The Remnants of a Man

Two of Melnyk's most famous works for double-piano, from 1985. The Fountain has been described as a milestone of 2-piano work that has been played on radio stations throughout the world. Melnyk has performed this work at most of his live concerts.

The Remnants Of A Man is dedicated to the Ordinary Man – and subtitled: ”after War, after Love, after Toil, after Life”. The concept behind this work is essentially the ”futility” of Love - that Man (understand here, the male person) is tortured and devastated all life long, by the Beauty of woman. Hence, the pain of man's love towards women - unavoidable, and relentless, and perhaps wonderful in its un-fulfillment. The music contains, somewhere in the latter volcanic arpeggiated sections, a direct melodic reference to Ludvig van Beethoven - a short phrase from his 9 th symphony that comes with his strong forceful steps, then dissipates into the mists of time… Melnyk chose this phrase to do homage to Beethoven and his unhappy life. This recording was digitally made at Glashuset (Stockholm) in 1985.

In The Fountain, also from 1985, we see and hear the sparkle of water as it bubbles forth in some quiet corner of a town - and there to the edges of this fountain comes a flock of birds, that linger for awhile, then gently leave us in the quiet dusk, where far-off bells toll the evening's rest. The Fountain, although a classic example of the Continuous Mode, is also somewhat unusual for Melnyk´s piano music, since in practise ALL of his work is performed with the sustain pedal down the entire time – but not here! The Fountain actually opens up for the first half of the piece with totally ”dry” sound – no pedal at all! The pedal does appear later on though, as the birds begin to arrive (arpeggiation begins ….) This recording, from March 14,1985 , was made on Hi-Fi analog master tapes. (Please see final notes regarding Sound at the end of this insert.)

The Niche-Improvisation presented here uses, as its starting point, the opening phrases from the piece -Niche / Nourish - (A full performance of this much larger work - with 2 pianos - is available on a separate CD). This music is also typically ”Continuous” just like The Fountain , but it is more sparkling and lighter in its tone character. Moreover, you can now hear what a Solo piano sounds like when done in the ”Continuous Mode”! This performance was recorded on April 10/01.

Instruments

Double Piano

Musicians

Lubomyr Melnyk (Pianos)

Total Playtime

60 minutes

Year

1985

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