The Music of
LUBOMYR MELNYK
Continuous Music for Solo and Double Pianos
- SONNET Nr. 4 -
for solo piano (1982)

- WATERSIGHT -
for solo piano (1983)

- THE STONE KNIGHT -
music for 2 pianos (1983)

One of the great innovators of the piano performs music that no other pianist can play --– a sound experience!

Recorded live in concert at Feedback Studio in Köln

- ARCHIVE EDITION -

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LUBOMYR MELNYK
performs
Sonnet Nr. 4 , WATERSIGHT , and
The STONE KNIGHT

All music on this CD was recorded in live performance, May 30, 1983 at Feedback Studio, Köln , Germany .

SONNET Nr. 4 : for solo piano (1982) -- 10´40”
- carries in its final melodic sequence of rapid notes, a dedication ( or ”sonnet”) to love.

ROK- 1 into WATERSIGHT: solo piano (1983) --17´35”
- this is a performance of the Piano ”A” part from a long work titled ”PAGE MUSIC” , or as the title used in France, CORNE d'EST. This music was originally composed for the French choreographer Kilina Cremona and her dance company from Lyon , in 1983. The full score for the dance performances of ”Corne d'Est” calls for 2 pianos and 3 contrabass. (A complete performance of this piece is available on a separate CD titled: The Eastern Horn.)
The entire work is made up of many small sections (pages) that flow into one another in various free combinations. The music is fast and furious, with a strong atonal character. On the performance recorded here from the concert at Feedback Studio, the composer performs 2 sections, using just the first piano part, (Piano ”A”) of ROK-1 which flows into WATERSIGHT .

STONECRAFT / The STONE KNIGHT: for two pianos (1983) – 36´15”
This music is dedicated to the men who gave their lives to the concept of Knighthood,. and all that this entailed --- a life of courage, sacrifice, strict moral values and deeply religious devotion – and defence of the weak. These concepts are mostly forgotten now – the world of today rarely sees any battles between men -- the wars of today are mainly a matter of dropping bombs on defenceless children. – hence the timely joke about soldiers today: Kowards Killing Kids ……
While being an homage to these knights, the music also gives a panorama of the battle before the gates of a castle. The music opens with STONECRAFT --- a rapid atonal and motoristic sequence that in the end gradually opens out into a panorama of the battlefield and movements before the Gates – and further then into the Ramparts.
It is furious in its intensity and captures a sense of the chaos and the action that sweeps over us. One can, to some extent, get a feeling of flying over the scene…. engulfed in a dramatic panorama ....
… or, if you prefer, ignore the ”program” of this music and listen to it as a purely abstract and passionate manifesto of piano playing. – anyone who has watched Melnyk in performance can vouch for a virtuosity that flashes at lightening speeds! --- especially in this piece, where the left hand octaves literally shoot across the keyboard faster than the eye can see. This is certainly music that few – if any -- pianists of today could manage !
Just sit back, and let yourself flow into the extraordinary sounds that 2 pianos -- played with a master of the Continuous Technique -- can create !

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Note: One important facet of Continuous Music for piano is the stream of high-frequency overtones that build up to form an ethereal ”cloud” penetrating the listener. Unfortunately, cd-s do not give good high-frequency response … all the overtones above (ca.) 13000-14000 Htz are lost and then synthetically falsified into a ”dead-plane”. It's a sad fact of modern life.
This is a digital issue from original master tapes that are ANALOG recordings made in the mid-80´s. These tapes are true Hi-Fidelity -- ie. whatever the microphones took in, was recorded onto tape. For those of you who want to avoid the falsified and synthetic high-frequencies of digital sound (CD-s), we recommend getting LP-s and high-end cassettes from Bandura Records. These are available on special order.

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