Product Description
Contains:"Uncertainty"
- taken from the Isadar solo piano collections, "Active Imagination / Reconstructed" (also available on SMP)
Sounds like: Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, Vince Guaraldi, Liz Story, George Winston, early Windham Hill solo piano artists
Transcribed by: David Shenton (
https://www.shentonmusic.com/ ) verbatim to the sound recording
Note: A slightly different version of this composition is
also heard on the Isadar album, "Reconstructed" (Produced by Will
Ackerman)
Album & Songbook Review by: Kathy Parsons
I love this CD! It constantly amazes me how many outstanding
composer/pianists there are out there - especially in relation to the
few who are highly (commercially) successful within this broad genre. I
would say that Active Imagination definitely
belongs near the top of the heap. Isadars style is original, and his
pianism is excellent. He lists his inspirations as Liz Story, Keith
Jarrett, and Bill Evans, and I can hear traces of all three in his
playing, but find his composing and playing styles to be uniquely his
own.
The first three tracks are lively and upbeat ("Active Imagination",
"Throwing the Dice", and "Where the Wild Things Are") with an easy,
jazzy, improvised feel. The meter changes are fascinating, and the
bluesy beat on "Wild Things" is infectious.
From there, the mood seems
to gradually darken and become more introspective. "Waiting" is a
beautiful, flowing mood piece full of questions and a lovely melody
line. Isadars cover of Liz Storys "Wedding Rain" is wonderful - this
is a piece I often work on with my advanced students, and everything
about Isadars interpretation of the piece seems right without being a
carbon-copy of Lizs recording.
"Feu Follet (the spook light)" has a
nice, easy flow with a strong sense of mystery; it also has an unusual
rhythm that lightens the mood and adds a bounce. "Uncertainty" is cooler
and more aloof, but gorgeous in its flowing introspection - that it
ends with a major chord, feels like the soul-searching has had positive
results. "Love Chaconne" is the closing track, and is the longest and
most abstract piece on the CD. The left hand plays a repeated pattern
while the right hand goes off in several different directions (one of
the primary characteristics of a "chaconne"). Beautiful in its
simplicity, this is the only track that seems to contain an element of
pain and sorrow, but never dissolves into melodrama.
Active Imagination
is excellent from start to finish and I highly recommend it to anyone
who likes solo piano with substance and complexity, but is still
accessible, melodic, and rhythmic. Bravo amundo!
Active Imagination Sheet Music Collection is the companion songbook to Isadars 1999 CD release, Active Imagination.
The CD was one of my favorites for the year when I reviewed it for the
print version of "Wind and Wire" magazine, so I was really looking
forward to the sheet music! Transcribed note-for-note by David Shenton
of ShentonMusic.com (I proofed about half of the book, so I can attest
to how accurate it is!), it is up to you to make the music sound as
close to the CD as you want or to interpret the music and make your own
statements with it.
One thing that really stands out ab
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.