Erased Tapes presents Continuous Music: Selected Works, the first printed collection of scores from prolific pianist and Continuous Music pioneer Lubomyr Melnyk, making his unique technique available to piano lovers all around the world. This first volume contains selections from each of Melnyk’s releases on Erased Tapes, including Corollaries (2013), Evertina (2014), Rivers and Streams (2015) and a very special handwritten score of Pockets of Light, serving as an entry point to his technique. Continuous Music Selected Works also contains a previously unreleased score, The Moving Window, plus detailed notes from the composer himself. Every copy comes with audio recordings of all six pieces including a new version of Butterfly, specially recorded for the reader. Melnyk’s mission with this sheet music book is for musicians and piano enthusiasts to gain a greater love and understanding of the instrument, while being inspired to delve further into the world of Continuous Music.

“This music offers you a new dimension of your own self that you did not know existed … a delightful place where you feel the total freedom of the music opening up before you, a vast open plain where you can sail and frolic freely anywhere you wish to go … Your ship is awaiting you, and the sea is endless and at peace … there are no dangers, and no reefs to shatter your journey … only the open, endless water for your discovery.” Only Parasol and Pockets Of Light are what Melnyk calls “pure” Continuous Music. The other four works are in a standard notation format and include Evertina, Awaiting, a hybrid of Butterfly — a mixture of both regular and Continuous Piano — and The Moving Window, containing elements of both worlds. Since Continuous Music is very different to standard piano music, it has been challenging to present it in a readable and playable notation as there are simply too many notes. Instead, Melnyk developed a new method of notation that can give a clear and immediate impression of the piece; “a notation that lets the music live in your fingers, a notation that offers you Freedom instead of Conformity!

“ Although his scores might look daunting at first — some pages are reminiscent of the avant-garde notation of composers like John Cage, Cornelius Cardew or George Crumb — these pieces offer the pianist a great degree of freedom to formulate their own personal vision of the moment they are playing. A particular kind of improvisation is a key part of performing this music and a technique that Lubomyr uses himself. Melnyk’s scores therefore are a unique combination of traditional notation, text and the occasional use of slightly more avant-garde symbology. Importantly, the written scores of Lubomyr are a fascinating insight into his mind, character and personality. “Do not be dismayed by any difficulties you might face in learning these pieces! It is more important that you use these notations to help you generate a living piece of music, rather than playing every note on the page…As the (in)famous pirate Jack Sparrow once said: “They are more a ‘guideline’ … than a ‘Book of Rules” — Lubomyr Melnyk.

TRACK LISTING

1. Pockets Of Light ? With Handwritten Score
2. Evertina
3. Awaiting
4. Butterfly ? New Recording Included
5. Parasol
6. The Moving Window ? Previously Unreleased

Erased Tapes present ‘Fallen Trees’ – the new album by singular talent and literal force of nature Lubomyr Melnyk – known as ‘the prophet of the piano’ due to his lifelong devotion to his instrument.

The album release coincides with Melnyk’s 70th birthday, but despite the autumnal hint in its title, there’s little suggestion of him slowing down. Having received critical acclaim and coheadlining the prestigious Royal Festival Hall as part of the Erased Tapes 10th anniversary celebrations, after many years his audience is now both global and growing. The composer is finally gaining a momentum in his career that matches the vibrant, highly active energy of his playing.

Cascades of notes, canyons and rivers of sound: there’s something about his music that channels the natural world at its most awe-inspiring. In ‘Fallen Trees’ the connection with the environment continues, taking its cue from a long rail journey Melnyk made through Europe. Glancing out of the window as the train passed through a dark forest, he was struck by the sight of trees that had recently been felled. “They were glorious,” he says. “Even though they’d been killed, they weren’t dead. There was something sorrowful there, but also hopeful.” That sense of sadness touched by optimism infuses the album, too: rarely has Melnyk made music so shot through with melancholy and regret, but which sounds so rapt, even radiant.

Drawing comparisons with Steve Reich and the post-rock group Godspeed You, Black Emperor!, Pitchfork praised his 2015 album ‘Rivers And Streams’ for it’s “sustained concentration and ecstatic energy”. That energy is present in ‘Fallen Trees’ too, but at points the tone is quieter, the mood darker and more wistful. At points elsewhere on the album, despite being rooted in the wonders of the natural world, there’s a kaleidoscopic quality in the fractal flurry of notes and the broad spectrum of colour they summon.

Critics have detected the influence of Ravi Shankar and other Indian styles in Melnyk’s music, along with the insistent, repetitive textures of minimalist pioneers such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass. Melnyk himself cites his debt to the American composer Terry Riley, particularly the legendary 1964 work ‘In C’, which he says “opened the world for me”. But he adds that if you listen carefully, you’ll also be able to hear the lilting contours of traditional Ukrainian folk music.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: For those of you that thought modern classical music was all plaintive, slowed-down montage soundtracking (Dave?), Melnyk is here to provide a frenetic but strangely relaxing onslaught of shimmering keys and endlessly expressive pianissising about.

TRACK LISTING

1. Requiem For A Fallen Tree
2. Son Of Parasol
3. Barcarolle
4. Fallen Trees - Part I: Preamble
5. Fallen Trees - Part II: Existence
6. Fallen Trees - Part III: Apparition
7. Fallen Trees - Part IV: The Are Down
8. Fallen Trees - Part V: Not Forgotten

Lubomyr Melnyk returns with his new album ‘Rivers and Streams’, the embodiment of his signature style.

Ukrainian pianist Lubomyr Melnyk has often felt that his unique Continuous Music playing is akin to water – flowing and ever connected. As he further developed his technique, and the more the notes flowed, the closer to water he felt. “I found my hands and arms and everything inside them changing from normal muscle and flesh to well... water.”

With his latest album, ‘Rivers and Streams’, Lubomyr focuses deeply on this connection to water, to the point where the music itself begins to embody its liquid form. Produced by Robert Raths and Jamie Perera, the album flows seamlessly from the live recordings of ‘The Pool of Memories’, captured in a church, to pieces entirely born in the studio, such as ‘Sunshimmers’ and ‘Ripples in a Water Scene’, which feature Perera on acoustic and electric guitar.

Amorphous, ever-changing, Lubomyr as performer becomes subsumed into the natural ebb and flow of the keys as the album drifts between nascent upstream trickles and deeply reflective passages through winding river valleys. The album reaches its climax in ‘The Amazon’, a 20-minute piece dedicated to the world’s largest river. Raths invited Korean flautist Hyelim Kim to guest on the first part, before Lubomyr closes the album with cascades of arpeggio figures, stretching across the breadth of the keyboard with rapid virtuosity.

Following on from 2013’s ‘Corollaries’ album and last year’s ‘Evertina’ EP, Lubomyr’s latest offering compounds upon his existing fluid signature style, and breathes an organic vitality, both nuanced and thoughtful.

"In the body of the Continuous Piano Master, the fingers and the hands turn into Water, Air and Stone. These are the three manifestations of the Continuous Technique. And for the Continuous Pianist, the fingers physically transform the music into one of these three elements.

The greatest of all miracles in the universe is Water. It is also, I believe, the rarest of all physical things in the universe. Water is the most magical and the most mysterious of all things we know! And so I dedicate this album to the Rivers and Streams of this world – in gratitude for their Beauty!“ – Lubomyr Melnyk.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Another beautiful release from Lubomyr Melnyk, creator and practician of what he calls 'Continuous Music'. A technique in which constant notes are played throughout the pieces, creating a driven and dynamic style. Despite being continously playing, Melnyk manages to imbue these pieces with a certain delicacy when needed, reminiscent of Labelmate Nils Frahm, these tracks are beautifully nuanced and outstandingly performed. Gorgeous meditative modern-classical.

TRACK LISTING

1. Parasol
2. The Pool Of Memories
3. Sunshimmers
4. Ripples In A Water Scene
5. The Amazon: The Highlands
6. The Amazon: The Lowlands

Erased Tapes first introduced Lubomyr Melnyk and his unique continuous music technique to a wider audience with ‘Corollaries’, an album produced by Peter Broderick in 2013. Now he returns with a 24-minute mini album entitled 'Evertina'. Featuring three newly composed solo piano pieces, the long-form EP showcases another side to Lubomyr Melnyk – his more gentle and melodic work.

In 2012 Lubomyr's ears began to notice the remarkable tonal depth of upright pianos. To Lubomyr the upright piano sound is like a natural forest of microcosmic colours. 'Evertina' and 'Awaiting' were created on a middle-aged upright piano at a friend's home in New York in October 2012 – just before Hurricane Sandy hit the city. Some children were listening to Lubomyr as he played in a hotel lobby in Cologne and 'Butterfly' is the piece that he made for them. It was recorded on a battered grand piano somewhere in Switzerland in late 2013, with the lid closed down to soften the effect.

"The piano for me has so many different faces, so many personalities and wonders, it is like life itself, ever-changing yet always holding to a permanence of beauty. Like butterflies that never fly in a straight line but always carry their loveliness with them in their multi-angled paths. I want people to hear these pieces, that are always hidden from the world. I keep them locked away in a quiet place, far from the concert hall. Why do I do that? I guess it is because they are so easy to play, so effortless, I can do them while sleeping. Whereas my more demanding abilities on the piano come out in the forceful nature of continuous playing. There, the new ground is being broken and a new door is being opened for the world. But that does not mean that I am bound by nature or by god to do only continuous music. My heart moves into these pieces just as it moves into the continuous modalities. So here, for the very first time, I am bringing three of these little miniatures to the public view. May everyone enjoy them for their gentle simplicity and quietude.

These three pieces fit so nicely together in spirit, they present a tableau, a tiny triptych that can reach the world without waiting for a major work, they stand beautifully on their own, and do not need an album to surround them with comfort and padding. No, they are what they are, and a short musical interlude as this record gives, is just perfect for their nature." – Lubomyr Melnyk

Lubomyr Melnyk is a true innovator, exploring new directions for contemporary music. Classically trained and greatly affected by the minimalist movement in the early 1970s, the Ukrainian pianist developed his own unique language for the piano, named after the principle of maintaining a continuous, unbroken stream of sound. Melnyk has shown a remarkable devotion to the instrument, always striving to discover new ways of composing music in the continuous mode. His focus is on the actual sound of the piano as much as the harmonies and melodies of the music. Playing rapid and complex note patterns made Lubomyr one of the world’s fastest concert pianists. His virtuoso piano technique forms overtones that blend, collide or even create new melodies in rare moments, and thereby shape the composition beyond its original form. To accomplish this requires a special technique, one that has taken Melnyk many years to master. To witness one of his rare live performances is nothing short of a mind-opening experience.

TRACK LISTING

01. Evertina
02. Awaiting
03. Butterfly (for Solo Piano)