As part of Ultima Festival NY, ISSUE presents an afternoon concert at the First Unitarian Church in Brooklyn Heights pairing solo piano performances by the young Finnish musician Antti Tolvi and acclaimed composer/performer Lubomyr Melnyk, architect of the "Continuous Music" method. Both pianists venture far outside the classical tradition, sharing a special emphasis on the instrument's capacity for extended harmony and overtone, and explorations of non-linear duration.
Program:
* Antti Tolvi, solo piano
* Lubomyr Melnyk, solo piano
Composer and pianist Lubomyr Melnyk is the pioneer of Continuous Music— a piano technique he has developed since the 70s that uses extremely rapid notes and note-series to create a tapestry of sound. Inspired by the minimal, phase and pattern musics of Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Terry Riley, yet frustrated by the ecstatic detachment from reality they can encourage, Lubomyr Melnyk created Continuous Music, based in the innovations of the minimalist composers but with its roots more deeply planted in harmony. His first record KMH: Piano Music in the Continuous Mode (Music Gallery Editions, 1978) is the fruition of the idea he began developing in 1974 reimagines the sentiment expressed by Reich in his watershed Music for 18 Musicians, realized entirely for solo piano. Overtones blend or clash according to the harmonic changes. The technique of mastering his complex note patterns and speeds makes his music difficult for the normal pianist, and the kinetic athleticism of Melnyk's performance is unparalleled. Melnyk has released a number of solo piano and ensemble works on the Bandura label through the 1970s and 1980s, and has composed many more, though relatively little was heard from him until the CD reissue of KMH (Unseen Worlds, 2007) and his private-press CDR editions of his own work began appearing. In 2013 he Melnyk released solo albums on Hinterzimmer, Unseen Worlds and Erased Tapes, as well as a duo album with guitarist James Blackshaw (Important).
Born in Panelia on the west coast of Finland, the self-taught Antti Tolvi (b. 1977) began making music with his brothers. From 2000-2001 he studied classical Indian music in Varanasi, and this marked a turning point in his perception of music. On returning to his native Finland, he became embroiled in Free Jazz for a number of years, until a recent relocation to the countryside pushed him ever more towards solo improvisation – deriving inspiration from, in Antti’s own words, “harmonies, overtones, going into sound, no ends, no starts, from nothing comes something, just perfect, peace”. His main instruments have been saxophones, clarinets, flutes and all kind of wind instruments, and also the piano. Known for piano music with nods towards classical, avant-garde, improvisation, psych, free jazz and Indian music.
