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| Yakima Greenway Trail |
"Faust:
Wie nennst du dich?
Mephistopheles:
Die Frage scheint mir kleine
Für einen, der das Wort
so sehr verachtet,
Der, weit entfernt von allem Schein,
Nur in der
Wesen Tiefe trachtet.
Faust:
What is your name?
Mephisto:
This question seems minute
For one who thinks the word so
beggarly,
Who holds what seems in disrepute,
And craves only
reality."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - from "Faust", translated by Walter Kaufmann
Texts
Live
July 20, 2024
Keith Eisenbrey plays Benjamin Boretz
in celebration of his upcoming
90th birthday
The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center
Program
(“…what I could hear, trying to crawl out from between the lines of your last
ferocious Sonata...”)
(1979)
O
(2000)
Liebeslied
for a pianist alone
(1974)
***
Lament for Sarah
(1990)
Invention
(1988)
("...my chart shines high where the blue milks upset...")
(1976/1977)
***
Unfortunately, Ben couldn't join us this evening, but he wrote some words for the occasion:
If you want to understand Keith’s relationship to my piano music you need to check out our many keyboard conversations and group playing sessions which followed our meeting and working together in the 1980s and 90s and beyond - they are all accessible as soundfiles on my website at benjaminboretz.org/the-inner-studio.
Most of the music Keith is playing dates from before this time, and Keith came to Bard to study with me after hearing Keith Johnston give the first performance of “…my chart…” at UW in 1978*. But Keith’s implacably stubborn musical (I won’t get into personal) individuality left a deep imprint on my own sense of the scope of musical possibility and whenever he plays my music I hear it as unmistakably he that is doing the playing - so his performances of these pieces always seem to me like a virtual collaboration, a music which only exists because we are both present therein.
I do wish I could be there Saturday night.
All the best to everyone who is.
Ben Boretz
{*not quite factual, but close -kee}
and...
THE AWARENESS OF CHART
-
and then
there is a wall.
and
a pianist alone
Recorded
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| Yakima Greenway Trail |
L'Histoire du soldat - Igor Stravinsky - Columbia Chamber Ensemble, Igor Stravinsky
thrust into trudgery
(interesting
to make a ballet about soldiers
in 1918)
(and certainly not
a gung ho army life for me
sort
of ballet)
a note is a note
and nothing more
analog mechanical
this soldier is a puppet
Petrushka
in the
service of mechanized violence
this music
is a puppet soldier
trudge trudge trudge
they all
walk that way
order barking
playing multiple simultaneous games
of contrapuntal Go
by the
rules
of multiple simultaneities
a note
is a note
(don't emote
it)
Symphony in D minor, Op. 104 (#6) - Jean Sibelius - London Symphony Orchestra, Colin Davis
remembering quietly
settling comfortably
but pondering
the
forms of musical magic
cold zones in memory
this music
is
traced dimly
on the soundscape
brush the dust off
delicately
sudden excitement
things can happen fast here
the string
desks
are chattering at each other
across the orchestra
which spectates
and heckles
and supports
Palolo - Charlie Wilson [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
lots of vibrato play
in those plucked strings
ukulele?
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| Yakima Greenway Trail |
Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings, in C minor, Op. 35 (#1) - Dmitri Shostakovich - Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Francaise, André Cluytens, Dmitri Shostakovich
the skeleton of Mahler
spinning fantasies of the underworld
and
its clackety carnivals
and burlesque reviews
and scholarly
garrets
emergent qualia
all the world's a circus
a tender song
sung straight
an honest tenderness
not without
rubato exactly
this piano concerto
is not always about being one
its soloists
participate
without being all heroic
{this rip is faulty, let me try again}
retry
ibid
seim anew
the more it dances
the tighter its spring-crank is wound
stepwise study
even the leapy bits trace scales
with their
extremities
an intermezzzo
frantic to get it done
so much work
super paper stamper
An Outdoor Overture - Aaron Copland - Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz
the simple spirits
of the heartland dweller
our Edenic past
that never was
Symphony for Strings (#5) - William Schuman - Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz
1
sandpaper contrapuntal voices
rub on each other
to smooth
their other out
the voices
are against each other
not friendly really
2
Shostakovich in on hand
and Copland in the other hand
hidden
weary old Romantics
3
our version of business being efficiently done
soon these
efficiency experts
will o'errun the land
an efficient
pestilence
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| Yakima Greenway Trail |
we'll open with a hymn
then get to work
|||
music made of
themes in arrangements
their notes don't jump themes
|||
now
we'll Bartok for a while
|||
themes
and transitions between
themes
|||
the other problem with this
is that the keyboard
writing is bland
(derivative I can handle
but bland is a waste)
Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli - Michael Tippett - The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Christopher Hogwood
slow strobe bowing
saw rhythm
so we know
which material we
are in
and can follow the program notes
minute upon minute
of tenderly tasteful counterpoint
unwilling to disgorge
that
chug chug back and forth continuity device
the Midwest
unable to rely on the coast
looks to England
for
propriety of Modernism
late entry in the sentimental neo-classics
Sweet Little Sixteen (live) - Chuck Berry
lively performance
nice bass playing too
whoever it is
Mickey's Monkey - The Miracles [collected from Neal Kosály-Meyer's Bo and the Beat]
must be a dance
to be
an all-the-rage
with the teens
this week
Tears of Rage - The Band [from Music from Big Pink]
everybody drags along unwillingly
Angel - Aretha Franklin [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
the conceit of the song's text
involves the use of a manufactured object
(the song on the box)
as a short cut
to self-expression
(instructions
on how
to properly consume
a hit record)
Walk On By - The Stranglers [from Nancy's Mix]
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| Yakima Greenway Trail |
covered as psychedelic sneer pop
to give it a cutting edge
for the
jaded youth
of yesterday's today
Love, Peace and Harmony - Bow Wow Wow
drumslaught
some old troubadour songs recollected from around 1200 at the piano with interludes - J. K. Randall - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle]
the gap
between episodes of music
needn't be any longer than
required
to articulate a new activity
these activity groups
are quite distinct
thank you
|||
this is not the first piece I had performed
with clapping and finger
snaps
I played Greg Short's Knuckle Rag as a student
12 years old?
probably the first piece I performed
by a composer I had met in
the flesh
Dukes - RockSalat [a Rescued Record]
punk rock
a life-style activity
bona fide fashion accessory
Banned Rehearsal 480 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [January 17, 1988]
we were beginning to record on DAT
and we thought we could put out a CD
so for a while
most of our sessions were only 30 minutes long
(so that we could fit two of them in)
(45 minutes was the default
yet for a while)
and
we were trying to be presentable
it was odd for us
to be outward facing
our group-improvisational tactic
for making a chamber symphony
as such
this is an enjoyable session
full of focused playing from
everybody
20 minutes in
and it would been just fine for the
eventual CD
if it didn't ultimately make the cut
figurations are activities
hence our proper development mode
is an
activity of their realm
they are doing something
(by immediate comprehension)
so
they develop
by means of doing something
to them
or
with them
that is
a doing something
(by immediate
comprehension)
the Mighty W
in a fine moment
{journal entry of February 20, 2006:
symphonic
almost Elgarian
Banned Rehearsal color play
at its
loveliest
down dim. to a lusciously rich sonic PP space
- flute
(ocarina?) - trombone,
low piano - light percussion.
sax.
militarism threatens.
arrives
as the blattboofbone.
The Blutstürm passes
lovely peace
sonic treasures.
marvelous
transparency}
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| Clear Creek Falls Overlook |
I just played this last Saturday!
7(7) Track 4 - Aaron Keyt
plays with connections across gaps
between discrete sound bursts
cut short
resolute
in not adding up
At Least (feat. Lena Simone and Charlie Smith) - Dawn Clement [from Tempest/Cobalt]
we heard some of a set that Ms. Clement was playing
ages ago
at
The Reverb (or Macefield) Festival in Ballard
an able soprano
performing completely adult arrangements
Gradus at Cornish (continued) - Neal Kosály-Meyer [January 20, 2018]
the weird effect on the signal
is as though
it were recorded
on compromised media
digitalized image
of analog distortion
timed time-outs
(to
fulfill some proportional prophecy?)
prophecy:
potential
possibilities
hope
back to distortions
our own attention being unstable
is a
distortion upon the signal
even the signal
is a creature of
neurons
Bee & Be - Anna La Berge, Tom Baker [from Sand]
these sounds
are sehr fleissig
at something
dialog
in an alien time
Instrumental Piece - Hildegard Von Bingen (?) - Seqentia [from Spiritual Songs]
hm
this sounds more ancienty
than ancient
of course
I
may be mistaken
I'm no expert
on 12th Century practice
Son Si Belle Le Rose - Carlo Gesualdo - Delitiæ Musicæ
what does the poem tell us differently
by being shared among these
voices
just so?
does the just-so-ness
of how the voices
recite the poem
overwhelm the poem
being so abused?
Verleih uns Frieden genädiglich, SWV 372 - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana
the prayer becomes congregational
ritualized invocation
Praeludium in E minor, BuxWV 143 - Deiterich Buxtehude - Stella Simone
back when Praeludes had an A in 'em
oh so Greek
if inclusive of a second group of material
then they contain within
themselves
as a coming-before-sounding sort of piece
an internal
coming-before sort of thing
(praeludial presagement)
(as
structural tactic)
of course
we know what these big organ preludes
came before
they came before the service of worship
sometimes they
still do
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| Clear Creek Falls Overlook |
never fussily binary and balanced
as to how repeats work with each other
Sinfonia in A minor, BWV 799 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Edith Picht-Anxenfeld
the balancing answer
is fitted over the repeat
of the question
to be balanced
by an answer
they have to work it out
Keyboard Sonata in G minor, Kk. 234 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
more invertible counterpoint
but in a more freewheeling keyboard space
no transitions
instant
seamless-seeming
transformations
Sonata in E minor, Wq. 52/6 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklós Spányi
1
no-nonsense chug chug accompaniment figure
nobody gets away with
much
this is awesomely weird
has he lost track of where he needs
to go?
I have
2
sympathetic
but fundamentally of a sunnier disposition
3
keeping a positive outlook
as best can
Symphony in C Major, Hob. I:56 - Franz Joseph Haydn - Austro-Hungarian Orchestra, Ádám Fischer
1
outwardly
briskly
competent
inwardly
gracious
and considerate
string tremolo
as a go-to special effect
strumming with a
bow
2
slowly developing
metrical indexing
homage a CPEB
but the weirdness
tucked into an internal movement
4
a game of quick wits
En garde!
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| Yakima Greenway Trail |
Flute Concerto in G Major, K. 313 (#1) - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Neville Mariner, James Galway
a concerto for display
rather than for concerto-ness
in the older
sense
being
about the play of sound-worlds
here
the accompanying orchestra
supports and amplifies
but
doesn't play much
on an equal footing
with the flautist
when
the flute plays
the orchestra fades into the background
Mozart's concert music
is operatic
not because it seems to have a
plot
but because it seems to have characters
and scenery
Symphony in C minor, Op. 67 (#5) - Ludwig van Beethoven - Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood
1
press through the fermati
no lingering or loitering here
momentum carries us through
to the ever so brief abeyance of
propulsion
2
here we take our time
to consider the matter from many
angles
3
worries in the dark
troubles mulled
industrious doings
to pull us through
or
we could take it apart --->
4
something approaches
a parade!
glorious victors
celebrate
reacquaint themselves
with village life
but
have the worries truly departed?
nope
but vanquished
over-ridden with heavy boots
crushed
and
ground-in
cadential stomping
delayed by a coda
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| Clear Creek Falls Overlook |
quick seesaw figuration
necessarily offsets one polyphonic meter
from another
on pulse voice
off pulse voice
Semiramide, Act 2 (start) - Giochino Rossini - Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Mark Elder, Opera Rara, Albina Shagimuratova, Daniela Barcellona, Mirco Palazzi, Barry Banks, Gianluca Buratto
the synopsis in the wikies
is nearly a novella
a succession soap
each line
a shot
a camera on each face
they needn't have
been in the studio at the same time
except per the terms of their
contracts
I'm growing fond of these chug chug chug chug accompaniments
they have
possibilities
duets and trios
require rehearsals and cooperation
but the
audience loves 'em
an off-stage chamber orchestra
must be night-time
now they're
playing dark music
must have needed time for the scenery to be
changed
an evening-long orgy of plot points
liberally seasoned
with
melismas
the chorus enters
and says things
to articulate the scene
Klavierstück, D. 946 #1 - Franz Schubert - Alfred Brendel
some float
some run and leap
a multi-movement work
integrated into a single piece
as though
one movement
an arch design
A to B
B to A
but
is it symmetrical
as experience in time?
Études de concert pour le Pianoforte d’après des Caprices de Paganini: Étude in G minor, Op. 10 #2 - Robert Schumann - Eric Le Sage
the surging passion of it
is sung between the voices
where the
duet flows
transformation of an existing music
a Lisztian trick
Prelude in C Major, Op. 28 #1 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson
the pulse flows up
through the figure
Geheimes Flustern, Op. 23 #3 - Clara Schumann - Dorothea Craxton, Hedayet Djeddikar
the meters flow
through the figure
Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Op. 56a - Johannes Brahms - Sinfonie-Orchester des Norddeutschen Rundfunks, Wilhelm Furtwängler [recorded live in Hamburg, October 27, 1951]
the binary-form repeats
accent the theme's essential inertness
the
variations begin
by separating
the parts of the theme
that
hold it down
from
those that move
in it
this variation is scary
in a slow and viscous way
this one interrupts itself
and spills its words
over each other
on the way out
this one dances
so gracefully!
wisps of mists
this variation
is a Passacaglia
 |
| Yakima Greenway Trail |
Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35 - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Concertgebouworkest, Amsterdam; Bernard Haitink, Henryk Szeryng
1
balanced melodic
goes quickly rhapsodical
day dreams
distract
lots of energy spent in expectancy
symphonic workings out
between
solo bits
must be difficult to execute
and written to make it
obvious
fall back to the balanced melodic
and its accretions of technical
display
harmonically induced suspense
doing all in its power
to not get to the finish line
2
the opening theme group
is lovely string writing
I wish
he'd thought more
about getting to the second
or whether it were
necessary
but brief
an articulation
before returning
to the first group
3
jump right in
so bracing
then turn on the expectancy
so
getting back in tempo
is a relief
chromatic shifts
gently downward
performance instruction:
the suggested attitude of the performer
towards the act
to be enacted
id est
treat this bit
sweetly
this bit passionately
take your time here
and so
the piece becomes
not just the notes to be played
but
a prescribed
authorized
mindset
towards those notes
 |
| Clear Creek Falls Overlook |
theme
a threat to succession
an interloper
a Napoleon
wanna-be
(or, I suppose,
a would-have-wanted-to-be)
the
successful pretender
no wonder he had trouble
with censors
living
in a dynastic regime
this big melody stuff
might have been inspired
or suggested
by Rimsky-Korsakov
who could have never done so well
the singers
jump and shout
in surprise
must have been the
stabbing thing
the conspirators
get their deservings
we're sad about it
Woe
is Russia
trumpet and bell
(not what they were expecting)
it gets worse:
a history of politics
3 Gymnopédies - Eric Satie - Frank Glazer
my recollection
is that there is only one Gymnopédie
but
we
hear it three times
with
what might as well be
the same
notes
each time
impervious to distinction
the prettiness of them
is a red herring
to their essential radical
thought:
music
as an existential puzzlement
one could generate
an infinite chain of Gymnopédies
trailing off
into Everland
each uniquely
exactly
alike
obtusely
decorative
Sea Pieces: Nautilus, Op. 55 #7 - Edward MacDowell - Fred Karpoff
these pieces
are
at the sea
not
at sea
a lovely time
at
our little cottage
there
4 Preludes, Op. 39 - Alexander Scriabin - Michael Ponti
whereas
Scriabin
packs his preludes
with other preludes
they fight it out
this one
cleans up the mess
a stern
lecture
law laid down
big two-armed chords
full of notes
and strict voice leading
 |
| Clear Creek Falls Overlook |
first scene:
in a church
alone
at prayer
for the
strength of the Empire
new scene:
a threat is coming!
stiffen those lips chaps
we
are civilization's
last and best hope
we venture into strange
lands
to bring them
naught but civilization
in payment for
which
we extract wealth
we will be already bewitched
by the strangeness of it all
but the
prayers
in the church
for the strength
of the Empire
must be answered
charming memories
of frolicking children on
the lawn
playing with ribbands
but
forth we must struggle
against savagery
this movement gets lost in its story telling
has it all been a dream?
(a nightmare to some!)
so it's to battle then?
dream of home far away
thoughts fly hither
and thither
remember the ribbands!
that patch of sod!
we've
been through a lot
and we're only one movement along
we drift into
somnolence
threats of more plot intrude
but
we may be able
to drift from them
think on the pious prayer!
you will be
transported
back to thoughts
of English gardens
actually
we're in the third movement
no breaks
we may
survive yet
the manor slumbers secure
our duty
is to guard our lives in
comfort
back home
go forth
in the service of bravery and
fortitude
oh
such a Justly Placed National Pride we have
Lawrence's England
In Session at The Tintinabulary
July 21, 2024
Rockingham - Keith Eisenbrey
July 22, 2024
Gradus 397 - Neal Kosály-Meyer
we move our bodies
deliberately
through the grounds
mindful
of the effect our posture has
on the shapes
of the space
we scope out
its extremities
does naming an activity
deafen us to it?
to-wit:
drone
or ostinato
do they continue to be heard
post-nomination
stepping stones
guide our motions
we find positions
attitudes
within patterns of partitions
Postscripts
Drops
Keith Eisenbrey 19: 2021
Études d'exécution imminent - Acknowledgments
Rounds for Aaron
(2021)
Rungs for Neal (2021)
The Acknowledgements form the last segment of my large-scale project "Études d'exécution imminent", which might be subtitled "studies in compositional listening".
This album is free for download.
Prior volumes are available at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com
All are free for download.
Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery
listening journal doodles from 2024
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