Composed June 2008  - March, 2009 in Petersburg, NY studio. Piano concerto realized digitally.In 3 movements  (14:32): 

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• 1.Wonder  (5:30)

• 2. Attainment (4:28)

• 3. Tranquility (4:36). 

 

Piano solo performed by Barton McLean

The programmatic thread of three distinct attitudes toward life as one progresses through it inform the overall thrust of the work.   “Wonder” explores the state of mind where everything is fresh and new, and a brightness and excitement abound with each new discovery.  “Attainment” symbolizes the strong, mature vibrations of a mindset that involves lifepaths entered and challenges met.  “Tranquility” symbolizes acceptance and peace that accompanies the final stage.  The opening thematic fragment is heard throughout all three movements in various disguises.  

All heady stuff, and all of which is unnecessary to grasp the work’s musical content. Although “States of Being” adopts many of the stylistic and performance aspects of the typical concerto model (virtuosity, cadenza, textural aspects), and it in fact SOUNDS like a concerto, McLean performed it under electronic studio multitrack conditions.  He found this to be necessary since the piano is often extended into unknown and heretofore unheard realms, such as the “ghost” material often accompanying it sounding as softer delays in quasi-randomly controlled pitch areas.  As he states, "At this point in my creative life I need to fix my musical ideas much as a painter fixes the paint directly on his canvas." 

The “Concerto: States of Being” was composed using a standard music sequencer program with two Korg Wavemaker and two Alesis QS 6.2 keyboards as sound generators all under MIDI control, as McLean performed live with the luxury of repeated takes.

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Recorded on Innova in 2011 on McLean’s “Soundworlds” album as part of a NYFA grant.