Interesting and unusual chords

[Arjuna]

I thought I mentioned context.

Oh, yeah. You did mention context. Sorry, I thought you were talking about historical context though. My mistake

[fleubis]

Bach WTC II Preludium I, penultimate bar, last quaver/eighth...Beethoven op.26, first movement bar 26, second beat...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I suspect what you are looking at here is a constant pedal point (although in the op26 case not in the bass so much) against a moving counterpoint which then resolve into the one voice.

My own favourite here, and one which on the Stuart I play with the damper pedal down throughout, is the first bar of the Adagio movement of the Beethoven op110, where the bass Bb underpins five changes of harmony from the initial Bb minor.

Also try the last four bars of DriftLight, from Pictures of Light by William Baines. Utterly magical...

Regards
Fred

Fred, you are so right about DriftLight. I've been playing it that way for some time. I might add that even chopsticks would sound magical on a Stuart (lucky you!).

[fredbucket]

I might add that even chopsticks would sound magical on a Stuart (lucky you!).

It does.

Regards
Fred

[Ferruccio]

Just a thought, and correct me if I'm wrong, but no isolated chord is intrinsically "interesting" right? I mean, aren't chords kind of meaningless out of context?

I disagree with that.
Ok, a single chord has no syntax and maybe a very free and uncroncrete interpretation. But for a musician a chord never is without a special colour (maybe depending from circumstances like instrument, situation, acoustics, mood of the listener etc), meaning, simply effect for the soul.
Can you imagine that a chord like b- e-sharp - g-sharp - d-sharp leaves you totally cold ?
I think the whole expressionistic, and furthermore serialistic and pointilistic music bases mainly of the meaning of single musical phenomenons.

[HullandHellandHalifax]

Just a thought, and correct me if I'm wrong, but no isolated chord is intrinsically "interesting" right? I mean, aren't chords kind of meaningless out of context?

I disagree with that.
Ok, a single chord has no syntax and maybe a very free and uncroncrete interpretation. But for a musician a chord never is without a special colour (maybe depending from circumstances like instrument, situation, acoustics, mood of the listener etc), meaning, simply effect for the soul.
Can you imagine that a chord like b- e-sharp - g-sharp - d-sharp leaves you totally cold ?
I think the whole expressionistic, and furthermore serialistic and pointilistic music bases mainly of the meaning of single musical phenomenons.

I have to agree with Ferruccio here, as more often than not a single chord gives me the "key" to an improvisation or a composition. As an organist improvisation is a skill that is very useful to have and "mistakes" and single chord "events" provide enough ammunition for a healthy improvisation. Also as a composer, particularly when I am writing a song rather than a piano piece my entry into that song will often come about through the playing of one chord on the piano, and usually the chord is not a standard chord from the textbooks. I might argue that a single chord is a distillation of the whole piece, taking Schenkerian analysis to its extreme. I know that with the public the songs that have had the greatest effect derived from one single chord not that they would be aware of that of course.
regards
Brian

[Arjuna]

I disagree with that.
Ok, a single chord has no syntax and maybe a very free and uncroncrete interpretation. But for a musician a chord never is without a special colour (maybe depending from circumstances like instrument, situation, acoustics, mood of the listener etc), meaning, simply effect for the soul.
Can you imagine that a chord like b- e-sharp - g-sharp - d-sharp leaves you totally cold ?
I think the whole expressionistic, and furthermore serialistic and pointilistic music bases mainly of the meaning of single musical phenomenons.

I have to agree with Ferruccio here, as more often than not a single chord gives me the "key" to an improvisation or a composition. As an organist improvisation is a skill that is very useful to have and "mistakes" and single chord "events" provide enough ammunition for a healthy improvisation. Also as a composer, particularly when I am writing a song rather than a piano piece my entry into that song will often come about through the playing of one chord on the piano, and usually the chord is not a standard chord from the textbooks. I might argue that a single chord is a distillation of the whole piece, taking Schenkerian analysis to its extreme. I know that with the public the songs that have had the greatest effect derived from one single chord not that they would be aware of that of course.
regards
Brian

Fair enough. I do have to admit that I have "favorite" chords but I have never really though of them as "interesting". I suppose if your definition of interesting is broad enough to include things that stand out for no particular reason then I would have to take back what I said. I would have a lot trouble explaining to somebody else why I thought a single chord was "interesting" though.

[Ferruccio]

.... I would have a lot trouble explaining to somebody else why I thought a single chord was "interesting" though.

Yes, often enuogh that's the poor job of teachers. You have to explain things like that to people who might never understand it. I know, that sounds kind of arrogant, but it is very difficult and sometimes useless. Sisyphos.
Sometimes I think, this all is a matter simply of "being in" or "being out" of it. Who knows ...