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recent live sessions (quasiminimalism-neoimpressionims)

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Mike Cleven

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Jan 17, 2003, 2:41:13 PM1/17/03

Live keyboard tracks since the New Year linked below; mostly evening
sessions; all
unedited so there may be long silences between sections, and I'm sorry
for the poor audio quality. Some of this is somewhere between
minimalism and traditional classical/romantic forms, plus a hefty dose of
folk, and overall is improvised in the spirit of Jarrett and
Glass/Reich, Bach/Mozart et al and more. In some patches it gets jazzy,
in many pieces it's short studies in minimalistic themes/structures,
especially most recently; style varies according to the
instrument/patch;
more and more in the last week I've been moving back towards ultrasimple
rhythmic/modal minimalism, away from the semiclassical-minimalistica
that sounds more familiar to ears that aren't into "modern music"; what
I'm trying to say, I guess, is that there's more traditional-sounding
stuff on the main webpage (linked below). The electronica is quite a
departure from the instrumentals/piano work and is a pretty mixed bag,
and there's quite a difference between the hardcore minimalism, and
between other things and the main lot. The mostly nasty stuff called
stochastica virgin ears should probably avoid (it was hilarious to
play, though, and I'd like to do with massed keyboards sometime).
Squeezebox tunes at the bottom of the main webpage or those who just
like a good time.

Most of these tracks have thematic unity between sections although the
instrument and style varies considerably; reason is I'm switching
patches on my Kurzweil while playing, and not stopping to stop, save,
make new file and record each time. Many of these are studies for
longer things to come; really my nightly workouts....

I hope someone out there may enjoy some of this; it's simple but
hopefully it's nice listening. The tracks below, especially in the list
are quite diverse; the minimalist stuff may be "all of a kind" but I've
only just gotten back at it like this.

http://www.cayoosh.net/minimalistica4OceansofCvariousjan1703.mp3
Contains "Ocean of C", a study in either pure C or a basic minor
progression/note array; originally this concept was only piano but it
kinda grew tonight. There's a spooky bit in the middle where I chanced
on a setting called "Crypt" which turns out to be neat in the C minor
thing I'm doing; creepy even. Iindulged in some Vincent Price-y
creepiness into the following organ section, too; similar to another,
also in C minor, that's at Overture-Ballade No.1 (Pathetique)
<http://www/cayoosh.net/music/organoverture-ballade1pathetique.mp3>
, and another in the same key but very different and also recent.
Toccata Alla Tanza
<file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Mike%20Cleven/My%20Documents/My%20Music/newrecordings/tocatta-allatanzafororgan.mp3>

http://www.cayoosh.net/minimalistica3pianograndhornsjun17Dbin3.mp3
"Db in 3" came to me during the latter brass section; much of the piano
is in 3's well, as it happens; melodies are triple-formations in terms
of tone structure/components as well as motive patterns; sometimes four,
as is the rhythm. The Fantasia for Horns farther below is also in Db,
and the same kind of thing but done differently. Each section here, if
scored would be "do this for a while and build it" with the tonemap and
rhythm core and small scalar formations (tone/rhythm components, only
rarely becoming full melodies) etc.; tonal stochasticism times
minimalism, perhaps.

http://www.cayoosh.net/music/minimalistica2miniaturesandexpositions.mp3
G sharp minor,or Ab minor depending on how flat or sharp I am at the
time I suppose; some nice bits on the piano; can't remember all the
variants but it stays true, except roaming to a couple of other keys
here and there.

http://www.cayoosh.net/music/minimalisticaset1jan16.mp3
One of my first takes back at "Oceans of C" plus a couple of other
minimalistica thingies; studies for further expansion all. That opening
brass fanfare in Eb I'd like to hear an hour of an orchestra doing;
y'know - how great it sounds when they're tuning up?

and something from back in September when I first started recording
which turned out to be ultraminimal but I'd broken up into its component
pieces and hadn't realized how it hung together until tonight:

http://www.cayoosh.net/music/20mvmts1pshoh_sep1802.mp3 (pshoh =
piano,strings,horns,organ,horns)

Might seem like overkill or self-adulation or tooting my own horn but I
happen to play minimalistically [this is posted in the midst of a
discussion on minimalism somewhere in UseNet] so it seemed a propos to
throw a few links out of how I've been approaching it and maybe it comes
off well; it's fun to play anyway. So far no use of looping, layering
and all the fun stuff that technology can do but I'm too busy playing to
figure out. [for those friends on the list unrelated to music, this is
provided for general interest as what I've been up to]

The links above might seem a lot and I'm sorry for the huge bandwidth;
my site will have streaming soon, somehow; they're long tracks and big
in megabytage I know.. What's above is just a fragment of my stuff
since fall; lately I've been playing more minimalistically as opposed to
minimal-neoclassical; individual sections within tracks here fall in
that category; I try and treat chord progressions/sections and
rhythmic/melodic modules as structures within a minimalist musicspace;
sometimes it's melodic, but I admit to being fond of ostinato, and I
know I have a habitual accelerando that I try to capitalize on with
added tension and drama in the playing, if I can manage it; sometimes I
can't and there are flubs and off-beats and such within otherwise good
material (it doesn't help that I'm dancing and trembling while playing,
and in a sweat etc.; probably quite a show but I've rarely done it with
others around); these are all live, and are basically practice sessions
and works-in-progress.

Prolific or profligate? - I wouldn't know ;-) I just like to play it.
I've played with various names for the style that's evolving; maybe
"neo-impressionism" but that's one of a dozen I've tried to boil it down
to......

Much more at

http://www.cayoosh.net/music/

(site under construction; sorry for any fudged file:/// instead of
http:// links and some incomplete pages, and a lack of
sectional/thematic organization within the subpages)

--
Mike Cleven
http://www.cayoosh.net (Bridge River Lillooet history)
http://www.cayoosh.net/hiyu/ (Chinook Jargon phrasebook/history)
http://www.cayoosh.net/music/ (music)
http://www.cayoosh.net/poetry/

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