"New Breath" -- Improv

[m19834]

 

[pianowolfi]

I like how you start from exploring the deep space between the notes of the intervals and chords, listening, trying to express what you sense "out there". Very sensitive playing!

[m19834]

Hi Wolfi,

Thanks for stopping by and for listening and commenting.  This ended up being a little bit of an experiment for me in a particular concept.  I meant to have some layers that build on themselves, beginning with just a couple of notes that are remembered throughout the piece (though it may have been a bit too much, I haven't decided).  As it turns out, that ended up providing an interesting concept for me regarding tonal center, which I have been thinking about a bit now ever since.

Anyway, I love the piano .

[pianowolfi]

I listened again after reading your post here and reading a bit in your thread about tonal center in the theory section. To me it seems like there is a certain center in this improv in the form of the cm7 chord. What I particularly like about this piece is that it is sorta moving, (I don't have the adequate words). Thinking about the possibility of a *moving* tonal center and the contrast between rest (stillness?) and movement.

[goldentone]

I just listened to this for the second time, and I love it.  My thought is that, similar to the title, this is a new and original musicscape for you.  I realize anew how great you are.

[m19834]

Thank you both for your comments.  Sometimes when I listen back to some of my improvs from a couple of years ago, I realize that I am definitely exploring something new within the last several months.  And, a couple of years ago, I had felt a little stuck in one particular "type" of improv, but then something kind of "evolved" or so eventually (and I have felt a little stuck in that).  This one here definitely does seem new to me in a number of ways.  There are some things that I feel I was able to connect with much more clearly, for example, a stronger internal connection with a sense of pulse and a kind of "spacial" organization (it just makes more sense to me to regard it in this way, rather than stricly "time").  And, I feel there are some things in there that I can perhaps build from, but maybe I will be in a phase or so for awhile ... I don't know.  Or, perhaps not.  We'll see, I guess .  If nothing else, improv is definitely a fun way to explore the world .  I do feel inclined to take some specific ideas though and work a little more with them, and, that is an interesting feeling.

[furtwaengler]

I think you really could get into Morton Feldman.

And then I kept listening, and you know, this is quite special, both this piece and your talent. I'm thankful that you share you're improvisations, and I wish I had the time to comment on them all individually. In many of them is an immediate and a rare intimacy, that is an access to the mind, a gift to us that's born directly from within you...but in contrast this "New Breath" seems not so much to come from inside you, as it seems to be received from the universe outside of you, a treasure or maybe a pursuit of a truth. I think - not in musical terms but conceptual terms, the moment of inspiration hitting the conscience -  of the description of Beethoven's composing the Op. 59 no. 2 string quartet upon looking into the stars and the constructs of the universe, or Busoni's similar but different pulling from something, not merely within himself, and great in magnitude in his Berceuse elegiaque (the orchestral expansion).

I don't know if that communicates or not. I will say this...I think of two of your improvisations existing outside the boundaries of time: "Prelude to Life" and "New Breath."

[m19834]

Dear Furtwaengler,

Thank you very much for your comments.  Anytime I see that you have commented, I get excited and anxious to read.  There is a kind of lucidity about your impressions and how you relay them, that is somehow a bit welcoming and familiar to me.

I find it thought-provoking that you say "Prelude to Life" is a bit of a partner in crime with "New Breath" as both existing outside of the boundaries of time, especially since I think they are quite different in character and intent.  I will go back and listen again to that at some point.

Thanks 

[G.W.K]

I prefered this piece to the last one I heard from yours (Prelude to Life). Fantasic playing and I realise that for you, improvisation isn't just being creative and creating brilliant music...you become emotionally-attached, in a way to it. There's thought and emotion behind your playing I think...that is my interpretation anyway! (I'm probably wrong! LOL)

Continue posting your improvisations!

G.W.K