"Figures in a Landscape" (1972-3) by Sidney GoodmanClick on the painting to open up a larger version in another window.
Recorded on August 12th, 2008, at Magic Closet Studios, in Portland, OR.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
12 August 2008, #5. "Figures in a Landscape" #2 - 5m59s
As I finished interpreting Sidney Goodman's "Figures in a Landscape" the first time, I wasn't altogether satisfied. I felt like I had not done a good enough job of capturing the melancholy and foreboding that I felt in the painting. So I decided to try again. I think that my two efforts taken together are a better counterpiece to Goodman's painting.
"Figures in a Landscape" (1972-3) by Sidney Goodman
Click on the painting to open up a larger version in another window.
"Figures in a Landscape" (1972-3) by Sidney GoodmanClick on the painting to open up a larger version in another window.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Wow, Chris! What an improvement. I thought the first one was pleasant, but as you wrote, failed to capture the melancholy and stagnation. In the second one though, you really got it. The minimal beginning that leads us to that note that you play over and over, and then is an important part of the chord that grounds all the stuff you riff on—taints any passion or frenzied response to the stagnation with a reminder that the subjects of the painting are forever stuck in it. Then, at about 2:50 I think it was, you bring that other note into the chord keeping the rhythm, and use it as a route to exploration of emotional turmoil, without just truncating the idea and violating the enforced, stifling continuity of the painting. The ending is also wonderful. When you finally let those repeating chords go, it seems to me that there was some sort of liberation from the painting. However, all we hear is the liberating event; there is no exploration of the time following it. This denies us satisfaction from it, and I think that this is really clever because you take us to the edge of a possible future (make us think), but then abruptly end, and thus, are true to your subject. Neato. I love this reacting to painting stuff. I think it’s brilliant.
Post a Comment