"'Elijah,' said I, 'you will oblige my friend and me by withdrawing. We are
going to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and would prefer not to be
detained.'
''Ye be, be ye? Coming back afore breakfast?'
'He's
cracked, Queequeg,' said I, 'come on.'
'Holloa!' cried stationary Elijah,
hailing us when we had removed a few paces.
'Never mind him,' said I,
'Queequeg, come on.'
But he stole up to us again, and suddenly clapping
his hand on my shoulder, said - 'Did ye see anything looking like men going
towards that ship a while ago?'
Struck by this plain matter-of-fact
question, I answered, saying 'Yes, I thought I did see four or five men; but
it was too dim to be sure.'
'Very dim, very dim,' said Elijah. 'Morning
to ye.'
Once more we quitted him; but once more he came softly after us;
and touching my shoulder again, said, 'See if you can find 'em now, will
ye?
'Find who?'
"Morning to ye! morning to ye!' he rejoined, again
moving off. 'Oh! I was going to warn ye against - but never mind, never mind
-it's all one, all in the family too; - sharp frost this morning, ain't it?
Good bye to ye. Shan't see ye again very soon, I guess; unless it's before the
Grand Jury.'
Herman Melville, from "Moby-Dick; or, the Whale."
Texts
Recorded
Le Poème de l'extase, Op. 54 - Alexander Scriabin - Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt, Eliahu Inbal
plunging into the chasm
opened by Tristan
and widened by Debussy
to be projected
upon the widest
and tallest screen possible
maximize resplendence
Le Sacre du Printemps - Igor Stravinsky - Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz
here be Igor's goriest
and all else
that emerges out
from
cold storage
primitive exotics
is the sacrifice
to call
or to control
the elders proceed deliberately
step by step
omitting none
sounds like control to me
all the spasms of being
enacted upon a body
Quartet in E minor, Op. 83 - Edward Elgar - Claremont Quartet
meanwhile in Merry Old England
the elders indulge in Brahmsian
counterpoint
vigorously scrubbing
to call forth
the tried
and true
it is however
true social-chamber music
that is
the players
are given parts
that are a pleasure to play
(with others)
with
which
is not true
of the entirely outwardly facing music
of Le Sacre
and of Le Poéme
Prelude et Etude in Arpeges - Ferruccio Busoni - Wolf Harden
figures of figures
Schumannian
in moderner modes
Mon Cherie - Bebe Creole McGee [from Really The Blues]
high pitched voice
pulled into a nasal twang
to match the fiddle
scrubbing
Hambone Am Sweet - Four Southern Singers [from That Devilin' Tune]
ostensibly about food
but mostly about making vocal harmony
with
each other
Symphony No. 3, Op. 33 - Howard Hanson - Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz
1
we stand and watch
a solemn mass
of the heavy laden
slog past
next shot
close up
to individual struggles
among them
heroic energy urges on
look ahead
to a new dawn
2
prairie morning
in a new land
stubbornly sticks to its
configurements
less a movement
than a patch of playing music
homespun tunebird
a time
that was obsessed with its nationness
3
battle drums on the horizon
life goes on nervously
national matters intrude
4
back to the slog
now encamped in hiding
dream of a new
land
that prairie heaven
just across the waste
6 Monologe aus "Jedermann" - Frank Martin - Nurnberger Symphoniker, Pierre Domoninue Ponnell, Martin Egel
a darkened room
a cramped refuge
worry
for what might be
working
beyond the walls
isolated
remaindered
Life is a Problem - Sister O. M. Terrell [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
preaching guitar-preacher
Money Honey - The Drifters [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
lack of
is made a problem
by policy of law
Miss Lucy's hand
for something
that can't be found in books
she's rooting for the shorty guy
a rigged race
Rally Songs Medley - Gregg Smith Singers [from The Great Sentimental Age]
I can only think
this should have been indexed
to another year
than 1963
this just doesn't sound like a Vietnam era recruitment
medley
Mr. Lincoln
perhaps should have been 1863
oh well
rip rap
flip flap
strap your knapsacks
on your back
for we're a goin down
to Washington
to fight for Uncle Abe
rally round the flag lads
...And The Gods Made Love - The Jimi Hendrix Experience [from Electric Lady Land]
playing with tape speed and echo
to its credit
doing nothing else
it
is
it
full stop
Evryali - Iannis Xenakis - Aki Takahashi
a bald statement
a clot
and another
a series of clots
fallen trees in mountain rivers
from a generation
that felt an urgent need
to jettison contact
with their inescapable pasts
fierce portraits
of an interrupted flow
everything you hear
is in the way
massive poly-pitch sonorities
passing through a pressured narrows
I couldn't begin to play this
so I'm glad Aki can
oddly sized segments
articulated
by oddly sized caesuras
perfectly tuned vocal entrance
compositional arrangement
as
perfect as a thing can be
as a creature of the mixing board
Intermezzo IV - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at Bard College, March 18, 1983]
starting from everywhere
count to many
proceed from
anywhence
pairs are important to hear
but which?
each singularity
a
dyad
each dyad
leads awry
exploration
by losing ones
place
eternal alphaomega
that piano was in a funky tune
Love Me Do - The Beatles [from Past Masters]
a rhyme game and nothing else
Brandeis - Elaine Barkin - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at University Temple United Methodist Church, May 14, 1993]
I intend to work this up again
the score has been on my piano desk
for several years
I need to clear the decks
of pieces I have
nearly in hand
as musics
they elude my own comprehension
as I am playing them
I can only think of notes
and my own actions
and
timings
I like what I'm doing in this performance
every figure is specific and
exact
September 10, 2024
Ex-Factor - Lauryn Hill [from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill]
the words of the text
are immediately reinforced
by answering
repetition
not merely
a textual feature
it also adds
to the musical texture
homo parenthesien
(in a bracket)
a matched pair
(dyad)
(set)
joined
by what separates
them
by being enclosed
between them
Blanc (for piano) - Elaine Barkin - electronic realization by Benjamin Boretz [from Open Space 24]
parts alone
of parts alone
Gradus 221 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [February 11, 2013]
poke a note
poke another
poked
the notes never devolve
into their partials
Homeland - Allison Loggins-Hull - Jennifer Grim, Michael Sheppard
flute
pitch bent pitches
center themselves
on a pitch
but don't necessarily
become separate functions
they are
(here)
a decoration
(not a bad thing)
(simply an
uncrucial thing)
it seeks our attention
as such
a rhetorical device
a pointer
Banned Telepath 97 Tintinabulary - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [February 27, 2023]
we conspire
to plunk
some melody
out of thin air
which
upon being plucked
proceeds
to poke about
in the
corners
open
old drawers
this
must have been the first session
with my rubberband guitar
(a birthday present)
music for an empty stone chamber
Geistliche Chor-Music, Op. 11, SWV 369-397 (1648), Volume 1: XIV. Tröstet, tröstet mein Volk - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana
articulation to the front
a music of segments
of contrapuntal
strategies
and metrical differentiations
put together
rather
than spun out
as a thread
or spider silk
Auf meinem lieben Gott, BuxWV 179 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella
music for organ
fills a space
but often
its innerness
is an extreme of intimacy
small
private
writ
into
a cathedral space
a cosmical intimacy
Deuxiéme Ordre (Ré): Gavotte - François Couperin - Kenneth Gilbert
so elegant
so frivolous
Invention in A minor, BWV 784 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Edith Picht-Axenfeld
the leading voice
passes figures
to its subordinate executor
all in good order
Sonata in G Major, Kk. 240 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
monarchy loves an hierarchy
and agreeable efficiency
Sonata in D minor, Wq. 51/4 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklós Spányi
measuring a line
from a fixed point of articulation
regards
poses
as in a mirror
perfecting
ones outward grace
a sequence of figurations
across a sequence of tonal
relations
not
about keeping track
of where one is
on a map
but
as in a terrain
6 Variations on "Mio caro Adone", in G Major, K. 180 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Kristian Bezuidenhout
outfits
for the theme
to model
an object of figures
held up for investigation
its shapes and
propensities
fascinate
each moment
a new angle
a new
feature
it isn't just the fine workmanship
it is
that
the workmanship
is
the subject
of its workmanship
harmonically useful cogs
otherwise disregardable
can be
composed
in figures
of such cogs
and trace
a tonality
unique
to that figure
another polyphonic potential
Symphony in C minor, Op. 67 (#5) - Ludwig van Beethoven - Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert Von Karajan
there is a temptation
to re-compose
at the mixing board
to
make of recorded sound
what an iconic work is
in the iconic
imagination
constructing definitivity
or
a recording
is an artifact
of a performance
an intent
collaboration of experts
and a moment
in tech-time-space
attended
by its army of experts
and critics
bigger
than life
inflated
in full 3D
surround sound
never
bene better
glory
what must the experience be
of
say
a violist
in the BPO
recording B's 5th
with Von K
for DG?
does the toxic notion
of definitivity
pervade that far into the foliage?
who does the bowings of
definitivity?
but what is the music about?
finding things
inside other findings
sitting in the seat of definitivity
nothing but the best
(see under glutton; crotchety)
(granted
it is an
impressively iconic icon)
a new image
executory skill
instrumental prowess
performative virtuosity
Moment Musicaux in A-flat Major, Op. 94 #2 - Franz Schubert - Alfred Brendel
what is a musical moment
a moment
of?
thinking about balances
what they are
and how they are
and
how they behave
this music
is too internally thoughtful of itself
to be concerned with definitivity
6 Concert Studies on Caprices by Paganini, Op. 10: No. 3 in G minor, Vivace - Robert Schumann - Florian Uhlig
this music
is the excited mind state
of a young Romantic
listening to Paganini
Mazurka in D Major, Op. 33 #2 - Frédéric Chopin - Vladimir Ashkenazy
playing with segments of sizes
and repetitions of such segments
O Lust, O Lust - Clara Schumann - Dorothea Craxton, Hedayet Djeddikar
that's a lot of notes
in big quick arpeggiations
Slavonic Dance in A Major, Op. 46a #5 - Antonín Dvořák - The Cleveland Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnányi
dance and costumery
concern themselves
with the human body
as a living form
the music
of dance
does so
secondarily
1
in transitions
the figures get loose of their meters
the
notes get loose of their tonics
bereft of bearing
never fear!
tonality man is here!
2
studious thoughts
and daydreams
of lovely ladies
and
surging feels
then slumber
3
slo-mo nostalgia
sepia dance
4
a battle of heroes
counterpoints vs counterpoints
the
clash of arms
mighty clashing armies
all shouting
their
heroes' cries
of battle glorious
fades
into the Rheinland
sunset
Die Feuerreiter - Hugo Wolf - Dieterich Fischer-Dieskau, Daniel Barenboim
newsliedreel footage
with intercards
a two part song
or
a song in two movements
Das Orgel-Büchlein, BV B 27: No. 6, Herr Gott, nun schleuß den Himmel auf (After J. S. Bach's BWV 617) - Ferruccio Busoni - Wolf Harden
the intimacy index
of a piano
is different
from that of a
pipe organ
even
or especially
in the same
architecture/acoustic
the music (on piano)
is more human sized
its presence
doesn't
surround
and overwhelm
Trois Morceaux en Forme de Poire - Eric Satie - Frank Glazer, Richard Deas
the tonality slips
from one state
to its duplicate
on
another plane
panels
of the same color
offset
one
behind
the
other
Piano Concerto in G minor, Op. 16 (#2) - Sergei Prokofiev - Nurnberger Symphoniker, Ainslee cox, Jorge Bolet
a simply presented tune
accumulates bric-a-brac
as it rolls along
imagine
being presented with this
in 1913
accustomed to
Rachmaninov
and Tchaikovsky
gonzo pianism
supplants Romantic nostalgia dreams
what would the Tsar make of this?
one can hear the little noises the orchestra is making
trying to not
make noises
they remain a presence in the space the music is occupying
Jutish Medley - Percy Grainger - Percy Grainger, Lotta Mills Hough [from Percy Grainger plays Percy Grainger]
moving pictures
as portraits of musics
over-hyped
Vox clamans in deserto - Carl Ruggles - The Buffalo Philharmonic, Michael Tilson Thomas, Beverly Morgan
the text
describes scenes poetically
what does the music do?
illustrate
the described scenes?
perhaps
assist the singer
in the articulation of their text?
probably
America, an Epic Rhapsody for Orchestra, I. Oh America - Ernst Bloch - Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Chorale, Gerard Schwarz, Richard Sparks
that dark land
beyond the sea
home
of noble savagery
untainted
by the quarrels
of the civilized worlds
a
new start
for the dregs of Empire
bringing light to the benighted
Merry Go Round - Duke Ellington [from That Devilin' Tune]
sophistication
from a different line of development
than Europe's
concert repertoire
Liza Pull Down the Shades - Bob Wills [from That Devilin' Tune]
concerns itself
with a brisk tempo
bending toward bebop
Violin Concerto #2 - Bohuslav Jan Martinů - Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Václav Neumann
in a time of global war
a ceiling of dread
try not to look up
the soloist
nearly lost
amid the crowd
they are
an anyone
sensitivity
to the voicing
of pitch sets
in simultaneous
sounding
so that
the motions
among them
are
both
internal
to the voices
and functional
within their
sets
the soloist
acts as a concentrated focus
of chord voicing
an interesting piece to hear
for that unique take
on how the
soloist
fits in the concerto
certainly
clinging to the old heroic models
but
finding it
harder
to accomplish
in the new times
a slow sunset waltz
on all the front porches
of middle America
all Hallmark moments
all the time
Rockwell land
rocking out
on the glider
americana
comfort blanky
they visit the big city
with its international oddities
and
mixedness
Souvenirs, Op. 28 - Samuel Barber - John Browning, Leonard Slatkin
this tune
goes back to the Satie-times
but memory
is crowded
with ghosts
a selection of old favorites
been sitting on the piano desk
since
at least way back when
the modern era
itself
treated
modernistically
as an exotic land
I Want to Talk About You - Ray Charles [a Rescued Record]
a set of pools
in a water feature
we trace the tune
as it
spills
from pool to pool
it descends to our feet
Louie Louie - The Kingsmen [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
recorded so poorly
that the words can't be made out
except
perhaps
the
let's give it to 'em right now
Dear Prudence - The Beatles [from The Beatles (The White Album)]
one of John's tighter songs
Midnight Train to Georgia - Gladys Knight and The Pips [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
a tonality
constructed of chord changes
rather than
tonic/dominant/et-ceteral relationships
do I hear row forms going by?
no
though
if they are in the
sounds
I hear going by
then
perhaps
I have heard them
but
are the forms
in
the sounds?
no
since
we assign the sounds
to their row forms
unless
I am
assigning sounds
to forms
for me
to hear them
I did
not hear those forms
nevertheless
I hear these sounds
as
within forms
and they must be forms
I made
but
what
might those forms
I made
for the sounds to be in
be?
run-on figures
the composition
is a designed figure of figures
Pink Houses - John Cougar Mellencamp [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of rock & Soul]
roadhouse roots
Electric Garbage - Banned Rehearsal [from Purple Stripe]
Neal on guitar
me on drums
Karen on the harmonica?
and of course
Neal's vocal
but who plays cornet
must be Neal
we coalesce around a steady pulse
but don't always agree
on where
one is
we are free
to use our own one
for a while
should we so choose
perhaps it's Karen on guitar {NB: yes}
clock chimes
time to stop
In Session at The Tintinabulary
September 8, 2024
Frostenden - Keith Eisenbrey
September 13, 2024
Ut Re Mi Fa Sol La - William Byrd
Fifth Sonata - Lockrem Johnson
Liebeslied - Benjamin Boretz
I'm going to give each of these at least another try - very close all around
Postscripts
Drops
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream
