Thinking Plague-Decline and Fall Part 2b

English version:



Mike's reply about my analisys of "A Virtuous Man":

Not 4/4 but 12/16, onkly for a second. No whole tone scale that *I* was *aware* of!

I think so, yes. Actually several tracks of the finger-picked guitar part.



My analysis of "A Virtuous Man": A Virtuous Man:



It starts in 4/4 rhythm, and like other songs of TP it gives me the impression, at least the first seconds of the whole tone scale. Maybe I am wrong. Elaine's voice enter in a kind of vals 3/4, like a nurse "avant" song. Beautiful riff of the guitar, with touches of the piano and clarinet or sax... Percussion like maraccas also sounds. Rapid passages of guitar, piano and clarinet. Echoes in the voice of Elaine. Some words sung "loud" with a little touch of "pop".



The guitar is in acoustic mode, probably Mike used his Ovation in this one. Good work of the drums and the bass that go inside and out of the rhythm. Piano chords, with tritones and other dissonant intervals around 4:30....to give the mistery-tension ambient typical of TP while Elaine sings about this and the other life. Around 5:15 Mike's guitar changed into distortion mode...with some fast notes before a part without drums, full of clusters(closed keys) in the piano, bass notes of a wind instrument(Bass Clarinet)...to give Kimara a showcase to show his skills which are awesome. With a solo which is between jazzy and contemporary. Also the wind instrument seems to show some extended techniques...



Around 7:11, that wind instrument which gives a jazzy feel with the cymbals preceed the Elaine's voice and the organ sound which seems to anounce a kind of disaster...after all, it is a decline and fall, isn't it?.Around 8:20 some of the most energetic and vigurous drums of the track...After that...an "opressive" atmosphere of "Strings" in the keyboards... 9:32 I love that melody at unison with the guitar and wind instrument....and also how they change into counterpoint.



I can say about this track that apart from the typical "avant" rock ambient, I can emphasize the word rock, I think it rocks than many other avant rock groups. This track has for me that feeling.

After all the answered questions Mike Johnson gave us about his influences and musical tastes I can say that I hear in this track clearly most of them, the complexity of Gentle Giant, the symphonic textures of some prog rock groups but also some of his Shostakovich and Schuman and some acoustic parts. Even some jazz rock textures. The song finished not in a bombastic way, but like if the sax and the keyboard are absorbed into a black hole.



Rhytmically it seems like other songs of the album and in TP style that they change quite a lot the time signature, but somehow I notice some parts in 4/4 or 3/4, and more sense of flow and less stop-stare-continue in this track.

John Tavener- Un Retrato del compositor Parte 1

Este artículo está dedicado al compositor británico con "tintes" "Bizantinos" y "universalistas", Sir John Tavener.

Nació el 28 de Enero de 1944, y su primer éxito fue "The Whale" en 1968. Aquel año, más tarde, ganó un concurso de la BBC contra dos compositores ingleses más "maduros". La gente prefirió "In Alium". El sabía que los otros dos compositores componían música serial "gris", mientras que él compuso una obra con toques surrealistas donde la influencia de Messiaen y del Stockhausen más surrealistas están presentes. Otros trabajos importantes de aquel período son "Celtic Requiem, Últimos Ritos y Therese". Contactó con el Metropolita de Inglaterra de la Iglesia Ortodoxa Rusa, y desde 1977 pertenece a ella. Ahí comenzó a estudiar los tonos y modos de la Iglesia Bizantina y del canto Ruso "Znammeniy" que como otras tradiciones orientales están basados en fórmulas melódicas, cadencias, tipos de melodías que en modos como los gregorianos o los chinos...También comenzó a estudiarlos básicamente por las críticas que recibió de su trabajo "Liturgy of St John Chrysostom".



En este período Tavener comenzó a componer trabajos relacionados con Grecia o Rusia: Six Russian Folk Songs, Kyklike Kinesis, A Greek Interlude, Akhmatova Requiem, Canticle of the Mother of God, Sappho…. Estos trabajos aún tienen bastantes disonancias pero cada vez era más claro en sus texturas y cada vez más cercano a las consonancias de su trabajo posterior.

La primera mitad de la década de los 80 fue un período de transición, puesto que la disonancia y el serialismo se mezclaba con la tonalidad y los estudios de los tonos rusos y bizantinos. Comenzó a ser prolífico en componer trabajos corales desde "funreal Ikos", además que una de sus constantes es los trabajos para voz, muy rara vez compone trabajos instrumentales.Ikon of Light, To A Child Dancing in the Wind, Akathist of Thanksgiving, Eis Thanaton and The Protecting Veil son los trabajos clave de este período. En los 90 trabajos mastodónticos como Apocalypse y Mary of Egypt se mezclan con miniaturas como Song For Athene, además de cuartetos de cuerda como Diodia o The Last Sleep Of The Virgin, y algunos pequeños temas como Akhmatova Songs. A partir de finales de los 90 se ve cierta influencia de los Ragas, del hinduismo y de la música hindu y algo de sufismo también, aunque por ejemplo cierta influencia raga ya estaba en "To A Child Dancing in the Wind" en un tema de ese trabajo. Desde principios del milenio han surgido multitud de temas como Fall and Resurrection, The Beautiful Names( un tributo a los nombres islámicos de Dios), Solemnitas Conceptionae Virgin Mary (en los que aparecen influencias del mundo musical Católico), Schuön Lieder, Requiem pero el trabajo que le abrió de nuevo a nuevas influencias fue “The Veil Of The Temple”.





Así que volvió a ser prolífico en estos últimos años, en la decada de los 00, a pesar de que su relación con su musa artística, Madre Tekla, desde mitad de los años 80, se fue deteriorando aunque se reconciliaron antes de la muerte de ésta en 2011. De hecho incluso continuó colaborando en temas como The Veil of Temple o en el maravilloso Lamentations and Praises. Este compositor es duramente criticado desde que se unió a la Iglesia ortodoxa rusa, cuando "amplió horizontes" con la espiritualidad bastante discutible de Frithjof Schuön, además de que critican que su música no tiene substancia, es cercana a la nada, es blanda, es demasiado fácil. Ha necesitado muchas veces defender su música, y proviene de la visión radical que ha tenido durante bastantes años con posiciones más cercanas a la música oriental o "Del este" que la música "occidental".

Todo esto está claro navegando por Internet y en su página web. Pero quería dar mi opinión, sentimientos y pensamientos sobre este gran compositor. Lo primero de todo, hice varios análisis de este compositor: Cantus Mysticus, Prayer Of The Heart(with Björk), Thunder Entered Her, The Lament of the Mother Of God, Coplas and Nomine Jesu. Puedo decir que con estos temas y otros que he visto y analizado sinceramente he sentido y siento aún una cierta fascinación por el compositor. Muchos musicólogos y críticos lo minusvaloran. Solo encontré una tesis en la que le comparaban con Arvo Pärt, el cual tiene más atención por parte de los musicólogos.

Mi compositor favorito es Olivier Messiaen. Pero hay un montón de tesis, información y análisis sobre él. Lo mismo puedo decir de Claude Vivier con su sistema de composición a partir de dos frecuencias o notas musicales. Incluso sobre la técnica de Steve Reich de imitación del habla en frases musicales la encontré. Pero muy poco de John Tavener. Pero viendo sus partituras, escuchando su música, sus diversos períodos, a pesar de sus críticas hacia el modernismo, hacia el minimalismo en el fondo el utiliza técnicas modernistas y postmodernistas, minimalistas junto música de la India, Griega, Bizantina, Rusa....

Por ejemplo, el serialismo de 12 tonos o dodecafonismo en Akhmatova Requiem: De Re baja a Si sube a Si bemol baja a La baja a Sol sube a Sol# baja a Mi sube a Fa sube a Fa# baja a Re# baja a Do# y baja a Do. todo hecho con intervalos de semitonos y terceras menores. También lo encontramos en una parte del órgano en Solemnitas Inmaculata, en The Whale tenemos una serie de 9 notas, en In Alium tenemos también una serie de 12 notas, según Andrew Keeling...

Otro día seguiré con la segunda parte....

Thinking Plague- Decline and Fall Parte 2a, Part 2a

English Version:

A Virtuous Man:

It starts in 4/4 rhythm, and like other songs of TP it gives me the impression, at least the first seconds of the whole tone scale. Maybe I am wrong.

Elaine's voice enter in a kind of vals 3/4, like a nurse "avant" song. Beautiful riff of the guitar, with touches of the piano and clarinet or sax... Percussion like maraccas also sounds.

Rapid passages of guitar, piano and clarinet. Echoes in the voice of Elaine. Some words sung "loud" with a little touch of "pop".

The guitar is in acoustic mode, probably Mike used his Ovation in this one. Good work of the drums and the bass that go inside and out of the rhythm. Piano chords, with tritones and other dissonant intervals around 4:30....to give the mistery-tension ambient typical of TP while Elaine sings about this and the other life.

Around 5:15 Mike's guitar changed into distortion mode...with some fast notes before a part without drums, full of clusters(closed keys) in the piano, bass notes of a wind instrument(Bass Clarinet)...to give Kimara a showcase to show his skills which are awesome. With a solo which is between jazzy and contemporary. Also the wind instrument seems to show some extended techniques...



Around 7:11, that wind instrument which gives a jazzy feel with the cymbals preceed the Elaine's voice and the organ sound which seems to anounce a kind of disaster...after all, it is a decline and fall, isn't it?.



Around 8:20 some of the most energetic and vigurous drums of the track...After that...an "opressive" atmosphere of "Strings" in the keyboards...

9:32 I love that melody at unison with the guitar and wind instrument....and also how they change into counterpoint.

I can say about this track that apart from the typical "avant" rock ambient, I can emphasize the word rock, I think it rocks than many other avant rock groups. This track has for me that feeling.

After all the answered questions Mike Johnson gave us about his influences and musical tastes I can say that I hear in this track clearly most of them, the complexity of Gentle Giant, the symphonic textures of some prog rock groups but also some of his Shostakovich and Schuman and some acoustic parts. Even some jazz rock textures. The song finished not in a bombastic way, but like if the sax and the keyboard are absorbed into a black hole.



Rhytmically it seems like other songs of the album and in TP style that they change quite a lot the time signature, but somehow I notice some parts in 4/4 or 3/4, and more sense of flow and less stop-stare-continue in this track.

The Gyre:

It starts with an ostinato of guitar in 7/4....very hypnotic one, just repeating i think one chord.

It seems Mike did hammer on/pull off or tapping to create it, or an echo pedal for it.

It seems also in whole tone scale, because it reminds me a little bit of the that scale in Fracture.

Of course, the piano and the wind introduced more notes.

It seems there is only a few break of the 7/4 in the 0:50.

The ostinatos gives a hypnotic effect, while when the drums starts to play and move "forward" breaks with the hypnotic part. Kimara and Mark Harris are the star of the first part, also Mike did a fine job. In 1:10 more or less, piano chords between a sort of jazzy contemporary classical music and Latin jazz.

Elaine enters later and she sung very little...it's mostly an instrumental track.

The wind instrument, i think a clarinet, it's in one key, with few dissonance notes.

Around 2:20 a kind of major-minor chords in a kind of moment or relaxation, or "fake" relaxation.Before the 3:00 very good "fraseo" of the guitar. It appears again in 3:05...the theme itself moves from the hypnotic ostinato theme and their variants and the move forward of drums and other riffs...

It finishes, in an energetic riff. About the tonality, I am not so trained by ear, but it seems apart from the ostinato some motives reappear, or make a little variation of it, even some chords of the piano.

Climbing The Mountain:

An ostinato in the guitar opens the song.

A solo in the 1:15 which is very good, it reminds me a sort of Adrian Belew wants to spice Henry Cow 1:47 Mellotron like....which sounds like Late Romanticism wants to enter into more modernistic Symphony...Influences of Shostakovich here?.

Until here, it mixes a kind of Art Bears melody like-guitar ostinato in weird rock style, Mellotron which it's between Crimson and Shostakovich...

3:30 a great sustain which is between Frith and Fripp, a kind of soaring cry...before Elaine and the Mellotron like give us a moment of peace. Maybe also a little moment of Hope. (To be honest, I am not analyzing the lyrics, i will listen them carefully another time).

4:50 The guitar sounds me very 70's, almost Mike Oldfield like... and tonal, I would say!!!



5:25 It seems there are 3 rhythms, polyrhythms...."Spanish Guitar?", Piano and wind...after that 5:50 Acoustic steel guitar, and after that the electric guitar appears.

6:36 Piano makes the ostinato of the beginning of the guitar, while the guitar and the vocal make another ostinato in unison or maybe octaves, but the same notes.

The ostinato seems that has the first bar in 9 in the guitar.

The final part in 8:10 with the Spanish guitar, the ostinatos....until the electric guitar enters and finish the theme!!.



the ostinatos in both themes seems to give a feeling of hypnoticism, mistery, obsession....some chords try to give a kind of hope in the otherwise very difficult and tension ambient of the music. Yet I cannot say it's depressive. At least not for me. The music is moving, goes there and here, takes different colours, passions, moments, breathing, the cycles goes in augmentation and diminution(rhythm) in these two pieces.

What Mike said about these two songs:

Oh, well, there's a lot I could say, but too much for here. I will say that these 2 were actually the first (Climbing) and last (Gyre) songs I wrote for the collection. I also felt like they were the 'easiest' for me to do. Consequently, I initially felt like they may not be as good as the rest. As the tracks came together, and certainly in the mixing, I changed my mind. Bob Drake and I had to do some "things" in things to Climbing, esp. in the section that goes from 3:15 to 5:26 to keep it from sounding "proggy" (to us).

About Climbing the Mountain: Actually, this little "Climbing the Mtn" counter-theme first appears at 0:46, then again at 5:27, again at 6:37 and finally at 7:45 - each time with very slight variations in the length of the last note of the phrase, as well as alterations in instrumentation.



A solo in the 1:15 which is very good, it reminds me a sort of Adrian Belew wants to spice Henry Cow



Well, you surely recognized the "Whammy" pedal?

About The Gyre:



BernMarañaRusa said:

It seems Mike did hammer on/pull off or tapping to create it, or an echo pedal for it.



Very good, yes, hammer and pull-off. Plus a little "sea-sick" chorus and delay.



BernMarañaRusa said:

Elaine enters later and she sung very little...it's mostly an instrumental track.



However, she DOES sing quite a bit of wordless vocal harmonies after that - from 2:06 through 3:22 (timings from iTunes). Those parts are very precise, and important for the "dreamy" effect in that section.



BernMarañaRusa said:

It finishes, in an energetic 7/4 riff.



Actually, if you mean the final riff, actually I wrote it as a 4/8 bar with the last note on 4.

John Tavener- The Veil Of The Temple

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOCXMi0cyXc

The Veil Of The Temple es el trabajo más largo y grande de John Tavener. Ocupa más de 800 páginas de partitura e incluso a veces pienso que se queda corto de páginas para escribir tanta música. Dura 7 horas ininterrumpidas y es una vigilia nocturna, que dura toda la noche. Inspirada en las vigilias ortodoxas, Tavener añade textos del poeta Sufi , Rumi, elementos según él, del Budismo, el Hinduismo y el Judaísmo, y por supuesto tiene como elementos mayoritarios oraciones, plegarias y cantos del Cristianismo.

El trabajo está dividido en 8 ciclos. Cada ciclo tiene un centro tonal, comenzando por Do. Ciclo I = Do, Ciclo II = Re, Ciclo III = Mi, Ciclo IV = Fa, Ciclo V= Sol, Ciclo VI = La, Ciclo VII= Si y , por último Ciclo VIII= Do (una octava más aguda, en general).



Está división no quiere decir que cada ciclo se mantenga constantemente en un puro Do mayor o Re mayor. Puede haber alguna otra tonalidad, pero desde luego no hay modulaciones convencionales. Hay armonías paralelas en las que todas las voces se mueven en la misma dirección, hacia el grave o hacia el agudo. La mayoría de los ciclos tienen estructuras que se repiten. Así por ejemplo la obra comineza con Mystical Love Song Of The Sufis. Suele comenzar con la solista Soprano y el duduk, un instrumento armenio, de viento, con un timbre entre un oboe y un saxofón, y con apariencia de flauta dulce. El canto es simple, pero adornado de microtonos, es decir, notas que no se pueden tocar en el piano, notas que están entre las teclas del piano. El duduk si puede tocar microtonos e imita a la voz soprano, haciendo de "Eco".





También en todos los ciclos aparece la oración del corazón "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy upon me". En el Ciclo I aparece de manera sencilla, en el Ciclo II aparece ya con dos voces como contrapunto, y en el Ciclo VIII aparece como un motete de 12 voces, en contrapunto. El efecto de este tema con el órgano, las campanas tubulares, las trompetas tibetanas y alguna otra percusión es simplemente demoledora. Tavener utiliza bastante la sonoridad, no busca desarrollar armonías. Puede llenar una parte solo de Do mayor, pero como hay un contrapunto gigante, es como un gran cluster de voces en Do mayor, y puede haber "disonancias" que suenen bien, pero que a su vez crean una textura sonora densa y grandiosa. En cada ciclo va desarrollando diversas partes. Así el "Padre Nuestro" o "Our Father" comienza con 1 o 2 frases en el primer ciclo, mientras que en el Ciclo 8 tenemos el Padre Nuestro completo en inglés (Our Father), en griego (Páter Imón) y en eslavo antiguo (Otche Nash), o el Santa María, de igual manera. También hay una "Llamada primordial" que consiste normalmente de drones de órgano, armonio hindú, voz baja y voz tenor cantando "Lógos" y "Tohu, Vohu" y otras palabras, en definitiva, poniendo elementos griegos, de los indios americanos, hindúes.... En cada Ciclo hay un evangelio cantado. En los tres primeros evangelios el cantante recita los evangelios, que son de San Juan, de manera monótona, en una sola nota, y solo al finalizar el evangelio hace una cadencia normalmente primero hacia el grave y luego finaliza en la nota mónotona o tónica.



En cambio tenemos que el último evangelio, del Ciclo 7, está cantando de manera tan ornamentada, que en la partitura hay indicaciones de ser cantado de manera hindú. Hay muchos tresillos de corchea, semicorchea, movimientos arriba, abajo, rápidos melismas....la melodía que es bastante compleja tiene forma de raga, de formula melódica....y el ritmo es libre, cercano al "Gregoriano" o canto llano. La tonalidad está en Si mayor como el Ciclo 7, pero aparecen inflexiones, aparece varias veces re natural, sol natural, etcétera, además de las notas de la tonalidad. La verdad es que es todo un desafío llegar al último ciclo, el más duradero, que si no recuerdo mal dura una hora, siendo el ciclo más complejo, donde todos los temas anteriores se agrandan enormemente, y donde a pesar de la "simpleza tonal" hay grandes masas de sonido y "contrapunto". Tenemos temas como "Awake Thou That Sleepest" en simples armonías paralelas en Do mayor, repeticiones de Maranátha, entradas de soprano en Fa menor, o con mi bemol, diciendo Atma, Maya, coro de niños cantando alejados del coro principal...en fin, un festín de texturas y sonoridades de coros, con influencias desde la armonía anglicana tradicional, a acentos bizantinos, y alguna que otra disonancia "Tonal".





Todo esto para llegar al clímax de la obra, con la soprano (en la premiere Patricia Rozario) cantando Rabbouní, es decir, Maestro en Hebreo. Subiendo cada vez más en sus notas. Y esto da paso a una especie de ostinato, aunque cambie cada cierto tiempo de compás, en general da un feeling ternario, en 3/4, cantando Tam Tvam Si, que significa Aqui Soy Yo. Este tema parece desarrollar los armónicos naturales de Do, pues está en la escala lidia b7 o escala natural. Do, Re, Mi, Fa#, Sol, La, Si bemol. El tema se llama "Upanishad Hymn" y es el del enlace de Youtube.



Sin modulaciones, siempre en esta tonalidad, que le da un aire de grandeza. Realmente las voces entran uno a uno y luego explotan juntas.....el final es en fortísimo, donde se queda sola la voz de la soprano...y deja paso a un canto llamado "Shanti".

Este canto lo cantan al unísono los barítonos y bajos, y se forma única y exclusivamente de dos notas: Do y Si bemol. Lo que le da fuerza es la variedad rítmica y los cambios de compás que tiene. Además hay un coro que entra en un momento cantando "Shine" La obra finaliza cantando este canto de "Shantih" , ad libitum....hasta que los barítonos quieran finalizar....

John Tavener- A Portrait of him(english versión)

Hello Friends

This is my first article in English, though I will write the same article in Spanish. This article I am going to write it about the English yet sort of Byzantine-universalist composer Sir John Tavener. He was born in 28 January 1944, and his first success was “The Whale” in 1968. That same year, later, he won a contest of BBC against two other major English composers. While others composed in a sort “grey” serialist way, he composed a work with lots of surrealism called “In Alium”. Other major works of the period are Celtic Requiem, Ultimos Ritos and Therese. In the middle of the 70’s, after one marriage with a Greek woman, he had a deep crises. Catholicism couldn’t fulfill him. He contacted with the Metropolitan in England and he entered in Russian Orthodox Church in England in 1977. He started to study the tones of Byzantine and Znammenniy Chant. Also he started to study them because the critics that English orthodox people told him about his work Liturgy of St John Chrysostom.



In this period Tavener starts to compose works with Greek or Russian themes: Six Russian Folk Songs, Kyklike Kinesis, A Greek Interlude, Akhmatova Requiem, Canticle of the Mother of God, Sappho….these works are still dissonant but he is more and more clear and it becomes clear that he is closer to the consonant world of his later language.

The early to mid 80’s was a period of transition. Dissonance and some serialism are mixed with tonality and with the studies of Byzantine and Znammeny Tones. He became prolific in choral works started with “Funeral Ikos”. Ikon of Light, To A Child Dancing in the Wind, Akathist of Thanksgiving, Eis Thanaton and The Protecting Veil are the key works of this period. In the 90’s huge works like Apocalypse and Mary Of Egypt mix with miniatures like Song For Athene, and some string quartets like Diodia, The Last Sleep of the Virgin and little voice works like Akhmatova Songs. In the late 90’s some Hinduism and Hindu music influences came also to the forefront, and a little bit of Sufism. Ragas were also part of his influences since 80’s but it became more prominent at the end of 90’s. From the beginning of millennium we have Fall and Resurrection, The Beautiful Names( a kind of Islamic tribute to the names of Allah), Solemnitas Conceptionae Virgin Mary (in which Catholic influences appeared again), Schuön Lieder, Requiem but the work that made him more open was “The Veil Of The Temple”.



So, he became profilic in these last years, even if his relation with Mother Tekla, her friend nun and muse became worse but before her death it improves. In fact Tekla continued collaborating with Tavener even in works like The Veil Of The Temple. This composer is often critized by the critics, specially after his conversion to the Orthodox church and also after his change of view with the inclusion of the spirituality of Frithjof Schuon. Sometimes he received critics like “his music is nothing”, or “it’s blatant”, or “it’s vacuum” or “it has no substance”, or if it’s too easy. He often needed to defend himself. Also he had a strange vision for the usual point of view of Western critics of music and his soul, his mind and his musical affinity went towards East.

All these things are crystal clear in Internet articles and in his web site. Yet I want to give my opinion, my feelings and my thoughts about this great composer. First of all, I made analysis of these works up until now: Cantus Mysticus, Prayer Of The Heart(with Björk), Thunder Entered Her, The Lament of the Mother Of God, Coplas and Nomine Jesu. I could say with these works and other ones I saw , I heard and I analyze a little bit I admit I have a strange fascination with this composer. First of all, musicologists and critics almost avoid him. I found only one thesis about him and it was one comparing him with his colleague and friend Arvo Pärt. It was about the work Ikon Of Light.

I can say my favourite composer is Olivier Messiaen. But there are lots of information about his music, that now I know most of his characteristics features. Anyway, he was a very very big musician and composer. Another composer who fascinated me last months is Claude Vivier and I found a lots of things about him, his relation with Stockhausen, his special way of “spectral” music. Even some works I like from Steve Reich…I found a lot of information, musical information about the work. But John Tavener…it’s like he is very successful with the public yet unsuccessful for the critics. Anyway, for me he is very very eclectic composer. He used many techniques and sources I know. Maybe except spectralism he used all the techniques from the “modernism” and “postmodernism” even if he said that he dislikes “modernism”. Paradoxically, despite I understand him, because his music is like no one else, not even Arvo Pärt does the same music. And he used many techniques from the 20th Century: some kind of minimalism and repetition, serialism, magic squares, retrograde and inversions, modal music, maqams, ragas and talas, byzantine and znammeniy tone, irregular time signatures, time fields, collage like textures, controlled improvisation, controlled aleatoricism…. I found all these techniques in the huge and vast works of Tavener.



For example, I LOVE literally, LOVE his work “Akhmatova Requiem”. Not only Russian culture made very good works of Art , specially in the music with people like Mussorgsky, Schnittke or Stravinsky. The text is dramatic, sad yet wonderful and he nailed the ambient and the atmosphere of the Russian text. He combined modality and serialism. For example the dedication a sort of G major/minor mode. Then it comes the first longest song of the work, with austere and ominous mood. Lovely way of using a 12 tone row, for me different than other composers. I love that he used it in the soprano part like a chant, like a real chant, in which the Soprano made ornaments of two notes. The row is: D down to B up to Bb down to A down to G up to G# down to E up to F up to F# down to D# down to C# down to C. So, we have movements of semitones and third minors. But those repetitions of notes in the Soprano part are fantastic. Also his imaginative way of using textures, the strings, the celesta… and also this row that appear in the Epilogue of the work. In the double bass for example appear the same row but different intervals, the soprano use an inversion of that row, with repetitions of G-A, and Bb-Db…until E and retrograde….the rhythms fluctuating between 3 and 4/4…But also here he uses modality and bitonality and a way of using chant in the soprano very lyrically and modally for me closer to his most famous period and closer to the Orthodox Chant.

Also appears canons in the strings in sixtuplets, which also appears later in Schuon Lieder, though I think there it appears quintuplets. Also there is one part where the notes are written to be played but with no rhythm notated, only with instructions like as fast as possible, or with seconds. That technique appears in recently works like Popule Meus, Kaleidoscopes, Lalishri…. In Ikon of Light appears the Magic Squares. In his case it’s a latin text that appears in some churches but also in a fountain of Istambul. He considers it “Byzantine” which maybe it was used in the byzantine times. There is the greek nipson anomimata…but he used SATOR AREPO TENET OPERA ROTAS which is a palindrome. Palindrome like Stravinsky before and also Messiaen, and even people like Reich is integral in Tavener’s works. So, not only Messiaen is the most profilic “palindromic” composer. He used them a lot. In this case each letter could be part of a scale. For example you take C note, and also D, E, F, G, A, B. So S could be C, A could be A, etc…each letter of the palindrome is one note and repetitions of the letter are repetitions of notes. It means also that it reads the same forwards and backwards. So he uses very little notes for the word “Fos” which means light in Greek. Also few notes, I think Ab, Eb, F and G, while the string trio in each entry before the “Fos” used pairs of notes(dyads) until he fills the 12 tone: G-Eb, Ab-F, D-Bb, C-F#, B-E, C#-A.



Rhythmically the time is suspended and it’s here and not in the harmonically sense when I can say Messiaen’s influence is in Tavener. Palindromes, Slow tempi, and some sort of ritual repetition and influence of plainchant though in Tavener is Byzantine and Orthodox more than Gregorian Chant than is Messiaen. Anyway, there are some theories about talking Gregorian or Ambrosian chant is closer to the first Christians and first centuries practice of plainchant and what we have from Byzantine is more influenced of Turkish and Ottoman chant…anyway in Tavener we see lots of microtones, yet he very rarely notated a precise quarter tone note….he leaves many times “freedom” in how much the flat or sharp it is….As he said about “Lamentations and Praises” from 2002 that it’s his most byzantine work, We found in this work some quarter tones notated very precisely in the chant. Microtones in a “serial” context we find in “Canticle of the mother of God”. “Lamentations and Praises” is one of my favourite recent works of him, and I found it very attractive and also very Byzantine. Also some triad chords combinations are curious D major and F# major for example. This kind of combinations are found it in works like Solemnitas Conceptionae and Schuön Lieder, D major-B major and G major, thought they are “logic” relations, after all D and B major share F# and B and G major share B…



Odd time signatures appears in places like “The Veil Of The Temple” though most of them are just the “We need to write a time signature for making it easy to people” yet it’s conceived maybe without time signature. I mean 26, 20, 17 and other 20/4 like that. No time signatures or no bar lines appear in works like “The Lament of the Mother Of God” and “A Mini Song Cycle for Gina”.

He seems conservative, and maybe some music of him it is. Even he admitted that he felt his works the same after some years of Orthodoxy and he needed to open himself musically at least. And he did. Yet there are aspects that he retains in any stage of his musical evolution, palindromes from The Whale, sort of diatonicism, because even Celtic Requiem has lots of dissonance, it seems a little bit of serialism, the Eb major chord is totally dominant in the work, and the children songs are clearly established in that tonality, ritual, from The Whale to Requiem to Akathist to…etc. He uses also the “ascension” metaphysically and musically, “The Veil Of Temple” starts in C major, and ascends: Cycle II is in D, Cycle III in E, IV in F…until VIII again in C one octave higher. The music becomes richer, more dense, a little more complicated….repetitions of sections but “his kind of minimalism” if we can call it that way is closer to the repetition people like Igor Stravinsky or even Olivier Messiaen employed in their works. The Lament of Mother of God also ascends from A minor to A major, through any white note in modal scales.

In the cello part of the requiem we feel also the Messiaen influence with some tritones and some intervals more characteristically of him. Also in “Requiem For the Father Malachy” in the “Offertorium” or even in the vocal part of “In alium” in the opening.



His diatonicism was clear almost from the start even in his modernistic works. Somehow using Eb major in Celtic Requiem as a basis, some musical notes of the Crucifixus of Mass in B minor from J.S.Bach as a ostinato in Nomine Jesu… the medieval like chant in “Canciones Españolas”, the ostinato of “Annon Annon Lee” in her Responsorium in 7/4…all these moments are clearly felt as a feeling and missing the tonality or the modality or both. In fact, as many composers I really love and enjoy John Tavener for me is basically a modal composer.





He could use a serial like modal music in Akhmatova Requiem, in To A Child Dancing In The Wind, his use of the 25 note magic square palindrome also generates modal like music. His use of microtones reminds me of the music and long phrases that I read about Iraq Maqams and music. His use of weird and exotic instruments such as duduk, Tibetan horn, pow wow drums… makes me see an influence from Eastern Europe music, Greek music, Middle Eastern, American and Asian traditional music. Maybe I miss sometimes in his music another choice of instruments, maybe vibraphone or marimba which I think he never used them though maybe I am wrong, more guitar(he used it in Sappho and also in Chant), maybe an oud or even a Greek Bouzouki….His use of Organ was since 80’s limited, he used them in many pieces but mostly to accompaniment mostly because in Orthodox Church banned the use of musical instruments and the only musical instrument that can appear in the liturgy is the human voice. Anyway he used it even for Orthodox themes. And he used even a 12 tone row in Solemnitas , in the Kyrie part.

Anyway, I admire his clear textures, his mostly clear use of the texts and voices(Except perhaps Spanish, which in works like some of Ultimos Ritos and Canciones Españolas is difficult to understand it even as Native Speaker though it was mostly Old Spanish but anyway…),the languages he employed from Greek to Arabic to Russian to Spanish to English to French to German to Italian to Latin to Hebrew... the use of extreme voices (very low BASS, like Basso Profundo and very High Male Voice like Countertenor not to mention High notes in the Soprano for his muse Patricia Rozario) and very innovative and imaginative use of textures for instruments and also a sense of drama and vastness only surpassed by Messiaen mastodontic last works. So, this is my portrait of the composer. I hope you like it and I hope it was ok and not very bombastic.

Bernabé

Thinking Plague Decline and Fall Parte I

Hola a todos Estos días, manteniendo cierto diálogo con el guitarrista Mike Johnson de Thinking Plague, muy gentilmente se ha mostrado a enseñar los "misterios musicales" de su nuevo álbum "Decline and Fall". Personalmente, como ya dije en otra entrada de este blog, intento escribir y dar a conocer información musical y sobre todo, si es posible, de análisis musical.

Por ejemplo, a mi me encanta la música de Olivier Messiaen. Pero uno busca en google Tesis sobre Olivier Messiaen, y las hay a cientos. Además tengo la suerte de tener los tomos 1 y 7 del tratado de ornitología, ritmo y color traídos de Francia.

También buscando estos días información sobre Claude Vivier, cuyas dos obras "Zipangu" y "Lonely Child" me encantan, y a la espera de escuchar y leer al mismo tiempo la partitura de "Kopernikus", he visto cantidad de información: como el formaba la armonía a partir de dos frecuencias(notas musicales), por ejemplo La 4 =440 Hz, Sol 4=392 Hz, y a partir de la suma y resta de frecuencias obtiene más notas y puede formar acordes, y por ende, armonía "espectral", es decir basada en el espectro armónico de esas dos notas juntas. Eso, y las comparaciones con el raga, con su maestro Karlheinz Stockhausen y con Gilles Tremblay, el canto gregoriano, los patrones que se juntan y se separan del kotekan de bali, con esas reminiscencias a camino entre Steve Reich y Olivier Messiaen de la música de Bali en cuanto a ritmo se refiere....todo eso he podido encontrar y mucho más (Aunque la información estaba principalmente en francés , algo en inglés).



En cambio tanto del minimalismo sacro, como de grupos de avant rock, a pesar de ser músicas completamente diferentes, apenas hay información. Por eso mis artículos sobre estos dos "géneros". También me interesa presentar algo de información sobre rock progresivo tipo sinfónico o canterbury.

En este caso, Thinking Plague, y su disco de enero de 2012 "Decline and Fall":



"En Decline and Fall, la melodía inicial vocal de “Malthusian Dances” está en un Fa sostenido mixolidio (fa#, sol#, la#, si, do#, re#, mi …pero modificado) modificado, que se mueve por cuartas y hacia abajo por semitono. En la segunda canción “I Cannot Fly” la melodía inicial está en Sol Mayor, con alguna nota b2 y b5 (es decir La bemol y Re bemol). Esto se da sobre esta progresión armónica: Mi bemol 5, Mi menor, Fa menor, Fa sostenido 5( es decir es una progresión cromática ascendente de acordes) y todo sobre la nota pedal La en el bajo. (Como veis esto produce una cierta politonalidad y una disonancia fuerte con cierto acento de escala mayor “rara”).

“Sleeper Cell Anthem” comienza en Fa menor claramente, aunque hay momentos en los que se mueve de menor a mayor y viceversa. El bajo suele estar en otra tonalidad”.

Otros comentarios de Mike sobre algunos temas del disco son los siguientes: BG- ¿Has sido influenciado por algún ritmo búlgaro en Malthusian Dances? MJ- No.Al menos las 2/3 partes del tema. En la sección última en 15/16, utilicé síncopas en un ritmo manipulado e inspirado por el clave, ritmo afrocubano.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clave_%28rhythm%29 Cuando escribí la sección estaba probando un ostinato en la guitarra con "cuerdas al aire" (es decir sin poner ningún dedo de la mano izquierda en una o varias cuerdas de la guitarra) y mentalmente lo ajusté hasta que fuera un 19/16. Al principio lo oía como un 5-3-2-2, pero el sentir que surgió fue: 4-4-3 que puedes escuchar en el platillo "ride" que va y viene."



Además, hice un pequeño análisis rápido sin partitura del tema "Oye Comatose" de Hamster Theatre, del álbum "The Public Execution of Mister Personality".

Me encanta como comienza, con 4 compases en 4/4 con la batería sola, y luego entra la guitarra en el quinto compás con un riff muteado y con un poco de eco que me recuerda al estilo de Mike Rutherford en Genesis en los años 80. Los instrumentos de viento entran, el primero añade una nota, no disonante, pero el segundo ya añade disonancias. El bajo parece estar en otra tonalidad. Una parada. Volvemos al 4/4 armonizado de manera disonante. El ostinato ti-ti-ti-ti-ti-ti - TA! suena bastante gracioso.

Noto que la guitarra está en una tonalidad hasta el minuto 1:05. Las otras veces: el clarinete o el saxo, y el acordeón dan disonancia al tema, es como si hubiera 2 o 3 tonalidades a la vez. El ostinato ti-ti es omnipresente. Lo que oigo al progresar el tema es una progresión de un sonido "soleado", "alegre" y "Casi latino" a un sonido más "misterioso", como si después viniera la tormenta. La influencia de la percusión africana la oigo aunque no es tan obvia como en "MoonSongs" de Thinking Plague". El ritmo de clave y la influencia del Peter Gabriel III y IV están ahí.



Around 4:48 like a kind of "organized chaos". After it, I hear the famous ostinato, one new texture, like a keyboard giving a little more dissonance.

Some power chords around 5:50 in the guitar?. I love the solo around 6:15!!!

Alrededor del minuto 4:48 hay una especie de "caos organizado". Después de ello, se escucha el famoso ostinato, una nueva textura, un teclado dando disonancia. "Power chords", acordes de quinta y octava en la guitarra y el bajo. ¡Me encanta el solo de guitarra del minuto 6:15!





Su respuesta fue: " ¿Te refieres a Follow you Follow Me? (De Genesis). yihgaaaaak. Pero no me ha ofendido. El comienzo en 4/4, en el fondo empezó como una idea de 7/16 más 9/16, realmente luego seguí en 4+3+4+2+3....pero trabajando en ello me di cuenta de que era simplemente un sincopado 4/4 o 16/16.

There were no 'intentional' tonal centers, but the opening guitar is clearly in A major, with an alternating sus 2. The clarinet comes in on D suggesting a sus 4, with the Bass playing a downward maj 7th, D to E flat. I can't hear any suggested key there. Then the accordion plays F#, which with the clarinet implies D major over the A major. The clarinet and accordion are doing the sort of "clave" rhythm theme of the song.

The 'odd' harmonized melody after the stop (starting 0:25) is anybody's guess! But I don't consciously think about this stuff. I just wrote what I heard in my head. I think it's best to just call it "extended" tonality. No había centros tonales intencionados, pero la guitarra comienza en La mayor, alternando con un sus 2 (Si). El clarinete entra en Re, dando a entender un sus4, con el bajo tocando una séptima menor descendente, Re a Mi bemol. No escucho ninguna tonalidad aquí intencionada ("Entonces en este caso tendríamos una especie de La Lidio".) El Clarinete y el acordeón hacen una especie de ritmo de "clave".

En el solo del final, cogí el solo del principio, le di la "vuelta" y lo pasé por un filtro de forma y luego le añadí un modulador de anillo, todo esto son efectos electrónicos para guitarra eléctrica u otros dispositivos. A veces el modulador de anillo o ring modulator, crea un efecto de burbujas :P .



Y hasta aquí la primera parte de este disco de Thinking Plague. Gracias