Asked about my approach to composition and performance, one thought is the reimagining of musical syntax from jazz and Indian classical music through prisms of personal temperament and body chemistry guided by raga elements. Ragas are a wondrous musical form from India believed to be based in divinity, and used as a basis for improvisation and composition with unlimited developmental potential. European classical, rock, and myriad American popular and esoteric forms are part of who I am musically, too.

Meruvina is my orchestra and instrument at once, consisting of a sound module with sampled and synthesized timbres, a computer, and miraculous software programmed to perform my compositions in real time working from fully notated scores. Meruvina is a name invented by combining my initials, MER, together with the Sanskrit word for musical instrument, “vina”. 

While summer is my favorite season, the winters of Los Angeles and Maui possess their own unique virtues, together with charmed memories of winters with snow in New York, and wondering what winter is like in Russia where my grandparents were born.

I’ve subsequently done some research, and more specifically, my father’s parents escaped pogroms occurring in Novohrad-Volynskyi, a city in Ukraine, then under the control of the Soviet Union, in the twenties. My family always referred to “escaping from Russia” and that has been my orientation. When I shared my thoughts for Gregorian Winter, I was in a reverie thinking purely of the climate, and not devastating historical events, including how Stalin starved four millions Ukrainians to death in the early thirties.

While doing this edit, it also occurred to me to ask for your kind advice regarding the spoken intro for Amethyst Labyrinth, whereby I wasn’t sure at the time to include the bolded part because it occurred to me this sentence might confuse and upset some listeners who may not understand how I was revealing my inner thoughts showing how a composer is influenced by both beautiful and horrific elements of life we are aware of. Again, I’ve bolded the part in question:

“Curious about the origins of amethyst, I uncovered that the ancient Hebrews believed the precious stone gave its wearer the ability to dream, and it was one of the gems chosen for implantation in the breastplate of the high priest.  In grim contrast, amethyst-blue is the chilling color description of the murderous crystals employed by the Nazis in the Holocaust.

Michael Robinson – Gregorian Winter


Michael Robinson will premiere and discuss his new album, Gregorian Winter, together with an earlier album, Amethyst Labyrinth, plus “Istanbul” and “Sun Dance” from the Robinson Gardens album.
 
From Gregorian Winter liner notes by Michael Robinson:


“Visiting a harmonic passacaglia replete with major, minor and suspended chords, a seraphic melodic voice stays for seventy-four cycles. The chords are colored with Gregorian chant aspects, thus the need to be conjoined with kindred rasa. 
“Using chords has traditionally been a rare occurrence for my compositions, but two of my last three works have done so, and Gregorian Winter ventures further than before into that domain.
“Just intonation worked better here than equal temperament tuning even with the relative complexity of chords and melodies, enhancing the wintry stream.
“We do our best to know when less is more, and with the exception of both wind chimes and the sound of wind for accentuated texture and expression, I refrained from adding any more embellishing parts to the shimmering directness of the harmonic passacaglia and melodic variations informing Gregorian Winter.

“Gregorian Winter does seem like a living spirit which one yearns to embrace or touch, if abstractly through the illusory physicality of invisible sound, having a totality of presence all there at once, oscillating between earth and sky with ascending tendencies.
“There are varying ways of listening to this album. You may follow closely every detail of the melodic arabesques and lilas adorning the chords; let the music envelop you as if in a trance; or combine both approaches. Those who enjoy going to sleep with music on loop play may find this album especially appealing as well.

“Gregorian Winter is for Jocelyn, my recent piano teacher. She left us one grief-stricken September night at the age of 96 while I was writing this music becoming a Kaddish and Requiem. Jocelyn unexpectedly and uncannily turned me into a pianist; something I now find enhances being a composer while still preferring to compose at a desk.
For more info visit azuremilesrecords.com
 
TRACKLIST:
1. Gregorian Winter
2. Alap (from Amethyst Labyrinth)
3. First Gat (from Amethyst Labyrinth)
4. Second Gat (from Amethyst Labyrinth)
5. Istanbul (from Robinson Gardens)
6. Sun Dance (from Robinson Gardens)