Author: ASRe1

Back to the Future Past

Personality Booth #5

O. K., so it has been a while since the last post to this site, and with the “Stay Safe, Stay at home” Covid-19 model, It is time to give it a go. First things first, I’ve set up the site to offer secure downloads of background tracks and previous albums now out of print. Getting the SSL certificate and getting it to work was the first hurdle. Configuring it to address the current postings was another. Moving forward wasn’t as quick and easy as I thought it would be.

…from “The Holy City”

…another challenge–getting the flute solos print ready. I’ve had requests for sheet music, of the flute solos that I play. For some this means type setting from sketches of handwritten music that I mostly use for improv. …like what you see here from, “The Holy City” flute solo.

Shirley Sayers; David Gonzalez

In brainstorming how all of this should go forward, I’m looking back a little. So, I’ll start making some of my older material firts, and hopefully it’s really a stepping stone. …a springboard? I understand the need for new material. In looking through my materials, I found pictures taken when I attended the 1995 Christian Book Seller’s Convention in L. A. This was back for my first album with Chapel/Bridge Records.

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Emotional Motion

It was like turning on a light switch.  I found myself up in the middle of the night.  My brain was running with the stresses of the previous day, and I wasn’t looking forward to what may come the next day.  Stress had my brain working overtime on “stuff” that would probably not matter by the end of the next day.  I tried to clear my mind, but the effort made it harder to go back to sleep.  I decided to try the one thing that seemed to work before.

Ludwig van Beethoven composed some of the most beautiful music during the most difficult times in his life.  That would prove true for me, too.  Although, some would argue that creating a mood or feeling is one of the most important elements to work on, when creating a composition, I was taught differently.  I was taught that composing music is much like building a chair.  If the finished work evokes any kind of feeling, it is an unintentional effect.  To some, it is a phenomena to be studied—as it can evoke every type of emotion.  For the composer, emotions work on the fringes of the creative process.  Composing is first a craft.

For me composing, performing and recording are a combined process.  After developing an idea, I have to work on the performance aspect of the composition.  The technical part of recording the composition is also deeply embedded in the process, as well as sound design.  Sound design can alone be a very technical process that can be very emotionally distracting.   With that said, If I had started out in a specific emotional state, by the end of the creative process I could end up experiencing a diverse set of emotions.  The emotions can be totally random and not associated with the original mood I was looking to convey.  So, relying solely on how I feel could be a self-defeating element.  It can kill the creative process.

Somehow, the “Deep Mist” compositions express exactly how I feel about a specific time in my life.  Using words to express how I felt at the time would mostly miss the mark.  Yet, I don’t believe that was the goal in recording these compositions.  However, when listening to these recordings I can, once again, go back to that time and experience it in a similar way.  It transcends conventional language.  They embody my feelings.

That time was sad, but I was at peace.  Time passes, so I put on “Deep Mist” in the middle of the night.  I wondered how many songs-in I would be, before going back to sleep.  I don’t remember listening further than the middle of the first song.

False Expectations

I was set up for false expectations.  I think. As I sit listening to a recording of Beethoven’s Sonata No. 23 in F minor, I cannot go without wondering if I was set up for false expectations. Piano recordings sound huge, and so do a lot of the orchestral recordings readily available. Many of the recordings, of Haydn, Mozart, Handel, etc., are almost explosive.

While running the usual click here and there through Youtube, I came across a strange video put out by Viviana Sofronitsky playing on “period correct” pianos built by Paul McNulty.  In the video, excerpts of five composers are played on piano copies similar to the ones used by each composer.  What a thought, most of the recordings that I would gravitate to by any of these composers would probably be played on Steinway and Sons concert grands.  I’m not saying that this is a problem or misleading, but for a bit of ignorance Mozart sounds like Mozart on a beautiful and powerful grand piano.  To hear his music on a “piano forte” doesn’t seem to sound right at all.  It almost sounds like a spinet in somebody’s living room and not anything that would have been played by Mozart in a concert hall.

Some years ago, I attended a “piano forte” concert. The instrument was tiny in comparison with today’s concert pianos. Three guys effortlessly brought it in. Then the pianist did a quick touch up to the tuning on stage, just before the concert. The stage swallowed up the little thing, as well as the sound. The same can be said of orchestral recordings.  …Sit in a Haydn orchestra as compared to a Wagner or Stravinsky orchestra, and you may find yourself asking if the rest of the musicians are staging a strike.

History tells that the creative imagination of composers such as Bach, Haydn and Beethoven were never confined to the instruments they played and composed on.  Bach composed his cantatas on a clavichord, and the thing sounds like a toy.  It is, however, fascinating to hear their music on period instruments, and it can be almost puzzling to imagine how music and music composers were held in such high regard in society.  Today we have great concert halls, modern instruments, amplified acoustics and sound effects that almost dazzle the imagination.

Before I take another vinyl for a spin, I think that I’ll consider listening to some more music played on period instruments.