Lubomyr Melnyk is readying his Fallen Trees LP for release on December 7th via Erased Tapes. Born in the Ukraine in 1948, the pianist would end up emigrating to Canada with his family after the fall of the Iron Curtain. There, he studied classical piano while also receiving degrees in Latin and Philosophy from St Paul’s College in Winnipeg. After graduation, Melnyk traveled to Paris where he found work accompanying the experimental choreographer Carolyn Carlson.
Looking to move beyond the confines of his classical training, and influenced by the dancers in Carlson’s company, the pianist began to develop a more spontaneous and improvisational style he called Continuous Music. Taking cues from minimalist pioneers like Steve Reich and Philip Glass, and moved by Terry Riley‘s seminal 1964 composition ‘In C,’ Melnyk’s Continuous Music also sought to create a transfixing sonic experience–but thru a more “maximal” approach.
Relying on his extraordinary skills at the instrument–in 1985 the musician set two world records at the Sigtuna Stiftelsen in Sweden where he sustained speeds of over 19.5 notes per second in each hand playing 93,650 individual notes in one hour–Lubomyr sought to create an “unbroken line of sound” from the piano. Relying on his unbelievable dexterity, and often using the instrument’s sustain pedal, the result was an overpowering music filled with harmonic overtone and multiplying resonance.
Melnyk’s release of Fallen Trees will coincide with his 70th birthday. The album was inspired by a long train trip across Europe and influenced by the sight of felled trees in a dark forest. Describing the album’s namesake, Melnyk explains:
“They were glorious. Even though they’d been killed, they weren’t dead. There was something sorrowful there, but also hopeful.”
While the pianist’s work is central to Fallen Trees, the 8-track effort will also feature several Erased Tapes artists including the Japanese vocalist Hatis Noit, the Berlin-based cellist Anne Müller, as well as the American singer David Allred.
“Fallen Tree…” parts I-V stand at the center here, but the album also includes the tracks: “Requiem For A Fallen Tree,” “Son Of Parasol,” as well as the track below, “Barcarolle.” A traditional folk song sung by Venetian gondoliers and also a style in the Classical tradition, this was originally composed for the National Ballet of Canada’s production of The Dreamers Ever Leave You, a modern ballet piece by Choreographer Robert Binet. Melnyk explains that the piece offers a “tree ballet atmosphere, reminding us that trees move in different dimensions to us.” The musician’s cascading melodic figures, like trees in the wind, seem to sway in somber movement, and while the lines contain gravity, they seem ultimately free even under this constraint.
