if paintings were music - a piano improvisation

[kalospiano]

https://soundcloud.com/kalos-piano/claude-monets-water-lilies-a-piano-improvisation


In this performance I'm trying to translate Monet's famous Water Lilies paintings into music. For the notes to recall a calm scenery of flowers gently resting on still waters, I'm especially focusing on the high register and playing a lot of major sevenths, sixths and ninths, pentatonics and also half or fully diminished chords on occasion. I've been trying to delve into improvisation at the piano lately and this is my first accomplishment.

Major inspirations for this have been of course Debussy, Bill Evan’s “Peace Piece”, Chopin’s “Berceuse”, but also many of Yoshimatsu’s “Pleiad Dances”, Cyril Scott’s “Lotus Land”, Silvestrov’s “Bagatelles”, plus Leo Ornstein’s “Miniatures” and Rachmaninoff’s “Daisies”, “Lilacs” and “Prelude” from his Opus 2.

I wish I had the technique to do something more but I'm actually quite satisfied with the end result. Might come back on it to for further development in the future.

[ranjit]

I found this really beautiful and contemplative, and I liked many of the textures. The chord at 3:36 really caught my ear -- it just somehow works so well in that context.

[kalospiano]

Thank you so much Ranjit. At 3:36 I just tried going up a semitone: I was scared that it could mess the whole thing up but luckily it worked

[ronde_des_sylphes]

I enjoyed this: it's good work which you should carry on. My favourite moment was at 2.20 where I thought that was a good use of harmony.

[kalospiano]

Thank you Ronde. I'll definitely keep working on my improvisation skills. I'm reading a bunch of books on jazz harmony and on classical improvisation (Overduin's "making music"... it's for organ, but it works on piano too) and I'm experiment with "unusual" chord changes. One of my goals would be to be able to improvise a fugue, which is one of the last chapters of Overduin's book... Hope I'll get there eventually.

[quantum]

Very enjoyable!  Your ideas were focused, and I think you clearly communicated into music aspects of the paintings you chose to highlight.  I enjoyed those gentle harmonic surprises, which added a splash of colour to the scene. 

There are quite a number of organ books that deal with improvisation in art music styles. Many of them are easily translatable to the piano.  The Overduin is a good resource. 

If you are interested in fugal and contrapuntal improvisation, you might want to check out the Youtube channel named Borogrove. 

[kalospiano]

Thank you Quantum! I wonder why I didn't find the same amount of material for classical improvisation on the piano? Mistery! I'll make sure to check out the Borogrove channel you mentioned!

[quantum]

Improvisation still forms part of the foundation skills when studying the organ.  So it is natural that there are modern day texts being authored on the subject.  Organ also has a long history of improviser / composers that extend to present day.  There are even entire competitions dedicated towards improvisation.  It is serious stuff in the organ world.  As for piano, especially classical piano studies, improvisation education tends to take on lesser importance. 

Things might be changing, as learning materials for children are starting to include improvisation elements.  That said, resources for pianists at more advanced stages of musical study are still far and few between.  The organ books on improvisation are excellent  entry points for pianists wishing a structured methodology for learning improvisation techniques.