I cobbled together just one little lesson on how to interpret my chromesthetic paintings, based on the very well known melody which Mozart evidently liked to play around with -- the "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" melody. The lesson takes the form of a couple of conceptual images, and an invitation to sing the melody while looking at an image of the chromesthetic "kids painting" that I made of the tune.
The painting Ode to Joy chromesthetically represents a fragment of Beethoven's Ode To Joy. The simplicity of the painting is a reflection of the simplicity of the music, the notes of which are derived from just five pitch classes and just two durations. The palette is a mix of magenta with various metallics. I was thinking that might somehow be suggestive of the regal nature of the piece. Of course, that rather minimalist rendition that the melody that I chose to accompany the image is hardly consistent with the decisions that went into designing the painting! (Sometimes the standard takes are just a bit jarring to me out of context!) The painting is actually a mural, and appears to all those who walk with head up and eyes forward as they exit the southern elevator on the fourth floor of Shineman Hall at SUNY Oswego. Also included is an image of the exhausted painter after having been coerced into standing next to the mural for a picture.
To a Wild Rose chromesthetically represents the American composer Edward MacDowell's 1896 composition of the same name, the first piece from his Ten Woodland Sketches. The palette was inspired quite simply by colors common to roses, and colors of grasses and leaves and things. The beautiful performance is by Julian Lloyd Webber. Although far from my favorite chromesthetic painting, this one is one of my favorites to "read" -- to track as the music plays. No idea why. The painting is hanging in IPAC at SUNY Oswego, the Interdisciplinary Programs and Activities Center.
Moon River is a representation of Henri Mancini's famous tune that was featured in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's. Although there are versions of the song with much stronger vocals (e.g., Barbara Streisand, Andrea Bocelli, Andy Williams), this version by Audrey Hepburn remains my favorite, perhaps because I liked her so very much in the film.
Kelsier's Dream is a representation of Tom Wait's hauntingly beautiful tune All The World Is Green. The painting is titled Kelsier's Dream after a principle character in Brandon Sanderson's "Mistborn" trilogy, who was inspired by his deceased wife Mare to work towards returning the world to a state of "green".
An homage to Lou Reed, the painting Venus in Furs references his Velvet Underground tune of the same name, which references Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's novel of the same name, which references ... Venus! The metallics in the painting correspond to pounding guitar fills. The colors to Reed's vocal melody.
The Wayfaring Stranger painting represents the Texas spiritual turned folk standard that has been covered by so very many great singers. Friend Juliet Forshaw lent her Russian Opera trained vocals to the accompanying rendition. The palette is intended to suggest dirt. The irregular quadrilaterals are intended to suggest staggering stepping stones. And the hollow bordering quadrilaterals, the sad possibility that the wayfaring stranger may be mistaken in her belief that she is going home to meet her loved ones.
Misty channels Errol Garner's great jazz standard, but as a "color blind Chromesthete" might! Two musical renditions are presented, with vocals more or less following the melodic score. More or less, because both Johnny Mathis and Ella Fitzgerald take plenty of liberties with the score, yet with such skill that their performances are exquisitely magical. The challenge of mapping their vocals to the painting is compounded by the fact that rests are represented by metallic silver, which is hardly distinguishable from the shades of gray which make up the palette of "visual" notes. Scanning the paintings to jazz renderings of the melodies is always a fun listening activity for me, and in addition to teasing my musical mind, I think it does something to sharpen my listening skills. (Hints: (1) The first two rectangles are rests. (2) The first syllable of the word "clinging" coincides to the beginning of the second line.)
Dali's influence on Lennon is evident in the song which inspired Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, the painting. The black shapes in the painting are "voids" -- not rests. Amazing, I think it is, that the Beatles could pull off things like repeating the same pitch more than two dozen times, save for a single exception! When reading the painting, please keep in mind that it merely represents the melody of the song.
El Choclo is a chromesthetic take on one of the most popular tangos of all time. Lots of stories swirl around this tune, which was written around 1900. It has been recorded dozens of times, often several times by the same orchestra. The painting is intended to suggest movement by means of thin slanting lines, and the interplay between lead and follow through the mixing of reds and blues. I find this to be one of the more difficult paintings to read, so I have presented a computer generated image and a computer generated (i.e. mechanical) sound file for preliminary listenings. An image of the real painting, along with one of Juan D'Arienzo's (aka the "king of the beat") versions of the tune, is then presented for your listening pleasure! On the recording, Rodolfo Biagi does piano fills rather than the standard triplets and the end of several phrases. The painting will be more consistent with many other takes of the El Choclo.
Arabian Dance (aka Coffee) is a chromesthetic rendering of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's piece from the Nutcracker. Performance by the Orchestra of the Kirov Opera, St. Petersburg & Valery Gergiev.
Sometimes I enjoy mixing the music of a great composer with the palette of a great painter. This painting occasioned one of those times! Angel Glow is the result of chromesthetically interpreting the melody of Jerome Kern's "All The Things You Are" according to a pallete derived from Gustav Klimpt's "The Kiss". The performance is by Artie Shaw and his big band.
The song made famous by Billie Holiday, "You Go To My Head", is given a metalic chromesthetic interpration in You Go To My Head. The palette was inspired by the reference to champagne in the lyric (you go to my head, and I find you spinning 'round in my brain, like the bubbles in a glass of champagne).