12. Der Tag, der ist so freudenreich
13. O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig
14. O Mensch, bewein' dein' Sunde Gross
15. Jesu, der du meine Seele
16. Frankie and Johnny (2018)
"Ghosting Doubles" were recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, on March 24, 2018. The melody "Ghosting" is used with the kind permission of Amy Denio, copyright by Spoot Music. "Chorales" and "Frankie and Johnny" were recorded at my home in 2021 and 2019 respectively. The words for "Frankie and Johnny" are traditional.
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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