The sheer physical performance of the pianist is awesome, but would not be more than a footnote if it weren’t such a triumph. Its flight is so propulsive, it’s a good the hoarse tuba is there to keep you from being swept off your feet.
[Release page] In the natural world, the spiral—from the shell of the deep-sea nautilus to the shape of the galaxy—is the whorling, artistic flourish of physics and biology. Fibonnaci proved it mathematically as far back as the thirteen century and the painter Hundertwasser understood it instinctively as the most fundamental shape of growth.
Lubomyr Melnyk, born in Munich to Ukrainian parents fleeing communism en route to Winnipeg, has “steadfastly devoted his life” in pursuit of “continuous music,” an unbroken stream of rapidly spiralling arpeggios played ceaselessly on the piano with non-stop pedal sustain. His goal is mystic transcendence and the means is a new musical grammar. As a composer, he is a pedant who cherishes dreamers so much, he creates them their own musical language.
The Voice of Trees was recorded almost twenty years ago and features Melvyn Poore (later a member of Zeitkratzer) on tuba. Melnyk taped one stage of his piano part and Poore two of his parts, which were played against the duo live in the studio for the recording session proper. The sheer physical performance of the pianist is awesome, but would not be more than a footnote if it weren’t such a triumph. Its flight is so propulsive, it’s a good the hoarse tuba is there to keep you from being swept off your feet. As the Catherine wheel of Melnyk’s playing throws off sparks, Poore’s tuba acts as a stately presence, a monumental structure for the keyboard’s chordal sounds and overtones to wrap themselves around. Fantastic things can be heard in that cyclonic piano, is it in the music or in the dream state the music induces?
Until now, none of the few pieces Melnyk actually recorded have been released in a commercially-viable format. It is hard to understand why. His music seems so self-evident as to be endemic to the natural order of things. It beggars description.
The Voice of Trees is available on Hinterzimmer. Buy at Hinterzimmer or Amazon.
