People often ask me where I get ideas for new music. One very obvious way is playing older music that speaks to me, that I admire. It takes a long time of living with a piece of music to understand its levels of meaning. In preparation for a recent trip to Italy I was playing sonatas by Scarlatti on the piano. Many parts of these pieces are pretty, but there are strange parts too. Wild dissonances, unusual harmonies.
Much of this wildness is related to the Mediterranean aspect of Scarlatti's music. I play it on the Steinway, but Scarlatti wrote it for the harpsichord. And he probably was inspired by the various lutes, mandolins, fiddles and wind instruments of the polyglot culture that one would more accurately call Mediterranean than any national property.
I am also looking at traditional Greek music--encountering scales that survive from ancient times with half and whole steps in unexpected spots. The 8-string bouzouki is a perfect instrument for exploring this--the long neck and pure tone encourage a linear style of playing, almost like flying. I'm trying this on the guitar too!
For me, travel is an essential element in clarifying the dimensions of what a new composition can be (what music means to us). How else to understand the intensity of tango? To post-ironic jaded US ears, this music can sound hopelessly corny. You must experience a tango culture to really know the necessity of tango. All the cliches (this music is really passionate, etc.) cannot explain why, 70 years after the death of tango singer Carlos Gardel, people still bring flowers to his tomb. Why they light him a cigarette or cigar and place it in the fingers of his statue. Or why dancers still cling to funky tango parlors as they cling to each other. You go to Buenos Aires, you drink and breathe it in, you say, 'oh yeah, now I get it.'
I identify with an artist like Goethe who clearly saw himself and his art existing beyond the borders of nationality. His own (for the times) extensive travels in Italy, for example, gave him inspiration for seemingly unrelated works like Faust. Yet Faust, like all great art, is also beyond time - a drama of particulars that transcends to the eternal.
In addition to music, this site will feature samples from Roger's travel diaries. This featured selection is from his trip to Prague in 1994. Watch this space for future installments about his travels.
Prague, Czech Republic
We are on our way to what would become a raucous evening in the famous pub U Zlateho Tygra (At the Golden Tiger) in Prague's Old Town. The address is Husova 17, but the reality is that addresses are not so helpful in locating places in this maze of Gothic streets. U Zlateho Tygra is housed in a 13th Century building and became very popular with literary types in the 19th Century--it is still an important hang out for authors. The only problem is that when the place opens at about 3 PM, it immediately fills up and nobody leaves. If you do not arrive early you'll have to stand to drink and even then it is crowded. That is, unless your friends have friends among the all-powerful waiters...
Our Czech friend/operative is Jindra, who spent his life under communism finding the back door to every possible need. It is no surprise that he is able to fix us something so simple as four seats for 7 PM at a restaurant that nobody can ever get into. So when we arrive and are ushered into the place the entire patronage gazes at us--we must be some famous American pop stars. Only the week before, President Bill Clinton made a state visit to Prague and came here with President Vaclav Havel and other Czech authors to sample the local hospitality. There was quite a buzz going.
Of course you order beer. You don't need to raise your eyes for a second as the waiter plunks a fresh half-liter in front of you the moment your present glass is down to maybe three remaining quaffs. The beer waiters are separate from the food waiters. They patrol the narrow aisles constantly, removing empties and plunking down full glasses. The understanding is that if you are still seated, you want another. If you are seated, as we were, with your back to the aisle, you may not even notice the magical moment of replenishment. Rachel remarks that heaven must be like this--beer from the sky before you even know you need it.
All this beer demands some food, and now we see the food waiter. The menu is limited to classic pub favorites. Our friends recommend the dish favored by Bill Clinton: a breaded pork cutlet that is then deep fried and served with pickles and fried potatoes. Bubba liked it so much he had two orders! Most of our party has this, but I select the Devil's Toast, thin sliced bread slathered with garlic spread, ham, cheese and pickled cabbage on the side. Yes, the combo is a great one!
Clinton was already very popular here. While in Prague he jammed on saxophone with a Czech jazz group and met extensively with President Havel. But the experience at U Zlateho Tygra put him over the top. Now the pork cutlet is known as "The Clinton Meal."
The journey continues next month. See you then!
Yours,
ROGER
