Igor Nazaruk - Pianographics (89), Carpathian New Year Kolyada (83)

There are four forms of immortality.  The first is physical, not yet achievable, but potentially possible.  (Walt Disney's head is still in suspended animation deep-freeze -- why?  so we can see Hollywood make a sequel to Snow White in which the evil stepmother is beaten up by the princess and killed with a crossbow by a grumpy dwarf?  Here we include the fantasists in AI who believe soon we will be able to ' download ' our minds into computers-- sadly lacking in communication with neuroscience which doesn't have even a grip on how consciousness arises in the brain.   An interesting consideration relating to this I recently came across has to do with inequities on the planet-- of course it's rich north americans and europeans who will be 'immortalized', assuming this ever becomes possible: but for the billions of asians and africans life will be brief as always, if not briefer.... who thinks that's fair?  ( Never mind the 'paradox' that the parents will be taking away from their children and grandchildren through their continued existence.  Will the great-grandchildren take care of their immortalized kin at their own nutritional expense? at the expense of their own children? )  

The second is spiritual or religious immortality.  I believe most people are not afraid of death due to the latent belief there is something that comes after -- though they won't often admit it.  Of course this is one of the big raison d'etres of religion, among many.  When I think of how devastating it was in the distant past when 2 out of 4 children died before the age of 5, how else could a parent handle it other than by believing in angels?  Today we still feel there is no greater pain in the world than the death of a child, and humans were no different in the past.

The third is familial, my genes are bestowed on my children who will carry my spirit on.  I see myself in my two boys so clearly-- the first, passionate, slightly neurotic curious book-lover, the second, always laughing, playful and generous to a fault.  And the fourth is cultural immortality.  One can't underestimate the power of this especially in the area of art and creative endeavours into which I would also place pure mathematics.  Igor Nazaruk will receive this because his music is so exceptionally beautiful.  I will treasure his records for my whole life and I will not part with them until after I die.  If there is one thing I would listen to with my family's voices on my day of death it would be the forest awakens suite from Nazaruk.  And perhaps my children will keep the record to remind them of their crazy music-loving father who went searching the whole planet for beautiful sounds.

For those who love music (and all those reading this blog must be in that category), it's like a taste of heaven on this earth.

  Parting is all we know of heaven,

  And all we need of hell.

--Emily Dickinson

I want to thank the obscure little beasties website for introducing me to some of these amazing cccp finds, this blog is truly a treasure trove of lost vinyl, and always interesting (http://progresyvusisrokas.blogspot.ca/).
We know the russians are fantastic in music composition, in the early 20th century the greatest composers including Prokofieff, Stravinsky, Shostakovitch, hailed from there.  Not surprising therefore that in the late 20th century they also seamlessly combined jazz and classical into a gorgeous amalgam of precious jewelry.  In the next couple of weeks I will present perfect, cleaned up and brand new rips of Nazaruk's best, so stay tuned for those too!!

I've posted some piano albums before, but this one is head and shoulders above the others in its mastery of composition and interest.  It's hard for me to believe that it's really improvised.   Of note is the very light use of percussion here and there in the background to augment the otherwise somewhat similar-sounding piano textures.  In particular, check out the first song which is so evocative, makes me think of a dark land where occasionally birds flutter, the sun shines through the clouds here and there and you breathe in the wonderful smell of the earth's natural state.



As bonus I add for you a brand new rip of the fantastic Carpathian New Year Kolyada Suite, which I've divided in order to emphasize the masterpiece inside, the Hymn to the Midnight Sun.  Notice the unusual but gorgeous chords Igor plays on the farfisa organ in the background, lightly as if stepping upwards, like an arc of sunrays slowly working its way up the sky in higher degrees slowly but surely.  The virtuoso sax player is one Alexei Zubov.

 Here is the first track from pianographics:

And here is the Hymn to the Midnight Star from the Carpathian: