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Some composition ideas never develop into much more than a few bars of music, and such was the case for many years with the opening to Dream Dance. I think I started it around 1997, and, try as I might, I could not seem to find any satisfactory way to take it much beyond the 30-second mark, the point where it veers unexpectedly (to me, at least) towards minimalism. I was unaware of any composition ever having done this before, which for most people would probably have been a good indicator not to go down that path, but in this particular work, it seemed to make musical sense to me, largely because of the flow of steady sixteenth-notes common to both the opening, and the "hinting at minimalism" section.
The problem was that I couldn't figure out what to do once I had had been on that path for a while. It didn't make sense to me that the opening idea should evolve into a full-blown minimalist composition, but I didn't know where to take it once it had touched on minimalism. And thus, unsure of what to do with this material, I tossed it in a drawer and mostly forgot about it for about ten years.
In the summer of 2007 I was looking at old musical sketches that never went anywhere, and resolved to wrestle this opening into submission; it seemed a shame to waste what seemed to me like a good idea for a piece, and I thought I could perhaps extend it into a relatively short work (perhaps three minutes), and be done with it.
As is often the case, I was surprised at how difficult it was to take music in a direction with which I could be satisfied, and I ended up struggling with with the project for an additional six months until it was finally finished. The key in moving forward was in realizing that this music could touch on different moods and styles and still make musical sense, as long as there was something tying it all together, which in this case is the almost incessant sixteenth-note activity. The use of multiple styles or techniques of music within a composition is sometimes called "polystylism" (I prefer the less-fancy term,"stylistic hodgepodge"), which is associated with the music of Alfred Schnittke, Peter Maxwell Davies, Michael Colgrass, George Rochberg, and others. But this sounds nothing like their music…
A few features that may be of interest:
• I had great fun playing with tonal harmony (this is an afliction of mine that I blame on having taught music theory for 25 years). It opens in D major, for example, then suddenly jumps to an ambiguous key that may or may not be F minor (which would be a double chromatic mediant relationship with D), then quickly moves to Db major for a bar before slipping back into F minor again, all within the first 30 seconds;
• At times, the left hand plays in the middle of the right hand's notes; the hands are literally right on top of one another, requiring clever gymnastic hand choreography on the part of the pianist;
• It is challenging to play, despite the simplicity of the opening;
• It is a stylistic hodgepodge; it evokes at various times minimalism, Haydn, Bach, Gershwin, Scott Joplin (at the very end), and perhaps others as well.
Dream Dance was premiered on February 9, 2008 during the Newfound Music Festival in St. John's, in a flawless performance by my friend and collegue, Kristina Szutor. It was also performed in 2009-2010 by Mikako Ogata at several venues in Japan, and in New York City.
This is a live performance of the premiere; one take, no edits.
Other submissions with Kristina Szutor as pianist:
Jennifer's Tune
Late Night Music
Last Dance
The problem was that I couldn't figure out what to do once I had had been on that path for a while. It didn't make sense to me that the opening idea should evolve into a full-blown minimalist composition, but I didn't know where to take it once it had touched on minimalism. And thus, unsure of what to do with this material, I tossed it in a drawer and mostly forgot about it for about ten years.
In the summer of 2007 I was looking at old musical sketches that never went anywhere, and resolved to wrestle this opening into submission; it seemed a shame to waste what seemed to me like a good idea for a piece, and I thought I could perhaps extend it into a relatively short work (perhaps three minutes), and be done with it.
As is often the case, I was surprised at how difficult it was to take music in a direction with which I could be satisfied, and I ended up struggling with with the project for an additional six months until it was finally finished. The key in moving forward was in realizing that this music could touch on different moods and styles and still make musical sense, as long as there was something tying it all together, which in this case is the almost incessant sixteenth-note activity. The use of multiple styles or techniques of music within a composition is sometimes called "polystylism" (I prefer the less-fancy term,"stylistic hodgepodge"), which is associated with the music of Alfred Schnittke, Peter Maxwell Davies, Michael Colgrass, George Rochberg, and others. But this sounds nothing like their music…
A few features that may be of interest:
• I had great fun playing with tonal harmony (this is an afliction of mine that I blame on having taught music theory for 25 years). It opens in D major, for example, then suddenly jumps to an ambiguous key that may or may not be F minor (which would be a double chromatic mediant relationship with D), then quickly moves to Db major for a bar before slipping back into F minor again, all within the first 30 seconds;
• At times, the left hand plays in the middle of the right hand's notes; the hands are literally right on top of one another, requiring clever gymnastic hand choreography on the part of the pianist;
• It is challenging to play, despite the simplicity of the opening;
• It is a stylistic hodgepodge; it evokes at various times minimalism, Haydn, Bach, Gershwin, Scott Joplin (at the very end), and perhaps others as well.
Dream Dance was premiered on February 9, 2008 during the Newfound Music Festival in St. John's, in a flawless performance by my friend and collegue, Kristina Szutor. It was also performed in 2009-2010 by Mikako Ogata at several venues in Japan, and in New York City.
This is a live performance of the premiere; one take, no edits.
Other submissions with Kristina Szutor as pianist:
Jennifer's Tune
Late Night Music
Last Dance
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magnatone
THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE!!!! I've fallen and can't get up! I'm in complete awe at the masterful playing of Kristina Szutor - and in ONE TAKE - holy smokes. What an incredible achievement, what TALENT! As a pianist, I can hear how impossible this would be to play - and yet - there she is doing it like it's child's play, with perfect dynamics. The composition is exquisite and we are all so lucky that you had this gargantuan wrestling match and came out the other end with this wonderful masterpiece. Congratulations to you both - I humbly bow at the feet of the master(s)! THANK YOU!