About this work:
Concerto: States of Being (2009) 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, I performed it under electronic studio multitrack conditions. I 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. 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 I performed live with the luxury of repeated takes. This is part of an Innova recording featuring Barton McLean's music called "Soundworlds."
1. Wonder (5:30), 2. Attainment (4:28), 3. Tranquility (4:36). Live studio performance stereo sound. Barton McLean, piano (Alesis QC 6.2). No score, all done in studio. Studio Vision with 2 Alesis QC 6.2 and 2 Korg Wavestations. Recorded on Innova in 2011 on McLean’s “Soundworlds” album as part of a NYFA grant.
My website (where you can find my email as well)
http://www.fairpoint.net/~rainfor1/McLean_MAXMSP/Main_page.html
Phone: 518 658 3595
YouTube playlist (with 32 videos and counting)
https://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=3ACAB7BAD86CE7B4
Also check out my entry in Wikipedia
Although I, Barton McLean, hold the copyright, I nontheless hereby gladly authorize anyone to make copies and perform the work for noncommercial and/or educational purposes providing that my name is reasonably displayed as the composer. I do not under any circumstances authorize selecting portions of the work to appear intact in another person's composition, or to appear under any other composer's name, without my written signed authorization.
Regarding the audio file accompanying this work: I, Barton McLean own the copyright to the composition itself. Being aware that this work has been released on a commercial CD, and that the CD company might possess the copyright to that particular sound recording of the composition, I nonetheless claim copyright to this specific sound recording posted here, because it is not the exact recording released on CD. Rather, it is another mix down and revision of that work which may approximate the commercial CD in most respects but nevertheless is a distinct sound recording of which I claim the copyright.