Preface
Banned Rehearsal celebrates 40 years of whatever it is we are doing
Gallery 1412, Seattle
Banned Rehearsal 1107 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosly-Meyer [recorded live at Gallery 1412 September 6, 2024]
Banned Rehearsal 1108 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosly-Meyer [recorded live at Gallery 1412 September 6, 2024]
Texts
Recorded
Rondo in D Major, Wq. 56/3 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklós Spányi
this must be a small fortepiano
rather than clavichord
when a piano string is damped
the felt damper
drops upon it
directly above the hammer's impact point
when a clavichord string is
damped
it is damped by the felt at the far left end
and by that
portion of the string
that had
heretothen
been
between
the damping felt
and the tangent that strikes it
(the string)
this affects the particulars of decay envelopes
Horn Concerto in E-flat Major, K. 447 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz, John Cerminaro
1
here's a fine young Papageno/Figaro type for you
a hale and
charming young up and comer
we shall see how he succeeds
2
a likely love interest
right on cue
a modest and thrifty
intern Hausfrau
maiden of all work
above;
the ideal
recipe
for bourgeois happiness and prosperity
3
and thus did they
ever so happily afterwards
imagine the opulence of a culture
in which
this sort of thing
arises organically
all those instruments
all those musicians
I mean
do we keep house-musicians on our service staffs?
(I
don't mean the house-pest variety,
I mean the remunerated variety)
(such as Esterhazy's Haydn)
a culture
in which
the
vanity of the prince
was gratified
without irony
as being
their due by birth
(flattery is a near cousin of ridicule)
(ridicule hides under the breath of flattery)
this household
has rules
and everyone complies
even
especially
the Prince
must play his role
by the household's rules
Cello Sonata in A Major, Op. 69 - Ludwig van Beethoven - Dan Zollars, Martha Oppenheim
impatient new material
and patient pedant
in the form of a
recurring
sternly boorish
series of intervals
keep to the subject
don't digress
even with new material
Caprice in E-flat Major, Op. 1 #17 - Niccolo Paganini - Salvatore Accardo
dramatic cadential formula establishes the key
Sonata in D Major, D. 959 (#19) - Franz Schubert - Paul Badura-Skoda
fighting an urgent need
to slip from pleasantness
into drama
this music
is tearing apart
its intent
is sundered
always use the simplest means
inescapably lyrical
bedecked with gay ribbands
multiple false
codetti
Nocturne in F Major, Op. 15 #1 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson
isolating a tone
to tune the whole
explosive figures interrupt
but are kept hidden
between soft
cushions
his figurations are fully animated puppets
(better music possibly,
similar never)
(truth)
seamless transformations
master of the micro-figurations
of
implied voices
and resolutions
not delayed
but rendered
unnecessary
I wonder
what it would be like
to work this up
at a much
slower tempo than indicated
so grossly
as to transform it utterly
to be performed
over forty consecutive evenings
what
of this
would such an experience disclose?
(which is
otherwise huddled beneath the table?)
he shows what he is to do
then does it
without further ado
Stravinsky
as a young
scamp
at this quick tempo
one hears the slower structures come through
as melodic
but
at a slower
their interactions
would exhibit their own imprint
of singingness
and now!
another fast movement
(I'll bet you thought we were in for a
Romanze?)
(Nope!)
each new game
is a new way to learn to
count
number theory
as caricature
these distractions
sit pertly on toadstools
and chatter away merrily
and
charmingly
figurational micro-analysis
a set of pieces
that is each utterly
unique
but that is also
uniquely,
the same piece
as
the others are
(of it)
no rest for the weary
time to RISE!!
rhetorical function
the figurational cavalry
(no danger of
slumber)
Das Ist Ein Tag, Op. 23 #5 - Clara Schumann - Dorothea Craxton, Hedayet Djeddikar
poetry lifted in song
becomes a part of a music
and a focus of its
particularity as a music
Klavierstücke, Op. 76 - Johannes Brahms - Walter Gieseking
some of the parts
don't want to fit in
they want to float
but are generally roped back in
long lines
in complex stress
schemes
dragging singsong
into the real world
Prelude and Fugue, Op. 5 - Ferruccio Busoni - Wolf Harden
whoosh
what a lot of notes go by here
Fuβreise - Hugo Wolf - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Daniel Barenboim
composing the human voice of the poem
song-writing as a recital of
poetry
4 Preludes, Op. 31 - Alexander Scriabin - Michael Ponti
this music doesn't just speak directly
it eliminates any society outside
you and it
Descriptions Automatiques - Eric Satie - Frank Glazer
around a rhythmically regular ground line
bits of music pop into
appearances
audio translation into English
(English-accented English)
spoken
prologue
bilingual edition
(sung in English too!)
I guess
it's dark in there
deliberately obscure
spooky sound effects
when the first door opens
there goes the next one
even the
dialog
is essentially immobile
nothing goes anywhere
(they
could have sung this in Welsh!)
open the door
turn the page
let the truth be yours:
Bluebeard / Mephistopheles
Judith /
Faust
Bluebeard: civilization
Judith inquiry
(subdued by
reward)
there's that spooky sound
through anachronistical
loudspeakers
a dark drama
for a dark time
(darker yet to
come)
the music is more and more immobile as it continues
the film-noir soundtrack to rule them all
the creeping out of Judith
(she gets to be the midnight)
(but we
still
haven't moved)
Queen of the Night (The Backstory)
Misery Blues - Q. Roscoe Snowden [from That Devilin' Tune]
at an irreproducible tempo
of dragging weight
Webern has discovered some more doors
and there's some scary shit down
there
it not only
can't be seen
all at once
it can't
even
be
all at once
I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues - Louis Armstrong [from The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz]
the tune is there
at all times
even though he doesn't seem to play
any of its notes
Billy The Kid (Ballet Suite) - Aaron Copland - London Symphony Orchestra, Aaron Copland
freshfaced cowboys
in technicolor chaps
(and tights)
(BTW
this is a terrific Copland
and this a fabulously clear performance)
wears its hokey theater on its sleeve
we put music together in our heads
in a way
that we don't seem to
put anything else in our lives together
a unique instrument for temporal
exploration
Night in Tunisia - Dizzy Gillespie [from That Devilin' Tune]
surface noise up front
makes it difficult to hear anything but the
soloists
so
is what he's doing
still related to the chord
changes
though those be inaudible?
Dream - John Cage - Stefan Hussong
of a hot sun
on an open desert
the heat of it
repercusses
off the bright surface
and shimmers the air
Fifth Sonata - Lockrem Johnson - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, March 16, 2024]
some of this got away from me
but I've been working at it
and am
close to a good recording
Ain't That Lovin' You Baby - Link Wray [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
strutting with pelvis to the fore
back strum
breath intake rhythm
Capriccio for Harp and String Orchestra - Walter Piston - Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz, Theresa Elder Wunrow
the harp is
at its heart
an intimate instrument
most at home
with
perhaps
a voice to sing with
nothing more
with a whole orchestra behind it
it just seems embarassed
I Need Somebody - ? and The Mysterians [from The Best of ? and The Mysterians]
guitar adds a twang to the keyboard
more or less the equivalent of the
tambourine
Mother In Law - Clarence Carter [a Rescued Record]
complaint across a drink
aimed at the bartender
Bad Brain - Ramones [collected from Neal Kosály-Meyer's Bo & The Beat]
a certain range of openness in the first part of the beat-cycles
and
some accents crowded toward the end part of them
Foam Stick - Doug Siedel [from Bard Sampler '82-'83]
a small ensemble
jamming like they might be composing
Invention - Benjamin Boretz - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded August 7, 2024]
after my recital in July
I started to make home recordings of the pieces
I played
this was the shortest piece on the program
thirty seconds
or so
but each moment is sharp and distinct
The Middle - Rustbucket [a Rescued Record]
heavy on the guitars
the way the drums sit in the mix
suggests a
DIY recording
no sign of an isolation booth in the sound
a demo?
Banned Rehearsal 483 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [February 6, 1998]
for many years
Neal's opening sax squawk
served
as our
landline ringtone
it greatly amused visitors
this became the first track
on the CD we produced
Teach Yourself To Drive
we are no respecters of instruments
a plastic toy whistle
is as
worthy
as an electric guitar
and fits right in
we neither
highlight their incongruity
nor obscure their origins in filters
when a segment
of a separately recorded tape
of the instant
session
is introduced
over a play-back machine
you hear the
tape being inserted
and the play button
and stop button
being pressed
a pretty great sounding session
even after all these years
which also shows up on Teach Yourself To Drive
minus 2 seconds of
conversation at the start
part slack
part taut
each element transparently itself
little background undetermined sound
proto-articulate
held
at bay
much like 481
but thicker right from the get go
and
actively cooperating/competing
into joint rhythms and tunes
especially guitar/sax
and drum/piano
but alternate pairings
immediately suggested
pianos and round/xyl. {NB ??}
bells and
cymbals
what would ordinarily be upfront
(sax solo lyric)
is
set behind pianowash
the hamsters arrive
to nibble in the corners
rattle solo
our old sound
on tape
mixed with jingle bells
room for the ukulele
electric guitar
is the hook
constant sound
of which
all else hangs
into which
all else pervades
in which
all else is colored
to which
all else decays
guitar never allows any other sound
to have
the privacy
of its own decay
its own color must be added
a ghostly imitation of 1920s and pre-WWI carnival sound
a music of
backgrounds
it all dispels
into a lingering
tappingscape
tapescold}
24 Preludes - Ken Benshoof - Lisa Bergman
these are a composer-pianist's compositions
the figurations are far too
particular
to hands and fingers
to have been conceived
by
someone
who didn't understand the piano
at a deep level
so
what differences do I hear
in how she plays them
than in
how I do?
a few tempos here and there
but primarily
its in
the touch
how chords are balanced
the contrasts of dynamics
details of articulations
Ken's keyboard writing
is easily subtle enough
to support many
interpretations
any pianist has a personal relationship with the score
and with the instrument
masterful use of register
tapping on a sleepy shoulder
sounds as a pleasure to hear
(a
curated list)
microrituals
absurdist film
as a sound file
Born This Way - Lady Gaga [from Born This Way]
when presented with something completely different
the obvious first
question is
but how are they the same?
the clearly engineered demarcations
between sounds going in:
they
are each creatures of the mixing board
Gradus 326 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [January 22, 2018]
here we also have a clear demarcation
but only between
A
the
recorded piano sound
and the other recorded sounds;
and
B
the recorded sound as a whole
(jointly and severally)
and all
other sounds transpiring
but
demarcations nonetheless
nonetheless
alltheless
anytheless
sometheless
eachtheless
thistheless
thattheless
thetheless
narytheless
moretheless
lesstheless
ne'ertheless
allustheless
nowtheless
thentheless
whentheless
wheretheless
whotheless
whytheless
whichtheless
whotheless
howtheless
heretheless
theretheless
themtheless
theytheless
fortheless
thattheless
thuslytheless
(allthemore...)
(OtellotheMoor...)
there is a threshold in the act of composing
where choices are made
between systematic and idiosyncratic: a frontier
The Many Voices In Our Heads - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from The Many Voices In Our Heads]
following
what changes within
what doesn't change
a dark
path
with troubled spirits
Instrumental Piece - Hildegard Von Bingen {?} - Sequentia [from Spiritual Songs]
this may be based on an ancient music
but the arrangement is unavoidably
modern
even though the original instrumentalists may have extemporized
we have no direct evidence
of what that may have been like
the problem that bedevils original-instrument-o-philes
(a tribe
for which we have much to thank)
the voices
one by one
enter
through the same keyhole
intervals
the sounds-different-by-virtue-of-ness
of notes
where they sit
and how
among their fellows
Magnificat Noni Toni, BuxWV 205 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella
pulled toward exaltation
Deuxieme Ordre (re): L'Antoine - François Couperin - Kenneth Gilbert
stately plump
in three
Sinfonia in F Major, BWV 794 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Edith Picht-Axenfeld
the subject finds itself
in every mirror
it finds itself in
Sonata in G Major, Kk. 240 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
the subject finds itself
with itself
(but to the side)
now we'll try it
with new faces
a mirror game
more lives than a cat
a trickster loop
Symphony in A Major, Op. 90 "Italian" (#4) - Felix Mendelssohn - Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer
bursts in with excitement
details are arranged with counterpoint
every day
a new excursion
indoors now
a cathedral
space
beyond bustle and noise
now we are at a party
where
elegant gowns are dancing
graciously
figures in mirrored space
now
a rowdier dance
in a dicier establishment
Lento Appassionato, Op. 5 #IV - Fanny Hensel - Beatrice Rauchs
a rather placid passion
as one might have
for scenery
or
daisies
Sonata in G Major, Op. 37 (#2) - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Nikita Magaloff
opens grandly and proud
the keyboard writing is overtly orchestral
like a Liszt transcription of something else
but isn't really into
the keyboardiness of the figurations
to be played in large auditoriums only
concerns itself with the music the orchestra being imitated is playing
and not
with any music the piano might be making
lots of big chords
pounded out
a sad scene
lonely and trapped
the orchestra swells into the
feelings
here's a hero
looking for a means of rescue
which
swashbuckles along in the next scene
the mad chase
through peril
and night
(it misses its movie)
our handsome hero
in
dramatic profile
pursuers and pursued
the tender heart of an
ingenue
Khovanshchina, Act V - Modeste Mussorgsky - Sofia National Opera, Atanas, Margartiov, Dimiter Petkov, Todor Kostov, Lyoubomir Bodourov, Stoyan Popov, Nikola Gyuzelev, Alexandrina Milcheva-Nonova, Milen Paounov, Maria Dimchevska, Dimiter Dimitrov, Nadya Dobriyanova, Verter Vrachovsky
opens with solemn declamation
proceeds to a choral dialog
after
which more solemn declaiming
no moment of which
is tonally
vague
here comes the Tsar's cavalry
(too late though)
company immolates
Symphony in E-flat Major (#4) - Anton Bruckner - Sveriges Radiokorkester & Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sergiu Celibidachi
1
opening horn calls
an object lesson
in pitch composition
all spread out plain
in large block letters
so you can
follow
through the fine print
that follows
he uses dynamics
to create an image of magnitude
or
this
music
is not a big music
it makes you small
and sets you
down
inside
why it seems so intimate
delicate
fragile
this music
is not a place
one can leave
2
a new movement
from the mind of the old movement
lines
have their accompanying
(simultaneously transpiring)
non
sequiturs
this tonality
is an edifice
awesome
grand
3
something new is astir
but something old plods
as always
peeking out
from beneath the skirts
of the mother
village
4
back once again
to within the old mind
the temptations of
the pleasant world
but turned aside
oh glory
off there in
the distance
many of these chambers we find ourselves in
are deep
in the innards
shine like the sun
Violin Concerto - Jean Sibelius - State Academic Symphony Orchestra of the USSR, Alexander Lazarev, Liana Isakadze
1
a lone figure
on a wild wind sweep
to spy
what comes
life on the watchtower
quickened hearts
2
a more distant outpost
the deep heartland
stalwart
heroes
all of them
3
messages relayed
by horse couriers
from post to post
In Session at The Tintinabulary
September 1, 2024
Attica - Keith Eisenbrey
I was wrong last week about there being only two left in the "Long Meter" cycle. The pages are very thin and I missed a bunch.
Gradus 400 - Neal Kosály-Meyer
the righteous list of notes
nominated/voided
in systematic
sequence
by octave-equivalence family
a census
an
axiom
a cosmos
a postulate
a egg
D{DF#}A?
a balance of stacked stones
stones of a stacked balance
an harmonic interval
includes a physical (acoustic) artifact
a
melodic interval
is entirely mental (sensual)
house of cards
house of curds
cows of herds
September 6, 2024
Sinfonia 13 - Keith Eisenbrey
on piano - three more of these to record
Postscripts
Drops
Keith Eisenbrey 20: 2022-2024
Sinfonias (on clavichord)
I was recording Gavin Borchert's Two-Part Inventions on my clavichord and I thought "Hey, I'll write Gavin some Sinfonias!". I was hoping for something less chart-intensive, but pattern brain got to thinking, and after filling several pages of graph paper with number-doodles I found myself with the potential for a set of 16, and got to work. These were all recorded in 2023 and 2024.
This, and all my music at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp is free to download or stream.
