The Equations of Beauty, i - For our Monday Memories offering this week, we have the movement “i” from “The Equations of Beauty”. EOB is a six-movement suite, and each movement is named for a mathematical constant or variable. This movement, “i”, represents an imaginary number, the square root of negative one. This number helps mathematicians move out of our reality into other dimensions, which is a cool concept no matter how you think about it.
Chant - For this week’s Monday Memories, we have a new video of my old simple piece “Chant”, which reminds of medieval times, monks chanting in shadowed, echoing spaces. And since I discovered the secret of time travel, sometimes I just have to go back many centuries to clear my head and sit by a medieval fire and play some music. From the collection “Eight Discernments".
Autumn Streets - For this week’s Monday Memory we have “Autumn Streets”, a student piece I wrote in Germany in 2003. To keep beginners interested in guitar, I’ve made it a priority to create works that are fairly easy to play but are musically sophisticated, and also stylistically relevant in today's musical world, as an antidote to the phalanx on 19th century tutorial works that often confront guitar pupils. From the collection “Seven in Essence".
Letting Go - For our Monday Memories this week, we revisit an older piece called Letting Go. This goes back a few years, as my younger visage testifies. Filming took place during a concert called Primal Twang, which included guitar luminaries Eric Johnson, Doc Watson, Mason Williams, Albert Lee and more. Quite a cast to share a stage with. The concert was scripted and narrated by Dan Crary, and it’s a joy to relive some of those moments through this video.
Shadows Only Come From Light - This weeks' Monday Memory is a new release! "Shadows" is a composition I wrote for a friend’s birthday. This piece is in the poignant, mysterious style that I like so much to explore. Annie and I enjoyed letting the evocative title direct our artistic palette in the making of this video.
Lullaby for Caroline - Our selections for this week evokes a gentle and spacious atmosphere that blends the mystical edge between awake and dreaming. From the collection "Dreams and Lullabies".
Poem No. 1 - I like music that gives one a sense of dreaming, and evokes spacious and dream-like atmospheres, taking one out of the mundane and into more rarefied realms. To that end, I wrote Seven Poems for guitar, and as the title implies, approaching music poetically allowed me to create forms and structures that I might not have otherwise realized. For this weeks Monday Memory, we revisit the first in the series, “Poem No. 1”. From the collection “Seven Poems”.
Evensong - This lyrical and peaceful work is in lute tuning, and is the second movement of my suite “Glimmerings”. Here is a live video recording of “Evensong” we made in the Den.
InD'd - I wrote this virtuostic fanfare with elements of the baroque, and I could very much imagine this being played on a pipe organ as well as guitar. In Yamour tuning, D A D F# B D. Here is a revisiting of my performance of InD’d. From collection “Seven Spirits”.
A Minor Duet - A Minor Duet - A very baroque and canonic duet, an exercise in writing authentically in an earlier style, one of the many arts being lost today at an ever increasing pace of extinction. Maintaining relevance by rigorous development of experiential skills, I gave myself the opportunity to be my own duet partner. From collection Little Book of Duets.
Full Circle - Written for an old friend, Mark Valenti, who I met in Hollywood four decades ago. We have been through a lot together, and Full Circle brings us back around to the present after many years of life's vicissitudes. A very meaningful piece for me, and Annie and I had fun with the video post production too. In DADGAD tuning for those that want to know.
Yamour - This spirited piece emulates the sound of a band on one guitar, with a hint of jazz and a glimmer of Brazil. It’s one of my favorite works, and was a milestone for me compositionally to surmount the formidable challenge of composing with authority in what is now called ‘Yamour’ tuning, DADF#BD. I wrote Yamour for my friend and colleague, the fine Italian guitarist Andrea Vettoretti.
Snowflight - one of my early and most popular student pieces, I'm pleased to see this piece played all around the world by students of all ages. Seeing so many videos of Snowflight on the internet, we decided a while ago to make our own. From my collection "Eight Discernments".
Sweet Life - A very personal and lyrical expression of my long intertwining of music and life.
