Ethereal III: Liner Notes
Ethereal III
Both as a composer and guitar player I have always felt the limitations of the
guitar. This might be one of the reasons why classical guitar occupies a lonely
place within the classical music world. Not everyone can compose for guitar;
only those who intimately know the limitations and possibilities of the
instrument. Even if someone knows the guitar well, the instrument does not offer
the necessary levels of polyphony and tonal ranges. Since the beginning of my
career I have had my own compositional concept to create music. The guitar
proved to be unsuitable to achieve them. This is why I started to use more
strings, to use special tunings, etc., to extend the possibilities of the
instrument. I tried to follow the way others compose for guitar; however, I
encountered new obstacles. As a composer, I decided to suspend composing using
only guitar. Instead, I wanted to compose in a different way to avoid the
limitations of guitar.
Ethereal III is my first attempt in composing for a chamber orchestra, and also the very first album where I do not play guitar and I appear only as a composer creating the orchestration behind Kevin Kastning’s piano pieces. This project was unbelievably educational for me. I got Kevin’s sparsely-recorded piano tracks leaving enough space for the orchestral layer, then I started to build up the music with a never-experienced freedom. Technically it was also very challenging because I did not want to use the popular orchestral software, which all sound the same and their sound is too sterile for me. Instead, I used live recorded samples from real string instruments which were not modified or optimized. To work with these samples demanded much more work and time, but the sound has been individually unique; for example, containing random sound elements naturally occurring in live playing. The setup of the chamber orchestra is special. I used 1 violin, 8 cellos and 1 double bass. This setup is not typical in classical music, but I did not want to create this music following any aesthetic trends, but instead to find something for my music I have heard inside.
In the future, Kevin and I will record more
chamber orchestral pieces, including orchestral compositions with two guitars.
Sándor Szabó
Vác, Hungary
3. March, 2019
In late December 2017 during the recording sessions for what would become the
album 30/36, Sándor asked me to record a pair of piano pieces. He planned to
use these piano pieces as the basis of a cello sonata composition. Sándor had
worked with a cellist in Budapest and created a new set of digital cello
samples. Using my piano tracks, Sándor created a pair of wonderful sonatas for
piano and cello. It wasn't until our 2018 European Tour that I would hear the
final versions of these recorded compositions. These pieces made a strong
impression on me, and I carried their memory and imprint with me for quite some
time.
When Sándor and I began to discuss the direction of Ethereal III, the next
installment in the Ethereal
album series, I still carried the thoughts,
atmospheres, and impact of the cello sonata pieces in my head. I then suggested
that I perform on piano for this record; thus continuing the direction he began
with the cello sonata pieces. Sándor agreed, and I set out to begin further
considering the direction for this album project. I decided to continue with the
compositional direction I'd begun with the cello pieces.
After recording a few piano pieces, I proposed an entirely new and challenging
concept to Sándor: to record Ethereal III entirely without guitars. In other
words, I would be on piano for the entire record, and Sandor would create cello
and other string orchestral sounds and elements. Hence, there would be no guitar
sounds on the record; only piano and orchestral instruments. He agreed, and we
embarked in a new and previously unknown direction.
When I made the proposal to Sándor, I had envisioned this as a long-term
recording project. However, the recordings came together much quicker than
either of us had imagined. Within a couple of weeks, the recording sessions were
complete.
At the outset of this recording project, we had no real idea the direction it
would eventually take, as we had never attempted a project like this. I do not
see Ethereal III as a project that has come to completion. I see Ethereal III
as
being a key to unlocking an entirely new direction for Sándor and I. Not
an ending, but a beginning.
Kevin Kastning
Massachusetts US
1 March 2019
© 2019 Greydisc Records / Suigeneria Music [BMI]
