As I always say, I am inspired by people. And apparently, since I get older now, I realize that the element of youth inspires me more and more. Well, one always wants what one doesn't possess, right ?
But people's creations and people's opinions, love and friendship are the things which have been and still are really inspirational to me. I just finished my "noisiest" work, Schumann's Psychosis. It's written for 3 pianos with 2 pianists at each piano, therefore there are in total 12 hands with 60 nimble fingers, and a friend just revealed to me that this is the first original work written for that formation. Without realizing, I just wrote history !
In fact I agreed to write it in the beginning because it was asked for the events where three Steinway replicas from 1853 will tour South East Asia in the beginning of December. But it took me a long time to even just begin writing the first note. I realized, after weeks of remaining blank pages, that I was thinking of the pianos, those dead instruments. Beautiful, historical, but dead !
Then I started to think of how I enjoyed being with those young people during the Ananda Sukarlan Award piano competition, and thinking that 6 of them will be playing the piece. Meanwhile, Chendra, the choreographer who will do the dance for the piece, sent me thru email a painting of Asep Berlian. That painting triggered an association with Schumann's "disease" (if you can call it as such) of split personalities. With all those elements in mind, mmediately the piece sounded in my head !! I could almost sketch it from beginning to end. OK, OK, you'll say that it's like cracking a rock ; looks as if it's broken on one hit, but in fact it broke because of the 100 crushes before. So, it might have been the result of my thinking and doodlings of the past several weeks. Maybe it's true, but it just proved (even only to myself) again and again that I am not like those people such as Debussy or Turner who were inspired by landscape or nature to give birth to their arts.
Schumann's Psychosis will have those elements : joyful rhythms, but screwed up just like Schumann's multiple personalities. You'll hear it, or to be precise see it (since I think, just visually it would be quite stunning to have those 6 pianists, and I am sure Chendra will make a spectacular choreography around those 6 young musicians) at the New Year Concerts in Jogja and Jakarta, 1st and 4th of January next year respectively.
