A lovely piece Chris, and I like the art picture too…

Beautiful piece of music Chris, inspiring . Johnny

Vocals Oddrun Eikli @oddrun-eikli
Piano  Debra Buesking @debra_buesking
Accordion, Pipes & Whistle Philleann
Mixed and Mastered Phil Dale

Well, how lucky am I !  So thrilled to have been able to collaborate with Oddrun and Debra on this classic folk ballad.  Its always been one of my favorites.  Oddrun's tender vocal really captures the regret of the poem, and Debra's piano arrangement is the perfect companion to that wonderful voice.  I do hope you'll like our folk jazz rendition. 

Oddrun has some nice background info on the song over on her page. Cover design by Debra

Down by the Sally Gardens (with Oddrun Eikli & Debra Buesking)

"Up in the Gallery" (German: "Auf der Galerie") is a short piece of fiction written by Franz Kafka. It was created between November 1916 and February 1917 and published in the collection „Ein Landarzt“ (A Country Doctor) in 1919. The story offers two versions of a scene in which a young man watches a circus ringmaster and a woman on horseback. (Wikipedia)

The picture shows a section of: At The Circus Fernando, The Rider
by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (1888)

Public domain translation by Ian Johnston (November 2003)                     


Up in the Gallery

If some frail tubercular lady circus rider 
were to be driven in circles around and around 
the arena for months and months 
without interruption 
in front of a tireless public 
on a swaying horse 
by a merciless whip-wielding 
master of ceremonies, 
spinning on the horse, 
throwing kisses and swaying at the waist, 
and if this performance, 
amid the incessant roar 
of the orchestra and the ventilators, 
were to continue into 
the ever-expanding, gray future, 
accompanied by applause, 
which died down and then swelled up again, 
from hands which were really steam hammers, 
perhaps then a young visitor to the gallery 
might rush down the long stair case 
through all the levels, 
burst into the ring, and cry “Stop!” 
through the fanfares 
of the constantly adjusting orchestra.


But since things are not like that,
(Since things are not like that…rep.)         

since a beautiful woman, in white and red, 
flies in through curtains 
which proud men in livery open in front of her, 
since the director, 
devotedly seeking her eyes, 
breathes in her direction, 
behaving like an animal, and, as a precaution, 
lifts her up on the dapple-gray horse, 
as if she were his grand daughter, 
the one he loved more 
than anything else,
as she starts a dangerous journey, 
but he cannot decide to give the signal with his whip 
and finally, 
controlling himself, gives it a crack, 
runs right beside the horse with his mouth open, 
follows the rider's leaps with a sharp gaze, 
hardly capable of comprehending her skill, 
tries to warn her by calling out in English, 
furiously castigating the grooms holding hoops, 
telling them to pay the most scrupulous attention, 
and begs the orchestra, with upraised arms,
to be quiet before the great jump, 
finally lifts the small woman down from the trembling horse, 
kisses her on both cheeks, 
considers no public tribute adequate, 
while she herself, leaning on him, 
high on the tips of her toes, 
with dust swirling around her, 
arms outstretched and head thrown back, 
wants to share her luck with the entire circus—
since this is how things are, 
the visitor to the gallery puts his face on the railing and, 
sinking into the final march as if into a difficult dream, weeps, 
without realizing it.  (rep.)

Up In The Gallery (Kafka, 1919)

《바흐 바이러스 · PUMP YOUR INNER FIRE UP》

Concept remix for a scene of a graphic novel.

Music written by Johann Sebastian Bach, taken from "Prelude and Fugue in C minor, BWV 847" from "The Well-Tempered Clavier".
Inspired by the works of Wendy Carlos, Pierre Schaeffer and Diana Boncheva.
Arranged, produced, mixed and mastered by Thomas O'Higgins Horna.

Cover art: "Johann Sebastian Bach" (1746) by Elias Gottlob Haussmann. Edited by me.

ＢＡＣＨ･ＶＩＲＵＳ

somewhat out of my comfort zone but great fun to do. 
Listening in stereo is recommended, in mono if you like it straight up without the whoosh ;)

original track : https://soundcloud.com/user-649412648/heavenly-water-open-collab

Holy Shitshow - Heavenly Water - open collab [Gruppo Infernal version]

Super Magic

hallucinations

Hallucinations

from the debut album, available everywhere

follow me on twitter and tiktok to stay in touch

Miss Carlos

Solo piano composition with rolling arpeggios on Noire Felt piano with plenty of atmospheric reverb and delay. It's origins date back to the 1980s but has been dusted off and bought up to date for YouTube and SoundCloud and to be shared and hopefully enjoyed. Whilst finalising the track I was trying to decide on the cover art and looking though my various images I found this one by my 10-year-old grand-daughter and it just seemed to fit the composition, so the title "Dawn" was born and an experimental video has been created.

Dawn

A children's fairy tale as a name giver? One might have expected that from economists, but from astrophysicists? Well, they were also inspired by economists when it came to finding a catchy, symbolic replacement for the term habitable zone. This is the name given to the area around a star in which life could arise on possible planets.


Very roughly speaking, the distance to the star must allow temperatures at which water remains liquid on the surface of a planet. According to the ideas of terrestrial biology, life cannot develop without this.

For decades, this was a rather theoretical consideration. The few scholars who thought about habitats in other star systems first spoke of ecosphere or life zone, until they finally agreed on habitable zone. Sounds nicely learned. But with the discovery of the first exoplanets, planets outside our solar system, at the end of the millennium, academic as well as general attention increased enormously: Is there something out there? Is there distant, alien life? Could there be? With each newly discovered exoplanet is meaningfully tapped: Isn't it so close to its star that it burns up everything? Doesn't it orbit it so far that everything freezes on its surface?

It's like in a fairy tale with Goldilocks and the three bears, where everything has to be just right. The porridge must not be too hot, the little bear's chair undamaged, his bed unused. Economists have long spoken of a goldilocks economy when moderate growth coincides with slight inflation. A fairy-tale term - now also for an astrobiological concept.

Brevity Of Life (Goldilocks)

Skaface    -   Rerelease

Nostalgic Forest #6

In my early years I took piano lessons, regretfully I stopped them in my teens. I've always had a piano in the house and over the years have composed a number of songs (without words). What’s important to me is the melodic nature of the pieces and I wanted to share them with others. The origins of the music are probably influenced by my early classical lessons, Chopin and Schubert to name a couple. I love Liszt’s Hungarian and Rachmaninoff’s Russian styles but sadly my technical ability hampers the inclusion of their techniques.
Today’s home recording software allows many opportunities to develop compositions using other instruments to compliment the piano however, using the software has been a challenge, trying to get the “right” sound for the piano has been the most difficult part of the process. I’m slowly learning and will probably remix some of my current tracks as my experience grows.
Once I have recorded my heritage pieces, I plan to write a new selection of music predominantly piano but also experimenting with more or different instruments, watch this space!
Thank you for listening and commenting on my compositions and for the reposts, please don’t hesitate to offer constructive criticism, it could speed up the learning process.
Best Wishes,
Chris Cummins

Dawn

Chris Cummins Music

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