Is Music Really The Food of Love?

There are several pieces in the 3 Alicia's Piano Books that deals with love. But how do we express love in music (apart from the composer's obvious intention -- sometimes failed -- to make it sound beautiful)? For me, love is about uniting the differences of 2 persons. Remember this, young pianists who will experience (or just entered into?) your first love: you don't ask your partner to be the same as you. You should love your partner because who (s)he is. And that means that (s)he is different from you, and let him/her be that way. You are a lover, not a boss who tells people how they should act and should be. That's the power of love : it’s the unity of 2 people IN SPITE OF their differences. .......................................................................................................................................... But enough of love talk, let's analyze my music in a formal way. Keeping that concept above in mind, it is not difficult to write "love music" for piano: just make the right and left hand do different things! And that's what I did, mostly in rhythm. But of course, this is for the pieces with educational purposes. I'm making it rather simplistic, and if you listen to my other "love oriented" music, they are much more complicated than that! Until now I have managed writing those (easy) love music bi-rhythmically. I would love to do one bi-tonally, it would be really wild! Falling in Love (Alicia's 1st piano book) started from my wish to explain to my daughter the difference between a 6/8 and a 3/4 bar. So I wrote a piece where the left hand is in a 6/8 bar, and the right is in 3/4. The result is a flowing melodious piece, not a rhythmical one, since the melody is supported by an accompaniment which is different from its rhythm. No love involved initially, besides my love to my daughter. But then it turned out to be pretty romantic, so I gave it its title, and since I was commissioned to write for the film "Romeo & Juliet" at that time, the piece found its way to be one of the background music of one scene. .......................................................................................................................................... Since Alicia doesn't play the piano anymore, Alicia's 3rd Piano Book became more varied. I put many pieces that don't have any relations to Alicia and/or dealing with piano techniques into this book. One of them is indeed called Differences Unite, written for my dear friends Nathania Karina & Christian Oscar. It was written just because I chatted through Yahoo Messenger to Nathania, and suddenly felt like writing it (noooo, no fixed date for the wedding yet, at least that’s what they say hehehe). In this piece, the polyrhythm of 3 and 2 is changed in every beat, therefore it becomes a not-so-easy piece. The melody also appears not only in 1 hand but in both, so in most part of the piece it is clear which hand is more important. In the beginning, the melody in right hand even comes in exactly inverted from the first time it appears in left hand, kinda saying that two statements could be diametrically opposed but they both can be true (if you remember John Keats saying that “Truth is beauty”, ... and if you consider my melody beautiful). Only in the end both hands play equally important melodies (it also symbolizes that in a relationship, both parties are equal, if both are in love). .......................................................................................................................................... Unexpected Turns is a wedding gift for my dear childhood friend Laksmi Pamuntjak who has now become a prominent writer (and a stunningly beautiful lady, as if she turned into a butterfly from the caterpillar who I used to know!) who was marrying her second husband. Her most recent novel "AMBA" is enjoying immense success, and I feel guilty that for the 1 month I've been here in Indonesia I haven't managed to get hold of it. But I will, and the book will perhaps will accompany me during the flight back to Spain later this month. The title of my music refers to her life experiences too, and its differences lie in the sections which go to unexpected turns, although all of them are built on the same motif. .......................................................................................................................................... Mother's Love is different. It uses the motifs that I employ in my music for the film "Air Mata Terakhir Bunda" (Mother's Last Drop of Tears), to be released at the end of this year. After I finished writing its soundtrack, one day I felt like tinkering on one of its motif to make a rather virtuosic short piece. Anyway, a mother's love surpasses all differences; it's just the greatest love of all. .......................................................................................................................................... Talking about my music, of course we can’t avoid talking about motifs, since that element is the most crucial thing in my creative process. My music without motifs is like the world without atoms. I mentioned several times in my lectures that I have a “love” motif, but I am not sure if I have written about it in this blog. Anyway, it consists of an interval of a perfect fifth, plus a minor second (with its derivatives such as a major seventh or minor ninth and so on). That symbolizes my idea that love can make you understand perfection through happiness, but it can create the most dissonant chord too. Have your heart been wounded deeper than by the knife of love? Anyway, if you want to hear how this motif is so exploited, you can listen to my song Dalam Doaku and Ketika Kau Entah Dimana where it appears naked in the very first 3 notes of the singer. It then appears in a more elaborated figure in “Echo’s Whisper” for oboe and piano, and in many many places in my recent orchestral work ERSTWHILE: A communion of time (which is about love being postponed for 7 centuries. That motif can’t help but being very much elaborated, naturally!)

A Secret Sky

I dunno how many times I've tweeted that it's wonderful to have wifi on board of the plane, but we need electric plugs! Otherwise, how do we solve the problem of the battery of our laptop, especially in long flights? .... I just arrived in Indonesia, this time I went directly to Surabaya where I gotta give some masterclasses for hundreds, yeah literally hundreds of piano students. They are mostly enthusiastic and ambitious here in Surabaya, so it's nice to work with them. On board of the plane I googled many things about Rumi, my new favorite writer, and even his writings translated in English have that strange beauty that never fail to move and inspire me. One phrase totally struck me : “This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet.” .......................................................................................................................................... Immediately music sounded in my head: music of low notes from "low" instruments trying to reach the great heights. And there I was, in the sky, alone, lonely with the other passengers with their own past, pains and problems. I managed to write 2 minutes of the first section of my new piece for viola and piano, and its title in progress is A Secret Sky. I fell asleep afterwards, watching a nice documentary of the early days of my all time favorite rock group, Queen. They are amazing, and certainly I consider Freddie Mercury my lifetime idol. I still don't know what I will do with A Secret Sky ... but I'm sure it will have a life of her own and create her own destiny. Hopefully a viola player would commission me, and if not, it will enter into a bigger piece of mine. Her future, as ours, are uncertain. But we have our past which determines our future, and she doesn't. ............................................................................................................................................ In Surabaya I worked with many many talented young pianists, among others at the recently created Piano Institute whose founder is a most charming & bright young lady graduated from Sydney Conservatory of Music (oh my visits there were always quite memorable; there were beauty everywhere, all kinds of beauty), Catherine Tanujaya. I suffered a huge jet lag problem, so I filled my sleepless nights with orchestrating the unfinished sections of Erstwhile. I regret that I couldn't leave Spain celebrating the total finished music of Erstwhile, but as Paul Valery had said, a work of art is never finished. I guess I will baptize it as "finished" only when I send the score to the orchestra. Meanwhile, I have to do several shorter and lighter projects, including finishing the second book of Rapsodia Nusantara. I plan to have Rapsodia 6 to 10 in that book, and it's too early to give away some details for now. This week will be a "social" week : the launching of the documentary video on autistic children by the Jakarta new honest governor (when did the last time we could combine that adjective with that noun?) Jokowi, and the big thing is the gala premiere of the film Hari Ini Pasti Menang (Today We Shall Win) this Thursday the 11th. I wrote the music for both films. You can check the "pop" theme song I wrote for that film here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wnuHsn56ic&feature=share. Lots of events, interviews and ... GOOD FOOD! But meanwhile, here I am, struggling with all my pains and putting them on music paper. In my own secret sky, the sky I wish I'd never be in.

The most powerful inspirer (continuing my previous article)

I always say, no matter how powerful someone, a piece of art or an event can inspire you to create an artistic product, the biggest inspirer of all time (and it never fails) is THE DEADLINE. Since Erstwhile is an intense essay about love, I have put the Valentine's Day this year for my own deadline to finish the voice parts. Well I missed 2 days, but since it's my own deadline, it wasn't as inspiring as deadlines which are imposed by external forces :) .......................................................................................................................................... Therefore all the soloists, even the choir, have received their parts through email by now. The orchestration, especially the orchestral sections without singers involved, is not finished ; I guess it will be finished just when I have to send the parts to the orchestral musicians next month, as I have this sick obsession of revising and re-re-re-revising my music before the musicians get the score. Oh, I didn't tell you the names of the soloists involved, right? Well, you would know their names since they are all the winners of the National Voice Competition "Tembang Puitik Ananda Sukarlan" (TPAS) 2011, but mostly not the ones who sang in my previous chamber comedy operas MENDADAK KAYA and LAKI-LAKI SEJATI. So, they are : Ivan Jonathan (as Rafael), Evelyn Merrelita (as Madame Vaillant) -- both are characters living in the 21st century, in fact they met aboard the Singapore Airlines. The ones from the 13th and 14th century are Albertus James Sofyan (as Picaro), Christine Tambunan (as Soléne) and Anggana Bunawan (who only sing 2 arias but playing the role of 2 characters, as Gajah Mada -- a historical character from the Majapahit era in Indonesia -- and as a priest at the Notre Dame Church). All characters of the story, except Gajah Mada, are purely fictional, and any resemblances with real life characters or happenings (such as a broken heart of 7 centuries!) are purely coincidental. As I wrote you before, Erstwhile is a work in progress, so at the moment it will just be recorded and performed in a "concertante" way, although I do ask the singers to do some very small gestures (such as shaking hands when they first met, and other things that connect each other at the duets). Will they wear concert costumes or theatrical ones in the premiere? I still dunno. .......................................................................................................................................... Ah, talking about the National Voice Competition, in case you are a vocalist, you might be interested in joining the next one, in September this year in Surabaya. The city is coincidentally very close to one of the locations where Erstwhile took place, but that's not the reason. It is simply because the initiator, founder and executor of the competition happens to be Amadeus Performing Arts, a company based in Surabaya. You can tweet them to @KompetisiTPAS for more info, and do be quick since I heard that the end of this month February is the last day to register for the "early birds" (this term couldn't be more appropriate for you singers who sing like nightingales!). Anyway, I am so proud and happy to know and work with the previous winners, they are amazingly and surprisingly brilliant, but am still curious in discovering new & unknown great new vocal talents. They are another source of inspiration for me, just like deadlines. And I love those inspiring vocalists. In fact, I love all people and everything else that inspires me, except deadlines. Unfortunately we have to know the difference between love and inspiration ; you don't have to love the people (or things) that inspires you. That, my friends, is what you call life.

Mahler and the Pharaohs: Death and Immortality

He Hath Made Everything Beautiful in its time -- Ecclesiastes 3 : 11 .......................................................................................................................................... Indeed. Even if it takes days, months, years .. and now I see it can happen even in centuries! That is the essence of the book that inspired me so much to write the music I am doing now, as I mentioned briefly in several entries in this blog before. In fact, the inspiration is so powerful that I would let my work now as a "work in progress" for the rest of my life. For the time being, I just concentrate for its premiere and recording which will be just short excerpts of the whole book. .......................................................................................................................................... The book, and therefore my music, bears the title Erstwhile, A Communion of Time. The book is clear, what is not clear is my music. Is it a lyrical symphony, such as Gustav Mahler's "Das Lied von der Erde"? Is it an opera? Is it a cantata? I might say, in the long run, it is an opera, but for now, let's call it a symphony. I mentioned Mahler's work since Erstwhile will also have that dubious hybrid of half song-cycle half symphony, and in fact in my case it is also an opera. And it deals with the same issues of Mahler's work: pain, loss, love, life, parting and salvation. But Erstwhile was written by Rio Haminoto, a 21st century writer who happens, like me, to be a Trekkie (Star Trek fan, if you still don't know that word) and so the story spans for 7 centuries, which doesn't differ much from Mahler's last few painful years of his life if you believe that time is just the 4th dimension of space. .......................................................................................................................................... But there is another conclusion I took from the book. You see, the whole human life and psychology is focused on two things: the fear of death as our primal terror, and the longing for immortality, a yearning to live forever. I have touched this issue briefly in my only work for piano and orchestra up till now, a 5-minute overture called Fons Juventatis, or The Fountain of Youth. I didn't write it just for fun. It was a happy piece, of course, depicting the spirit of eternal youth (besides the fact that it was written as a birthday present for my friend Erza S.T., the founder of Indonesia Opera Society), but it was also the thing I, and I'm sure we all, painfully yearn. From this yearning for forever, this hurtful sense of passing time, springs most of humanity's greatest achievements, in art, music, literature and architecture. Paradoxically, it is the very awareness that life is fleeting on the wings of time that directs human activity towards the creation of artistic products that possess the durability their creators lack, images in carved stones and marbles and later in paintings and photographs, words in literature, beauty woven in sounds, ideas captured in books and films. Most of civilization is a by-product of the quest of immortality. Mahler's 9 great symphonies and Shakespeare's dramas serve exactly the same purpose as the Pharaoh's pyramides of 5000 years ago. .......................................................................................................................................... But on the other hand, have you seen the film "Highlander" and its fantastic soundtrack by Queen, "Who wants to live forever"? The reason we fear death, as much as we yearn for immortality, is love. We fear the loss of our loved ones, there is no use being immortal if we couldn't share it with our loved ones. As the Vulcans always say, "Live long, and prosper". Just a long life is not enough. And that's the essence of "Erstwhile". Our soul, but not our body, is immortal ... just to find our loved ones. .......................................................................................................................................... Every note of Erstwhile embodies that concept, with motifs that appear "in different clothes" during the whole piece. Time is not the only issue in Erstwhile, places are also important, and so is the music that cultivated the culture of those places. Thanks to the internet, for the last two weeks I've learned and researched history more than the 3 years I learned about it in my highschool. I've therefore discovered that historical documentation of my country is pretty poor, especially the musical ones. So I had to invent many musical ideas based on my incomplete researches and pretend that they are "authentic" so to say. And yes, the composition has started, which means writing those millions of notes. .......................................................................................................................................... John Fowles, the writer of "The French Lieutenant's Woman" interestingly commented that after he'd got half way through the text, the characters started "telling him what to do", as if they wrote their own lines. Well, that's what happening with me now. As usual in big pieces, such as in my two cantatas Ars Amatoria and Libertas I planned carefully the structure before writing the first note, but then the notes themselves determined their structure. And I think I am old (and wise) enough to let them "go their own way" as we say. A good leader is not one who keeps on telling his staff what to do. His staff should know what they are doing. The composer's staff are those notes, they have a life of their own, and I just put them together. They will guide me to boldly go where I have never gone before.