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1.
Spring Thaw 08:52
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2.
Spring Flood 08:42
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3.
Reawakening 12:05
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4.
Spring Fling 13:55
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5.
Drained 10:27
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about

A winter of pain
eventually releases
with the melting snow.

Recorded in the spring of 2001, this is Glenn's second CD of piano improvisation. It is a celebration of springtime – the melting of snow, the breaking of ice, the flowering of life, the rejuvination of spirit. As he remembers, “I had not done any recording for quite a while and suddenly found I had a week to myself. I launched joyously into the project and emerged about ten days later with several quality takes. It really felt like emerging from a long winter's sleep, hense the name.”

Though he is also a successful composer and a long-time double bassist with the Phoenix Symphony, free improvisation at the piano has remained a serious creative pursuit for him since the mid-1970's, almost exclusively as a soloist. In the 1990's, he began to deliberately merge his improvisation and his composition, first by developing compositions from his recorded improvisations and then by incorporating what he had learned back into his improvisation. Snowmelt is the first CD in which he feels he has achieved this synthesis.

“My purpose is to attempt to match the depth of reflection of composition with a spiritual depth of intensity achieved in improvisation,” he explained. “I would take an improvisation and then polish, tweek, and expand it into a written composition. But that process rather quickly worked its way back into my improvisation. It was not something I was expecting, but it was very clear to me what had happened. At that point, there was really no need for me to transcribe and rework the music anymore. It was fine just the way it was.”

Improvisation is a spiritual celebration of the moment, as any jazz artist will tell you. But though he improvises and has played jazz, Glenn is not a artist in the jazz tradition, he is a classical composer and performer with decades of experience. His music can be soft and tender, or loud and intense. He changes tempo. He changes mood. He changes key and harmony. Often.

“I don't just ride a groove or key or progression. I try to improvise the way I would compose, only spontaneously. My music is propelled by emotional impulse. I try to feel every moment.”

credits

released November 6, 2009

Glenn Stallcop piano, composer
Kari Stallcop album artist

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Glenn Stallcop Phoenix, Arizona

Glenn Stallcop is a composer, pianist, and a long-time double bassist with the Phoenix Symphony. He has recorded many albums of piano improvisation over the last 20 years. He is a well-established composer with over 100 published works for orchestra, chamber music and vocal works, solo piano and double bass. ... more

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