Credits
Matthew Evan Taylor, composition and soprano saxophone
Utsav Lal, prepared piano
Developed and produced by Metropolis Ensemble
Andrew Cyr, Founder/Artistic Director
Videography: Sam Kann (Vermont), Ryan Streber (New York)
Editor: Christopher Botta
Juniper Creative LLC, Art
Commissioned and produced by The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Live Arts
This program is made possible by the Adrienne Arsht Fund for Resilience through Art.
Matthew Evan Taylor: Postcards to The Met
Postcard 10: December 2021
Postcard 10 was filmed in Chesterfield, MA July 10, 2021 and Oktaven Audio, Mount Vernon, NY
Utsav Lal ventures into the inside of the piano as he plays Matthew Evan Taylor’s December Postcard. He opens the instrument’s lid, muting and plucking its strings and exploring waves of sound and silence while Taylor’s lines mingle in between. Lal and Taylor share an interest in these extended techniques for piano. Lal remembers first getting in-depth exposure to them as a student studying improvisation at the New England Conservatory; Taylor recalls teaching improvisation courses where he and his students would talk or yell into the piano’s body to hear how it would spit back a near-perfect replication of their voices. Both find joy in discovering how to transform the sound of such a familiar instrument.
This is Lal and Taylor’s first collaboration. Taylor first came across Lal’s work when he was listening to RAJAS albums, which is a group Lal plays in, and he quickly became excited to write for Lal. The first part of working together involved going through Taylor’s score—when Lal saw Taylor’s graphic and text notation, he wanted to pay close attention and learn every detail. Lal enjoyed the process, especially how the piece allowed him freedom within a rigorous set of limitations. He’s instructed to only play the bottom three notes of the piano, or to stay away from some notes, or to pluck or mute or otherwise manipulate the pitches. These guideposts give him structure and enough wiggle room to fit his part seamlessly with Taylor’s performance.
The Postcard takes its inspiration from the heightened resonance Taylor hears in wintertime. This winter, he’s finding himself soaking in the season’s minutiae—tiny changes in how the earth sounds, feels, and looks. As the ground freezes and hardens, sounds echo for a seemingly infinite amount of time. Taylor notices that he can hear neighbors talking down the street and when he steps on something and it snaps, its echo lasts for what feels like forever. He illustrates these phenomena through waves of resonance and muted piano tones, using the many different timbres of the instrument to explore the damped vibrations of winter.
Resonance also presents a duality: Endless echoes might make you feel like you’re surrounded by people, but they can also make you feel alone or isolated. Taylor’s December Postcard also explores this idea, teetering between fullness and solitude. It’s a reflection of the duality of how we live in winter, which brings holiday get-togethers as well as quiet moments. Lal and Taylor animate these ideas through meditative music that showcases both the stillness and fullness of wintertime.
Vanessa Ague
December, 2021
Score preview
Program Notes
To Utsav –
Outside my house, the ground is covered in snow.
The soil is frozen solid, like the ponds and lakes, and everything
Reflects.
The simple snap of a twig, reverberates down the street.
The echo is cold and strange
Strangely present.
Sometimes, the only evidence of life,
Is the breaths contained in the echoes.
Watch recent Postcards
