Direct Music
peer-to-peer music · since 2019
The Direct Music project is a peer-to-peer platform. You can commission a composition from me; I will perform and record it, and send you the complete signed score. Your piece can be of any length — each page costs 250 euros and corresponds to roughly one and a half to two minutes of music. The title will incorporate your name or the name of the person to whom you are gifting the piece.
It is a unique gift – even if just for yourself – that carries a touch of personal immortality.
The concept draws partly on Baroque musical traditions. Back then, any cultured person with means could commission a composer to write a new work. As time went on, the individual listener’s influence on the musical process waned, giving way to publishers, orchestras, festivals, and radio stations. Composers themselves lost the habit of addressing their patrons directly or looking them in the eye; the act of making music became increasingly impersonal.
You and I can change that.
There is also a premium tier: the commission includes a performance and recording by professional musicians. The ensemble size and composition, as well as the length of the piece, can be tailored to your budget and ambitions.
Any performer or ensemble can commission an exclusive work from me, with the sheet music available solely to the commissioner.
If you (or your children) are studying music, you can commission a simple, personalized piece from me; despite its accessibility, it is unlikely to resemble anything you (or they) have ever played before.
Finally, anyone — amateur or professional — can commission a “growing” composition from me: an infinite superposition.
Catalogue · 43 pieces
Lieder ohne Worte:
Unterwassermusik – Schlangengesang – Es gibt keinen Tod (Rezitativ) – Eis. Eden (virtually on text by Paul Celan)
Eis, Eden
Es ist ein Land Verloren,
da wächst ein Mond im Ried,
und das mit uns erfroren,
es glüht umher und sieht.
Es sieht, denn es hat Augen,
die helle Erden sind.
Die Nacht, die Nacht, die Laugen.
Es sieht, das Augenkind.
Es sieht, es sieht, wir sehen,
ich sehe dich, du siehst.
Das Eis wird auferstehen,
eh sich die Stunde schließt.
Лед, Эдем (перевод Ольги Седаковой)
И есть страна Утрата,
там месяц в осоке стоит,
и все, что замерзло с нами,
сверкает и глядит.
Глядит, ведь оно с глазами,
и каждый глаз – земля.
Ночь, щелок, щелок, пламя.
Глядит оно, глаз дитя.
Глядит, глядит, мы смотрим,
ты видишь меня, я гляжу.
Воскреснет лед из мертвых
скорей, чем я доскажу.
text: Vsevolod Nekrasov in Russian original and in German translation by Georg Witte
MIDI demo
Paul Celan
Lob der Ferne
Im Quell deiner Augen
leben die Garne der Fischer der Irrsee
Im Quell deiner Augen
hält das Meer sein Versprechen
Hier werf ich
ein Herz, das geweilt unter Menschen,
die Kleider von mir und den Glanz eines Schwures:
Schwärzer im Schwarz, bin ich nackter.
Abtrünnig erst bin ich treu.
Ich bin du, wenn ich ich bin.
Im Quell deiner Augen
treib ich und träume von Raub
Ein Garn fing ein Garn ein:
wir scheiden umschlungen.
Im Quell deiner Augen
Erwürgt ein Gehenkter den Strang.
Пауль Целан
Хвала далекому
перевод Вячеслава Куприянова
В роднике твоих глаз
ставят сети ловцы обманных морей.
В роднике твоих глаз
море держит свои обещания.
Сюда я забросил
сердце, побывавшее средь людей,
одежду свою и блеск некой клятвы:
Чернее в черном, я стал обнаженней.
Прежде изменник, я верен теперь.
Я это ты, если я это я.
В роднике твоих глаз
я гребу и грежу о краже.
Сеть ловит другую сеть:
мы расстаемся в объятиях.
В роднике твоих глаз
повешенный душит веревку.
Paul Celan
Aus Herzen und Hirnen
sprießen die Halme der Nacht,
und ein Wort, von Sensen gesprochen,
neigt sie ins Leben.
Stumm wie sie
wehn wir der Welt entgegen:
unsere Blicke,
getauscht, um getröstet zu sein,
tasten sich vor,
winken uns dunkel heran.
Blicklos
schweigt nun dein Aug in mein Aug sich,
wandernd
heb ich dein Herz an die Lippen,
hebst du mein Herz an die deinen:
was wir jetzt trinken,
stillt den Durst der Stunden;
was wir jetzt sind,
schenken die Stunden der Zeit ein.
Munden wir ihr?
Kein Laut und kein Licht
schlüpft zwischen uns, es zu sagen.
O Halme, ihr Halme.
Ihr Halme der Nacht.
перевод Вячеслава Куприянова
Из сердец и мозгов
прорастают былинки ночи,
и слово, серпом изреченное,
склоняет их к жизни.
Как и они, немые,
мы веем навстречу миру:
наши взоры
обмениваются, милости ради,
мы на ощупь идем
по их темным намекам
Безблико
молчат твои очи в мои,
блуждая,
подношу твое сердце к губам,
и ты мое сердце подносишь:
то, что пьем мы сейчас,
утоляет жажду часов;
тем, что есть мы сейчас,
наполняют часы времена.
Пригубим мы их?
Ни звука, ни блика:
нет между нами ответа.
О былинки, колосья,
вы, былинки ночи.
Paul Celan
Psalm (1963)
Niemand knetet uns wieder aus Erde und Lehm,
niemand bespricht unseren Staub.
Niemand.
Gelobt seist du, Niemand.
Dir zulieb wollen
wir blühn.
Dir
entgegen.
Ein Nichts
waren wir, sind wir, werden
wir bleiben, blühend:
die Nichts-, die
Niemandsrose.
Mit
dem Griffel seelenhell,
dem Staubfaden himmelswüst,
der Krone rot
vom Purpurwort, das wir sangen
über, o über
dem Dorn.
Пауль Целан
Псалом
перевод Ольги Седаковой
Некому вновь замесить нас из персти
и глины,
Некому заклясть наш прах.
Некому.
Слава тебе, Никто.
Ради тебя мы хотим
цвести.
Тебе
навстречу.
Ничто
были мы, и есть, и будем
и останемся, расцветая:
Ничего –
Никому – роза.
С ее
пестиком светлосердечным
тычинками небеснопустыми
с красным венцом
пурпура-слова, которое мы пели
поверх, о, поверх
терний.
Andrey Nemzer, countertenor & Nikolay Mazhara, piano (unofficial studio premaster, not for download or distrubution)
This direct music was composed in a great hurry as birthday present for a Japanese dancer, choreographer, and electronic composer. Not performed so far.
This direct music was commissioned by Marina Khaskin, my admirer from New York, for Jacob Agar who was that time appointed as a cantor at Beth Sholom Congregation. Mr. Agar has never sung this piece.
I took a Hebrew text of Psalm 130, but only partially; now I feel obliged to complete it.
This direct music was written as a barter for German lessons with a person who adores her dogs.
Subtitle: “Ragtime Flow”. Written for the pianist Ilya Blinov as an encore in his program of Shostakovich’s music
MIDI demo
A solo for a young bassoonist. Unfortunately, he never actually played it. Even more unfortunately, he did not go on to pursue a musical career.
A physicist specializing in standing waves ordered this piece for herself. I love music that doesn't want to express, represent, or even refer to other music (even if that's impossible), but simply wants to be. For instance, like standing waves. That is what it wants to do, but whether it succeeded...
Performed by Mikhail Mordvinov
The piece was written for a Go master from whom I had the pleasure of taking a few lessons. Here, I have attempted to illustrate the mechanisms and forms characteristic of Go.
Performed by Mikhail Mordvinov
The client wanted a piece that would convey what harmony is. Expressing this on a single page was challenging.
Performed by Mikhail Mordvinov
Another attempt at practicing a growing composition, infinite superposition. Three iterations (this is the first) have been written in honor of a four-year-old girl. A growing girl.
Performed by Mikhail Mordvinov
Another attempt at practicing a growing composition, infinite superposition. Three iterations (this is the second) have been written in honor of a four-year-old girl. A growing girl.
Performed by Mikhail Mordvinov
Another attempt at practicing a growing composition, infinite superposition. Three iterations (this is the third) have been written in honor of a four-year-old girl. A growing girl.
Performed by Mikhail Mordvinov
The Cat of Valdai, that is what the client wanted to call the piece written for her. To be honest, I don’t recall the reason behind the title. I believe it had something to do with the prose of Sasha Sokolov, though I’m not entirely certain.
Another requirement was the duration, about four minutes, despite the single-page format. There was nothing for it but to use repeat signs.
I was happy to compose a modest dedication to my beloved poet and writer. Two years later, I would write my first major vocal cycle based on her texts, If Air, and three years after that, Song of Winter (from Winterpoem 20/21).
I know neither the person who commissioned the piece nor the recipient whose name it bears, even her surname is unknown. From the commissioner, I only know the tastes of the dedicatee: light classical music, the kind "everyone listens to."
The goal was to create a gift that would appeal to her, but did the giver win favour? Behind these lies a touching story, unknown to me, that I was glad to be a part of.
Another performance of same piece by Daniil Protsyuk
Here is how the client phrased the request: I have a favorite image, stolen from Greenaway, a suitcase of green figs, which serves as a symbol hinting at poisoning; an object that hypothetically poses a danger. At the same time, it speaks to duality and the passage of time.
Based on (imaginary) Armenian folk motives. For an elderly woman who still remembers how this music lives in its natural habitat.
An example of "direct music" commissioned by a performer. The client receives a right of first performance, extending up to exclusive performance rights.
Also a part of Supremus serie alluding on Malevich’s suprematism.
Performed by Mikhail Mordvinov
A dedication to the mythical figure of Satoshi Nakamoto, the father of Bitcoin.
Scored for any melodic or harmonic instrument(s).
An initial attempt to approach the concept of infinite superposition, a work that grows non-linearly, emerging simultaneously from multiple points within the form.
You can fund the growth or expansion of this piece. Each subsequent iteration will fully encompass the previous ones while simultaneously existing as a distinct composition.
Performed by Daniil Protsyuk, organ