New Album: Okonsar Piano Works (1986-2010)

ANKARA, Turkey - Dec. 26, 2013 - PRLog -- Mehmet Okonsar introduces with LMO-Records his latest CD: "Okonsar Piano Works 1986-2010)".

The pieces included are described by the composer pianist:

Chameleon (1986) Three pieces for the piano.

The influence of modern jazz has been a strong one on my musical output. What I found most appealing in it was when jazz seemed to get far away from what was known as "jazz". The expansion of tonality which started in jazz by the common use of the 7th. (late 19th. and early 20th. century in jazz) as a "stable" note as opposed to the classical harmony where the 7th. has to resolve, turned out to be very interesting for me when it has been replaced by the 6/9 and its derivative, specially since the earliest voicings by Bill Evans. The shift from "harsh" and "dry" tonal center to a much more vague and slippery one was actually simultaneous within jazz and Claude Debussy. Which one preceded and influenced the other remains an open question. Probably it worked in both ways. The disintegration of the tonality altogether, with principally Cecil Taylor, did also attracted my attention because the evolution which brought that emancipation from any tonal center was radically different from the similar one within the classical field led by Arnold Schoenberg. The "jazzy way" of "exploding" the tonality did not come from the over chromaticism of Wagner but from the clustering of main tonal chords. At the end that offered me, at that time, a new and interesting perspective for looking at things musical. At the time of the composition of Chameleon my harmonic vocabulary was a mixture of modern, mostly "atonal" jazz and the harmonic methods and scales of Olivier Messiaen as defined in his "Technique de mon langage musical".

Emulation (1991) Five short pieces for the piano.

Unlike the preceding Chameleon, here I experimented with a more extensive musical-form design. The first piece of the series presents all the material to be used in the following ones in a rather "improvisatory" style. Then each idea in this rather chaotic piece is taken alone and developed to one unique piece by itself.

Kaleidoscopes (2006) Three pieces based on the tone-row of the violin concerto "To the memory of an angel" by Alban Berg.

Kaleidoscopes are for the piano solo (number one, presented here), number two is for chamber strings orchestra with marimba and piano and number three is for viola and piano. This is a series of pieces created on one unique tone-row using its various modifications. The tone-row used is from Alban Berg's violin concerto: "To The Memory of an Angel". But that tone-row is not employed here in a strict and formal way. Unlike scholastic "serial" music, octaves and note repetitions were employed freely for acoustical and instrumental reasons. The tone row is used without any transposition for this piece. Rhythmical elements are created from the apparent subdivisions of the same tone-row. The row may be thought of as divided into three sections having 5, 4 and 3 notes each. A rhythmical pattern, based on numbers 5-4-3 is thus created from that subdivision. This pattern is used thoroughly during the development part of the piece.

The Temples of Kyoto (2010) Three pieces for the piano.

A series of three piano pieces inspired from my visit in Kyoto and dedicated to the memory of Mrs. Yasuko Fukuda. The pieces are not descriptive. The Golden Pavillion (n.1) is more "melody and chordal accompaniment"-type while the Philosopher's Walk (n.2) is more in a "harmonic", somewhat homophonic type. Yet it develops that into some resonance effects (which use the middle - sostenuto - pedal of the piano) and suggest the "Philosopher's" mind during the "Tetsugaku no michi". The Silver Pavillion (n.3) returns to the melodic piano writing but unlike the Golden Pavillion (n.1) here, right from the beginning there are two melodic lines which intersect and multiply.

N.1: Kinkakuji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion) 金閣寺 This temple is bound to left a forever lasting impression on any visitor. Unlike many other temples all over the world where gold is generously used, the precious metal's flamboyance in Kinkakuji does not strike as a display of wealth but as beauty. The size, shape and proportions of the Temple of the Golden Pavilion make for the most beautiful human-made "thing" (which includes everything) I ever saw.

N.2: Tetsugaku no michi (The Philosopher's Walk) 哲学の道 A path along Kyoto temples. Unlike any "scenic tour", this pathway turns into an introspective journey to be experienced rather than described.

N.3: Ginkakuji (Temple of the Silver Pavilion) 銀閣寺 The third number "Ginkakuji": The Temple of the Silver Pavilion actually completes the first one and presents all the symbolism of the Ying-Yang, the sun and the moon, the day and the night.

The CD is distributed globally.

Video recordings as well as free auditioning mp3's are available, both at the artist's official website: okonsar.com and at the artist's Youtube channel: /mokonsar.