Holy moly great stuff furtwaengler, your fingers are so oily!
Haha, thanks man. I'm not sure exactly of the lingo, though. Slipper? Smooth?
I enjoyed the third one of these the best, I liked the cross rhythms and counterpoint. The first one sounded like some kind of arpeggio built on a tower of fifths or fourths or something, or is it something else? It was too fast for my ear to figure out. As for the second one, were you inspired by Scriabin's 10th sonata (I think it was)? at least by the imagery?
I haven't heard much by him but are you at all influenced by Hindemith? the contrapuntal/crossrhythm piece reminded me of music I've heard by him somewhat.
Thanks for the comments Derek. You have a good ear...that's exactly what it is, a tower of fifths with major thirds interlocking, lowest B to highest B. It has it's limitations as far as color and the force of the tonality - I tend to want some darker colors than such a thing can produce to counter it's natural brightness, but there's also quite a bit that can be done with it.
As for Scriabin's 10th Sonata, I can't say I was influenced by it...the 10th is more irradiated light (apaugasma), than the improve could approach...I think there's much more influence from Ligeti's etudes and general experimentation with a "dirty" minimalism. I cannot lose either Scriabin or Ligeti from my language, though.
And I love Hindemith, and I think it's interesting you'd hear him. He was much cleaner than I could approach, and while I have heard him at moments in improvisation, it is rarely sustained, and never pervading and entire piece. Certainly the closest I've approached Hindemith's idiom is in "Scapes," one of the diversions found here:
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=34890.0There's a piece I wrote a few years ago called, "The Waltz Machine," and though I've not found many people interested in it or liking it so much, I've always loved it, and there is a very "combustible" section which goes haywire with jagged, shifting accents bouncing off one another, and "Five off the tracks" is very reminiscent of that...just crashing off the tracks.
(I always end up with too many words and regret it...but I happen to love other composers and their influence! Fascinating.)