LMM 2.11 is a merging of artistic techniques dating from several relatively distinct eras of human history– as old as the 17th century B.C. (and even earlier) and as recent as 1982.

Mostly, this is a tribute to J. S. Bach’s fifteen two-part inventions. Written between 1717 and 1723, these thematic, contrapuntal pieces, following a simplified fugal form, were intended as etudes for keyboard and composition students. Likewise, writing fifteen brand new inventions was for me an intense study of Bach’s technique. Even with just two voices, this album is vertically dense and very German (in the sense that it is harmonically complex, even though #14 is intended as a melodious shout out to Rossini [Italian, 1792 -1868]).

Though these Learning Music inventions are written in the same keys as Bach’s, they follow a different order. Bach’s inventions are numbered by harmonic ascension (C, D, Eb, E, etc.). I chose to arrange mine following the order chosen by Glenn Gould for his recordings of the Bach inventions and sinfonias in the 1960s, moving through keys as they relate harmonically, much as the theme in each piece itself is modulated from key to key. Another unifying technique borrowed from Gould is the mathematical modulation of tempos from track to track.

Also concerned with math, Bach is known for building symmetrical shapes within his music, including the inventions. Symmetry is found in countless examples of art through the ages. It appears in Chinese bronze castings from as early as the 17th century B.C. It is aslo a recurring theme in religious and philosophical concepts from all over the world. This album as a whole uses a symmetrical structure. The inventions at the beginning and end are very traditional, following most closely the style of Bach. Moving toward the middle of the album, each piece becomes more abstract harmonically, moving more freely between keys, and stepping away from the rules of traditional counterpoint. Similarly, the first and last composition are both in a duple meter; the ones next to those are in triple; and as we progress toward the middle piece, which is in no set meter at all, we use meters of increasing odd numbers (5, 7, 9, 11). Time signatures of 5, 7, and higher prime numbers were uncommon in written music until the late 19th century (and are non-existent in Bach’s works), even though they were employed even before Bach’s time in pieces by Giovanni Valentini (1582-1649).

The recording of this album employed (obviously) much younger techniques than those studied to write it. Each invention was performed on a digital keyboard with rudimentary MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) capabilities, from which both the audio and MIDI information were recorded. The original MIDI protocol was developed in 1982 as a way for different digital instruments to work together. I used this technology to play back each performance through different keyboards (also dating from the early 80s) plugged into guitar amplifiers, using my now-free hands to twist the keyboard control knobs, and re-recording their sounds in sync with the original audio signal. I also used this MIDI information to trigger two samples of my voice in unison with the keyboards. All these sounds were combined together to create these odd resultant tones. The electronicization of contrapuntal baroque music began (famously) in 1968 with Walter Carlos’ (now Wendy Carlos) Switched-On Bach, which featured a handful of Bach compositions (including three inventions) performed on an early Moog modular synthesizer.

This month’s artwork is by “graphic artist, daydreamer, pseudo-scientist, wanna-be astronaut and untrained intellectual” Christopher David Ryan. Many thanks to Christopher, and to Autumn for getting him on board! To me, this image successfully represents all the things I find important about the album.

I hope you also find something in this collection. Please consider it as a candidate for semi-official theme music of 2010.

Here’s this month’s single, Invention #11 in A:

  Invention #11 in A by learningmusic

Thanks.

Sincerely,

John

p.s. In case you missed it, we were on NPR’s All Things Considered a couple weeks ago, talking about the last album: read/listen