Everything free piano improvisation should be, not a lot more to say. But what are its characteristics, properties in some sense invariant and independent of personal taste ? Do such universals really exist at all ? I am gradually inclining to the notion that they do, it is just that conceiving them to fit the moulds and imperatives of formalised composition is mistaken.
In this piece, I am struck by at least three features which endow the music with life. Firstly, there is what I can only describe as definition. Whenever a cell or idea occurs I am immediately aware that something new and meaningful is being said. Secondly, some notes, or more broadly features, are made more prominent than others. This sounds trivial but without it any music lacks a whole dimension. Thirdly. there is an independence of musical, and often physical streams, obviously in the matter of rhythm but also in regard to phrase and harmony, and there are some splendid harmonic moments in this piece.
Of course I am untutored in these notions and, in any case, have met too many players who substitute analysis for music to undertake it without disquiet. Nonetheless I wanted to try to go deeper than simply saying I like it and that bits of it remind me of Ives and Bridge, which observations tell no one anything useful.