Varied Tellings

Ok I've been invited to go and watch RJCE rehearse on Wednesday. Something to fill up my schedule, which is good.

I willed myself in front of the piano to come up with something good, and I realised I played so many things on the piano, but they all didn't seem worthy enough to be placed on paper, worthy enough to be presented.

It always feels like this. It always feels like, oh, this isn't good enough, if he/she is going to hear it, he/she wouldn't like it. But I'm very sure its otherwise, and it's only the composer who thinks like this.

I never wrote anything down though, which was terrible and disappointing. But that doesn't give me the right to go around finding high venues to set up picnics and jump down from, leaving all the food behind. That's bad!

After Theory lesson today I spammed photocopying a secret manual on IMPROVISATION by my great great great great grandmaster, Carl Czerny. Erm, those doubtful, let's track it here:

Ludwig V. Beethoven
Carl Czerny
Franz Liszt
Theodor Leschetizky
Arthur Schnabel
Leon Fleisher
Thomas Hecht
Jonathan Shin

Ok, there. So yeah, great great great great grandmaster.


Cough ok THE MAIN POINT is....
I GOT HOLD OF HIS MANUAL!!! Yes yes yes I proceeded to spam photocopy all 129 pages of it, and I'm so going to mug them. When I get to RJC next year I should be able to improvise any classical chord progression you give me, and should I reach a part where a cadenza is needed, I should be able to improvise straight on my own.

[register your shock from the musical-grandmasters tree first before reading on]

(asshole.)

After that I moved around all over YST, finding for studios, which I did. And sat inside them not doing anything. Including trying to think up of good melodies and things like that. You know, it isn't good to disappoint lah, right?

You get what I mean.

The Sonatina/Sonata I've written has reached its recapitulation, although I find some of them still messy, and some themes entirely redundant. If redundant, put it inside, we'll use them later.

Went to eat at McDonald's with Irene, Nattapol and Wasin. Once again, with Wasin inside, the atmosphere never fails to bleed with humor and sarcasm, wit and bluntness, all-in-one. And then it was time for Mr Tiu's Varied Tellings.

The first half was fantastic - Rossini brought back waves of memories on the days we spent working on the overture back in RISE. The particular nature of the Concert Hall allowed for the sound too be bright, but not too bright because of all the people in it. As in, we sort of 'absorb' the sound.

The last part of the overture was a myriad of vibrations flung-ed in every direction possible, all the brass and woodwinds providing the unique colours that would make this piece ever so famous, up till today. Once again, another scintillating performance in another day.

Next up was Mr Tiu's Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.

It is in fact, a set of Variations based on the Theme itself, the wonderful theme that has been continuously worked on by Brahms, Schumann. But Rachmaninov probably did it the best - his last work for Piano and Orchestra was clearly one of the most outstanding of his wide composition repertoire.

The famous 18th Variation has the word Rachmaninov splashed all over it, the trademark RachmaniRussian sound. It's really important to study the voice, as what Rachey had done himself, look at the wonderous melodies he has written that has constantly stunned the world and left us all teary-eyed.

Not forgetting the famous Vocalise, of course.

Mr Tiu paid close attention to all the different colours that were available for show in this piece, with the Conservatory Orchestra complimenting his every bow and stroke. The precision of the strings and the brass-woodwind chorus was bordering unbelievable, with the genius of Rachmaninov making them work devilishly hard (true to Paganini's name) to coordinate with the pianist himself.

I got hold of the score on Thursday, when Chi Ling and I were just watching Mr Tiu run through the entire piece with the Orchestra. I have to admit, on that day the orchestra wasn't really at its best condition, and there were still under-rehearsed moments that popped up sporadically.

But what a change!

The first half was stunning. I was unfortunately right that the encore piece would be the 18th Variation, so Hui Ling kinda owes me 4 bucks now. I would like to point out that the sheer genius of Rachmaninov is pleasantly evident, with the shadowing of the brass under the strings melody making for a special timbre.

Other composers would have done it differently, yet Rachmaninov's was markedly different. It's unfair how genius is not part of the communist agenda in Creationism.

The second half was fantastic, with me sitting in ZAD's dad's car, making my way back home. Honestly, I would not have bothered to catch a Schubert Symphony. Long-winded, modulationfilled, and in Akkra's own words, "Boring." Hell, I would hate my own compositions to be branded as that. That would really suck.

Meanwhile, with the number of people joining us to skip the second half, I'm very sure that Schubert would have now generated enough space in his burial ground after all the turning and shifting. What would he think of people criticising his music.

Although I love his idea of Schubertiads though, although we have what we call, evening gigs nowadays. But wouldn't it be nice if we have that in today's age? I should find people who can improvise in RJC, and then invite them to my house to have a mini-concert. Of course, we'll have to get people, so yeah, check it out. It shows how bored I can be.

But hey! Imagine Singapore's teenage brand of poets, artists, musicians coming together. Mygosh. Wouldn't that be cool.