Monday, September 30, 2013

Tone Perception Visualized: Tonal Refraction I

It's here after many years of preparation, on the cutting edge of graphics and printing technology, the first book presenting Tonal Refraction as a method of deepening awareness of your own idiosyncratic  hearing of specific tones in specific context.

Mozart furnishes the context for this first volume in the projected series, as well he should, for it was his music that first aroused in me the baffling sensation of how special a note could feel in a particular piece of music.  The work on which this volume is based is his Piano Quartet in G minor, a work in danger of being trivialized because it is "not" difficult, as is the case for many of his most mature compositions.

An honest musician will confess to humility in the face of a work that transforms an ordinary note, G, into an almost unbearable demand.

Look at the website www.tonalrefraction.com for a taste of the book.  Order your copy and start on your own journey of self-awareness, guided by one of the most provocative works in the chamber repertoire.