No devil lived oN - for piano and electric guitar

Here is a piece that I have been working on for quite some time. It is for piano and electric guitar in three movements, with two electronic interludes (giving the piece 5 sections in all)

The form of the piece is based on palindromes, hence the title and its silly capitalization. The first and last movement together create a palindrome (that is.. they are the reverse of each other) Both interludes are basically palindromes (there are a few sounds in the second one which do not get reversed or repeated, but overall the beginning and the end are identical and reversed)

The middle movement is a palindrome in the guitar part. The chords in the piano part are created by using a repeating 13 part rhythm and a repeating sequence of 21 chords (i believe this is called 'isorhythm') The rhythmic motive is non-retrogradable.. making the rhythm a palindrome, but the chords are not.

The provided Mp3 is a simulation of performance with all movements and the interludes as they overlap. It lasts about 11 minutes.

There are a couple of discrepancies between the score and the recording I have here. The piano and guitar movements are a little rough in the recording because I didn't spend too much time on putting them together (there is going to be a performance of which I hope to get a recording on April 20th)

In anycase.. If you hear something that doesn't match the score.. trust the score! (there are differing rhythms in mvt 1.. and in the last mvt the guitar is heard an octave lower than it should be)

Of course.. I would love any and all comments (good or bad :) )

ndlo.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

enjoy

ndlo.pdf

ha, the first killer attack chord! boom! good start, i like when pieces start from big bang. good fade/spread out of the first energy source. sounds very moody, suspense. i think these electronic interludes worked/fit better than the first ones you have posted.

again nice, dark movement - i like piano not letting the guitar take off in a more expressive way. fading out/in into wonderful electro interlude.

OK, this is very nice piece, kept in tight all the way. if it had to be labeled, i would say post-minimalist suspense music. it certainly feels like it contains lots of energy and doesn't try to go all out. leaves room for the interpreting ears. at some point you could say that interludes are more important or as important - subversible with - as pianoG movements.

oh, and yes - it certainly sounds devilish and murderish.

good job overall, i didst enjoy it!

thanks for the reply!

The middle movement will likely sound much nicer live.. the rendering I have here is a bit lame and unexpressive. Of course it isn't meant to be very expressive.. but there will be more fluctuation in the tempo at the beginning and end.

ALso.. there are a few issues with this version of the score, such as the overlapping 'mute and unmute' lines.. and strange rhythm notation in the middle movement.

Thanks again for listening!

does no one else have anything to say? :)

Wow when it started I was so thrown off, it was completely different to what I expected.

I really started to enjoy it when it came out of the suspenseful chordy bit at the beginning, the release was excellent. I was gonna say that the guitar sounded sometimes like it was just hitting completely random notes, then I remembered the palindrome thing, I really like the whole idea of it!! It think it worked really.

The start of the electronic interlude was wicked, especially when you used panning. this kind of music could easily be used in film, or theatre actually.

nice work ^_^

OMG I don't really like electronic music, just for example.. In Katalin P

Hi,

I think you should more work on the rythmic. The beginning is nice, but there should be more accents on the "weak beats", more complex rythms and a larger development : in fact, it will be fine you make with this material another movement, but it's just my opinion !

[quote name='Rapha

This is very far from the music I normally listen to. The music is great! / BR Tomas F.

[quote name='Rapha

I disagree.

Such comment are useless. The minimum is to argue. Each people has his own way of thinking...

Ok, for your explanation, Cody !

I just said that I don't feel the rythmical "rewritability". I think this piece is ready, and although I don't like electronic music, I liked it so much.

As you can see, I wrote a comment before that short sentence.

This is something that I would never normally listen to, but it comes across very well, and I think it's a great piece. I love the opening/closing clusters!!

Thanks for listening!

Dude....this is so SWEET!

I think the ryhthm is just fine the way it is, from my scimming of previous posts. The electronic efforts were superb man. I don't have a lot of critique for this unfortunately because...um...I don't know where to start lol. However, I will say a sitar would have done justice better IMHO.

Regardless, nice work man. It's good to see something different, especially something as cool as this :D

Vince

Dude....this is so SWEET!

I think the ryhthm is just fine the way it is, from my scimming of previous posts. The electronic efforts were superb man. I don't have a lot of critique for this unfortunately because...um...I don't know where to start lol. However, I will say a sitar would have done justice better IMHO.

Regardless, nice work man. It's good to see something different, especially something as cool as this :D

Vince

Perhaps a sitar would be neat, but it doesn't have the power of an electric guitar. I have been practicing this with a pianist, and with the lid open (on the piano) and the amp cranked up, you can really feel those opening and closing chords.

Also.. i am a guitarist and this piece was created with its upcoming performance in mind.

edit

I forgot to say THANKS for leaving a comment :)

edit

I habitually use too many ellipses... (...is that how you spell it..? )

This piece was performed tonight and it went mostly well.. We played it well but at the beginning my guitar amp decided it had a short in it and cut out briefly. After that everything went really well. There IS a recording, but I don't promise that the quality is any good (knowing the stupid sound guy, it probably peaks all over the place) I'll share it when I get a copy (unless it is just horrible)

I am trying to work out a 'recording session' with my pianist friend.. It won't be anything too high-tech, just a digital recorder and a quality mic. I'll mix the interludes in after the fact, so you don't lose quality there. If that works out I'll share it too.

All in all the piece was well received.

Hello, Cody!

I like your overall idea, and I really like the electronic interludes. They sound great. That said, I found the instrumental movements a bit rhythmically dry. They beat on my ears after a while. I'm not saying the rhythms need to be more complex or difficult, just that having those quavers pounding away all through the first and third movements, and the semiquavers in the second, it felt like it really needed a bit more syncopation here, some triplets there, or just anything to break up that drive. Maybe a bit of call and response between the instruments? I'm sorry if I sound negative at all, I don't mean to be, I just thought you'd like to hear my opinion!

Anyway, I'm glad to hear the performance went well!

Michael.

hey great work there, i am not much of an electronic listener but that sounded cool....

Thanks to you both for listening...

this is very comtempary music , but perosnally it is a good piece

dark

I've been meaning to get to this piece for a while.

I think a bit more rhythmic stuff would be good, there are very few rests, which doesn't give it time to breathe. Actually, that makes it pretty tense... hmmm....

The first electronic interlude didn't do it for me. I think a little more variety in the sounds used might make it stronger.

The second movement was very neat, very pensive. The second interlude.... I'm still not sure. I like how glitchy they are.

The third movement, I was worried about not liking the same thing over again, but it worked and was worth it.

Great work, it's really cool, really new. I want a real recording.

I want a real recording.

ME TOOOOOO

and I'm working on getting one.

Thanks for your comments. There are a few things about this piece that I am not as fond of as when I first composed it, but I feel that at this point, I don't really want to alter what I have written. I see these things (lack of rhythmic complexity among other things) as a lesson learned for compostitions to come. Perhaps someday I will get back to this, but for now it is what it is.

I don't mean to say that I do not appreciate the constructive comments that have been given. I certainly do!

When I started this piece thinking about using palindromes, I was a little worried that It would be kinda lame to have to hear a WHOLE movement twice, so I worked to make it meaningful, and I think that it was a success. The loud chords in the beginning are moderately shocking (or at least unexpected) but when you get to the last movement and the dissonance and clusters start to build I think that knowing what is happening and having heard it once before makes it even more effective than it would have been.

Thanks!