2021 Advent Calendar of Improvisations

[quantum]

Trying something here, an Advent Calendar made up of improvisations. 

[quantum]

[quantum]

[quantum]

[quantum]

[ted]

I shall reserve any in depth comments until completion of the set, but I want to indicate that I am listening with pleasure repeatedly and in depth. It has all the hallmarks of being among your best personal expression yet, both in overall conception and diversity of vocabulary and execution. At this stage I am struck by something new in the linking of cells through rhythmic transition, similarity and contrast, which I find particularly attractive. I shall have to think about exactly what it is.

[quantum]

I shall reserve any in depth comments until completion of the set, but I want to indicate that I am listening with pleasure repeatedly and in depth. It has all the hallmarks of being among your best personal expression yet, both in overall conception and diversity of vocabulary and execution. At this stage I am struck by something new in the linking of cells through rhythmic transition, similarity and contrast, which I find particularly attractive. I shall have to think about exactly what it is.

Thanks for listening, Ted.  I'll comment more about the music after posting all of the set.

[quantum]

[quantum]

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[kalospiano]

nice idea, lots of little gems here

[quantum]

nice idea, lots of little gems here

Thanks for listening!

[quantum]

[ronde_des_sylphes]

I've listened to the first five so far and this is a good idea! I like the cellular aspects which ted commented on, and the slightly quirky musical language.

[quantum]

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I've listened to the first five so far and this is a good idea! I like the cellular aspects which ted commented on, and the slightly quirky musical language.

Thanks for listening, Ronde. 

[quantum]

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[frodo1]

Amazing performances here!  This is a major accomplishment, especially when you factor in the “marathon” nature of this project.  Congratulations to Quantum.

[quantum]

Amazing performances here!  This is a major accomplishment, especially when you factor in the “marathon” nature of this project.  Congratulations to Quantum.

Thanks for listening!

[quantum]

[quantum]

[frodo1]

Congratulations to Quantum for completion of this monumental collection of compositions!  I am assuming it is finished based on the 24 days shown on the cover of the collection and the very intense and appropriate ending (to my ear) on day 24!

After Day 17, I asked Quantum which composers influenced him the most in this collection.  I asked: John Cage perhaps?  I believe he may have answered me by featuring the Day 18 with very effective use of a lightly prepared piano.  I hear a lot of John Cage chromaticism, harmonies, rhythms, textures and other elements in many of these works.  No doubt that other composers influenced this set as well.

There is also a certain tonal element to this set, perhaps?  Part of the set appears to be based on the "tonal center" of “D” as featured in days 22 and 24 and couple others?  Maybe not.  But I get goosebumps when I hear the gorgeous but very brief feeling of “arrival” (to D) at minute marker 0:36 of day 24.  This very brief arrival is then postponed until the final seconds of the composition that ends in D.

I hope Quantum will explain this wonderful set of works to us as promised.

[quantum]

Congratulations to Quantum for completion of this monumental collection of compositions!  I am assuming it is finished based on the 24 days shown on the cover of the collection and the very intense and appropriate ending (to my ear) on day 24!

After Day 17, I asked Quantum which composers influenced him the most in this collection.  I asked: John Cage perhaps?  I believe he may have answered me by featuring the Day 18 with very effective use of a lightly prepared piano.  I hear a lot of John Cage chromaticism, harmonies, rhythms, textures and other elements in many of these works.  No doubt that other composers influenced this set as well.

There is also a certain tonal element to this set, perhaps?  Part of the set appears to be based on the "tonal center" of “D” as featured in days 22 and 24 and couple others?  Maybe not.  But I get goosebumps when I hear the gorgeous but very brief feeling of “arrival” (to D) at minute marker 0:36 of day 24.  This very brief arrival is then postponed until the final seconds of the composition that ends in D.

I hope Quantum will explain this wonderful set of works to us as promised.

Thank you so much for your careful listening and thoughts.

There are 24 pieces in the set, they have now all been posted.  It was a lot of work.

[frodo1]

Thank you so much for your careful listening and thoughts.

There are 24 pieces in the set, they have now all been posted.  It was a lot of work.

I can only try to imagine how much work this must have been!!  I was not aware of the delay in your posting here at Pianostreet.  For example, when I made the comment on 12/26 that this was a marathon project (after only 22 days had been published here at Pianostreet), I was assuming that you were understandably struggling to complete this project on time since day 23 should have been completed on the 23rd and day 24 on the 24th.  But I see now that you published each on time on youtube. 

Here are questions that I have.  I will understand completely if you don’t want to give away any of your secrets to composing.  But I will ask anyway.

1) This set appears to require maybe months to plan out.  What kind of advance preparation did you do to put together such a cohesive set? 
2) Which composers influenced you the most for this set?
3) What was your motivation to create such a set?

I hope other listeners will give their thoughts on this set.  I would love to hear their thoughts as well!

[quantum]

I had been considering doing an advent calendar project for some time.  Many musicians choose to take music from repertoire, but I wanted to do something with improvisation as it did not seem to be represented as much in this type of project. 

There are varying examples of how many days to do the project: some people do 7, or only the weekends, or even use the days of Advent proper in the liturgical calendar (which can start in the last few days of November).  It is understandable why for a music advent calendar some have chosen to say only 7 days, as it is indeed a lot of work to prepare, record and publish a video every day for a week.  In the end I chose 24 days, as I felt it as a nice round number, and one that has previous precedent in music cycles: thinking of the WTC, and the prelude sets of Scriabin, Blumenfeld, Chopin, the Dainas of Medins.  It would also fit well with how I wanted to develop the set musically.

The object was to create a set primarily of miniatures, such form requiring articulate brevity of musical idea from the improviser.  I thought of it as a study in creating clear and concise ideas along with sufficient diversity in approach as to not be overly monotonous.  There are a few longer pieces, which bring more variance, explore larger ideas, and complement the miniatures around them.

As for the overarching structure, I may have borrowed some ideas from Messiaen's cycles and multi-movement works such as Vingt-Regards, Turangalîla, and Quatuor pour la fin du temps.  It would have been natural to place the large virtuosic pieces at the ends, or at least the ends of sections, but I opted to place them towards the centre, thinking of them as more of a core idea rather than a blazing crowd pleasers. 

The post-production stage of the work proportionally took far more time than the actual recording.  Creating a mix that was pleasant to my ears, then creating the videos, then doing all of the usual Youtube stuff, for all 24 pieces.  It is far to easy to do a data dump with a large body of material, but I would rather not do that.  I view post-production as part of the artistic process in creating a recording.

A large part of the challenge was the constant posting, the need to produce a new piece every day - I think that is also part of what makes this an etude in creativity.  Part of the inspiration to do this project came from listening to a visual artist talk about their own project to fill a sketchbook, and the discipline it required.  The constant and focused creativity builds new skills and encourages one to seek out creative solutions.  I thought it would be great to explore this kind of thing with improvisation.

I may write more about some of the individual pieces... so stay tuned.

[frodo1]

an etude in creativity - outstanding!

As mentioned, I am not as well versed in modern music as I would like to be. Listening to your work here was a great and enjoyable experience for me!  I was transported to another galaxy, thanks to your creativity and hard work.  I look forward to hearing more about the individual pieces.  Thank you!

[quantum]

I can only try to imagine how much work this must have been!!  I was not aware of the delay in your posting here at Pianostreet.  For example, when I made the comment on 12/26 that this was a marathon project (after only 22 days had been published here at Pianostreet), I was assuming that you were understandably struggling to complete this project on time since day 23 should have been completed on the 23rd and day 24 on the 24th.  But I see now that you published each on time on youtube. 

All the pieces were scheduled to go live on Youtube on their specified day, so that is something that I prepared ahead of time.  However, I have to post manually each one on Pianostreet.  It is the Christmas season, and so I was busy doing Christmasy stuff (public health guidelines followed of course).  Hope you understand.

Here are questions that I have.  I will understand completely if you don’t want to give away any of your secrets to composing.  But I will ask anyway.

1) This set appears to require maybe months to plan out.  What kind of advance preparation did you do to put together such a cohesive set? 
2) Which composers influenced you the most for this set?
3) What was your motivation to create such a set?

I hope other listeners will give their thoughts on this set.  I would love to hear their thoughts as well!

In preparation, I listened to a number of other musicians and observed how they undertook their advent calendar.  Though I did not come across one that specifically focused on improvisation for the entire set. Discovered some musicians as well in the process.  I've actually been thinking of doing something like this for a number of years, so the idea has been floating in my head, and I have been picking up ideas and making note of them over time. 

I also reviewed a number of composed sets of miniatures observing how the overall plan was put together, and the devices the composer used to achieve a diverse set of pieces.

As to composer influence, that is difficult to pinpoint.  I have a rather eclectic interest in music, from plainchant to the avant garde and lots in between, including quite a bit of world musics.  Many of my musical mentors have been involved in the new music scene or are composers themselves, so hearing about how my teachers worked with living composers, doing so myself, and digging up obscure and forgotten music has long been part of my musical education. 

That said, I've been doing a lot of study of Scriabin's harmonic vocabulary (from all three periods) recently and that may have made its way into these pieces. 

The inside the piano pieces likely had influence from my study of Alexina Louie's music.  I began to explore her music and use of extended piano technique in undergrad, and have taken those ideas and expanded upon them.  Investigating things such as: what happens when you contact the string at different parts of its speaking or non-speaking length, use different parts of the nail or fleshy part of the finger.  I want to take inside the piano technique beyond that novel or eccentric stereotype, and integrate it meaningfully in the music soundscape. 

An appreciation of chords utilized as colours, and using modes not as key centres but as smaller units is something I learned from Messiaen.  Also his use of driving infectious rhythmic cells is a technique that gives me inspiration.


What motivated me to do this set?  An artistic challenge in creativity is probably the main driver. 

[frodo1]

Thanks.  I can understand the difficulty for you to pinpoint the influence of other composers on your music. You are obviously not trying to copy any composer or style.  After listening some more to John Cage’s earlier piano works (Metamorphisis, Tripple paced, Soliloquy, 2 pieces, Ophelia – all that are new to me), I think I way overstated his influence on your work here.  BTW – youtube commercials drive me nuts and I’m too cheap to pay for commercial free. There are some elements in small sections of these works that I hear in your music though.  Certainly, the prepared piano parts, strumming of strings.  Also, some of harmonies and textures. 

I could spend years trying to figure out the major influences on your work, but I am sure I would have little luck.  As I mentioned to you before, this is way over my head.  I hear some similarities to Schoenberg atonal piano (op. 11 for example).  I listened to Scriabin late piano sonatas just now.  Maybe some of the harmonies carry over, but the rhythms and textures do not on my quick listen. (Edit: maybe 1st 8 meas. of 10th sonata and part of start of 9th sonata comes close?) The little bit of Messiaen piano I listened to just now (preludes for piano) did not match.   (Edit: Vingt-Regards - yes, I hear influence here! Sorry I missed this!)

You appear to have a perfect harmonic palette to work with that is limited enough to unify your set yet gives a great deal of variety.  My problem also – there is no written music to analyze. I would love to hear thoughts of others!

[frodo1]

The inside the piano pieces likely had influence from my study of Alexina Louie's music.  I began to explore her music and use of extended piano technique in undergrad, and have taken those ideas and expanded upon them.  Investigating things such as: what happens when you contact the string at different parts of its speaking or non-speaking length, use different parts of the nail or fleshy part of the finger.  I want to take inside the piano technique beyond that novel or eccentric stereotype, and integrate it meaningfully in the music soundscape. 

I LOVE the sounds you create in Day 18.  For example the B-flat at minute marker 2:20 changes from very slightly damped allowing a buzzing sound to more fully damped with no buzz.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

This is a fine achievement. Congratulations on managing to keep the creativity going!

[frodo1]

I feel like I’m on a fool’s errand with the following.  Actually, I know that I am.  But, nevertheless like a fool:  I’m convinced that every composition (or small part of a composition) has an origin.  That is, a prior composition (or part of) that is the most similar to the current composition.  Did the current composition copy from the prior one?  Yes and no.  In most cases it is done subconsciously.  Every composer including the great Beethoven was guilty of this on EVERY composition.  This includes crazy passages of Beethoven such as from his magnificent grosse fugue and crazy parts of the magnificent Agnus Dei of the Missa Solemnis.   Some of the leaps here were pretty huge though.

Take Quantum’s great Day 22.  I pick this one because it is the easiest to reconstruct. Here is my oversimplified description:

Day 22 appears to be roughly in ABA format.  The A section is the longest and is in a 2-voice texture based on the top part playing something like the palindrome notes D, D#, E, F#, C, F#, E, D#, D while simultaneous playing the exact melodic inversion (also a palindrome) D, C#, C, B-flat, E, B-flat, C, C#, D in the bass.  This is followed by playing the tritone D, G#. After doing this kind of thing for a while, bouncy rhythm and expansion is added (almost always with center note D?).

Day 22 then goes into the crazy and loud (like a squawking goose - I love it!!) F# major triad B section that includes rapid descending RH runs back to the single note D with what seems like exact melodic inversion in the LH.  The "D" becomes the flatted 6th in F# major and makes this great fun!    He ends with an extremely brief return to the A section. The piece ends on the same single note D heard throughout the piece.

So, my question:  What part of a prior composition is closest to parts of this Day 22 composition? Something by Stravinsky?? (Maybe parts of Petrushka? I think I can hear similar spots in my ear e.g. tritone use - NO?!)  Bartok??  I know it exists.  But we will never find it?  I am almost certain that Quantum has no idea. 

Also, can any Pianostreet members find similar prior music to any portions of Quantum’s days?  I guess just for fun, it might be worth a try.  I am coming up blank though for the most part.  Done - 8:54 AM EST 12/31/21

[frodo1]

I hope Quantum will give us details on some of the individual compositions.  I'm signing off from this thread.  I will be keeping my eye out for comments by Quantum and others.   

Congratulations to Quantum again for this monumental accomplishment!  Happy new year to all!

P.S. Messiaen Vingt-Regards - yes.  I hear influence here! - Sorry I missed this.

[ted]

I have listened to them all twice now. I lack the background and knowledge of past composers and styles that other members have so all I have is my intuitive response. In passing I noticed a peculiar effect of the beautifully clear, crystalline recording, nothing to do with the music. On first listening I registered something funny in the channel balance so I turned my headphones around and everything suddenly came into accustomed focus. The only thing I can put it down to is that I have been listening to so much of my own music recorded with the same orientation that reversing the channels has started to sound odd through habit. I know for certain that I don't have an aural deficiency in one ear, put it that way, so that is the only thing I can think of to explain the reaction.

The idea of improvising many short, disparate sections has occurred to me too from time to time but in my case it would be no more than an arbitrary slicing up of an hour into little bits to no apparent advantage.  I have not heard much of Messiaen and the others mentioned, and haven't liked what little I have heard, but that is no more than personal taste. I also had to look up what an Advent Calendar is, so as always with me I just placed any images I fancied onto the music. I was struck, however, by a resemblance of your scheme to the more recent Jarrett concerts, for example Radiance and Carnegie, particularly the former. Jarrett began to abandon his previously slowly morphing, long grind cells in favour of short but related (at least in his view) bursts of definition. The upshot is that it is just another individual creative option I suppose.

Overall a distinctly commendable venture from you Neil, one which would require a discipline quite beyond me, that's for sure.