VIDEO: Meditation for Piano Solo

[lateromantic]

I actually posted my Meditation here in August 2016, but at the time all I had was a recording based on an old tape from the same year it was written (1985), and the tape had physically deteriorated by the time it was digitized, which naturally caused major sound problems.  So I made this new digital recording on my Bösendorfer this year.  The piece reflects my personal conception of meditation: Meditation cannot be a state of stillness or detachment, because focused consciousness intensifies our emotional connection with the world.  The emotional intensity and agitation is most pronounced in the B section of the piece's ABA form.  Notice that the melody in that B section (initially in the left hand) is basically an inversion of the A-section melody.

This alternative version of the video follows along with the score.

I look forward to your comments!

[ted]

What a beautiful piece, I cannot imagine why I overlooked your earlier posting of it. It is full of craftsmanship, but you use intellect as a means to enhance your profound understanding of your own romantic spirit. It doesn't sound like somebody else, put it that way, which is actually no mean feat. I stopped written composition because, although some of it was quite effective, it all seemed to turn out sounding like composers of the past I admired or had tried to emulate. While you obviously have a substantial background in music, you never strike me as imitative.

I guess the word "meditation" is capable of varied meaning. The popular conception of it seems to be as a handy panacea for life's ups and downs, usually involving the quietening of the mind and thinking of nothing in particular. Nothing wrong with that, considering the ridiculous pressure and bustle many people endure these days. However, when it comes to music, I feel that the dynamic and the static are the end points of a spectrum of artistic options. Like you, I suspect, I don't create music so I can sink back in an easy chair with it. Who said that ? Ives I think. Whoever it was I agree with the sentiment.

Anyway, semantics aside, that is a very transporting piece of music.

[lateromantic]

Thanks, ted!

I guess the word "meditation" is capable of varied meaning. The popular conception of it seems to be as a handy panacea for life's ups and downs, usually involving the quietening of the mind and thinking of nothing in particular. Nothing wrong with that, considering the ridiculous pressure and bustle many people endure these days. However, when it comes to music, I feel that the dynamic and the static are the end points of a spectrum of artistic options. Like you, I suspect, I don't create music so I can sink back in an easy chair with it. Who said that ? Ives I think. Whoever it was I agree with the sentiment.

Anyway, semantics aside, that is a very transporting piece of music.

You are correct that my music is intended to be a little too challenging for the easy chair.  Another way of putting it:  I don't intend to write background music.  I want to engage the listener's mind.  (Not that there's anything wrong with background music; it just isn't my purpose.)

With regard to dynamism vs. stasis, in some of my pieces there are portions where I try to convey a sense of peaceful stasis, often at the very end.  But within any particular piece or movement there is always some feeling of motion from point to point.  That's why I especially value listeners like yourself who will listen from the beginning to the end, rather than assuming that the first few bars are enough to get a sense of a piece.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

This is very cleverly put together. Nice harmonic changes and the ostinato aspect works well.

[lateromantic]

Thank you, ronde_des_sylphes!