Artist : Lubomyr Melnyk
Album : Remnants Of A Man - The Fountain
Year : 2003
Genre : Instrumental
Quality : 233kbps / 44.1KHz / Joint Stereo
Source : CDR
Playtime : 1h 01m
Size : 107.7mb
Label : Bandura Records
Catalognr :
Tracklist:
01. The Remnants Of A Man (For 2 Pianos) 22:26
02. The Fountain (For 2 Pianos) 23:32
03. NICHE (Improvisation: Solo Piano) 15:23
Releasenotes:
I couldn't find a precise release date for this, his personal page
(http://www.lubomyr.com/recordings.html) was updated in november 2003 and it is
listed there. The last track was recorded on the 10th of April, 2001. So I guess
it must be from 2002 or 2003.
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Two of Melnyk's most famous works for double-piano, from 1985. The Fountain has
been described as a milestone of 2-piano work that has been played on radio
stations throughout the world. Melnyk has performed this work at most of his
live concerts.
The Remnants Of A Man is dedicated to the Ordinary Man - and subtitled:
"after War, after Love, after Toil, after Life". The concept behind this
work is essentially the "futility" of Love - that Man (understand here, the
male person) is tortured and devastated all life long, by the Beauty of woman.
Hence, the pain of man's love towards women - unavoidable, and relentless, and
perhaps wonderful in its un-fulfillment. The music contains, somewhere in the
latter volcanic arpeggiated sections, a direct melodic reference to Ludvig van
Beethoven - a short phrase from his 9 th symphony that comes with his strong
forceful steps, then dissipates into the mists of timeΓ?ª Melnyk chose this
phrase to do homage to Beethoven and his unhappy life. This recording was
digitally made at Glashuset (Stockholm) in 1985.
In The Fountain, also from 1985, we see and hear the sparkle of water as it
bubbles forth in some quiet corner of a town - and there to the edges of this
fountain comes a flock of birds, that linger for awhile, then gently leave us in
the quiet dusk, where far-off bells toll the evening's rest. The Fountain,
although a classic example of the Continuous Mode, is also somewhat unusual for
Melnyk's piano music, since in practise ALL of his work is performed with the
sustain pedal down the entire time - but not here! The Fountain actually opens
up for the first half of the piece with totally "dry" sound - no pedal at
all! The pedal does appear later on though, as the birds begin to arrive
(arpeggiation begins.) This recording, from March 14, 1985, was made on
Hi-Fi analog master tapes.
The Niche-Improvisation presented here uses, as its starting point, the opening
phrases from the piece - Niche / Nourish - (A full performance of this much
larger work - with 2 pianos - is available on a separate CD). This music is also
typically "Continuous" just like The Fountain, but it is more sparkling and
lighter in its tone character. Moreover, you can now hear what a Solo piano
sounds like when done in the "Continuous Mode"! This performance was
recorded on April 10/01.
http://www.continuouspiano.com
http://www.lubomyr.com