Malinowski, Fugue to Stanley Krebs, Vocoded String Quartet

[fiandrhi]

This is a very fine composition, very fine. What is the quote at 3:05. It's the subject of a Bach fugue, right? But I can't remember which.

[smalin]

@fiandrhi That's right; it's the G minor fugue from the second book of the WTC.

[rogerstill71]

...and in 5/4 time, no less!

[smalin]

@rogerstill71 Just for one measure.

[RoxxorzYourBoxxorz]

I absolutely adore this piece. Thank you - a thousand times, thank you.

[gngeannakakes]

How do you do the rolling in introduction and the rolling out ending of the video? What video software package do you use?

[smalin]

I assemble the video in Adobe Premiere Pro.

[bennyK95]

Is this the equilibrium of the three states of prateo-fugues? Or is is the canonical statement of D minor?

[smalin]

I'm sorry, I don't understand either of your questions.

[Wagnerlover777]

@bennyK95 Well, to answer your question, it is more like an equilibrium of several ideas, in other words, a triple fuge, and the canonical idea can't be right because the three themes are not all in D minor, yes?

[pianogirl98]

What a wonderful original composition! I guess many of the viewers would think it must be one of those Fugues by BACH!

Does your invention of The Music Animation Machine make you like Fugue even more?

That extra beat of the Tenor at the very end sounds last forever.... LOLs!

[kasianczuk]

It seems that you encrust Bach's theme (WTC, II, Fugue g-moll) in second half of this nice piece :)

[smalin]

Yes, the explanation for that is in the article about this piece on the Kunst der Fuge web site (see the FAQ).

[Asrialth]

I think you made this pretty awesome and gave it a new touch. If oyu compare this to the version on a normal piano, this is way more inspiring, still, I believe this lost the classical touch a bit.

But still a very nice piece!

[EradicationOfDimise]

Very nice.

[OnigiriChan1010]

I love how the viola starts off the whole thing. :]

[merdufer]

2:54 wasn't as cool as I thought it would be. the voices felt so clustered.

[smalin]

Often, people ask me "how about doing composition by drawing pretty patterns and translating them back into music." My answer is: it's not likely to sound very good.

Now, here we have a piece which was written the normal way, and the part of it that looks the coolest as graphics is a disappointment as music.

So, maybe this is evidence in support of my assertion?

[merdufer]

Graphic notation has its place and potential. But I agree that most of them probably won't sound good.

The graphic gave me the impression of a continual cascade downwards, perhaps similar to the Shepard tone. But on such a short interval, and without the corresponding amplitude variation, it came out very differently.

It still doesn't sound bad though. It's just not as cool as the graphic.

[smalin]

The problem with turning graphics into music is that there are many things that make a big difference in how music sounds that make very little difference in how the corresponding graphics look --- at least, for all the graphical representations I've seen so far. Until a graphics-to-music mapping is developed that takes into account what makes music music, it's not going to be possible to draw musical music.

[merdufer]

There are things that make a big difference in how music sounds that make very little difference in how the corresponding classical notation look. It is merely a matter of conveying what is important to the piece. In the case of counterpoints, the harmonies are the key. And classical notation does that very well.

[merdufer]

As for mapping, it's a matter of common experience. Classically trained musicians can read classical notations because of that experience. To find a notation that can convey musical information without training (outside of life experience), albeit inefficient, is a rewarding quest for the commonalities of humanity on its own.

[houstonbiker]

very nice

[qythium]

To be honest, the violin 1 part at 2:10 is absolutely unplayable in real life. Even if you managed to get it in tune, it would sound shrieky and completely out of place.

Apart from that, good job!

[mooboo123451]

theres a part in ravels mother goose suite which has a very high violin part like that, may even be a tad higher.

[smalin]

I play the violin, and although I'm not good enough to play that passage, I know it's possible --- and just how hard it is (don't forget: I had to play something similar to it through the vocoder to make this video). It's at the most intense part of the piece, so it's okay for it to be a tad raucous.

[SFChristo]

I think qythium's comment can be seen as going a bit deeper. We are probably never going to hear this on a string quartet or string orchestra. THIS IS the version that the world is experiencing. So in some sense it does not matter if its possible to perform (or the tessitura would be unpleasant) on "real" instruments. (Although I personally would prefer it).

[smalin]

Hi Christo! Yeah, given my track record, I'd be very surprised if this piece ever got performed. If you listen to the vocoded-harmonica version (see the FAQ), you'll get a sense of how intense I would want it to get when it goes way up there (since I was better able to control the dynamics with that instrument). It's really not impossible; a decent string orchestra could make it sound pretty sweet.

[5RetardedSquirrels]

@qythium

Kinda like the violin in Beethoven Grosse Fugue? Which I consider a beautiful, passionite piece of music.

[smalin]

At the risk of mentioning the Grosse Fuga and my fugue in the same breath (which my fugue doesn't deserve), the highest note in the Grosse Fuga is a B-flat, and the highest note in my fugue is a D (a major third higher).

[MultiFailBot]

The violin part at 2:10 is completely playable. >_>

[jedbeetle]

@MultiFailBot A lot of players lose their ears at that range...

[brightsideoflife64]

I don't like this....too tinny!

[pedantologist]

Fugue win

[antipax00]

keep up these wonderful synesthetic videos

[AsSomedayItMayHappen]

Hi again Smalin!

I must say I really like the texture achieved by this, and I'm amazed that the technology behind it. I'm going to ask to see if our school has something like this, I'd love to try it out.

Keep posting =D

Having said that, I think for the sake of hearing the contrapuntal nature of this, the piano version you recorded is much more succinct.

[ICosmoI]

I like the syncopation.