October 8th 2009 9:07 PM

[furtwaengler]

I try to keep dates. It's a family trait; my Grandfather is notorious for putting a date on every picture, every book...when he reads it, when he's completed it, etc...and aside from labels, he has a date, time, occasion recorded with his voice on all his tapes. I like dates; they are important and I regret it when I fail to know the when's and the where's of various creative output.

I am realizing now that October, 2009 was a very significant month as concerns my improvisational practices. I know exactly what was happening October...a spiral of emotion highs and lows like wind shear, which when met with the right updraft caused quite the tornado on the keys (or something like that).

This particular unnameable spiel came the Thursday after the Monday that saw one of my most intimate and personal outlets, An escape, Numb, Cancer, Another comfort, or whatever you want to call it (I feel compelled to "remaster" the original file and reupload that one...stuff bothers me)...and this could not be more different. October 5th was a meditation on a dying friend...a low. This October 8th improvisation came immediately following a rehearsal with the orchestra of Medtner's Piano Concerto no. 3...a high. It is on the same Baldwin that produced "Warming up" and "Call out." I think it is appropriate to mention "Warming up," which occurred at the start of the day in reference to this, because it is very much, "Cooling down" at the close of the day. Medtner consumed the time that month, but none of his language fills this space. The rehearsal itself was frustrating for the poor orchestra's struggle with the facsimile, but I detect no venting...it is a joyous romp, really, but that's not all. It has two contrasting sections, lopsided towards the second, and segued with a short interlude of less than a minute. As I walked from the building with the rehearsal, to the building with the Baldwin, I could feel those opening notes on the tips of my fingers just waiting in anticipation. And to my joy, when they burst forth on the piano, the figure sounded just like it felt in mind. The rest is simply following the trail. Ah the rest...rest. The Brahms Wiegenlied fragmented into a Mahlerian question builds the larger second section, winding down the day with a rhythmic impulse, and a huge crescendo.

17 minutes, 40 second. I like this improv, and that there's a place to share it, a forum that cares? I like that too. What do you think?   

[pianowolfi]

First listen: Somehow this meets in my mind with Ted's "unromantic stuff". I experience (poly)rhythmical densifications and releases, anyway I think a lot in it is about rhythm and about exploring it's possibilities and border areas.
Of course, my perception might be just a momentary mood, and of course there is much more in this improv.
The importance of silence (rests) and near-silence! Breathing between the explorations,
things I subconsciously searched often myself in my improvs.
....

[furtwaengler]

Thanks for the comments, Wolfi.  

When I get happy, I get rhythmic. And I cannot, for years I cannot get away from those scales and modes. I am learning more about this one as I listen, and it is the longer second section which really wins, the developing harmonic transformations, the stacking of chords and figures, and those big chords at the end. Oh, will I do anything with it? Or is this it?  

In any case, I must spend more time with Ted's good music.