Educated By The Frost

Piccinesco wrote:

fino a quando non scriverò qualcosa di diverso:

Can't it be linked to courage? At some point, one must stand on one's own two feet. Regarding the piece at the end, and I don't know why, I hear a lot of the tracks: "giochi proibiti" and "the godfather".

Or anyway, this came to mind upon the very first listen... and all in all it is quite listenable, except for some points where it seems "almost" wrong. Don't ask me what that means, but it's as if you were listening to someone singing music (like pop) and at a certain point, even if you don't know the song, you say: he hit a wrong note here.

I hope I have conveyed the idea

Once I played the version with only the melodic line, and a person told me that they imagined the harmonization differently; there are certainly (on a didactic level) many things that are wrong, and even some details, it is a piece from a few years ago. Perhaps the impression you had is due precisely to the feeling of a lack of coherence between the melodic line and the harmonization, which would be different if the harmonic progressions were followed correctly. A friend of mine, now a composition teacher, asked me if I knew what I wanted to do, because at times the piece presented fragments that made one think of the Baroque, or neo-'classicism'; after the first bars, in every piece, I 'get lost', it is always like this, I start with the best intentions and then go astray. Now everything is due to the need for peace (which I cannot find); the 'not venturing' has to do with an awareness that if I cannot do the simple thing now, I cannot approach the difficult; also, often the idea comes to me, but I don't do much practice.

I liked it very much! Starting from the title!!

A sort of nocturnal Bach that moves very slowly underwater... or under a storm, which makes every step difficult and uncertain...

RedScharlach wrote:

A sort of nocturnal Bach that moves very slowly underwater... or under a blizzard, which makes every step difficult and uncertain...

It could be a way of interpreting it... but just... just undecided

In fact, I didn't choose the title at random; usually, I have trouble finding an adequate title, but in this case it came spontaneously, which is also why I always invite people to look beyond the composition and try to understand (even remotely) the personal implications, something that is too often rejected a priori by those who evidently have suffered little or never. Rather than indecision, I would call it uncertainty; the whole thing flows into music.

The merit I see in it, unlike your other compositions that refer back to the Bachian language, is that in this piece you tend to revisit Baroque material in a personal way (your/transfiguration).

Frank, what you're saying embarrasses me a little; I tried to explain why in the discussion about the third invention—the reasons why I "don't feel at peace" musically: it's always there, the awareness, and as you once told me, knowing the difference between the French, Italian, and German Baroque styles, which remains a mystery to me. I am "exposing myself" day after day by saying that I am not aware of certain things, but it is the truth.

I agree with RedSchrlach and on the adjective 'uncertain' rather than 'undecided'

I am adding this version, it is from 3 years ago, it was played with a real cello; unfortunately, I couldn't spend too much time in the recording studio,

despite the cellist asking me if certain passages were okay, at that moment I was already happy with the recording itself, but later

listening to this version I thought that some points could have been rendered better; to be clear, I am not talking about the

execution itself, although

I notice a not-so-perfect intonation in certain passages, but rather specific points where perhaps a different management of the agogics would

have had greater incisiveness; my fault, anyway, like the first time it's fine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxFLsWUNHH8&feature=youtu.be

Open content (youtube)

Maurizio, if only it were the tuning!

I know, unfortunately I can't play it (as simple as it is), I know how I wish it were and I should have tried other times, looking for the solution that came closest to the idea I had and still have, but partly because time was running out, partly because of my personality, so I always feel like I'm being a nuisance even if I am paying, and I didn't insist. I would do it again, taking more care with the agogics, the legato, the touch, making it more delicate in certain parts. After all, he even asked me for it, but if I remember correctly, he told me he had taken a look at it and not that he had tried it before we met. Anyway yes, if I could, I would record it again changing a few things.

Maurizio, I think differently.... If a person offers to do you a favor out of friendship, that's one thing; (and I don't even justify this possibility much) if you are paying them, it's another. Were the financial agreements you had made suitable for them? Was your money good? The musical result had to be good! End of story. I would have been pissed off even just because they showed up unprepared, reading almost sight-reading. What I hear is: a flat recording not only in terms of agogics but specifically in terms of musicality, with huge inaccuracies not only in intonation but specifically in the phrasing; at times it seems to me like I'm listening to a child playing.

Then I want to consider another point: personal prestige. I would never send such an immature recording around the web branded with my name on it (I am always referring to the double bassist). Here we are not talking about a missed note (Horowitz missed a truckload of notes in concerts, but damn, that was art! The missed note isn't important and anyway during the studio recording phase, you re-record the phrase and reassemble it to avoid missed notes) the problem, as already stated, is of an entirely different nature...

I agree with you, it went this way and my mistake was not insisting. The issue of being mentioned is a bit "absurd"; he knows that I published it, but it is also true that after asking me for the video (of which I have a second version, recorded a bit better but without audio, I don't remember why, I have the DVD with the recordings but I need to check, right now I truly can't think of it) to put it on his channel, in reality he didn't do it anymore and this can only make me think, obviously, that he doesn't consider it up to standard (he has other videos though). Simò, I had some hesitations about publishing the recording (which I had already inserted months ago) because I feel that it is so-so; it was meant to point out the difference between just the melodic line and the 6-instrument version, but I realize that it's not working.

Before you, who recorded the piano piece for me, for this one (except for a chorale stopped by me due to problems with syllabic division and musical meter, which an amateur choir would have at least rehearsed), I asked several people to be able to review it, including an oboist, who first offered (to take a look at it), then tendonitis came up, then he literally disappeared despite me asking him if he had recovered and had looked at it; nothing. At least out of politeness, since I had asked to evaluate a possible recording, paying (of course, if it weren't for an amount that was affordable for me). I can understand that it might be considered a banal piece, not worth wasting time on, but at least respond; and I thought (malignantly?) that someone hypothesized a flaw on their own curriculum in case of performing such a piece, but I repeat, at least say "I'm not interested, even if you pay me", instead often (except for rare and appreciable cases) silence prevails.

Here is a new recording of this piece.

I must clarify that this cellist practiced it almost on the fly and managed to make the performance convincing, certainly better than the other one.

I am also waiting for a recording with a baroque cello, let's see how it goes.

http://youtu.be/sgjgPxCkVgk

Open content (youtube)

I modified the file, adding a little less reverb compared to what was added by the cellist who recorded it, so it is slightly more "dry".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O9oxL4HrS0

Open content (youtube)