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Instant Composition


Speaking The Language Of Music in Real Time


William Goldstein headed the jury in the first competition in "Instant Music Composition" in well over 100 years at the Transatlantyk Festival in Poznan Poland in August 2011. He gives Master Classes and recitals in The Art of "Instant Composition", creating compositions in real time in front of the audience. Some of the most famous practitioners of instant composition are Bach, Mozart, Handel, Scarlatti, Lizt, Chopin, Gershwin...and more recently Keith Jarrett. Improvising since the age of 4, Goldstein has the ability to sit at a piano and create instant compositions. Unlike Jazz improv which is built around an existent structure, he starts with nothing and creates a complete piece, with form and structure....from scratch.

He improvises ballets with dancers, and creates musical conversations with singers. He scores short films in concert, playing from the first frame of picture, as he watches the film with the audience for the first time. When the film has finished, there exists a complete score.

NPR Here & Now Interview with Robin Young discussing Instant Composition with William Goldstein

Collaborative Composition - Reviewed by Fanfare Magazine

Brushstrokes: The Intersection of Art & Music - Reviewed by Fanfare Magazine

Remembering Mariupol - Reviewed by Fanfare Magazine

Goldstein in Tallinn- Reviewed by Fanfare Magazine

Musical Portraits: An International Collection - Reviewed by Fanfare Magazine

Goldstein In Berlin - Reviewed by Fanfare Magazine

There are many more examples of Instant Composition on William Goldstein's YouTube Channel


Available Recordings of Instant Composition


His Solo Piano Albums Muses, Innocence Soul Of An Actor, First Impressions and Isn't It Romantic, are unusual collections of improvised compositions. In Soul Of An Actor, the first three notes of every composition were selected by each individual actor on the album. With A Life In 3 Notes all but one of the compositions, or musical portraits are based on three notes chosen by the subject. Similarly in Musical Portraits: An Internation Collection, in addition to three note musical portraits, one composition is a musical response to a book, another , a musical response to a "scent". Muses, another collection of mostly musical portraits, was selected by the Spotify Editorial board and featured on its new Classical release playlist. In Instant Composition, Goldstein affirms that he is indeed Continuing the Tradition of Mozart!

"What separates these impromptus from most contemporary improvisation is that Mr. Goldstein's improvisations, like the classic impromptus, are really "instant composition". They all have form, shape and developed themes, spontaneously created."

Musical Portraits: An International Collection

(New Gold Music Ltd.)

available at:

Apple / iTunes

Muses

(New Gold Music Ltd.)

available at:

Spotify

Innocence

(New Gold Music Ltd.)

available at:

Spotify

A Life in Three Notes

(New Gold Music Ltd.)

available at:

Spotify
 

Instant Composition

(New Gold Music Ltd.)

available at:

Spotify

Soul Of An Actor

(New Gold Music Ltd.)

available at:

Spotify

First Impressions

(New Gold Music Ltd.)

available at:

Spotify

Isn't It Romantic

(New Gold Music Ltd.)

available at:

Spotify

The beautifully atmospheric compositions on Soul Scapes, created with Vibraphonist Karl Berger, were Goldstein's first attempt at collaborative improvised composition. This is an area that few composers or performers have attempted. Subsequently he created In The Moment, with long time close friend, composer and saxophonist James DiPasquale. This is perhaps the most tightly compositional, emotionally charged collection of tracks ever created by two collaborators creating a composition in real time. Intensity with cellist Maksim Velichkin, and Brushstrokes with violinist Pei-Wen Liao are intense, adventurous and experimental collections of compositions with a healthy dose of humor thrown into their mix.

Each individual instrument possesses its own characteristic sound, and each musician has a unique personality, therefore it is no wonder that the explorations into improvised composition with violinist Lili Haydn on Evocations, and violinist Elizabeth Basoff Darskaia, On A Summer Afternoon, have an unsurpassed delicacy, elegance and sophistication, combined with the emotional connectivity found in all of Goldstein's work. Musings, a collaboration with the superb guitarist Laurence Juber, explores the piano-guitar duo that was all the rage in 19th-century Europe, while creating a diverse contemporary repertoire.

Brushstrokes


(New Gold Music Ltd.)

available at:

Spotify

Intensity


(New Gold Music Ltd.)

available at:

Spotify

Musings


(New Gold Music Ltd.)

available at:

Spotify

Evocations


(New Gold Music Ltd.)

available at:

Spotify

 

On A Summer Afternoon

(New Gold Music Ltd.)

available at:

Spotify

In the Moment

(New Gold Music Ltd.)

available at:

Spotify

Soul Scapes

(New Gold Music Ltd.)

available at:

Spotify

Preview Instant Composition with these Music Videos





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