"A work of art is never finished, merely abandoned."
- Paul Valéry
- Paul Valéry
I originally conceived this piece over two years ago and have been futzing with it off and on since. That time was largely split between trying to figure out the end of it and rehearsing the more exposed viola parts: this is the first "public" performance I've made as a violist in close to twenty years.
Not to presume to call this "a work of art," but after a great deal of fretting -- especially about my intonation -- it became increasingly difficult to justify further tweaking. I had reached the limits of my current abilities as a violist and, as a composition, taking it further musically would entail reworking the thing more or less from the ground up. Time to stop.
The piece is deliberately spare, using only three instruments: viola (sometimes more than one voice), toy piano, and a synthesized pseudo-choir. Initially, it had much more of a music-box quality (yes, even more than it has now), but I found myself enamored of the melody, which I eventually showcased in the viola solo in the middle section.
As mentioned in the Bandcamp page, this is one of several works for/featuring live viola that I have in my project pile and the only one, so far, that I've been able to play with anything approaching a level of satisfaction (and definitely a limited level at this stage). Most of the pieces in the collection are as yet unfinished compositionally, although some are closer to completion than others, and several of them I'm unsure of how exactly to get them performed: while not beyond my skill level when I was a young full-time viola performance major, those days are long gone. It will take significant emotional processing as well as practice to get my chops back to where I might have a chance of playing what I hear in my head. Sharing this piece is part of that journey; we'll see where it takes us.
*****
Technical notes: This was recorded using a Realist acoustic pickup on my viola, some cheap piezos attached to my Schoenhut toy piano, and a native choir voice in my Yamaha S08 synth. The DAW was Ableton Live 10 and several of its native effects, along with Valhalla VintageVerb.
Wow. Thank you for sharing this, David. Listening to this piece and reading about your two-year gestation left me literally sobbing. It is beautiful beyond words.
ReplyDeleteI sincerely hope you won’t spend another minute comparing your current self to that young violist. When I read your words, I thought about John Prine. I know - apples and oranges, but hear me out! Now, I liked Handsome Johnny when he was young, but I loved him as an older man. As he got older, his performances had a vulnerability that made them incredibly beautiful and touching.
I have no doubt about your “chops” as a young performance major, but what you have now is even better - life experience and believability. Absolute gold. Bravo, my friend. I can’t wait to hear more.
Micky
^^ what Micky said. You, my dear old friend, *are* a work of art, and don't you forget it. I'm serious.
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