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MUSIC
_____________________________________________________________ PUNK!!!! (in EVERY genre), avant garde, serialism, minimalism, electronic music, computer music, electronica, dance music, hard-core, renaissance music, folk music, Hungarian culture, Asian culture, piano music, rock of the 60's and early 70's, improvisation, jazz, aleatoric music, pythagoras, music history, music theory (i.e. "musical scatology"), fibonacci series, golden ratio, structure, apple computers, anime, surreal, dada, impressionism, primitivism, technology, Bela Bartok, Butthole surfers, Beethoven, The Residents, Johannes Brahms, Aphex Twin, Gyorgy Ligeti, Dj Spooky (Paul D. Miller), Morton Feldman, Pixies, John Cage, The Doors, Arvo Part, Pink Floyd, Olivier Messiaen, Led Zeppelin, Miles Davis, Igor Stravinsky, Bill Evans, Edgar Varese, Bjork, RadioHead, Carl Orff, Soul Coughing, Alexander Scriabine, Frank Zappa, Erick Satie, Neil Young, Witold Lutoslawski, Getz+Gilberto, Blondie, Louis Armstrong, Beatles, Ink Spots, Jimmie Hendrix, Anthony Braxton, Steppenwolf, George Crumb, King Crimson, Henryck Gorecki, Grassy Knoll, Kenneth Gaburo, Crystal Method, Krysztof Penderecki, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Poulenc, Arnold Scheonberg, Berg, Anton von Webern, Echo and the Bunnymen, Plasmatics, Severed Heads, Dead Milkmen, Black Flag, FEAR, Talvin Singh, Robert Carl, David Macbride, James Sellars, Steven Gryc, Ingram Marshall, Gesualdo, Allegri, Palestrina, Frescobaldi, Buxtehude, J. S. Bach, Franz Liszt, Schubert, Berlioz, Gustav Mahler, Frederic Chopin, A.+D. Scarlatti, Alfred Schnittke, Dimitri Shostokovich, Robert Nasta, Boulez, Iannis Xenakis, Richard D. James, Cecil Taylor, Morton Subotnick, Wendy Carlos, Paul Hindemith, Phillip Glass, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, John Adams, Vladimir Horowitz, Steve Mackey, Burning Sensations, Magyar Gregorianum, Hungarian Culture, Philipino Culture, Thelonius Monk, Balazs Szokolay, Alphonse Izzo, Kubrick, Danny Kaye, Pete Seeger, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Donovan, Steely Dan, Talking Heads, Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, Cream, early Scorpions, Muppet Show and Sesame Street, toy piano, Mr. Forbes (who made me believe that I COULD play music at an early age), my first piece- my very first kiss... (this is a very small sampling)
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OTHER INFLUENCES
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racing, sailing, FIAT X 1/9 (souped up), Ferarri, Mazerati, cooking, reading, films, photography, Apple, gear-lust, biking, tennis, PS2, drawing, ceramics, all other forms of ART!!!, hating the Bush administration, building a nice fire on a crisp New England evening, anything HUNGARIAN, Hungary, different cultures around the world, never stop being a student, NOT being an "expert", a 4-year-old child is our greatest teacher, tibet, climbing, underwater, a good wine and a beautiful sunset...
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FILM INFLUENCES
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The Shining, Jan Svenkmejer's "Faust", Nosferatu, Metropolis, ANYTHING Hitchcock, a lot of old-fart b+w films, independant films, "Never cry wolf", Matrix series, Rings (all of 'em), Galaxy Quest (watch it in the Thermian soundtrack...I DARE you), Narnia, Harry Potter, PIXAR, Akira, Cowboy BeBop, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, The Iron Giant, F3, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Spiderman, the LAST Batman, Interview with a Vampire, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Schultz gets the Blues, Ronin, The Italian Job, Magnificent Seven, Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Alien, the Brothers QUAY stuff, Tarkovsky's wacked-out films, (MANY more later)
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TV INFLUENCES
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I desperately try NOT watch the damed thing...I'll tape John Stewart, Good Eats, CAR repair and racing, Victory by Design episodes on esoteric Italian autos, and some fun Adult Swim stuff...TV = EVIL...it ROTZ yor brayne
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BOOK INFLUENCES
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Currently on my reading shelf: "Sensitive Chaos" Schwenk, Ligeti biography by Toop, Sibelius program manual, Suzuki "Zen Mind Beginner's Mind", "History of Orchestration" Carse, "Film Music" Prenergast, "Anatomy of an Orchestra" Del Mar, "The Orchestra" Peyser, "The Artist's Way" Cameron, "Dreams" Rain, "Materials and Techniques of 20th C Music" Kostka, Wourinen's "Simple Composition", Gauldin's "A Practical Approach to 16th C Counterpoint", "Jitterbug Perfume" Robbins, "Tibetan Book of the Dead" Evans-Wentz, "Essential Rumi" Barks, "The World is Sound: Nada Brahma" Berendt, "Circumscribing the Open Universe" Delio, "Every Tree is the Forest" by Emoke B'Racz
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HERO INFLUENCES
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My Mother and Father, and my two darling sisters. My fiancee...my family...They really are my heroes.
(Film Music composition, recording, editing, production):
Used at the end of a film called "G-spots": a modern retelling of the "Wife of Bath" Canterbury Tale starring Sandy Duncan and Kieth Davids, produced by Bagelfish Productions, directed by Daniel Scott Fine, written by Fine and Carla Stockton. Solo voice: Edward Ludvigsen, Cello: An-Lin Bardin. Other haunting vocal samples: "Frottola" (old record) by the Rennaissance composer Josquin Desprez. Created, under extreme for deadline-pressure, at 3:00 AM with the producers both nervously pacing around behind me: oddly- It is one of my more "tonal" and serene works. I really loved creating the ancient velvety atmosphere. Its good to listen to a high quality version with headphones to really let the sound envelope you. Get it HERE
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"Stravetude" for solo piano
(recording of a live performance)
from "Eight Etudes" for solo piano, this etude takes a dash of the Stravinsky Sonata’s opening-gesture-"arrival at C", and goes quite a bit elsewhere with it. Fun, short, jazzy, quirky and technically challanging. Recorded live performance by B’Racz.
Get it HERE [SCORE AVAILABLE]
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"RadioHeadSuiteDesign"
(sampled, edited, performed with samplers, and "Live")
I’ve always been intrigued by drum samples (who hasn’t?) and poly-rhythms, etc. I also love to obsess over a rhythm, and push it through digital HELL. ALL the sounds come from one single source.
(From a review on Lulu.com from E. Hasham)"...a bit like Aphex Twin but its got a more hard-core minimalist feel to it...I like listening to the slowly evolving process, how it changes ever so gradually...LOTS of DISTORTION- I feel like I’m listening to some insane machine..." Get it HERE
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"POE1" ending section
Chamber work for Clarinet, Cello, two percussion, counter-tenor, (and optional narrator) based on Poe’s "Ms, found in a bottle" short story. Was the headline work with the Puppetsweat group at the International Puppet Festival in NYC at LaMama. Vadim Lando, clarinet; Eric Dahlin, cello; Thomas Kozumplik, both percussion; Istvan Peter B’Racz, piano; Lawrence Zukof, countertenor; conducted by Edward Ludvigsen. [SCORE AND PARTS AVAILABLE]. You may preview the entire work (as well as the other movements) and get it HERE
starts out "normally enough": acoustic guitar with vocals like bad Neil Young...
then, it moves somewhere quite distantly "electronic" and never quite makes it back. I’ve always felt that the creative impulse comes from a song, the urge to sing- to tell a story. I can’t deny it anymore...its something I deeply love to do (if only I wasn’t so damned shy about it). You may preview the entire work at a higher quality and download it HERE
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"X-FIELDS: for large orchestra, first movement"
5 movement work for large orchestra which begins with non-pitch and somewhat of a "soundmass mentality"; change occurs through "cataclysm", where the fabric of the music
becomes "too heavy or disturbed" by its own weight. (sampler realization, for obvious reasons). Full Score and Parts available. To read more about, and to hear, the other movements, please go HERE
My works range from solo instrumental to large orchestral writing. I enjoy creating music in the "acoustic" chamber-music traditions of classical music, creating purely electronic music, electronica, as well as music in the pop traditions. My sound is ever-changing, yet there seems to be an inescapable influence of the East...
I love to compose in many different styles and mediums: electronic, avant garde, electronica, orchestral works, sound mass, tonal, atonal, creating soundtracks, ambient environments, scores for film and games, folk-music-influences, new-agey, music of the spheres, hard-core, punk. It is a wonderful compositional challenge. I enjoy taking elements of different styles and filtering them through my own musical tastes and experiences...
Although I don’t consider myself particularly an "academic" composer, there is often some kind of aesthetic/philosophy (or a process/game) that operates as structural glue in my works (so far). Sometimes it is not outwardly obvious. I find that the essence of "composing" is in the overseeing of large-scale blue-prints of works, and delighting in detail. Its an ever-changing process which is what has me "addicted"...
As a performer, I enjoy performing/premiering new works for the keyboard and various electronic elements mixing styles, traditions and influences....
Studied composition, electronic music, and conducting at the Hartt School of Music,
piano at the Yale School of Music, Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest Hungary
(awarded a Fulbright Grant), composition and piano at the Oberlin Conservatory,
Neighborhood Music School (NMS), and the Educational Center for the Arts (ECA).
Taught piano and composition as well as music technology at
Central Connecticut State University, Southern CT State University, as well as at ECA and NMS. Currently, teach piano, composition and theory at NMS: record, edit, produce CDs of concerts for Professonal Musicians and audition CDs for students.
Works performed (and have given performances)
in many venues throughout the United States, as well as Europe.
I especially enjoy working with performers and composers closely,
and am the Artistic Director and founder of SOUNDunderGROUND (formerly New Haven Worx), a concert series devoted to new music, composers, performers, poets, and other artists.
How do I pay the bills?
teacher, landlord, recordist, and part construction worker...
with almost no time to compose of or practice!!!
In the few waking moments that are left:
I love to play with my cats’ minds with a laser pointer......
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Thanks so much for the Add–and your friendship. We enjoyed your music very much. Thanks for sharing it with all of us. It's a pleasure having you among our friends!
We've just added two new blogs about Umano, plus four more new compositions, making ten on our space. We hope you and your friends visit us and enjoy our music, too.
We wake up every morning and play the music of the new MySpace friends who have arrived at our site during the night. It occurred to us that these friends (you are among them) are almost universally positive, whether they be novices or legends, and without regard to their station in life or the country they occupy.
Although it's not an original thought, it also occurred to us that we couldn’t hold a verbal conversation with most of these friends, but we have bridged that gap by expressing our art honestly with each other.
We all have been filling the world with our music and art, in the hope that our messages of love and human understanding will have an impact on the world at large.
What a gift and what an opportunity we have received from this technology!
glad you like it. i love your piano playing on it. sorry you couldn't play it with us last night or on friday night. it was a blessing to sing again...
i am deeply moved by the beauty of your piano playing.
It went great! I think there will be a lo-fi video of some sort, but it was recorded with some nice equipment. I'll definitely pass it along when it's available. See you at the show on the 22nd, right?
Dear Istvan: Thanks for your thoughtful comments. Yes, notion requires a fair amount of tweaking, but i don't regard that to be a terrible chore if i imagine the members of the orchestra i've set up as a group of extremely talented young musicians who need a conductor to educate them in matter s of idiomatic performance practice. This approach applies to other composers' work, where i show my own peculiar interpretive bias. & yes i have visited Malaprops in Asheville a block down from the Grove Arcade and the Wall Street area. Used to work with a contemporary dance company in that vicinity off and on through the 90's. Fun shop as are many around there. Although i visited there last fall , it's been a couple of years since i stepped into that particular bookstore. If i make it up to New Haven i'd enjoy meeting you. My father was from there and my mother worked on a masters degree in biochemistry at Yale. The last time i was in town i played with Chadbourne there about twenty years ago. Or if you have a gig down this way it'd be cool to catch dinner or coffee or whatever as well. Hope your endeavors go as well or better than you hoped - gil.
Dear Istvan: Thanks for the gracious add& the splendid array of kaleidoscopic approaches to music making you've posted. Your blog about Jacob Druckman was lovely to read as well - he encouraged me, despite my not being able to study with him in the early 80's. Good luck with your opera. Look forward to hearing more of your explorations in compostion/improv. and reading your purposefully provocative observations. Have fun - gil.
yeah, ashkenazy's take on shostakovich's preludes and such is worth listening to. something meditative about it and unparalleled. i'm going into the studio on thursday. hoping to make a bit more progress on "nimbus" and such...
yes, xfields is profound, haunting and totally you. thank you for sharing something so wondrous! i appreciate your call today, as well as your wonderful collaboration. i can't wait to get it done for you. good vibes and lots of appreciation,
hey it's John! Thanks for the add.. this is my new band, and we're hoping to have material up in 2 weeks or so. It's going to be pretty sweet. I'll keep you posted!
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