Ball of Wax 51 Songs: Peter Colclasure – “Long Form 1”

In this space I recently sang the praises of Peter Colclasure’s compositions for piano – which, as far as I know, are usually composed and performed in the traditional way of writing down music, and then playing it. “Long Form 1,” as far as I can tell, is a new direction in composition and performance for Peter. I don’t know exactly how it was written – if it’s a combination of composed and improvised work, or exclusively one or the other – but I do know it’s a digitally created collage of acoustic and electronic piano, different performances and elements chopped up and (maybe) looped and (definitely) laid over each other. It start simply, and for the first few minutes you might think it was just one deft piano player, but new elements arrive, strange non-acoustic sounds start manifesting, and you begin adding the parts up in your head and realizing that no one one human could be performing this piece. The overall feeling is beautiful, sublime, perhaps even meditative – but in a focused, hyperaware way, rather than a spacing-out and forgetting all your troubles kind of way. (I’ve never really meditated, so it could be that neither of these describes the actual state.) Whatever the state it inspires or evokes, I love this new direction from Peter, and hereby demand a full-length album. In the meantime, he’s generously given us almost 15 minutes of music to immerse ourselves in here. Commence immersion now!