May 2020 - Suite post-covid19

From March to May, I was in hospital, seriously affected by coronavirus. I got it at work... In many senses, this changes you life. Three weeks in a coma is a peculiar experience. After being discharged I couldn't do anything (write, work, talk, etc....).

This is the first thins I wrote, now I have ordered it and put it in a little suite. Many ideas were fragmented and simple. I friend of mine helped me with some titles and phrases...

People who suffer from this at this level never recover at all.... But I'm alive, I'm lucky.

1) as the memory returns the swallow

I like the harmony in this piece and there's a nice touch of modified pentatonic at the end.

2) decided the trip. bored of the sky, the starfish

The phrasing of the melody and the harmonies you choose in this piece are also surprisingly accessible.  Maybe you have a good reason for using those triplet rhythms in this.  I personally try to keep my rhythms as simple as I can in my music but maybe you were going for an improvisational feel.

3) Captive wave behind Neptune's back licks the shore

This part seems to skip a whole page in the score ... was confused about that.  The melody and harmony were kind of meandering in this but not in a bad way.  The ideas had a unity to them.

4) from oblivion in locrias hours (Does this have to do with the Locrian Mode?)

I am confused about the title since this piece does not exactly stay in the Locrian mode as there are A naturals in it.  At first you seem to avoid using any type of B in the beginning but towards the end you sneak in a Cb and then a B dbl. flat before finally using a B natural.

5) art is never born of happiness

This one seems to be written in a kind of harmonic major scale that I like - having the augumented 2nd not just between the Ab and B natural but also between Db and E natural.  I like the sound.

6) like a microbe I travel in the immeasurable universe

Many mostly diatonic sections interspersed with sudden outlandish chromaticism!  LoL

An enjoyable suite!  Although I am sometimes hard pressed to find a relation between the title and the music - very clever and poetic titles that your friend helped you devise.  I am glad you survived COVID - you are valued here.  Thanks for the music!

Thanks for your time. And for translating the titules, I forgot it.

4 hours ago, PaperComposer said:

This part seems to skip a whole page in the score ... was confused about that.  The melody and harmony were kind of meandering in this but not in a bad way.  The ideas had a unity to them.

It is just the image, that break the score.

4 hours ago, PaperComposer said:

I am confused about the title since this piece does not exactly stay in the Locrian mode as there are A naturals in it.  At first you seem to avoid using any type of B in the beginning but towards the end you sneak in a Cb and then a B dbl. flat before finally using a B natural.

Until measure 16 it follow a sort of locrian scale in C because it has b2 b3 and b5, but other tones have been modified and also left as hexatonica. From m. 16 it uses chords and its scales.

4 hours ago, PaperComposer said:

This one seems to be written in a kind of harmonic major scale that I like - having the augumented 2nd not just between the Ab and B natural but also between Db and E natural.  I like the sound.

This is the double harmonic scale, also called byzantine.

So heartening to learn you survived this wretched scourge upon us and hopefully will recover fully in time. Although I haven't caught it, I've seen the effect on others all right.

The piece is rather beautiful. There's a lot of dance and light in it in spite of everything. Fragmentary themes have never worried me as I've trained myself just to listen. Even so, it makes perfectly good musical sense to me.

I'm not going to dissect it - there's nothing to crit really. It is as it is and should stay a memorable work, a milestone in your recovery. Locrias hours was a little plaintive that came as a sobering contrast to the earlier pieces and the one that follows which is a little more tense (Art not born of happiness).

Congratulations on putting together what actually comes across as a profound work, given the circumstances.

I'll be listening to this one again later.

Am glad to hear you survived. and sorry to hear you had to go through it. best of luck. the music is gorgeous too.