Transcriptions & Brad Mehldau

I got an email about 2 weeks ago from someone in Europe (I can't remember where - Denmark, I think) asking me for a copy of my transcription of Brad Mehldau's Goodbye Storyteller (for Fred Myrow) (listen to the piece below), a solo piano piece from his incredible album Elegiac Cycle. After some searching, I found that unfortunately I never entered it into Finale or Sibelius. Also, I did that transcription at least 7 or 8 years ago, and I've moved 5 or 6 times since then, meaning the chicken scratch manuscript is packed away somewhere. I know I still have it, because I've seen it since moving to the flatlands, but I have yet to dig it out. Stephan, if you're reading this, I'm looking for it, and I need to enter it into Sibelius before it's even worth sending out. My apologies - it might be a while yet!

But this got me thinking: what else have I transcribed that I haven't touched in a long time, haven't entered into Sibelius, or could revisit with some more musical maturity? I found my transcription of Mehldau's Bard (opening track from Elegiac Cycle), and I took some time over the past 2 days to re-enter it into Sibelius, with a better understanding of harmony and notation software. I need to proof it (some things sounded wrong on the playback, but it's too late to worry about them tonight), then I'll be posting a PDF of that transcription. I'll probably post a lead sheet to his Song-Song, and also look for The Bard Returns in the relatively near future. (In case you're wondering, yes, I went through quite the Mehldau phase for a few years. I'm over the obsession now, in fact I haven't listened to him deeply in quite a while, but I'm slowly incorporating him into my playlists.)

It also made me think about how much I enjoy transcribing piano music. Yes, it can be a painful process, and at times I want to throw my then-Discman/then-iPod/now-iPhone at the wall, but I also find it very rewarding. In a way, it's like solving a puzzle, working with what I hear (or think I hear) and what I know (music theory) and making the pieces fit. (I feel that same way about music theory in general, but that's a conversation for a different time). The Mehldau tunes were tough, and I'm sure I'm going to have to revisit Goodbye Storyteller to complete some illegible lines and things I mussed up, but I also like listening to some Taylor Swift or Five for Fighting, as two recent "commissions" have required me to do, and get down what's going on. If nothing else, it helps me keep my ears open and also gives me the opportunity to connect with musical minds on a level that's different than playing through a Beethoven Sonata.

With all this in my head, I'm thinking about things that I'd like to transcribe next. Working on big band charts and vocal tunes is nice, but they require at least one more person to perform, so I'd like to do something that I can do on my own, even if it's just in the practice room. If you have any good solo piano tunes (jazz, classical, etc.) to suggest, comment below.

And listen to Goodbye Storyteller (for Fred Myrow):

Alessandro Moreschi, the Last Vatican Castrato

Here's a recording of the last Vatican Castrato singing the Bach/Gounod Ave Maria. We read about and discussed this recording in my Philosophic Inquiry in Music Education class last semester - it was mentioned in Nicolas Cook's fine book Music: A Very Short Introduction. It's interesting to hear his vocal style and how different it is from today's standards, and wonder how much of that has to do with the recording quality at the turn of the century, and how much of it is actually based on performance standards of that time. It brings up some good points that Richard Taruskin talks about in some essays in his The Danger of Music and elsewhere: how much of "performance practice" (especially for Renaissance and Baroque music, but increasingly in Classical and Romantic music too, as seen in the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique) is informed by our modern (or post-modern) understanding of those time periods, and how much can we say is original to the time period? Will we ever be able to separate ourselves from our current place in history to accurately represent how Bach would have heard his music performed, or will there always be a tinge of our time and era in those performances? And what does that mean for someone like Glenn Gould, to take an extreme example, who's recordings are generally regarded as being historically inaccurate, especially when compared to someone like Rosalyn Tureck? Can we appreciate both Gould's and Turcek's recordings?

Well, with all of that to mull around in your mind, here's the clip of Alessandro Moreschi. Understandably, the recording quality isn't the best, but it's still worth watching. Any comments, thoughts, and ideas are appreciated. I obviously don't have any final answers on this topic.

 

New Arrangements

I recently finished or am finishing some arrangements that have been simmering for a while. I'm hoping to get them published through Doug Olenik & Olenik Music Publishing, and I'll post that information when it becomes available.

-O Isis und Osiris for tuba & piano. Transposed. A good beginning tuba solo of the priest's aria from The Magic Flute.

-O Isis und Osiris for euphonium or F tuba & piano. Original key. A good beginning euphonium solo, and it works well on F tuba, too.

-La fille aux cheveux de lin for euphonium & piano. From Debussy's Preludes, Livre I (The Girl with the Flaxen Hair). A more advanced euphonium solo.