Interesting, expressive and logical work, brilliant...

Good music ! With internal coherence and a high degree of abstraction.

remarkable. Piano and violin complimenting each other perfectly in conversation. thank you Joseph. 

Street View Sketches is a collection of several short, standalone pieces—each meant to evoke a place in the world that is significant to me. Sometimes these pieces tell stories, other times they operate in more general terms. There are two things every piece shares in common, however:
  The first is that, rather than just describing a location, each piece attempts to create a sonic impression of actually experiencing it. This might include emulating the general atmosphere of a place, or the sounds one hears while there, or even the kind of mindset one might be in when visiting. It is for this reason that I refer to these pieces as "sketches", as it gives the listener a taste of these elements, just like a sketch might.
  The second commonality between each piece (or "sketch", as it were) is that every featured location can be found on Google Street View—whether it be a terrifyingly tiny shoulder of a highway, clinging to the precipice of a cliff in Yosemite Valley, or a plain, nondescript bridge over a creek in Kelowna, British Columbia. Every one of these locations can be reduced to GPS coordinates on a search engine navigation app, and a 360 degree snapshot taken from a moving vehicle. In fact, I have chosen to include GPS coordinates in the titles of every piece, so that anyone reading them can look up these "snapshots" for themselves.
  Similar to the "sketches" and "impressions" I previously described, the internet is full of snapshots—soundbites—things that only give a taste of real, authentic experiences. Many see this as part of a dangerous disconnect from reality that is becoming alarmingly more prevalent in society. While I sympathize with these concerns, I wonder whether they could be mitigated if we just remained mindful of what these snapshots and soundbites really are: Impressions—glimpses of things we might someday see or do, or fond memories of things that once were.

Performed by cLoud Collective, December 5th, 2021.
Mark Menzies - Violin
Justin DeHart - Percussion
Reuben de Lautour - Piano

Composed by Nicholas Denton Protsack.

Street View Sketches - The Ocean, The Dunes, And The Great Highway

Here's a track from the forth coming album ....
The Rat Palace was our studio from when we first started seriously working together in 2016 until the landlords decided it was time for the artists to go and the tourists to come. It had been Mat's base since 2009 and hosted dozens of artists and musicians since it first started in 2006.
As the name suggests the place was run down, lacked various things like hot water, proper access and heating but it had a vibe, and the people we shared the space with all felt and helped to create it....Art was everything, day after night after day for years.
These 7 improvisations are a tiny fraction of the jams we had there, just a few highlights from 100s of jams. They are raw, unpolished and unconcerned with anything outside the moment. We rarely 'rehearsed' as such at the Rat Palace - just played.
Things come and things go - Vale Rat Palace, you were amazing.

Kirby/Ward -  Rat Palace Sessions Track 1 : Frantic. New Album out March 16

Setting of the poem Noche Oscura by St. John of the Cross, written about 1578. This is a corrected version of my 1976 piece, completed in March 2024 and performed through NotePerformer software.

NOCHE OSCURA

The composition was inspired by the poem "Crossing the Water" by the American poet Sylvia Plath (1932-1963).

Crossing the Water

Black lake, black boat, two black, cut-paper people.
Where do the black trees go that drink here?
Their shadows must cover Canada.

A little light is filtering from the water flowers.
Their leaves do not wish us to hurry:
They are round and flat and full of dark advice.

Cold worlds shake from the oar.
The spirit of blackness is in us, it is in the fishes.
A snag is lifting a valedictory, pale hand;

Stars open among the lilies.
Are you not blinded by such expressionless sirens?
This is the silence of astounded souls.

Crossing the Water

Here is my latest piano work.  Hope you enjoy listening.  Thank you.

Morgan Falls

A work that speaks to the illusion of connection (communication) in the age of Social Media and advanced technologies. The work features an excerpt from the poem Giganti Rosse (Red Giants) by Italian sono-poet Ilaria Boffa.     https://soundcloud.com/ilaria_boffa 

"Qualche decade più oltre
ci incontreremo, mi sederò
di fronte a te e ti chiederò di nuovo
conosci il mio nome?'"

"A few decades down the line
we will meet, I will sit down across
from you and I’ll ask once more
do you know my name?'"

The Illusion Of Connection (featuring Ilaria Boffa)

My sincere apologies if you commented on this track before.  I had to delete the entire post because it was not showing up.  For some mysterious reason a few people could see it but in general it was invisible.  Who can understand these mysteries?  So I have given up and am reposting.  

Thank you David Dunham for your unfailing help in mastering my tracks. 
Listen to David's beautiful music here:  @david-dunhamuser589535203

Wallflower

Nietzsche's words seem most applicable in our current world.

Descending Night

This work was commissioned by The Fires of London with funds from the Arts Council of Great Britain, and was first performed by them, conducted by Peter Maxwell Davies, on 31 January 1979 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. This new revised and corrected version was completed in 2024, and uses Sibelius software with NotePerformer sounds.

It was inspired by 3 Medieval books concerning religious experience: The Cloud of Unknowing; Revelations of Divine Love; Incendium Amoris.

THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING (revised and corrected)

Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese
Marco Moresco, conductor

Dark Clouds, for orchestra

A little poem from years ago, finally set to music, though as yet only "sung" by the Violin - thanks for listening.

Idolater's Spate

Idolater's spate
Raises hate
Within flies a glory
Confounds
Uncompletes
Idolater's sweets

Thus unmasked
The pass kindly casts

poem and music Joseph Haspel

Idolater's Spate

Anyone interested in performing/recording any of the works posted here please send me a message.

Joe

Idolater's Spate

Joseph Haspel

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