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Nocturnes, fantasias - LP

by Joan Arnau Pàmies

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1.
Wien, 1909 02:51
2.
Meditació 04:16
3.
Sonatina 02:45
4.
Decoupling 02:29
5.
6.
7.
Kryptogramm 03:46
8.
Malpaís 05:06
9.
10.
Quodlibet 06:43
11.
12.

about

"Nocturnes, fantasias" represents a radical departure from most of the music I made between 2010 and 2019. While many of the pieces written during that period were fundamentally explorations of notational possibilities, this set evolved from a trial-and-error creative process in the studio. In "Nocturnes, fantasias," the "raw" material I employed was not paper and pencil but recordings of short, improvised pieces I performed on piano, electric keyboards and guitars, and various synthesizers.

Improvisation has been a central facet of my work since the beginning of my career, and I continue to perform solo piano shows of entirely improvised music. What is new in this work is the use of improvisation to generate material that later can be edited and rearranged on the computer. At first, such a different approach to creating music made me uneasy, to the extent that it took me a few months to reach desirable outcomes. Accordingly, these short pieces are my attempt to explore aesthetic territory far from that which I have already known.

A major extramusical reason is behind this change. In 2019, my wife Sarah and I moved from the U.S. to Catalonia and had a son. This decision, paired with the prolonged and repeated confinements we endured due to COVID-19, forced us to spend months in our apartment, where our day-to-day lives consisted mainly of raising our child and working from home. Managing the complexities of my scores in those circumstances—especially projecting their multiple and contradictory sonic possibilities in my mind, which requires long periods of deep concentration—grew impossible. Thus, recording sounds and exploring their potential led to a much more accessible creative path.

Undoubtedly, this is a personal, intimate work. "Nocturnes, fantasias" was mostly created at night after my daily teaching responsibilities and while our son was asleep. The title materialized quite naturally: often quiet but detailed sounds for a time of rest and reflection (nocturnes); materials and structures derived from improvisations (fantasias). I recommend listening to this music at night in a silent and dim environment, ideally on headphones or through hi-fi equipment.

"Nocturnes, fantasias" is dedicated to Adrià.

Joan Arnau Pàmies

credits

released April 16, 2021

All tracks composed, recorded, and mixed by Joan Arnau Pàmies at his home studios in Lleida and Reus (Catalonia)

Joan Arnau Pàmies plays piano, electric piano, synthesizers, electric guitar, MIDI instruments and controllers, and digital signal processing

Mastering: Chris Mercer
Produced by Chris Mercer and Hans Thomalla
Design by Ana María Bermúdez

"Nocturnes, fantasias" is supported by the Department of Culture of the Government of Catalonia

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Joan Arnau Pàmies Vilaplana, Spain

Joan Arnau Pàmies is a composer and multi-instrumentalist. Born in Catalonia in 1988, Pàmies’ career spans fifteen years of highly diverse work, which encompasses chamber and ensemble music, unusual forms of music notation, electroacoustic pieces, live electronics performances, and free improvisation on multiple instruments. ... more

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