Llywelyn - Messiaenic Visions of the Mysterium of Purgatory

[andhow04]

dafydd llywelyn was my last teacher, i studied privately with him in munich from 2004 - 2007. i received news of his death yesterday.  this piece is an excerpt from a larger worked called "TimeQuake, part VII/no.2" that I played in several concerts around germany in those years.  this recording was from Herdecke in 2006 or thereabouts.  the second picture in the video is myself and dafydd on the day of this concert, it was taken by the newspaper and headed the review the next day.

TimeQuake is a "piano seance" in dafydd's words, that lasts about 70-80 continuous minutes. this particular section was actually written later and inserted in, but it was so effective i took the liberty of making a score for concert performance, since it is only 8-10 minutes long.

messiaenic visions shows dafydd's obsession with mysticism, pseudo-religious imagery, and appropriating the spirit of past masters.  the title 'Messiaenic' refers - in my opinion, this isn't anything he ever told me - to the superficial resemblance between this piece and 'Modes de valeurs' from Messiaen's Four Rhythmic Etudes.  dafydd's piece is not organized serially, but it operates on four separate rhythmic planes, like Messiaen's etude.

there are only two kinds of chords used in thsi piece, traditional diatonic minor chords, and a 5-note chord that is essentially a first inversion major with a diminished topping it off, IE, E-G-C-E^b-G^b. however with variety of voicing they make a wide range of effects. this piece also makes use of the middle pedal quite a bit.

[pianovirus]

Very sorry to hear about the death of one of your teachers. May he rest in peace, Dafydd Lllywelyn.

It is the first time I ever actually hear his music; it seems yours is the first recording of one of his works on Youtube.

Even without an insight into how the piece references Messiaen it is fascinating to listen to and for me maintained interest throughout despite the (obviously deliberate) constructive monotonicity. I can imagine that this piece within the bigger context of 70-80 minutes must really feel like attending a seance, or a kind of joint meditation of audience and performer. On the topic of "performer": intriguingly played, as always! I think you are giving a great tribute to your last teacher by making this recording available.

By the way, somehow the name of Dafydd Llywelyn sounded familiar to me despite I never heard his music before. Then I remembered there was a nice article about him (3 pages) in the German "Piano News" (May/June 2008 edition). So when I took out the copy to look at it again, I even saw they mentioned your name (with some "liberties" in spelling I think?):



In the article there is also a photo of Llywelyn in his Munich flat in front of a wall full of religious icon paintings that seems to fit in with what you described as an "obsession with mysticism, pseudo-religious imagery".

[birba]

I confess my ignorance regarding this composer.  I've played quite a bit of messiaen, though, and there is definitely a sonorous resemblance in some parts.  Was this a particular hommage to messiaen and his modes de valeurs or is his writing like this in general?  Like pianovirus noted, you can feel the mysticism, which is why i love messiaen so much.  Would really like to hear more of him.
Oh, by the way, your playing is also exceptional.  I imagine you play messiaen as well?

[andhow04]

Very sorry to hear about the death of one of your teachers. May he rest in peace, Dafydd Lllywelyn.

It is the first time I ever actually hear his music; it seems yours is the first recording of one of his works on Youtube.

Even without an insight into how the piece references Messiaen it is fascinating to listen to and for me maintained interest throughout despite the (obviously deliberate) constructive monotonicity. I can imagine that this piece within the bigger context of 70-80 minutes must really feel like attending a seance, or a kind of joint meditation of audience and performer. On the topic of "performer": intriguingly played, as always! I think you are giving a great tribute to your last teacher by making this recording available.

By the way, somehow the name of Dafydd Llywelyn sounded familiar to me despite I never heard his music before. Then I remembered there was a nice article about him (3 pages) in the German "Piano News" (May/June 2008 edition). So when I took out the copy to look at it again, I even saw they mentioned your name (with some "liberties" in spelling I think?):



In the article there is also a photo of Llywelyn in his Munich flat in front of a wall full of religious icon paintings that seems to fit in with what you described as an "obsession with mysticism, pseudo-religious imagery".

thank you for this very interesting reply! yes, they completely mispelled my name. haha, i didn't know this ever appeared.  would you be able to send the picture as well?  his music flat (he had two side by side) was full of fascinating objects and scores, and walls lined with recordings he had made of live concerts and radio from decades before, in all kinds of formats.  going into the music room in particular was a bit like entering another world, and you were enveloped in the atmosphere.

we most often had lessons late at night, usually starting around midnight or eleven, and would play through till 4 or 5. sometimes to keep going along the way we would drink strong tea or inhale menthol snuff... the menthol snuff was white and looked like cocaine. he really had particular tastes.

the entirety of TimeQuake could be rather hypnotic, though the "seance" movements are interspersed with virtuosic "inferno" movements.  i could post the entire thing if anyone was interested, but it's a real project to listen to it. as well as play it.

[pianovirus]

would you be able to send the picture as well?

I'm going to scan the 3 pages tomorrow. Given the article is 5 years old and probably impossible to get hold of otherwise I hope it's considered fair use to share with a few people who are interested (and capable of reading German). andhow, and others who may be interested, just let me know by PM to which address I should send the PDF.

his music flat (he had two side by side) was full of fascinating objects and scores, and walls lined with recordings he had made of live concerts and radio from decades before, in all kinds of formats.  going into the music room in particular was a bit like entering another world, and you were enveloped in the atmosphere.

we most often had lessons late at night, usually starting around midnight or eleven, and would play through till 4 or 5. sometimes to keep going along the way we would drink strong tea or inhale menthol snuff... the menthol snuff was white and looked like cocaine. he really had particular tastes.

Wow, this sounds like truly wonderful, unforgettable, and not the least, fun, piano lesson nights!!

[andhow04]

I confess my ignorance regarding this composer.  I've played quite a bit of messiaen, though, and there is definitely a sonorous resemblance in some parts.  Was this a particular hommage to messiaen and his modes de valeurs or is his writing like this in general?  Like pianovirus noted, you can feel the mysticism, which is why i love messiaen so much.  Would really like to hear more of him.
Oh, by the way, your playing is also exceptional.  I imagine you play messiaen as well?

there's probably no reason for you to know him, as he hasn't published formally any of his piano works. when i was a student of dafydd's, i edited them from his original handwritten (and sometimes primitive music typewriter) into a printed form, but those were only for him and his other students.
in timequake his writing is like this in general, but other pieces have some different characteristics. although he was interested in messiaen i wouldn't say he was overly influenced by him, and it was probably more in the realm of messiaen's religious symbolism rather than composing technique or sound that inspired dafydd. in any case he never liked to get too specific about anything.
i do play some messiaen, the ones i posted here -
Ile de feu
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=23708.0
Petites esquisses d'oiseaux
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=37807.msg427955#msg427955
thanks for listening

[birba]

I loved the rouge gorge!  You have a beautiful touch for this music.  So bird-like! Wonderful.
The ile de feu doesn't seem to be working.  I was curious to hear it as it was the very first messiaen I ever studied.

[andhow04]

I loved the rouge gorge!  You have a beautiful touch for this music.  So bird-like! Wonderful.
The ile de feu doesn't seem to be working.  I was curious to hear it as it was the very first messiaen I ever studied.

thanks so much. i loved studying those little bird sketches which were the last solo piano works he wrote, i think in 1984. i have to tel you a funny story about them, the way i memorized them was by learning them literally page at a time, ie, i didn't turn the page until i had the current page memorized. then playing in public, i would just visualize where i was on each page.

but for one of them, i had a two-sided page reversed (learned from photocopies) and didn't realize it. i learned and memorized #5 with the pages in the wrong order, and didn't see the page #'s till later on. so in the concert, i just said to myself while playing, page 1... page 2... page 4... page 3... and it worked. ha!

i dont know why the ile de feu link didn't work. here is the recording, hopefully it will work in this link

[birba]

Great!  Loved it!  I remember when I played it for my 5-year-old niece, she stared at the piano and gaped.  "That's a lion!!!"
I've decided to start on some of the oiseaux esquisses.
Interesting, your memory work.  It was difficult for me at first to memorize Messiaen.  But as i began to learn the "language", they just seemed to come by themselves.  I wish I had your type of memory.  It's almost as if you're reading it from the score.