The catch is, whatever “meaning” we may find, wish for, or declare, is but a superimposition of our own making. Our stories about ourselves or our lives, as interesting as they may be, sit atop a bedrock of meaninglessness, incoherence, and dissatisfaction.
In music, meaning has always felt elusive to me. Instead, this search is often substituted for an adjudication of rule following, norms, or living up to particular musical expectations. These pieces come awfully close to suggesting ‘normal’ musical behaviours, and yet fall short of offering satiety in that respect. Miniatures, on account of their brevity, frustrate musical expectations that one might long for. They cannot really be said to undergo any kind of development, repetition becomes either difficult (or gratuitous), and often they suggest participation in a whole that is maddeningly difficult to demarcate.
In listening to these pieces, consider that, of all the great human qualities, fighting that bedrock of dissatisfaction is one of the most inextinguishable. Such is life.
Mark Limacher is a Composer-Pianist currently based in Calgary, Canada. He is a graduate of New School University in New York City, and has served as apprentice to composer Bunita Marcus in Brooklyn, NY. He has composed extensively for piano, solo instruments, and chamber ensembles, being particularly drawn to small gestures, soft dynamics, and precarious aural textures. Interested in experimentation within the creative process itself, his music explores ideas such as “found music”, patterns, silence/waiting, objects and grids. He engages in an ongoing collaborative project with visual artist Brianna Strong, Encuentro, focused around finding new and inventive ways of disrupting, undermining, and disordering each other’s creative work. As a pianist he has performed with ensembles such as the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Theater Calgary, and the Calgary Creative Arts Ensemble. His diverse and eclectic areas of musical interest include the work of Morton Feldman, John Cage, the Wandelweiser collective, Sephardic & Middle Eastern music, and popular music of the early 20th Century. He hosts the radio program Unprocessed with violinist Laura Reid, CJSW, 90.9 FM, in Calgary.
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