I've made it no secret that the International Music Score Library Project is one of my favorite websites, if not my favorite. Not only is it the largest depository of older music on the planet, but it's also a fantastic platform for composers to self-publish their work under Creative Commons licenses, one of the best things to happen to copyright law since the internet was created. While a handful of big names have released their work through the site (such as Leo Ornstein, Frederic Rzewski and Vivian Fine, whose work should be no stranger to leaf readers), the majority of contemporary composers with pages are the Young and Tender, many in college or fresh out the door. Let me warn you that, because of the free and democratic nature of the site, an absence of quality control is not only inherent but essential, so you may step in some cowpies in your searches. But that's all part of exploration, so I hope you've got enough curiosity to sidestep the junk.
One particularly wacky figure on the site is Nikolaos-Laonikos Psimikakis-Chalkokondylis (say that five times fast!), a Greek composer a year younger than me who studied in England and is currently working as a nature guide in Helsinki. His IMSLP page is chockablock with nuggets of experimentation and humor, the work of a singular artist with nothing to lose. For example, here's a page from For 9 Piccolos:
While many of his works may seem less serious than Satie's furniture music, he is also able to produce haunting slivers of music, perfectly capturing those moments between seconds of real time where melancholy overwhelms. That brings us to my favorite work of his, Narcosis.
One particularly wacky figure on the site is Nikolaos-Laonikos Psimikakis-Chalkokondylis (say that five times fast!), a Greek composer a year younger than me who studied in England and is currently working as a nature guide in Helsinki. His IMSLP page is chockablock with nuggets of experimentation and humor, the work of a singular artist with nothing to lose. For example, here's a page from For 9 Piccolos:
While many of his works may seem less serious than Satie's furniture music, he is also able to produce haunting slivers of music, perfectly capturing those moments between seconds of real time where melancholy overwhelms. That brings us to my favorite work of his, Narcosis.
(Click for larger view)
Once again I must point out how simply removing meter and barlines can do wonders for a piece's enchantment index. Constructed from elusive quartal spiderwebs, Narcosis joins Peter Josheff's A Veltin Infusion in the canon of piano pieces best found under a bed or in the confines of bay windows, tiny pockets of light for an ambivalent world. Analysis is a moot cause - the piece is meant to be felt rather than thought. Much like Persichetti's Poems, Narcosis draws inspiration from a poem, but in this case the author is Nikolaos himself:
Waves of Symbolist nostalgia wash over me, and I'm nagged more and more by the feeling that Baudelaire and Mallarmé need to be set to piano more frequently than they are. I shouldn't say much more about Narcosis as to not spoil your individual experience, so I'll just include Nikolaos's own performance below, uploaded with the score by inciptisify, an excellent YouTube channel for those interested in contemporary music. Let's toast to IMSLP and Creative Commons for making Nikolaos's dreams (and mine) possible, but not too loudly - we might disturb the crystal, never-ending sleep.
~PNK
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