W h e n B l u e T u r n s G o u l d

O t a c í l i o M e l g a ç o

- D e d i c a t e d T o G l e n n G o u l d -

[duration 01:07:22] all rights reserved

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The artist Otacílio Melgaço has two official curators in the virtual world. A curator (from Latin: ´curare´, meaning ´to take care´) is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, keeper of a cultural heritage institution (e.g., gallery, museum, library or, as the present case: sound archive) is a content specialist charged with an institution's collections and, highlighting the context in force here, involved with the interpretation of personal (heritage) material. Both, Mr. Paz and Mr. Campbell, are, therefore, reviewers of the Melgacian works. To learn more about their missions, tasks, assignments and responsibilities by means of valuable informations regarding the compositional process, the performative rhizomes and other special features, just click the following link: otaciliomelgaco.wixsite.com/preamblebypsp
(O.M.Team; P r e l u d e)

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"(Prepared) Piano - and after-effects -, the same for Harpsichord and a String Quartet. The whole Melgacian multitude of timbristic epiphanies to highlight his ´rites of passage between notes´.

i) Bach Variations = A deeply religious atmosphere (which in itself justifies brilliantly the title), makes me imagine being inside a Glass Cathedral or Ice Basilica (because of transparency, crystallinity, clarity, clairvoyance);

ii) A Merry Metamorphosis = 1- Zeus was the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, who ruled as king of the gods of Mount Olympus. His name is cognate with the first element of his Roman equivalent Jupiter; 2- In Norse mythology, Thor (from Old Norse Þórr) is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing, healing and fertility; 3- Zeus, Jupiter, Thor ... - how many and which other personifications we could find to describe the performance perpetrated by Melgaço here? Plus: when plainly happens - in the second movement of the music - the ´Metamorphosis´, we realize that after storm comes the calm and it´s fabulous the effect when shakes and then pacifies our perceptions (always expanded by O.M.);

iii) So You Want to Write A Letter [from Stalingrad]? = This hieratic creation invites us to penetrate into a sound tunnel, like a perspective of initiation and transcendence - ie a proof of perfect harmony with the great art of Bach and Gould but, printing his authenticity, Melgaço consecrates a monumental contemplative/oniric/ethereal path;

iv) One [Bachian] for Nicky = A mastery of condensation; audible poeticity that brings more glow to a lightsome passage of Glenn biography;

v) When Blue Turns Gould = A splendid challenging ultimate Encomium! Worth its weight (and almost unbearable lightness of Being) in Gold." (Pablo S. Paz; Argentinean musicologist)

"´I believe that the justification of art is the internal combustion it ignites in the hearts of men and not its shallow, externalized, public manifestations. The purpose of art is not the release of a momentary ejection of adrenalin but is, rather, the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity.´ (G.G.)

In front of this magnificent ´Pièce de résistance´ of the Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist Otacílio Melgaço, can assure you that I also believe more and more in it." (Caio Campbell; Anglo-Brazilian semiologist and musician)

Be sure to check also
melgacootacilio.bandcamp.com/album/on-contrapuntal-glenn-street-otac-lio-melga-o-duration-01-01-16

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I - Glenn Herbert Gould (1932 – 1982) was a Canadian pianist who became one of the best-known and most celebrated classical pianists of the 20th century. He was particularly renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach. His playing was distinguished by remarkable technical proficiency and capacity to articulate the polyphonic texture of Bach's music.

After his adolescence, Gould rejected most of the standard Romantic piano literature including Liszt, Schumann, and Chopin. Although his recordings were dominated by Bach, Gould's repertoire was diverse, including works by Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Brahms, pre-Baroque composers such as Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Orlando Gibbons and William Byrd, and such 20th-century composers as Paul Hindemith, Arnold Schoenberg and Richard Strauss. Gould was well known for various eccentricities, from his unorthodox musical interpretations and mannerisms at the keyboard to aspects of his lifestyle and personal behaviour. He stopped giving concerts at the age of 31 to concentrate on studio recording and other projects. Gould was the first pianist to record any of Liszt's piano transcriptions of Beethoven's symphonies (beginning with the Fifth Symphony, in 1967).

Gould was also known as a writer, composer, conductor, and broadcaster. He was a prolific contributor to musical journals, in which he discussed music theory and outlined his musical philosophy. His career as a composer was less distinguished. His output was minimal and many projects were left unfinished. There is evidence that, had he lived beyond 50, he intended to abandon the piano and devote the remainder of his career to conducting and other projects. As a broadcaster, Gould was prolific. His output ranged from television and radio broadcasts of studio performances to musique concrète radio documentaries about life in the Canadian wilderness;

II - Nicky was the beloved dog of G.G. when young;

III - Curio: "Mahavishnu" is an album by the Mahavishnu Orchestra, released in 1984 by Warner Bros. Records. "When Blue Turns Gold", title of the final track.

...for purposes of pragmatism and clear exegesis,
quotes have Wikipedia as a source...

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Between two parentheses...
(Atonalism, Twelve-Tone, Serialism, Musique Concrète... Acousmatic. Eletroacoustic. Magnetic Tape. Expressionism, New Objectivity, Hyperrealism, Abstractionism, Neoclassicism, Neobarbarism, Futurism, Mythic Method. Electronic...Computer Music, Spectral, Polystylism, Neoromanticism, Minimalism and Post-Minimalism...are addressed by Melgaço. Paradoxically New Simplicity and New Complexity also.
Art Rock, Free Jazz, Ethnic Dialects, Street Sounds are occasional syntax elements.
All the possibilities mentioned above and others that were not mentioned are the usual accoutrements of the composer/instrumentalist to establish his ´babelic´ glossary. We can prove this in a short passage of a single composition up along the entirety of a conceptual phonograph album. All distributed over a career and idiosyncratic records. Have we a universe before us and I propose to see it through a telescope, not a microscope.
I propose not handle very specialized topics here. Otherwise would be, with the exception of musicians and scholars, all hostages of a hermetic jargon. Because more important is to present Otacílio Melgaço to the general public and not to a segment of specialists. Faction of experts not need presentations, depart for the enjoyment beforehand. For this reason there is no niche here for intellectual onanism and encrypted musical terminology. The reason for these parentheses is to establish such elucidation. The non-adoption of technicalities leads to more panoramic, amplifier reviews. Are You always welcome. Those who do not dominate contemporary music and are introduced to the world of ubiquitous O.M. [autodidact and independent artist who, being more specific, does not belong to schools or doctrines; artist who makes Music and that´s enough; music devoid of labels or stylistic, chronological, historical paradigms or trends] and Those who belong to the métier and turn to enjoy propositions they know and also delving into advanced Melgacian sound cosmogonies...
I conclude poetically. ´Certeza/Certainty´ by Octavio Paz. ´Si es real la luz blanca De esta lámpara, real La mano que escribe, ¿son reales
Los ojos que miran lo escrito? De una palabra a la otra Lo que digo se desvanece. Yo sé que estoy vivo Entre dos paréntesis.´ If it is real the white light from this lamp, real the writing hand, are they real, the eyes looking at what I write? From one word to the other what I say vanishes. I know that I am alive between two parentheses.
We´re all more and more a-l-i-v-e now.)
- P.S.P.