a thread for Lubomyr Melnyk

been listening to this dude like a FIEND lately, and I couldn't find a thread for him so I figured I'd start one.

so far I have 3 of his albums, and all 3 are winners. HIGHLY recommended if you like Steve Reich, Max Richter, Terry Riley's solo piano stuff, things like that.

Corollaries - just listened to this one for the first time now and it's pretty great. I could do without the vocals but whatever, the arrangements are just
The Watchers (w/ James Blackshaw) - probably my least favorite of the three I own but it's still mighty pretty
Three Solo Pieces - my favorite thing of his, and possibly my favorite release on Unseen Worlds (and I REALLY like their reissue of The Expanding Universe). just gorgeous, poignant piano music presented without accompaniment (which magnifies the elegance a thousandfold). easily one of my favorite releases of 2013.

i love three solo pieces; great record (and yes, a great label all around.)

i don't have anything insightful to say but it may be worth noting that melnyk is among the fastest piano players in the world, if not thee fastest?

THE fastest!

thankfully he's not the Yngwie Malmsteen of piano; his stuff is just arrestingly gorgeous. I can't believe I made it this long without having heard his stuff before.

Love Three Solo Pieces but it's the only one I've heard

Search: Wave Lox

have heard a couple of this guy's works. reminded me quite a bit of the two james blackshaw piano compositions that are on the glass bead game, so it's interesting to see that he's actually made music with jb and makes me wonder a little about the history of their association. what does blackshaw play on that record?

Corollries really is quite excellent; there's a meh-inducing spoken word bit towards the beginning, but everything else is just flat-out gorgeous. Three Solo Pieces is still my absolute favorite thing of his that I've heard so far; the first time I listened to it I was trying to read a book, but I kept looking up and staring at my stereo in awe. it's just relentlessly, uncompromisingly beautiful.

Melnyk also seems to occupy the precise midpoint between the other two big categories of music I've been obsessing over in 2014 - frantic, mystical free jazz (Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Joe Henderson, pretty much the whole New Thing! comp Soul Jazz put out) and expansive, room-filling compositions (The Sinking of the Titanic, the rework of Solaris by Ben Frost & Daniel Bjornsson, es' Sateenkaarisuudelma, Yoshi Wada's Earth Horns With Electronic Drone). I guess it helps that I'm a huge Philip Glass fan too.

a few recommendations to folks looking for more stuff like this: Terry Riley's Lisbon Concert, Mark McGuire's Tidings/Amethyst Waves, Golden Retriever's Occupied With the Unspoken, John Elliot's Outer Space material, Jean Piche's Heliograms, and Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom's The Days of Mars. obviously most of these lack the "holy shit that guy's actually playing that live!!!!!!" factor, but they do manage to scratch the itch. totally open to other stuff to check out too!

I also ordered copies of Simeon Ten Holt's Canto Ostinato and Charlemagne Palestine's Four Manifestations on Six Elements since they're the most common recommendations for folks seeking more stuff like Melnyk, along with a copy of KMH (I decided to turn my last bonus check into records).

also some of charlemagne palestine's piano pieces kind of remind me of melnyk's cascading style.

lol didnt even see you mention him there james, that piece is specifically what i was thinking of. I think it has a sweet organ drone on it too.

New sad piece:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr2ofP0Qof4

From Twitter:

Lubomyr Melnyk
@Lubomyr_Melnyk
·
16m
The Ukrainian people are so thankful for the support from the good people of this world!
But the politicians -- who rule these good people
--- are not good people. They turn their backs on the horrendous suffering of Ukraine. Without planes and soldiers. how long do we survive

He recently pulled his music from Spotify in protest of their Russian office.

Fallen Trees has been on regular rotation for me for the past year or so. It's such a gorgeous work of music.

Hmm. Has gone quiet on Twitter.

Only just noticed that he's playing shows in Oxford and Cambridge this week, including the Holywell Music Room in Oxford on Tuesday - completely missed this until now and I am fairly attentive to these things.

Saw Melnyk last night at the Holywell Music Room, Oxford.

It was a curious event.

It seemed organised by a Balliol College student, who was also a student of Melynyk's. He noted that a week and a half ago he'd only sold 30 tickets and he'd managed to more or less fill the venue (194 capacity) by getting friends to come along. I'd have thought that it would have sold out easily to a mixed crowd of people (Erased Tapes types, music students, people interested in piano music). The music was mostly beautiful/moving and one track - unplanned but played because of the Ukrainians in attendance, definitely provoked tears from some. The songs were introduced with rambling, oft-angry comments with Russians, crap stereos and Greens obsessed with nuclear power being the targets. I enjoyed it but was simultaneously relieved when it finished. There was a point where I was wondering if I'd have been happier just listening to one of his albums at home but this morning definitely felt glad I went - for random asides like an elderly couple asking if I knew anything about Lubomyr because they'd "heard he was wonderful at Magdalen last night". A few people looked very asleep (distinct from listening with closed eyes). The organiser made a dramatic speech afterwards (that was something like "nobody plays music like this except Lubomyr and myself - this was my second favourite concert of all time.") Melnyk seemed keen to get to the merch stand - felt slightly bad for not staying and buying something but there was a queue and dithering.