Abstraction

[pianowolfi]

Abstraction in the sense of abstracting oneself from a realm. To withdraw oneself from the noisy chaos, gathering a clearer view.

Therefore it's a very calm piece.

[m19834]

Hi Wolfi,

It's been awhile since I've listened to an improv... wow, I got pretty lost in listening to this !  There really is something so special about improvisation, isn't there ?  I can appreciate your thoughts here very much, as somebody whom throughout my life has often been one to abstract myself or withdraw myself from one realm to another.  Sometimes it's such a strange experience to be sitting somewhere physically and be completely somewhere else, mentally !  This is a very thoughtful improv. and it almost seems like the individual (I am perhaps making up too much of a story in my mind here) just kind of trails off into that other realm at the end ... like s/he just goes there forever ... or at least indefinitely anyway ... like they just kind of quietly let go of the last thread keeping them to the first realm.

Thanks, Wolfi !

[pianowolfi]

Hi Karli, I'm happy to read from you

like so often your comments on my music mean something special to me and inspire me to explore further. And your words describe very well what I had in mind while playing this.

 

[furtwaengler]

I was eager to listen to this in the day you posted, for it is a good day when Pianowolfi posts an improvisation. I'm sorry it's taken such time to comment. I have thoughts I don't know quite how to lay out, and I'm sure you know of hectic schedules! But it is important that I comment, because I highly value the contributions streaming from your mind.

Comparing my idea of abstraction to yours, after observing yours in order to learn (or more rightly to express) mine...it seems here you present abstraction in isolation, for I see abstraction always existing in a structure. Maybe in your case it is abstracting one's self from the hustle and bustle of the world, or from time itself which moves ahead at a constant pace. Abstraction than appears as breath when we really need to stop and breathe. But I think in terms of musical structure, whether planned or unplanned. Unplanned this is seen in many an improvisation where deep complexity, harsh dissonances (speaking of my own) and violent outbursts give birth to a devastating calm of emotional resignation in one extreme, and overflowing, peaceful engagement in the other. But how often is it the aggression which produces this or makes this possible in a structure? Planned moments of abstraction can be seen in the structure of certain compositions, the first of which immediately springs to mind is the second movement of Mahler's 5th symphony, where the cellos have a solemn, soft soli passage stepping back from the ferocity of what has taken place, will take place, and indeed is taking place even in the silence. I've sometimes thought of this in terms of the visitation before a funeral when a loved one has died and its impact is incomprehensible, but with all the people coming to comfort and pay their regards, there's no way for the emotions to catch up...abstraction is then the stepping away from the people into another room, absolutely alone allowing the space for emotional comprehension. Another example is that C minor etude-tableau of Rachmaninov, op. 39 no. 7...particularly the ppp passage, measures 26-32. THAT is my idea of abstraction. (If this makes no sense, it could be that my mind is just affected. I've been to two funerals in the last couple weeks, had three friends die, cancer in every case. It's interesting to study one's self in these times because it seems as thought time comes to a halt, that speeds up again and then again comes to a halt...an illusion as time marches forward at a constant pace.)

So yours as isolated abstraction opens itself up to infinite possibilities, for it could say something different in every context it's abstracting from, and I suppose that's for every mind that hears it. Sorry for this post...I should just thank you for posting your music!

[furtwaengler]

Oh Karli,

I miss your posts! There is something special about improvisation, and I wish you'd post some more of your own! 

[pianowolfi]

Hi Furtwängler (I admit I'm quite happy to have this "ä" easy accessible on my keyboard )

Your comments are always an honour to me

I appreciate also very much your thoughts on the idea of abstraction!

Sorry to read about the loss of your friends. Isn't it a typical November? Death, sickness, problems everywhere. I'm happy to be healthy and able to work and create.

[chopinatic]

It give me a feeling of the calm before the storm! - It would be great if there was an opposite piece "The Storm"

another great improv wolfi

[furtwaengler]

It give me a feeling of the calm before the storm! - It would be great if there was an opposite piece "The Storm"

another great improv wolfi

I think this is a very interesting and concise comment. (I need to learn how to be concise). I picture it more as an escape from the storm...but it interests me if Pianowolfi will have an improvisational response to Chopinatic's comment!

And Pianowolfi, if you're taking ideas (or requests), Rachfan wrote in his Catoire op. 24 thread in the audition room, "To me that tangential divide probably feels like touching the very edge of the universe." And I immediately thought of you thinking, now THAT is a great idea on which to build an improvisation or a piece! Got in you Wolfi? 

[pianowolfi]

Argh I read this just right now, I somehow missed it.

You're right Furtwängler, "Abstraction" comes from searching the calm after the storm(s)

Well, "touching the very edge" of the universe tangentially...would probably lead to a sort of inversion. Like this sort of inverted objects:

https://www.paul-schatz.ch/en/invertiblecube.htm

(Something I encountered decades ago, as the guy who discovered these invertible objects was the grandfather of a classmate of mine)

Or if you follow a straight line into infinity, you may return from the opposite side of the cosmos....