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Small Piano Pieces on Two Themes and a Lyric by rik [Email]
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Description:
This is an series of short pieces which I distilled quite a lot of time ago, with much effort I remember, starting from a lyric written by dear friend Paolo (lately playing piano in Duo Azzoni), inspired itself by the Magritte painting "La Corde Sensible" (The weak point).
Pieces range from the very little to the microscopic, and are rather approximately composed upon two main themes, exposed in the opening piece: the cloud theme, as a matter of fact merely capturing a everchanging condition of being, never literally reprised, and the crystal theme, simply an arpeggio, clearly recognizable in the following.
Subsequent pieces follow the lyric in a rather didascalic fashion, referring to different verses, as indicated in the lyrics.
The music clearly shows strong Schoenberg and Berg influences all over, mostly in the episodic form, like in the "6 Kleine Klavierstuecke" by Schoenberg and atonal (more than dodecafonic) chordal material.
Lyrics:
I. Il cristallo accoglie il nembo
II. Questa pura coppa contiene una nuvola
III. Al riparo del vento
IV. L'amico antico decisamente immoto
V. Osserva e riposa
VI. Le masse sfrangiate
Ciascuna rotola fragorosa
Nel buio di notte rapida
VII. E silente
VIII. Quieta nel cristallo semichiuso
IX. Permane
P.C.
-----------------
I. The crystal holds the nimbus
II. This pure cradle contains a cloud
III. Safe from the wind
IV. The ancient friend definitely motionless
V. Observes and rests
VI. The frayed masses
Each one rolling thunderous
In the darkness of sudden night
VII. And silent
VIII. Quiet in the half-closed crystal
IX. It abides.
P.C.
Hardware:
Clavinova CLP-240, UA-25
Software:
Logic Express
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So delicate &mdash 10/11/05 - 04:51:33 PM
Wonderful, moody and complex piece. It's beyond anything I can
comment on technically. It's simple yet complex. It invokes great
imagery and movement without a wasted note. [ Reply to This ]
Title &mdash 10/11/05 - 05:16:18 PM
superb! fantastic! another wonderful composition. every piece you post
has been great. I especially love the first part of the composition, which
seems to have this great minimalist quality to it. You use open space very
well, and I love how you play with this space. It almost seems that a good
35% of the song could be this open space, and that is great. Few people
know how to work it so well. Please keep them coming. [ Reply to This ]
Lovely, stark meditation &mdash 10/11/05 - 06:16:09 PM
A stunning post. I am especially impressed with the gorgeous tone of
the Clavinola, and with your touch on the keys. These short pieces do
contain the influences you cite and together have a wonderful 20th
Century feel that is very appealing and almost nostalgic to me. This is
an imediate download, one I will listen to over and over. Thanks, Rik,
for sharing these. Excellent!
10-10-10-10 [ Reply to This ]
Wonderfully sparse... &mdash 10/11/05 - 06:22:10 PM
...and contemplative.
I will admit, atonal music has always been a challenge for me to truly
embrace, but the very sparseness and serenity of this makes it very easy
for me to listen to--especially as I read the accompanying lyrics--lovely.
Beautiful music, Rik. Thank you for bringing it to MacJams! :)
[ Reply to This ]
Great for that late night time alone. &mdash 10/11/05 - 08:42:40 PM
Everyone else is asleep. I should be working. Intruiging
placement of notes. I love contemplative pieces like
this. Darn, Mystified used "contemplative" already! Oh well, I am
not one for words. Great music. [ Reply to This ]
Geat Rik! &mdash 10/12/05 - 01:41:53 AM
Full of emotion, sadness, loneliness, fear and grief. As always an awesome fantasy. Unique and new!
10-10-10-10
I.G.M. [ Reply to This ]
Really Great &mdash 10/13/05 - 12:10:17 AM
This piece actually made me stop what I was doing and listen. I really
enjoyed it. [ Reply to This ]
hauntingly reflective &mdash 10/13/05 - 09:22:53 AM
Nicely done with much musical precession.
Here lots of classical maturity in your playing. Like the use of the piano's
natural reverberation.
Thanks for sharing your great talent! [ Reply to This ]
complex and beautiful &mdash 10/13/05 - 02:13:51 PM
Brilliant piano playing and an intelligent sense of speed and restraint
make this a winner.
Well done [ Reply to This ]
obtuse and inaccessable &mdash 10/14/05 - 11:00:27 PM
Come on buddy you did hit a few sour notes. Didn't you? It kind of
reminds me of the piece that Gerard Depardiue played in "Green Card."
All kidding aside, I did listen to your piece several times and I found it
more interesting each time. My favorite part is the tonic in the
penultimate measure. My inability to relate to this piece probably has to
do more with my lack of culture than your lack of skill. [ Reply to This ]
obtuse and inaccessable &mdash 10/15/05 - 04:19:08 PM
:)
I thank you for taking the time of listening various times to these very little
pieces. Sorry you've been in "trouble" with them...
Even if I got right your humorous words, still I'm very glad you liked the
perfect major tonic near the end. I like it too, and it was originally the
conclusive chord of the Pieces; then I thought to end them with another
variation on the two themes, for continuity and coherence with the text: "It
abides", a continuity which is here also a staticity, an obsessive innatural
presence, like a living photograph, a never-evolving drama scene, a house
you leave desert for a while...why not, a poem, a drawing, in their continual
existence lacking any vital instance and evolution.
This sense of grief is expressed all over the Pieces.
[ Reply to This ]
obtuse and inaccessable &mdash 10/16/05 - 06:49:47 PM
See, even your posts are over my head. I f i were you I wouldn't concern myself
with my critics. There are always people with bad taste. The bible says
something about "casting pearls before swine." As long as you are true to your
own musical sensibilities then you are a success. [ Reply to This ]
Talent or Trash? &mdash 10/15/05 - 12:22:15 AM
I just dont "get it" &mdash 10/15/05 - 02:51:11 AM
I'm sorry ... but call me "culturally amateur ...." ... but I just don't GET IT ! To me ..... it lacks substance .... there are too many gaps .... and it sounds like 10 "pieces" of differensongs all strung together .... I don't feel melody ... I am missing harmony .... and well ..... maybe I just havent viewed enough film noir ............ [ Reply to This ]
I just dont "get it" &mdash 10/15/05 - 05:10:04 PM
If you'd limit to say these Pieces lack a substance, I would try to defend them
faintly, but soon I would willingly admit that as many music has little or no
substance at all in my opinion, for you this may be the case with these Pieces.
And they are exactly 10 pieces "strung together". Maybe what annoys you is
their brevity.
But I don't agree with your critique of a lack of melody or harmony: better, I
think you're absolutely right. They are not songs, melody is not obliged to
show off as something you can easily recognize and remember. Still, there is
melody, there are even quite simple forms of contrapunctus. About harmony,
the Pieces are not constructed on classical harmony with simple chords like C,
F, G7 and so on. One could argue that the only harmony is the tonal or at
most the modal one, and atonal music is not harmonic. Even if giving a point
sometimes when dodecafony is involved, I generally do not agree. I cannot
name the chords involved or give functional explanation about their use, I
admit it. I hope it's not relevant since I do not have to write guitar tablatures
of it or sit for an exam right now. Phew :D
[ Reply to This ]
I just dont "get it" &mdash 10/15/05 - 02:53:13 AM
I'm sorry ... but call me "culturally amateur ...." ... but I just don't GET IT ! To me ..... it lacks substance .... there are too many gaps .... and it sounds like 10 "pieces" of differensongs all strung together .... I don't feel melody ... I am missing harmony .... and well ..... maybe I just havent viewed enough film noir ............ [ Reply to This ]
I thank all who commented &mdash 10/15/05 - 04:22:05 PM
I sincerely never thought these pieces would have been listened to, one
day, by so many different people. These pieces meant a lot for me in the
past, in all their lacks and defects, and even now I prefer to save them
against my own judgement: they're part of me, primarily an expression of
myself, before of being a musical attempt, successful or not.
I am grateful to all who expressed their comments so far.
I would like to apologize with all of you, I've had very little time, lately, to
dedicate to MJ, and I've decided to answer only to the critiques.
[ Reply to This ]
KIll Him! &mdash 10/16/05 - 05:14:50 PM
Bravo &mdash 10/23/05 - 10:39:17 AM
Delicate, purposeful and sublime. A fine set to listen to on a beautiful
Sunday morning as the rain clouds float away to reveal the blue sky. [ Reply to This ]
wow &mdash 10/23/05 - 08:13:40 PM
Solo piano music was my first love. It struck me at a very early
age (5?) and I've gone through several cycles of returning to
it.
Your work ignites that passion in me. I haven't yet been exposed
to the atonal works, although it's amusing that I've been reading
Schoemberg's Theory of Harmony -- it's been beside my bed for
about a year now.
I'm going to have to look up dodecafonic. New one on me.
Your playing of the piece is clearly excellent. Bravo. [ Reply to This ]
Thank you... &mdash 10/31/05 - 04:08:25 PM
I really enjoyed this piece. I am a huge fan of Minimal Piano compositions,
this one is probably the best minimal composition I have heard on MJ.
Thank you,
[ Reply to This ]
Very Nice &mdash 11/03/05 - 01:56:26 PM
very thoughtful pieces &mdash 11/12/05 - 01:26:38 PM
It's a real pleasure to hear work like this. Thoughtful, interesting. A real
communication from one mind to another. [ Reply to This ]
nice work &mdash 11/18/05 - 11:54:31 AM
Thank you so much for posting this. I really love it. I like where the
tones take me. Hate to say things so unoriginal, but there you have it!
Nice work. Waiting to hear more. [ Reply to This ]
Exquisite &mdash 12/27/05 - 07:04:52 AM
I am brand new here, and this is one of the first compositions I have
heard. It is, as the title says, exquisite. Very well done. My favorite
Schoenberg is probably the short op. 19 and op. 11 piano pieces, and you
seem to have absorbed this style and transformed it into something of
your own. Very, very nice job! [ Reply to This ]
Exquisite &mdash 12/27/05 - 11:57:58 PM
Thank you very much, Clarke, for your kind appreciation. It's wonderful when
someone understands something of what you've tried to do *so* precisely.
And you may be a newbie here on MJ, definitely not musically
speaking...anyhow..Welcome to MacJams! [ Reply to This ]
wow refreshing! &mdash 12/29/05 - 04:02:20 PM
Ricardo, come sei bravo. ho veramente sensazione di voler fare
qualcosa di diverso...... che inspirazione. 8888 un fan [ Reply to This ]
Stark and Beautiful &mdash 07/05/06 - 11:29:53 AM
Bare, minimal stark, beautiful with a delicate and very - in the best sense
- human performance. Thank you for giving us music to both feel and
think about. [ Reply to This ]
Stark and Beautiful &mdash 07/05/06 - 11:29:59 AM
Bare, minimal stark, beautiful with a delicate and very - in the best sense
- human performance. Thank you for giving us music to both feel and
think about. [ Reply to This ]
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comment on technically. It's simple yet complex. It invokes great
imagery and movement without a wasted note.
[ Reply to This ]