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Lubomyr Melnyk (born December 22, 1948) is a composer and pianist of Ukrainian origin.
Melnyk is noted for his continuous music, a piano technique (and philosophy, mode of thought) which he discovered in his twenties and of which he seems to have been the sole professional developer. For the listener, the most obvious feature of this music is that the majority of pieces demonstrate extremely rapid notes and complex note-series, usually with the sustain pedal held down to generate harmonic overtones and sympathetic resonances, but the music is by no means characterised by this alone.
"This is a completely-completely different piano universe from everything that has existed before", Melnyk explains.
Music
Melnyk links his piano technique to his national identity.
"This music would not exist at all if I were not Ukrainian. Our distinguishing feature is that we tend to sacrifice ourselves. Ukrainians are self-sacrificing for things that are important to them".
Melnyk plays rapid sequences thanks to his ability to play up to 19 notes per second with each hand. These overtones blend or clash according to harmonic changes. Most of his music is for the solo piano, but he has also composed chamber music and orchestral works where he plays the continuous piano and is accompanied by musicians with other instruments, for example: "The End of the World". Some pieces are performed for two pianos, where he plays over a recording of himself, for instance "Niche-Nourish-Niche-Xon". Of his technique, he has said:
There's an act of creation. For this act of creation to happen every day the body of the pianist, and not just the fingers, but the entire body has to be transformed. Because in order to make these very small changes and very small decisions that I make when I'm creating music, or when I playing the music, it has to happen at a faster speed of time than any other music. The mind has to control many things. So the decisions happen in another dimension than what the fingers are doing. Part of my mind controls the fingers, part of my mind controls my hand, part of my mind is controlling my entire body, part of my mind is thinking about something else, and part of my mind is combining everything. For the body to be able to reach this enormous universe, which is huge, it has to be changed. This is what continuous music is about.
Speaking simplistically, the music has two main modes: static-position, and Arpegge motion. This is not a misspelling of arpeggio, but rather one of Lubomyr's coinages. The latter is especially difficult for students, and requires full mental concentration to correctly carry out (yet, the player is perfectly at peace). Many have reported Lubomyr's music as transcendental, or trance-like, and a common misunderstanding is that the performer of continuous music has their mind elsewhere, the repetitive finger-patterns just carrying themselves out on the keyboard. There is a grain of truth of in this, for static-position play, but is quite false in his arpegge motion, where (loosely speaking) the tones are sung across multiple octaves and both hands must move extremely fluidly. There are many striking examples of arpegge motion, for instance his first album KMH is entirely in asynchronous arpegge form. Lubomyr has reported just two students as having been able to begin studying his arpegge technique.
Teaching
Lubomyr offers lessons to a general audience of piano students (not requiring any great starting skill), and has liked to run seminars at concerts in the past - when possible. Though, few have truly taken interest in studying. Two notable students who are successful pianists in their own right are Ell Kendall and Matthew Thomasson, who perform their own music which is (occasionally) seen to be inspired by Lubomyr's technique. Another is Hauschka, who helped Lubomyr's music become noticed by the record label Erased Tapes, which he has worked with for many years. He has also worked with Peter Broderick and Nils Frahm. He has expressed fears that his music will not outlive him.. In another old interview he commented:
I am yet to find anyone who can interpret my music at a level where I could say they are actually able to play the piece. None of my students are ready but when the time comes, their fingers will obey their minds and I will be able to gauge the success of their interpretation.
However, a more recent student of Lubomyr's, Nathan Adlam, appears to be the only student currently active on YouTube and has performed certain pieces to Lubomyr's satisfaction.
Lubomyr has also made certain educational recordings (in particular a recording of various forms of Butterfly with commentary), and has written many exercises. For newer students, he has written the Meditations, and the 22 Circular Etudes are significantly more advanced exercises. However, both are almost entirely (and the meditations are exclusively) in what he calls the "static-position" mode.
He also privately published a 330-page text, called Open Time: the Art of Continuous Music (as mentioned elsewhere in this article), of which some 25 copies were made, some of which can be found in Canadian libraries. The student Nathan Adlam reports being greatly inspired by this text, after having purchased what seemed to be the last publicly available copy. Of course, Lubomyr would want the support of a publishing house to make this book more public; however, it is somewhat difficult to read and correctly interpret without prior familiarity with Lubomyr's technique.
Some of his pieces have scorebooks available online, or which can be bought by emailing Lubomyr directly, namely: Pockets of Light, Parasol, Butterfly, Evertina, Awaiting, The moving window, (in the Erased Tapes scorebook) and Clouds No. 81 and Barcarolle are available. He has also privately written scores, in his custom notation (which is elaborated on in the Circular Etudes and in Open Time), for many pieces which are not publicly available. He has reported fears of people not being ready for many of his pieces, and is wary of publishing scores which are essentially unusable. In Open Time, he writes of scores being something of a necessary evil, obstructions to the real heart of the music.
Biography
Melnyk lived in Paris from 1973 to 1975, supporting himself by playing for modern dance classes, most notably in conjunction with Carolyn Carlson at the Paris Opera. Many of his works were presented in conjunction with modern dance. Through his work with Carlson, he began to create continuous music for piano.
Melnyk has composed over 120 works, mostly for piano solo and double piano, and some for piano with ensemble. To explain the proper physical and mental techniques for his music, Melnyk wrote a treatise, OPEN TIME: The Art of Continuous Music (1981) and 22 Etudes, to teach the fundamental levels of his continuous technique.
In 1985, Melnyk set two world records, documented on film and with full audio, at the Sigtuna Stiftelsen in Sweden. He sustained speeds of over 19.5 notes per second in each hand, and played between 13 and 14 notes per second for one full hour.
Discography
- KMH: Piano Music in the Continuous Mode (1979)
- The Lund - St. Petri Symphony (1983)
- Concert-Requiem (1983)
- Poslaniye: to the Living, to the Dead, and to Those Yet Unborn (1983)
- The Stone Knight (1983)
- The Song of Galadriel (1985)
- Remnants of Man / The Fountain (1985)
- Wave-Lox (1985)
- The Voice Of Trees (1985)
- NICHE / NOURISH / NICHE-XONs (1988)
- A Portrait Of Petlura On The Day He Was Killed {Lyrrest} (1989)
- It Was Revealed Unto Us That Man Is The Centre Of The Universe (1993)
- Swallows (1994)
- Vocalizes and Antiphons (1991-1994)
- Beyond Romance (2010)
- The Self-Luminous Way (2011)
- Windmills (2013)
- Corollaries (2013) (Erased Tapes Records)
- Three Solo Pieces (2013)
- Evertina (2014) (Erased Tapes Records)
- Rivers and Streams (2015) (Erased Tapes Records)
- illirion (2016) (Sony Classical Records / Sounds of Subterrania )
- The Dreamers Ever Leave You - The Lauren Harris Ballet Music (2018) (Audio Sushi)
- Fallen Trees (2018) (Erased Tapes Records)
References
- Lubomyr Melnyk - Windmills, Dense Promotions
- Songs We Love: Lubomyr Melnyk, 'sunset' - NPR, August 1, 2016
- Lubomyr Melnyk - The Voice of Trees - Hinterzimmer records, 2011
- ^ Dzuzhynska, Ljubov. "Interview: Lubomyr Melnyk". ÂUGHT Magazine.
- "Red Bull Music Academy Daily". daily.redbullmusicacademy.com. Retrieved 2019-07-07.
- https://www.15questions.net/interview/fifteen-questions-lubomyr-melnyk/page-2/
- ^ Melnyk, Lubomyr. "Canadian Music Centre – Composer Showcase".
- Hawksley, AFP Rupert (2014-11-14). "The world's fastest-playing pianist". Archived from the original on 2014-11-14. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
Sources
- Encyclopedia of Music in Canada: "Melnyk, Lubomyr"
- Schulman, Michael, 'Despite all his problems, Lubomyr Melnyk labours on,' Canadian Composer, 117, January 1977
- Prokosh, Kevin, 'Piano attacked in samurai style,' Winnipeg Free Press, 10 January 1997
- Eddins, Stephen, 'A major feat of virtuosity', AllMusic, 2007
- Powell, Mike, 'Minimalism at its most lush, ornate, and taxing', Pitchfork, 23 August 2007
- Fifteen Questions with Lubomyr Melnyk,
- Erased Tapes Records:
External links
- Outdated official website
- Current official website
- Interview: Lubomyr Melnyk on Achieving Transcendence Through the Piano