Bagaskara's In Love

Still about Annanolli's Sky (please check my previous entry). I told ya that I wanna write this music which is just an exhibition of combining vibrant and dark colours, without so much sturm und drang. Sort of like the new Zhang Yimou film, The Great Wall which is a delight to the eye. In the architectural plan of the music, there is about 2,5 minutes of slow music, sandwiched between fast sections, and of course I thought "oh it will come". And the time did come, but "it" didn't. I just didn't have any clue what to write, or on the contrary, I had every possible motifs worked out, developed, exploited and with all the compositional techniques inside my bag of tricks, somehow it still didn't work. I knew what was the problem. I always know HOW to write, but I don't always know WHAT to write. I was clueless about the character, about what to express. I was stuck for about a week, a week spent writing other "useless" music, going out with friends, and oh yes, it was around New Year, and I got drunk for about 3 days in a row, until ..... A young friend popped up through Whatsapp. He asked me for some time to listen to his life problems. And yeah, he is in love. Not that tormented love that I used to have; this is plain, simple, straightforward love. The kind of love that I need to express in this particular music. Becoz ... u know how to write music, right? Fall in love, get your heart broken, analyze it, turn it into music. The greatest art are always made with a broken heart. But certainly this method doesn't work for the slow part of Annanolli's Sky, which is so vibrant and exuberant. And I don't want to involve my own past (which is painful, therefore always inspirational) in this music, coz memories are the worst enemy of the heart trying to heal from the wounds of the past. ............................................................................................................................................ And hey, he has a nice name too, Bagaskara which means Sunrise. What could be more vibrant than sunrises? And those 9 letters make a sweet 4 notes from the pentatonic motif connected with my first theme with an extra tritone, from A to (e)S, which makes it even more strangely exquisite. I start to believe in destiny ... and Ecclesiastes 5:11, you know, God makes everything beautiful in His time. And so I started to sketch the piece. I designed it to be playable as a separate piece for violin and piano, of course with the quintet in my mind. So, I finished Bagaskara's In Love, a 2'20 piece for violin and piano, and I will orchestrate it and link it to the first section of Annanolli's Sky. .............................................................................................................................................. I know, I know, you're gonna ask me, well this has nothing to do with Annanolli's works? No, of course not. But a work of art, though inspired by another work of art, is independent in itself. It is a diary of the artist's life, at that moment, and simply a development of a series of musical materials. And well, I could argue that this kinda love is exactly what is needed in my piece. Not a tormented, or unrequited, or dramatic one. In fact, I gave an advice to my young B friend, that while they are separated in distance, just look at the sky and remember that they both are looking at the same sky. The sky, as anything else in nature connects us, not those shitty Whatsapp Video call or Skype. Those are electronics, artificially made by man to give artificial closeness and togetherness. And then, Bagaskara's In Love was written very quickly and almost intuitively, just like many of Annanolli's works. It was written in the night right after I finished talking with B, took me about an hour and I revised a few things the next day after I tried it on my piano. ............................................................................................................................................ Thank you God for making this couple in love and solve my musical problem!

In Search of Another Sky

(my own program notes for Annanolli's Sky for piano & string quartet) ............................................................................................................................................ The sky always have romantic implications for me. When I miss someone I love, I always look at the sky and imagine that we are looking at the same sky, no matter how far our distance is. "The sky is an immortal tent built by the Sons of Los / And every space that a man views around his dwelling-place / Standing on his own roof or in his garden on a mount / Of twenty-five cubits in height, such space is his universe", said William Blake. ............................................................................................................................................ But then, "There is another sky, / Ever serene and fair, / And there is another sunshine, / Though it be darkness there" said Emily Dickinson. And I, throughout my life, have been searching for this other sky. And since I couldn't find it in the sky we are all under, then I search for it in the skies we artificially --and beautifully-- created, through works of art. .............................................................................................................................................. I have always been impressed by John Constable's Study of Clouds at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Practically any Turner sky touches my heart deeply, but the late skyscapes (does this word exist?), generally painted at sunrise, often on the spot, and very nearly abstract, for me are more sublime than anything in the history of English art. .............................................................................................................................................. I have written my work for flute and piano, Rescuing Ariadne, based on Titian's painting Bacchus & Ariadne to which I have stared at (even gazed is a better word, since it's like a shining bright star for me) hours and hours at the National Gallery every time I visited London. Of course it is a masterpiece, but during the years I started to realize that I am more impressed by the sky he created. He painted eight glimmering stars, a silver lining and a faint glow from the east: it's a small corner of deep blue heaven. Even if you didn't know that the scene below represented love at first sight, you would still sense some poignant dawning in the sky above – the exact transition between darkness and light. Titian is, as far as I know, not known as a painter of skies; of all the great claims you could make for him, this would probably be the most kitsch. But the sky in Bacchus and Ariadne is as wondrous, and profound, as the whole painting itself. ............................................................................................................................................ Recently I attended the opening of an exhibition by a Finnish artist, Tero Annanolli in Jakarta, organized by the Embassy of Finland here. What struck me is how unromantic his skies are. ............................................................................................................................................ His paintings are based on the material of the "canvas". I managed to talk with him briefly, asking this techniques, his artistic views etc., and I transcribe what I heard from him in the following. If you read this, Tero, please correct me if there is something wrong here. ............................................................................................................................................ The creative process itself is fast and intuitive. He uses ink, tempera, oil paint, acrylic and ballpoint pen and charcoal technique. The artist uses in his painting also of metal sheets to create several layers and shades. He also employs recycled materials such as curtains, tablecloths, bedspreads. The recycled material gives the work its significance. Basic materials are part of the colors and the message of the painting. The issues that occupies this fascinating artist are plants, flowers, landscapes, boats and human figures. In representing humanity Tero is passionate about the relationship between a man and landscape and the surrounding space. ............................................................................................................................................ So you see, he didn't really mention about the sky. The space, yes, since it is part of the "canvas". Well, we composers use silence as the canvas of our music. And it is that very space that fascinates me. I am trying to make music without any significant melody, unlike the music I have written before. I try to bring forward that space, that sky which makes his paintings look so different than the others I have seen. It's another step of my search for Dickinson's other sunshine, though it be darkness there. That splendid, silent sky. Anyhow, we are all under it, you and I. ............................................................................................................................................ My new work for piano quintet (piano & string quartet) Annanolli's Sky, is commissioned to open the Arnuero International Chamber Music Competition next April 7th. It will be premiered by the Cuarteto Ars Hispanica with myself on the piano. The duration is ca. 10 minutes