Album of improvisations

[ronde_des_sylphes]

This has been a long-standing aim of mine.

The album (70m) is a combination of pure improvisation and not-absolutely improvisation, in the sense that most of the tracks are me playing my own writeouts of original improvisation (with, I should add, an absolute bare minimum of alterations: most of them have just been simple matters of grammar, like rhythmic consistency). I had a lot of improvisations from 2020 and 2021 where I liked the improvisation a lot, but rather less the home recording aspect of it, so the bulk of this material is me re-recording it after booking a church for the purpose, and hopefully ending up with a better audio track at the end of it! There are also tracks taken from public recital(s), including improvisation within said recital. I have made the video as a sheet music video where I have written out a score for the relevant improvisations.

(Truncated) sleeve notes:

The album opens with Overture, a live improvisation setting the scene and temperament for the coming material.

Winter is a mood piece, evoking the solitude of Nature amidst the bleakness and cold of a snowy winter. The piece is very much in a Lisztian/Wagnerian vein; central to it are harmonic relationships based upon the third (for the most part, the minor third). Right from the start, there is a very deliberate tonal ambiguity between the F# of the bass tremolando and the nominal A minor of the treble motif. The slow introduction leads into a melancholy F# minor section, with the melody accompanied by the slow tread of repeated quaver chords. The alert listener will spot the reoccurrence of the F#/A minor dichotomy. A recitative passage leads into a dolorous aftermath, and a moment of almost religious ecstasy dispels the previous storm. Agitated groans of the blowing snow return in F# minor, as we approach conclusion. The minor third connection is recapitulated in full, passing briefly through F#, A, C and Eb minors in succession before returning to F#, leading to a moment of reflection in augmented harmonies, as it ends referring to the F#/A minor tonal ambivalence.

    The nine preludes form a miniature suite: Goblins is a short, mischievous opening creation with impish acciaccature (perhaps reminiscent of the highly eccentric Les Diablotins from Alkan's Esquisses); Procession solonelle depicts a midnight cortège of monks, and Moment Rachmaninoff perhaps recalls his op.23 no.2 prelude. La lune noire portrays slow night clouds moving across the moon during the darkness of night; Lutins diaboliques evokes devilish pixies at play, while Pastorale represents a placid summer scene. Agitato hints at a distant approaching storm; Le lugubre sépulcre ponders the sparse void of an ancient tomb, and Berceuse is a gentle lullaby with softly rocking bass ostinati.

The following two items are taken from a recital in 2021: Live improvisation being pure improvisation on a concert programme. Dinosaurs is a march getting ever faster until they all fall over each other and collapse in a heap.

Religioso, Grandioso, Lamentando is an improvisational triptych, opening with a contemplative minor key episode which moves between melancholy to serenity and an impassioned, declamatory passage and recitative only to subside into gently rocking bells. This gives way to a quasi-operatic middle section where the mood is one of uplift and celebration, perhaps even ecstasy. After a cadenza-like passage concluding on the dominant, the mood changes abruptly as the final section begins with a sense of despair in the stillness. The sense of loss and mourning is accentuated by the right hand meandering around the dominant and the chromatic semitone beneath. As this tails off, the piece recedes with a progression of quiet but firm chords as finality is contemplated and ultimately arrived at.

In Train des lutins the acciaccature of the opening depict impish pixies and elves as they gather to steal a train. The rhythm grows increasingly motoric as the train accelerates and frenetic scales and quasi-arpeggiated figures represent it speeding on through the night before ultimately coming to rest.

Sonata improvvisata is a fully improvised piano sonata in four movements: opening with Idyll, we find pastoral scenes of peace and serenity, as the piano luxuriates in romantic harmonies and gentle rocking accompaniments. All is well as the harmonies resolve in a dominant to tonic cadence. The placid dreaminess does not last however; the key falls by a third, from D major to Bb minor, as reality returns in Funérailles. A funeral procession is on the move, with falling melodic passages, Lisztian bass tremolandi and the sound of distant church bells. The soft bass bells are counterpointed with pealing in the treble. The bass tremolandi swell into a section consisting of augmented harmonies, but there is no resolution within the movement, and the harmony is left suspended querulously. Intermezzo begins with an unexpected resolution into F# major. This marks the key further falling by a third to commence the new movement. A brief interlude ensues, before any illusion of peace is shattered forever.

The final movement is in three sections - Orage opens with a thunderclap of octaves as the storm breaks with a deluge of minor key left hand triplets. Once again the key has descended by a third, but this time a minor third, progressing from F# major into Eb minor. The storm continues, with grumbling passagework, powerful chords and towering arpeggios pressing forward until a sudden summery interlude marks a rainbow in the sky. Any relief is short-lived as a cadenza-like passage ushers in ghost ships and spectres as we prepare for the denouement: the Marche a l'enfer, in which armies of monstrous beasts march onward to the ultimate destiny. Dante's Inferno and the Devil await.

The album concludes with a gentle, nocturne-like epilogue, Dreaming, providing the listener with respite from the tumult of the sonata's finale.

[ranjit]

Congratulations! That is a big accomplishment. I will listen make sure I listen to it soon! 

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Great, thanks! I've put the track listing with times as a pinned comment in the video.