Art and Music/ Primitivism/ My Poem

There are many moments where a painting elicits musical sounds for me, or vice versa. When I listen to Debussy's cello sonata(1915), (his only cello sonata, and it's a striking use of the cello, at least for Debussy's time!) Gauguin's In the Vanilla Grove, Man and Horse (Dans la vanillère, homme et cheval)

Here's the music and the painting... okay. I confess, that when I listen to it again, the picture is not a perfect match with the music. The beginning phrase, played by piano solo, gives a green color, and a feeling of vastness. Cello, as many people have pointed out, has a human quality. It's quality is the closest to a human voice, among all musical instruments. I think it signals the entry of the person. The tone color change, which is initiated by both instruments playing softly, and more importantly, cello playing in high registers (therefore using a thinner string among the four, and using less portion of string to vibrate, and thus produce a more shrilly sound. However, if executed beautifully, the shrilly sound can be rendered round and sweet, as in the recording below.)

The second movement itself embodies more creativity, and it demands the same creativity from the performer. As for the style, I am so tempted to call it primitivism. With politically incorrect Orientalist eyes, I see weird people, or aliens walking in a strange way. Cello professor Alan Harris asks his student (and my friend) to play it in a weird way. Like really weird. 

The sonata is subtitled (by Debussy) “Pierrot fâché avec la lune” (Pierrot vexed with the moon).


The painting below is Paul Gauguin's In the Vanilla Grove Man and Horse, aka. the Rendezvous.

Gauguin was inspired in his excursion in Tahiti and had one of his most fruitful years in artistic output (1891). My general comment: the sharp color changes resembles Debussy's music. The visual depth is not created by space, but color. One can even argue there is no space depth. Unlike portraits, where the main character usually is situated in the middle, the Tahitan in the picture stands at the side, and lends space for nature to show itself. His contemplative face does not show clear emotions. Quite mysterious, and yes, Oriental.
More info on the painting on this external link.

And now, I'll share my spoils, a poem from the poetry session in Lyra Summer Music Workshop... (www.lyrasummermusic.com)

What makes me Blissfully Happy today

Beauty

  of friends, every friend

  of nature, every creature

  of music, every god-blessed - or god-damned - note, gesture and expression

  and finally, of weirdness, everything that seems to go the wrong way - or just another way.

I'll try to share more thoughts/ anecdotes about the relationship between music and visual arts in this blog. I really like that.