"'D'ye see Ahab standing there, sideways looking over the stern? Well, the
best thing you can do, Flask, is to let that old man alone; never speak quick
to him, whatever he says. Halloa! what's that he shouts? Hark!'
'Mast-head,
there! Look sharp, all of ye! There are whales hereabouts! If ye see a white
one, split your lungs for him!'
'What d'ye think of that now, Flask?
ain't there a small drop of something queer about that, eh? A white whale -
did ye mark that man? Look ye - there's something special in the wind. Stand
by for it, Flask, Ahab has that that's bloody on his mind. but mum; he comes
this way.'"
Herman Melville, from Moby-Dick; Or, The Whale.
Texts
Recorded
October 12, 2024
Geistliche Chor-Music, Op. 11, SWV 369-397 (1648), Volume 1: XVIII. Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana
as the message sinks in
it searches out reverberations
and mutual
resonances
Herr Christ, der einig Gottes Sohn, BuxWV 191 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Stella Simone
a monument
firmly grounded
Gott ist Mein König, BWV 71 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Ton Koopman
trumpets are kingly signifiers
designed as a dialog
with its text
via
interpretation
or translation
into notes
the repleteness with which the notes relate to each other
projects a
sense of coherence
onto the wordtext
several movements end
up in the air
including the last
Triosieme Ordre (ut): La Lugubre, Sarabande - François Couperin - Kenneth Gilbert
I imagine a courtier
a sage advisor
seen it all
Keyboard Sonata in B Major, Kk. 245 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
the figures move about
in voice/register regions
to do the same
thing
in a different corner
register:
the pitch space occupied by a figure
its dimensions and
shape
registers are abstractions of figures
Keyboard Sonata in B Major, Wq. 65/38 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklós Spányi
Carl habitually distinguished the figurational functions of his two hands
in his keyboard writing
the left is functional
the right is
in the stage lights
Symphony in C Major, Hob. I:50 - Franz Joseph Haydn - Austro-Hungarian Orchestra, Ádám Fischer
1
opens with commands
(slow intro)
the main part of the
movement
is the activity
of carrying them out
the masters
like to see their servants
hard at work
so
look
busy
2
sensible and calm
efficient without hurry
steady
trustworthy
3
maneuvers
to display hosiered calf muscles
in one corner
and inviolate chastity
in t'other
4
general celebration and feasting
speeches!
toasts!
Piano Concerto in C Major, K415b(387b) - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner, Malcolm Bilson
the party is well underway
before the piano finally enters
to
amaze and delight us
cadenzas are to show off all the licks he's mastered
licks
are
servants of their master
Symphony in F Major, Op. 68, "Pastoral" (#6) - Ludwig van Beethoven - Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan
1
if
at the time of composition
the first movement of a
symphony
was an introduction to a hero
and a field of action
then
the hero
here
is a sunny day
and the field
of action
has got no action in it
2
if
at the time of composition
the second movement of a
symphony
was a love interest
in the father's home
then
the love interest
here
is a nap
and the father's home
is a haystack
if
back then
the third movement
was a social occasion
represented by a dance
and depicted genteel society
then
the social occasion
here
is still so represented
but
the society depicted
is distinctly earthbound and vigorous
but
what does one make of five movements?
especially when one
is as literal a storm
as he could make?
an elemental
and extensive
introduction to the last movement?
the sense in which 3 4 and 5
are separate movements
at all
is up for grabs
a three movement symphony
in which
the third movement
is a three movement symphony?
now
of course
it's unproblematically
in the form of
Beethoven's Sixth Symphony
old hat
play with finger positions and color
Moment Musicaux in F minor, Op. 94 #3 - Franz Schubert - Alfred Brendel
music for the amusement of the nouveau genteel
Mazurka in B-flat Major, Op. 17 #1 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson
a dance
is a social act
and a political one
hence
the
ritualized interruptions
and witty rejoinders
Fantasie in C Major, Op. 17 - Robert Schumann - Wilhelm Kempff
so what is one to do
with this fantasy
in the form
of a big
three movement piano sonata?
mix and match molds
first
dream about what it could be like
second
work diligently to make it so
third
[?]
binding the parts together
Eusebius -> Florestan
apotheosis and
heavenly bliss
heroic extasis
and moonlight
Slavonic Dance in C minor, Op. 46a #7 - Antonín Dvořák - The Cleveland Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnányi
movements go
they move
a dance movement
goes
like a
dance
ritualized
repetitious
repeatedly
they go
they do not
do
Scherzo, Op. 16 #6 - Ferruccio Busoni - Wolf Harden
how Schumannesque!
a veritable homage
Begegnung - Hugo Wolf - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Daniel Barenboim
rather crass overacting on the singer's part
quite the conversation was had on the dance floor
Prelude "La puerto del vino" - Claude Debussy - Walter Gieseking
such yearning for the exotic
eager to welcome it
(on our terms)
Spoon River - Percy Grainger - Percy Grainger, Lotta Mills Hough [from Percy Grainger plays Percy Grainger]
autoexoticism
our national pastime
I Ain't Got Nobody - Marion Harris [from Really The Blues]
technically
the blues is a type of strophe
with a ritual chord
change
inseperable
from a textual repetition scheme
as a
guideline
I Surely Understand That You Love Another Man - Shortbuckle Roark & Family [from Turn Me Loose Me White Man]
what a wonderful song to sing
with family
around the evening porch
I Found a New Baby - Alphonso Trent [from That Devilin' Tune]
what they were doing
in the nightclubs
you wanted to have been
at
the singer is a 30s-radio-tenor
a contrapuntalist
after the school of Brahms and Reger and
Schoenberg
much of this
is not located in a key
at best
a key stops by
briefly
on occasion
or passes in the street
fond of munching in the pasture
never tires
a ruminant
soundtrack
to the age of noir
third movement is a fun romp
like a butterfly on a pin
I'm Wondering and Wondering - Ray Charles [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
blues strophes
Fifth Sonata - Lockrem Johnson - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded September 13, 2024]
since this recording
I've been working on a change of tactics
in a
couple of places
but this isn't bad at all
Willie & The Hand Jive - Johnny Otis [collected from Neal Kosály-Meyer's Bo and The Beat]
dance craze for anybody
even on TV
Fingertips, Part 2 - Stevie Wonder [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
shindig is in full shindig
You Go To My Head - Bill Evans [from Some Other Time]
and a lot of notes spill out
I Am The Sea - The Who [from Quadrophenia]
between cheap psychedelia
and a trite soundtrack
throw a stray
vocal or so in
and serve tepid
Adam Raised a Cain - Bruce Springsteen [from Darkness On The Edge Of Town]
an aspect of any performance
is the attitude behind it
often
that attitude is a good part of what sells the record
but
attitudes are personal
and what attracts many
can as easily
repel others
a method of social sorting
Now - Skip Town [from Bard Sampler 82 & 83]
scrap heap
Banned Rehearsal 133 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [January 7, 1988]
blowing into tubes and chambers
clanging sounds
like the big iron
come-home-to-supper triangle bell
purchased at a street fair
in
Langley
on Whidbey Island's eastern shore
trombone
tin
whistle
and ocarina
blats and clang
blatter and clangor
slow to launch
blatting into an object
that rings
perhaps the suspended cymbal
shakers and mbiru
we shake our
sounds
like fists
at the elements
we are hearing sounds
as
how they depend in the room
are joined
from the universe of pre-recorded signals
traffic on roads
and in the sky
(perpetrators of those sounds
are uncredited)
subterranean crud
muffled
there are moments
when this approaches
our more recent rattlesome vibes
Neal's voice
intones from the past
I assert a problem
a polished stone
the search
for the skrying tongue
tone and tonguing
tea leaves and entrails
roads and ashcans
we talk below our playing
comments behind hands
it is not done
speaking to my self
from the past
Untitled VII - Michael Leese - New Music Associates
a shared line with wide lengths too many dubs can make a music sound out of tune with itself even when it isn't
Banned Rehearsal 487 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [March 14, 1998]
rolling in
early morning
we poke ourselves into daylight
is
it possible
anymore
to hear the sound a piano makes
and not
be instantly aware
that music is afoot?
piano takes a solo
when music is a sequence of sound events
a list of anything
it is
difficult
to find a path
to a coherent understanding
of the
sequence of it
we need to keep our past orderly
lest we no longer
cohere
we cohere
in an orderly past
we cohere
in a
transparent past
visible
end to end
more or less
we
are incoherent
however
with respect
to an opaque past
a defiantly incoherable past
episodes of transparent coherence
(an aesthetic goal) :: enabler of
episodes of transparent coherence
this is a wonderful session!
the passage of time
blesses all transgression
a dragon growls
with canid anger
grumbles back to sleep
drinking songs in the village inn
very busy
and cooperative
insectoids
overrun our space
what is the difference
between process and activity?
process
is predictable
though predicting process
is an activity
activity
is engaged
process
is initiated
set
going
the engagement
is minimal
the object itself
process with no outside influence
metaphorically
the God of
Process
is the Prime Mover
only set the rules
and push the
button
the God of Activity
is perpetually engaged
in
creation
process
implies a machine
independent of us
or our needs
activity
demands mutuality
this tape is intensely active
a higher purpose
for process
might be the allowance
of
elsewise improbable activity
the passage of time
blesses all
transgression
subjective ontology
might be thought of
as the engaged activity
of experiencing the process
of time passing
Desert Music - Tom Baker [from Sounding The Curve]
dry munching
down at beetlejaw level
a slow battle
with lots
of posture
and creaturely shiftshapes
Track 10 - Aaron Keyt [from 7(7)]
a method
invent a method
that implies method
a circular proof of coherence
if not
a method
then a
choosing mind
far from impersonal
I almost forgot I have tea to sip
Tom's muncher
may have gotten into some of these
Barbaadiyaan - Ram Sampath, Sasheh Agha [from Bollygood Volume 2]
commercial pop music
is a more effective evangelizer
of itself
than the most rabid colonial missionary
ever dreamed of
Gradus 327 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [February 5, 2018]
here we get the list first
then sounds
composed from the items on
the list
as I walked in here
to listen
I thought
to myself
that
going in
to listen
to Gradus
was a bit
like going
under the knife
a species
of eager dread
as items come by
we discover their difference
from the immediate
past
(their interval)
we hear
each one clearly
our
habits
put their spin upon each experience
we have
sudden silences
slice duration
pitch is a loud
connection-enabler
of experience
solidities have cracks
Lupine Fields - Pete Comley [from Paintronics 4]
hardware bliss out
standing ripple fields
Sinfonia in B-flat Major, Op. 9 #3 - Johann Christian Bach - Camerata Budapest, Hanspeter Gmür
part of this style
involves
the development of the orchestral
concept
away from chamber ensembles
the orchestra speaks to us
as a mass
rather than
with each other
as players
even if for our benefit
this is a show
differentiation of rhetorical function
melody and accompaniment
Elias (Part 2) - Felix Mendelssohn - The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Kurt Masur
there is a temptation
to improve upon originals
by adding features
bigger
grander
better filled out
(bloated)
Via Crucis: Station X - Jesus wird entkleidet - Franz Liszt - Rieinbert De Leeuw
intense
Symphony in F Major, Op. 90 (#3) - Johannes Brahms - Concertgebouworkest, Amsterdam; Bernard Haitink
duty forbids pleasure
no pastoral F Major for Me
product idea:
phony sheet music cover pages
from Peters Henle etc.
personalized with your vanity
like D's Time
perhaps that's what fame is
he sure got riled up in his counterpoint
Weeping Willow - Scott Joplin - William Albright
a tree type could also be a stereotyped costume or a dance
La rosa y el sauce - Carlos Guastavino - Teresa Berganzo, Juan Antonio Alvarez Parejo
high-toned cabaret
Rockabye Your Baby - Al Jolson [from That Devilin' Tune]
the words to this are icky
in several different directions
even
without the presumed blackface presentation
Jumping The Rope - Ruth Crawford Seeger - Jenny Lin
lively rhythm
clever
One Way Gal - William Moore [from Really The Blues]
sixteen bar blues
ABBC
rather than AAB
(or perhaps
it's (A A')(A' B))
Miss Handy Hanks - Archie Lewis [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
narrative stanza
chord changes
underline
the acceleration
of rhetoric
Liza Pull down The Shades - Bob Wills [from That Devilin' Tune]
playing fast
to show off
strut
Night in Tunisia - Dizzy Gillespie [from That Devilin' Tune]
loud surface noise
obscures all but the soloists
Chaconne - Lockrem Johnson - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded April 23, 2024]
some music
demands learning (to play better)
it's so clear
what needs to happen
that
less than that
is
disappointment
Love, My Baby - Junior Parker [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
it is a mistake
to assume
that any culture is uniform
one
must remember
of what it consists
(us)
so
one must
assume
that this music
has been listened to
by all manner
folks
from all manner
of culture standpoints
Sweet Little Sixteen - Chuck Berry [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
rock and roll appliances
45rpm changers
transistor radios
car radios
television
all of which
have vanished
or morphed
far beyond their origins
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Darlene Love [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
chord change
like a chaconne ground bass
in four notes
The Fly (Blake) - Allen Ginsberg [from Holy Soul, Jelly Roll]
vowels bright and wide
One Of A Kind (Love Affair) - The Spinners [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
balanced at the board
allowing music
to become
only
what is balanced at the board
is sad
I Wanted Everything - Ramones [from Road To Ruin]
music in a grid
fixed in place
ritualized
My Baby Left Me - Jill Borner [recorded live at Bard College, March 18, 1983]
this stumpified me then
and it still does
Remembrance - Cecil Taylor, Louise Moholo [from Remembrance]
at the level of the piano mechanism
none of these notes are connected
at the level of electronic memory locations
there are no notes to
connect
they are connected
as chords
tunes
gestures
as music
at two
disconnected
levels
its perpetrator's
and ours
a means of empathy
I heard Cecil Taylor live
once upon a time
a visceral experience
overwhelming
before listening
take a deep breath
there won't be a chance
for longer than you think
In Session at The Tintinabulary
October 13, 2024
Lutzen - Keith Eisenbrey
the first Common Meter tune in the book (8 6 8 6)
October 17, 2024
Liebeslied (for a pianist alone) - Benjamin Boretz
I listened to this last night, but I'm not quite sure I'm done with it yet. It occupies a unique place in my repertoire. I've been working on it off and on since 1984, sometimes to work it up for performance, sometimes as a compositional stimulus. Currently, it seems to be operating as a perpetual piano lesson, as much teacher as piece. There always seems to be a way to rethink playing it, and in the process to rethink my approach to playing the piano in general. Never has the parenthetical in the title been more personally pertinent.
Postscripts
Drops
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream
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