The Music of LUBOMYR MELNYK :
NICHE / NOURISH / NICHE-XON
- Continuous Music for Two Pianos -
It is certainly unlike any other 2-piano music you have heard before!

All music composed and performed by Lubomyr Melnyk. Copyright 1988. All Rights Reserved.
Recorded at the Banff Centre For The Arts, Alberta ,1989. Recording engineer: David Kelln
BANDURA RECORDS, Box 182, Station îEî, Toronto , Canada M6H - 4E2
European distr: Bandura Records, Ramstavägen 1, 640 24 Sköldinge, Sweden

The Music of LUBOMYR MELNYK
NICHE / NOURISH / NICHE-XON
Continuous Music for Two Pianos
-- Complete performance: total 56 minutes ñ

This is very typical îContinuous Musicî with its fast and complex stream of patterns that run together seamlessly. Melnyk created this marvellously new language for the piano in the mid-70's, and with it, a revolutionary type of piano technique that stretches the normal dimensions of performance.
This is piano-playing at a truly high level -- by a fascinating and innovative artist!
One of the main specialities of Continuous Music is two-piano work, where the two pianos create a wonderful and complex tapestry of sound, which is, in the words of one critic:
îÖlike atoms bouncing and playing within the fibres of the mindî  

It is certainly unlike any other 2-piano music you have heard before!

******INSIDE*****

The Music of LUBOMYR MELNYK
- NICHE / NOURISH / NICHE-XON -
Continuous Music for Two Pianos

There are few pianists in the instrument's history who have introduced something so new and astounding as Lubomyr Melnyk. After the somewhat miraculous development of the piano technique --- in itself a glorious achievement --- in the 17 th century, little has happened with the instrument Ö until now, -- when this composer/pianist began his devotional work with Continuous Music ñ inspired by the new modes of composition introduced to the West by people such as Terry Riley and Steve Reich (in the late 1960's). Melnyk has developed this Continuous form into a special piano technique, with specific and highly-demanding capacities in the pianist. It can be noted here that Menlyk, because of this technique, is probably the world's fastest pianist ñ achieving super-sonic speeds of over 19 notes per second in each hand! But all that is secondary, the real essence of this music is the creation of magical landscapes, where the listener becomes immersed in a pure and gentle dimension of sound!

One of the special characteristics or specialities of Continuous Music is TWO-piano work --- because this music then flourishes as a double-sided image in the mind, creating a mysterious and delightful effect of space and sound. You can see this very clearly here in this piece.

NICHE / NOURISH / NICHE-XON - : two pianos, 1988. (56'30î)
Originally, this was a short work of only one movement --- it was commissioned by The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1987 --- but, as often is the case, this time-frame proved to be too small for all the related musical thoughts that flowered out of this first section Ö and the piece quickly grew into a full 3-movement work lasting nearly one hour.
This is a complete performance of the entire 2-piano work, ie. this recording is the way Melnyk recorded it in Banff , 1989.
It was a difficult decision whether to break up the master tape into 2 or 3 sections so that the listener could jump to any section they wished. It was finally decided to release this CD just as it was recorded in its full îpureî performance. Those who wish, may specially order, at reduced price, a copy of this piece in 3 sections, with fade-outs, etc.

This is one of Melnyk's îhappierî works, sometimes quite sunlit and airy --- one sometimes even gets a feeling of flying lightly through the clouds. At other times, it can feel tragic and lamenting.
It is certainly a piece that offers a multitudinous array of flourishing and abstract landscapes that flow continuously before the listener.
Each section, or movement, is able to exist on its own, ie. you can perform the piece with 1, or 2 or all 3 of the movements. It can also stand as a solo-piano work, without the added dimension of the second piano. This also produces an interesting and fully pleasing result Ö this can be of interest for other pianists who wish to try this piece, or parts of it ! and for anyone who might want to hear how this piece sounds îcut in halfî, ie. the first part alone, a special recording featuring just the solo Piano -A- part is also available .... please contact Bandura Records for these îSoloî versions of this piece and other recordings by Lubomyr Melnyk.

Although the entire performance was performed and recorded înon-stopî without any breaks, for the full 56 min. ---for cd purposes this performance has been broken up into 2 sections to enable the listener to choose the first or second half of the piece at any one time. The two sections have a short overlap in the fade-in to Part -II-. If you should wish to have this performance in one complete unbroken session, a supplementary CD version is available, at reduced cost, from Bandura Records.

Note: One of the very important and delightful features of Continuous Piano is the over-tone layer that builds up from the piano. This layer sometimes produces the effect of hearing a full orchestra or strings and horns coming from the piano.
Unfortunately, the digital process îdestroysî all the high-frequencies produced in Continuous Music performance, and replaces them with a synthetic and false îdead-planeî.
The master tape used for this CD was a Digital recording .. HOWEVER, an Analogue master-tape was also made, and this Hi-Fi recording can be special-ordered on chrome-cassette to avoid digital sound.

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