Preface
"It's easy, again, for an inattentive or dismissive listener to write off so-called 'serial' music because its underlying structural formalism is thought somehow to exclude expression or emotional commitment or whatever, but perhaps the reason for any kind of radical break with an existing tonal grammar is that it makes possible new forms of expressive engagement with heard sounds, including engagements that are highly imaginative. Again, the formal rigor is kind of the point: careful compositional attention to certain kinds of within-music relationships ensures that the aesthetic break is maintained, and by foreclosing certain tried-and-true comportments with musical 'things' syntactic relations between them, and other aspects of musical structure (which elsewhere Ben defines as 'the coherent juxtaposition of everything relevant to the identity of a musical work') the possibility of ever new comportments remains alive. Permanent revolution, at the level of musical aesthesis. (That something like Group Variations can still sound radical 58 years later attests to this, although admittedly it does also sound 'of its time' -- I just happen to still appreciate the radical promise of that time, even if the promise itself remains perpetually deferred.)"
Chris Stover, from the liner notes to Music of Benjamin Boretz, Open Space 60
Texts
Recorded
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| Walla Walla Point Park, Wenatchee, WA |
Nocturne in C Major (#7) - John Field - Benjamin Frith
octave leap figure
a constant throughout
until it finds places to
go
to wrangle with the rest of the music
back to the fold
one's return to home base is unmistakable
6 Etudes D'execution Transcendante D'apres Paganini, S140/R3a: No. 1 In G Minor - Franz Liszt - Gianluca Luisi
using tremolo
to effect a sustained sonority
Gesänge der Frühe, Op. 133 - Robert Schumann - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded January 13, 1985]
the recorded sound is wobbly
but I play this first chorale with a clear
intent
it never sounds like I don't know what I'm going for
I must
have worked this up
while I was still living in Bellevue
as I
moved to Seattle just before I recorded it
{NB actually I moved the next
week}
not half bad for an amateur
6 Romances sans paroles, Op. 76: V. Chanson brétonne - Cecile Chaminade - Mark Viner
a stalwart hero
out and about
on their stalwart hero rounds
Norwegian Peasant Dances, Op. 72: No. 6, Myllarguten's Gangar - Edvard Grieg - Håkon Austbø
halting hemiolae
My One and Only (Incomplete) - Sarah Vaughan [from Sarah Vaughan Sings George Gershwin]
evidence of industrial perfectionism at work
once splicing became
standard practice
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| Walla Walla Point Park, Wenatchee, WA |
Mother Nature's Son - The Beatles [from The Beatles (White Album)]
inventing a new person to be
for the duration of a song
melody grows more elaborate
with each line
repeat title at end
Pilgrimage (Live in Toronto 1983) - REM [from Murmur]
its relation to words
and how they might mean something to listeners
is peculiar
we are put in the position
of pretending to
understand
or presuming it doesn't matter that we do or don't
a poetry of the appearance of poetry
Flea Circus - U-Men
what I appreciate about these U-Men tracks
is that their stanzas
if that's what they are
don't follow a standard pattern of fours
and eights
and shift tempos with precision
(this one is mostly in
six: 4+2)
but with no pretense to finesse
And I Love Her - Scott Robinson [from Thinking Big]
analyzing the Beatles tune improvisationally
boldly high
One Room - Goodness [from Goodness 1995-1998]
two word repeat at certain spots in the chorus
find out
find out
get to
get to
As Time Goes By - Glenn Tate [from Days of Wine and Roses]
that old
play it Sam tune
instant sentimental
A Short Piece for Guitar X45 - S. Eric Scribner [from Soundforms/Multiples]
building therewith
a choral sonority
Fashion of His Love - Lady Gaga [from Born This Way]
machine for dancing
Every Sunset at Once - Steve Layton [from Virtual Composition]
proclaimed
in Rugglesish blocks of stone
Nobody - Sharkie [from Dirt Cult Records: You Don't Have To Be Cool]
attitude release valve
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| Walla Walla Point Park, Wenatchee, WA |
Bess You Is My Woman Now - Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong [from Porgy & Bess]
aside from the soloists
who command attention
the studio musicians
in the orchestra
are playing as exactly and impersonally
as it is
professionally possible to do
I trust they got paid for disappearing
Reaching for the Moon - Rusty Dedrick [from Irving Berlin, All By Myself: Notable Compositions 1926-1933]
the movement of sense
as it progresses through the words
and the
movement of sense
as it progresses through the music
conspire as
one
TV Movie - Bruce Springsteen [from Tracks]
let's be a Sun Records star
Deep In My Soul - Edward Elgar - King's Singers [from My Spirit Sang All Day]
motet after the school of Monteverdi and progeny
Bowing And Scraping - Andre Previn - Itzhak Perlman [from The Art of Itzhak Perlman]
uptight
Cello Set 4 - Brad Hawkins, Jesse Canterbury [from Brad Hawkins, Jesse Canterbury]
this music asks a question
We Have Spoken - The True Bugs [from 25 Songs]
settling into a life
Stuck in Salina, Kansas - Smokestack and The Foothill Fury [from High Roads and Hard Shoulders]
perils of a wandering life
Innocent - Tom Swafford [from Violin Improvisations]
this music develops its sense of self
by turning back in toward itself
I'll Be Your Shelter (In Time of Storm) - Homer Banks [from Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos]
this music gets out of the song's way
Introspection - Thelonious Monk [from The Complete Columbia Studio Solo Recordings]
we hear it over again
study its motions
Halloween - Mudhoney [from Superfuzz Bigmuff]
we pause between stanzas
in different ways
than between lines
or on long held words
a writhing sex fear
Eh La Bas [from New Orleans Traditional Jazz Legends 3]
bandstand in the city park
tourist appropriate
The Promise Keepers - Doug Haire [from The Crawford Opera]
tent meetin' refuse bin
Go Go Homemade Video Game, Sean and Others - Sacajawea Elementary Students [from Digital Dreams]
item achieved
Meet Me On The Corner - Your Mother Should Know [recorded live at The Comet, Seattle, March 5, 2013]
pounds the beat without bounce
Time Never Goes By - Brenda Ray [from Original Songs/1950s Music]
everything else does
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| Walla Walla Point Park, Wenatchee, WA |
in two voices
Rebonds B - Iannis Xenakis - Steven Schick
migration into broader spaces
on the same pin's head
Rebecca Hadwen-England [from The World Sings Goodnight]
baby bunting and rabbit skins
Last Kiss - Pearl Jam [from Rearviewmirror]
sad story
so drive carefully out there kids
Spanish Lesson - Madonna [from Hard Candy]
minimal pitch spread
I'd Rather Be High - David Bowie [from The Next Day]
constant pitch level at beginnings of things
Just a Fool (feat. Blake Shelton) - Christina Aguilera [from Lotus]
wide range of pitch
anthem of weeping to the bartender
In His Own Words - Milton Babbitt [from Erik Carlson: Ever Expanding Milton Babbitt Album]
the tones are guilty
dreary classrooms in Los Angeles
Gap 1st Batch 1-4 - J. K. Randall - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded August 21, 2026]
2 and 3 are fine
but 1 and 4 need more care taken
in the tempo and
regularity of touch
radically exposed music
Video Phone - Beyoncé [from I Am ... Sasha Fierce]
now we're selling tech
Angel Mine (feat. Lena Simon & Charlie Smith) - Dawn Clement [from Tempest/Cobalt]
spinning out of a lullaby
Snowflake - Choke The Pope [from Who Cares]
whines of the disaffected knowitalls
Entange - Bruce Huber - Bard College Composers' Ensemble
we are moving through a space of sounds
holding still
a saxophone
blows in a dim window
other sounds observe
turn their heads to us
as we pass
they've been here longer than we
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| Walla Walla Point Park, Wenatchee, WA |
Down So Low - Holly Palmer [from I Confess]
voice and piano respond to each other in the intro
intake of breath left
in
actual bodies making music in a room together
Forest Show (continued) - John Teske, Neil Welch, Greg Campbell [recorded live August 4, 2018]
we prepare to march with tiny bells
the squitch of feet on gravel
below the tinkle of bells
behind airplanes in the distance above
we are a brook of sound
into the forested ravine
some
wordless shouting heralds our passage
horns greet our arrival
and
papa bell
lowing
bowing
Sugar, Free - Wadada Leo Smith, Benjamin Boretz [from Open Space 52]
circling each the other
aware
sudden
pin point
immoving
end of the preliminaries
liminaries entered
the chamber extends into gallery after gallery
we shout to the distant voids
share notes
pull the same cart
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| Walla Walla Point Park, Wenatchee, WA |
8
{mine}
as composed by an acolyte
of the Viennese School
for piano trio
9
geoduck field spit spurts
10
still morning on a lake
rippleless
11
in pop minimalism mode
12
watercolored
13
the circus is back in town
Tony Silverado - Camarones Orquestra Guitarrística [from O Curioso Caso da Música Invisível]
a personal theme song
their sleek ride and flash duds
Track 12 [from Unknown Christmas Album]
set phasers to warm and fuzzy
a version of Silent Night
in an
unfamiliar language
Solo Piano - Tildy Bayar [2018]
an arrangement
of thought game pieces
a garden of stones
sand
and twisted wood
attention magnetics
to be played
in an empty room
Warfare - Dawn Richard [from Goldenheart]
layered delivery
polymodal
Beyond Years - Whitney Ballen [from You're a Shooting Star, I'm a Sinking Ship]
coming to terms with loss
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| Walla Walla Point Park, Wenatchee, WA |
Art is Either a Compliment or Do Something Else, Cage reads Jasper John's statement - John Cage [from Text Pieces]
makes statements in a mild upspeak
a list of things said
Henryesque - Hope Wechkin [from Lean Towards The Fiddler]
a cheery energy
in a minorish mode
Celebrating the Life of Carl Richard Eisenbrey (continued) [recorded live at Langley United Methodist Church August 26, 2018]
pastoral prayer
a reading from Mark
a Eulogy
we sing Amazing
Grace
Come Swallow Me - Bad Cop, Bad Cop [from Wings of Techno]
an awkward bot
working on its moves
not designed to sing
it
does anyway
works its way into an unfortunate regularity
Some Kind of Cowgirl - Slothrust [from The Pact]
a confession
an apology
an attempt to come clean
an
admission
Track 2 - Neil Welch [from A Response to the Wednesday Morning Shooting at Café Racer]
trisecting breath
into sound strands
Illusion - participants [from Waterloo Region Contemporary Music Sessions 2018]
hovering in acoustic stasis
enfolding
releasing
Lively - Waxahatchee [from Cerulean Salt]
a lilting lazy twelve
punctuated by a de-lilted bar or two
Burnout - Kara Hesse [from Sojourner]
restless heart
Give Me Your Moments (Misfits) - Canals of Venice [recorded live at The Comet, Seattle, March 5, 2013]
filling shoes
8th Grade - Mariah Carey [from Caution]
aside from the profit motive
what is a pop song for?
an essential part
of a species of spectacle
a fantasy assist
Greyscale - Mikey & Matty [from Harbor Island]
or
of a social event
an empathy assist
a lubricant
Nothing - Denise Glover [from Gaps In The Stories]
part of the spectacle
is the particular distance pertaining
between music and listener
the size of the spectacle's stage
anywhere from arena to porch
Friends, Neighbors - Lori Goldston [from Film Scores]
what's there
must be immediately there
so as not to pull
from the form of expression
it exists within
Swedish Sleazeballs - Blazzed [from Blazzed]
or
to pull from the form of expression
it presumes to exist within
or
to invent the form of expression
it might exist within
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| Walla Walla Point Park, Wenatchee, WA |
to establish a social connection
we're one of you
you're one of us
we recognize us in you
and you in us
a closed set
waddaya know!
the moon is rising
into an eclipse tonight
even right now
in my sight
through the window
If It Isn't You - Shelby Earl [from Swift Arrows]
unconditional surrender anxiety
Pussy Weed Beer - Chastity Belt [from No Regerts]
reduced to essentials
of infantile escape desire
Dragon Chaser II - Antique Scream [from Two Bad Dudes]
speak of the devil
cruising with curled lip and swagger
(fear
response)
Baptism - Spinning Whips [from Sentimental Groover]
tech applied to vocals
to leave little but the rhythm of the lines
and an occasional intelligible word or two
the point must be
to speak
but not necessarily be understood
unless they're
relying on the liner notes
In Session at The Tintinabulary
August 23, 2026
Inverness - Keith Eisenbrey
August 25, 2026
Gap 1st Batch 6 - J. K. Randall
August 26, 2026
Gap 1st Batch 1, 4, 5 - J. K. Randall
August 27, 2026
Gap 1st Batch 7, 9, 10, 12, 13 - J. K. Randall
August 28, 2026
Gap 1st Batch 13, 14 - J. K. Randall
Postscript
Drops
Music of Lockrem Johnson, Jim Knodle, Aaron Keyt, and Peter
Nelson-King
Keith Eisenbrey: piano, clavichord
This album brings together various pieces that have found my fingers recently, including some of the late Lockrem Johnson's last compositions.
1-7 - Lockrem Johson -
Seven Preludes for Guitar, Op. 51 (performed on clavichord)
8 -
Jim Knodle - In The Unknown Tongue
9 - Aaron Keyt - Anvik
10-15 - Peter Nelson-King - Seedlings
16-19 - Aaron Keyt -
Four Little Piano Pieces
20-25 - Aaron Keyt - Variations
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream.
