A rhapsodic blackout

Thanks so much to all of you who have come all the way to the fantastic World Theatre at Bintaro (South of Jakarta) to come to my piano concert last Sunday. I do feel rather guilty to make you all travel that far, but I hope I've made your odyssey worth it. And sorry for the blackout (electricity, not my brain!) during and before the concert; I should say that the timing of the blackout was very precise, eh? Right after our great tenor Dani Dumadi finished his performance. Imagine if it had happened during my sporty running and jumping fingers during Rapsodia Nusantara.... Anyway, that blackout was the second time that it happened during a concert of mine. The first time was during my first concert in Moscow, back in 1995. At that time, the timing wasn't that good: it was in the middle of my playing of a Rachmaninov Prelude. It was almost the end, so I just creeped to the last note ... and then started making jokes waiting for the lights to turn on again. Nobody laughed at my jokes, so either : 1. My jokes weren't funny. 2. The Russians didn't understand English, or 3. Those serious Russians came to see me play and not joke around, so they thought I should've stopped making a fool of myself and meditate in the darkness instead.

Oh and I would like to congratulate my guest stars in that concert: the 12-year-old (you won't notice it when you hear her play) Victoria Audrey Sarasvathi (the youngest finalist of the Ananda Sukarlan Award (ASA) 2008) and Dani Dumadi, the tenor who fantastically sang my 6 songs for high voice. Their contributions to the success of the concert were invaluable. Both are newcomers here, Dani since he just came back from the US, and Audrey because of her age, but you should remember their names coz they'll gonna hang around up there, and very high above!

Anyway, I must admit that I had a hidden agenda performing my RN #4. As you know, it's the obligatory work for the Ananda Sukarlan Award next July. I have received many complaints about how difficult it is ... and me performing it last Sunday was also to proof that it is not that difficult. I hope you got my point.

A friend of mine, Johannes S. Nugroho, a highly respected pianist and also Dean of the Music Faculty at the Pelita Harapan University couldn't make it to the concert due to a bacterial infection in his digestive system (it's been like a week that he'd been suffering, but he's recovering well, as I learn from his emails. Play lots of music with vitamin C major, Johannes! Get well soon!). He is very familiar with, and has worked with his students on a couple of my RN's. And here is what he said:

I think technically more or less is about the same as Rhapsody 1. And I even think musically this should be simpler since it is in a much less "rhapsodic" nature compared to the 1st one. So participants should be able to have less hardship in digesting #4. But both do require exceptional imagination from the pianists and somewhat an ability to grasp the structure beneath zillions of notes, otherwise, so sadly, these Rhapsodies can be more rhapsodic than you intended them to be:)

Thanks for the wish! I do need to get well, and well soon. J.

Well, there is one thing that I can tell. RN #4 is a bit longer (about 2 minutes, but it could be less if you play it faster! he he ...) than the obligatory work for ASA 2008 : RN #1. Well? So?

An introduction ... in Indonesian

This time it is in Indonesian, since I am pasting my introduction to the concert in Surabaya (Cak Durasim Hall) which will be held on May 2nd (in two weeks!) where musicians in that city will work with me in performing my music. And yes, I will perform too, some solo pieces and as the accompanist in my big work for choir and piano, "Choral Fantasy". So, here it is:


Seorang pelukis berkomunikasi langsung dengan publik lewat lukisannya, begitu pula seorang penulis dengan karya tulisnya, baik itu berupa prosa, puisi atau essay. Tapi seorang komponis membutuhkan perantara untuk dapat berkomunikasi dengan publik. Kebetulan saya, seperti umumnya para komponis lainnya, bisa memainkan satu instrumen dalam hal ini piano sehingga bisa "menyampaikan" karya saya sendiri, tapi bagaimana dengan ratusan karya musik vokal saya, misalnya? Atau karya saya untuk string quartet ataupun paduan suara? Dalam sejarah, pemain biola J. Joachim sangat berjasa dalam memperkenalkan karya-karya J. Brahms kepada publik, pemain cello M. Rostropovich untuk karya-karya Britten atau Shostakovich.

Itu sebabnya acara yang diselenggarakan oleh Amadeus Performing Arts bekerjasama dengan Brillante Enterprise ini membuat tonggak sejarah di Indonesia. Belum pernah diadakan event seperti ini di Indonesia, dimana seorang komponis menjadi "composer-in-residence" yg selama beberapa hari secara intensif memberikan masukan langsung kepada para pemain yang memainkan karyanya untuk menceritakan latar belakang penciptaan karya itu dan berdiskusi untuk mencapai suatu interpretasi yang merupakan "sinergi" dari komponis dan sang interpretator. Tidak seperti yang dikira banyak orang, kertas partitur sangat jauh dari cukup untuk menuangkan inspirasi dan ekspresi sang komponis; itu hanya indikasi dari sekitar 60-70% dari apa yang komponis inginkan untuk berekspresi. Sisanya tergantung dari bagaimana sang musikus "mengerti" kemauan sang komponis dan mengekspresikannya ke publik.



Musik mempunyai keistimewaan dibandingkan karya seni lainnya. Sebuah lukisan atau novel tidak berubah sepanjang zaman, tapi satu karya musik terus diperkaya oleh interpretasi para musikus yang memainkannya. Saya selalu merasa bahagia dan berterimakasih setiap kali mendengarkan seorang musikus memainkan karya saya, karena berkat dia lah saya melihat interpretasi serta sudut pandang yang berbeda dari karya saya sendiri. Setiap musikus memberi kontribusi dalam menunjukkan aspek-aspek yang saya sendiri sebagai komponis tidak mengenalnya. Pendek kata, ini adalah bukti bahwa musik adalah suatu bentuk komunikasi antar manusia ; tiap kali kita berhubungan dengan orang lain, kita jadi mengenal diri kita sendiri lebih baik.

Usaha "Amadeus" dan "Brillante" ini, saya yakin, telah menggores sejarah baru dalam dunia musik sastra Indonesia. Dan seperti biasanya, mengerjakan suatu hal untuk yang pertama kali itu sangat sulit, tapi berkat usaha dan jerih payah mereka yang luar biasa, akhirnya masyarakat Surabaya dapat menikmatinya. Semoga kerjasama organizers, para musikus dan saya sebagai komponis yang pertama kali di Indonesia ini bukan yang terakhir kalinya, dan akan diikuti oleh orang-orang lain yang mempunyai visi yang jauh seperti mereka yang terlibat di event besar ini. Saya sendiri, dari lubuk hati yang dalam, sangat mengagumi usaha para musikus dan organizers yang sangat membanggakan dan tidak ternilai ini. Bravissimo!

What makes music music ? (A break from composing "Stanza Suara")

That question can be easily answered usually on the first day of your theory class at a music conservatory, but perhaps it's not so clear for the laymen. So, I'll tell you now what we were taught : music is called music because it consists of these 5 elements : pitch, rhythm, melody, harmony and the instrument by which it is produced (which can be applied to human voice as well). Nowadays it is certain (through lots of researches) that music is something that belongs exclusively to human beings : animals, given any regular rhythms, cannot syncronize. And you don't call the singing of the birds or the whales "music", first because they cannot "make music together": synchronize the rhythm or melody of its companion or its human trainer, and second for the reason that I will tell you in the next paragraph. In any case, their "music" is a lower level communication, just like human beings using sign languages or words (yes, words are lower level communication! It is music that is the higher level, since music, as Victor Hugo had said, expresses those that cannot be expressed by words.)
"Good" music (this definition of "good" certainly differs in every humans) acts on the brain in increasing serotonin levels to produce endorphine hormones which gives you the feeling of pleasure. How it works is still a mystery, since music is something intangible. A tangible element that causes the same effect but through chemical process is chocolate. Yes, chocolate. Perhaps that explains those Mozart chocolates from Austria ... you listen to M's music or eat chocolate would make you feel like entering heaven he he ... And perhaps it also explains why Hitler so desperately needs Wagner's music : it must have given him a good feeling after killing all those Jews! So, now you understand why whales and birds don't make music, although you do feel peaceful when you listen to them, but it doesn't trigger your endorphine stuff inside you.
But is it true that music has to consist of those 5 elements above? I think our conservatory professors missed some points. For example, what about African drummings, which only consist of rhythms and instruments, no melodies let alone harmonies? And what about those Sundanese flutists from West Java and also Bali when they are improvising endless melodies without any clear rhythms? So as you can see, music can consist of only a few elements from those 5 mentioned. And this is the point that I wanna make when I am making my music "Stanza Suara", on poems of Hasan Aspahani for the opening of the ITB International Choir Festival next July that I wrote about here last month. I wanna start my music with only sounds, as stated in his poem. No music, just sounds. The problem is, once two singers or two instruments play together, they make a harmony. Once they play two notes consecutively, they make a melody (yes, 2 notes can make a good melody! Just listen to the opening of Beethoven's 5th!). So, how do you make any of those 5 elements inexistent in a piece of "music" ?
The answer, my friend, is blowing in my music. Now you just have to reconsider calling it music.

Having 5 husbands ... and humiliated by other men

Now that I have to provide program notes to my "Drupadi" cycle, I'll continue with the third and last piece of my Drupadi trilogy. Last piece, right, but it was the first I wrote concerning this fascinating goddess. "The Humiliation of D" was written for the "Pianississimo" concert celebrating the New Year 2009. The idea is to feature multiple pianos and pianists, so my "Schumann's Psychosis" for 3 pianos-12 hands was also premiered there. The idea --and financial support for their commission-- came, naturally from the House of Piano in Jakarta that is also the sole representative of Steinway and Sons in Indonesia. And we are planning to do a similar (but with MORE pianos on stage!) event for the Jakarta New Year Concert 2011 with a new piece for multiple (we haven't decided how many) piano(ist)s.

"The Humiliation of D" was composed to be choreographed by Chendra Panatan. The story, taken from the Mahabharata epic originated from India but then adapted and became deeply rooted in the Javanese culture, goes around D's oldest husband Yudhistira who had lost everything during a gamble , and the only "thing" left to be gambled was his wife. And yes, you guessed it correctly : he lost this last game. So his enemy (who were in fact his cousins) took D and tried to strip her clothes off. But the gods took pity on her, and made the miracle that her clothes would be endless, even if it was pulled and pulled and pulled, and D turned around and around and around. A nice visual and aural idea, eh? A minimalistic idea with a maximalistic & spectacular effect !