Imaginary

Fictional Narratives

Novels and stories:

• Tom Bissell, Creative Types: And Other Stories (Pantheon, 2021) “. . . on every page of this book Bissell sees life with mordant clarity and finds words not only to describe it but to reanimate it.”

Poetry

Music: Composers, artists, and major works

Maurizio Pollini is a classical pianist who “impresses with his clear, structured, and at the same time brilliant playing: Intensive and expressive, without resorting to sentimentality – a skill that few command as well as he.” Edward Said said of his playing “what comes through in all Pollini's performances is an approach to the music – a direct approach, aristocratically clear, powerfully and generously articulated.” “From the start Pollini epitomised a cool, modern, intellectual approach, the antithesis of the impetuous romantics who preceded him. With his infallible technique and the clarity and objectivity of his playing he drew both adulation and criticism: ‘the world’s greatest pianist’ and a musician who offers ‘a steel-fingered X-ray picture of the score.’” Perhaps this sense of clarity comes in part from his clear view of the world. Here is a link to his playlists.

Conductor Fritz Reiner was known for the clarity of his interpretations. Harold C. Schoenberg called him: “a musician of formidable background and knowledge who could do anything with an orchestra. In certain kinds of contemporary music … he had a stupendous ability to clarify the most complicated writing. A score like Bartók's Miraculous Mandarin came out with titanic surges of sound and wild (but perfectly controlled) rhythms, and with textures that in their clarity and balances were positively Mozartean.” “The response he drew from orchestras was one of astonishing richness, brilliance, and clarity of texture.” “A typical Reiner performance is stamped with clarity, balance, rhythmic precision, meticulous control and supreme musicianship. In lieu of personal rhetoric, Reiner let the music speak for itself.” Here is a link to his playlists, and a video of Reiner conducting Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. 

Claude Debussy admired older French music for its “clarity of expression, that precisionand compactness of form”. These qualities are evident in his solo piano music:

• Pour le piano (For the Piano), L. 95 (1901) (approx. 14’)
• L’isle joyeuse (The Isle of Joy), L. 106 (1904) (approx. 6’)
• Estampes (Prints), L. 100 (1903) (approx. 14-15’)
• Six épigraphes antiques, L. 131b (1915) (approx. 15-17’) 

Sophie Pacini plays with exceptional clarity, and also exceptional depth, facility, nuance and precision. Her playing transcends that of other gifted and well-known pianists. She is compiling a significant set of playlists. Here is a link to some videos. 

These albums by electronic minimalist Klaus Wiese use Tibetan singing bowls to create a trance-like effect:

• “Tibetsche Klangschalen I”: Part I (30’); Part II (30’) (1985)
• “Tibetsche Klangschalen II”: Akash I (30’); Akash II (30’) (1986)
• “Tibetan Sound Bowls” (2004) (57’)

Other albums:

• Patricia Barber, “Clique” (2021) (45’): the singer’s placement, along with the album’s romantic theme, yields an outstanding clarity of sound and intent.
• John Stowell & Dan Dean, “Rain Painting” (2021) (48’): “ I am swept away by the clarity and meditative power of the melodies and the skill of Dan to orchestrate them.” [Frank Kohl, p. 105.]
• Paul Shaw Quintet, “Moment of Clarity” (2020) (50’): “Shaw’s drumming style is no-nonsense in-the-pocket contemporary mainstream modern jazz that moves effortlessly from Blue Note swing and Latin jazz to the contemporary clacks and rattles of R&B. And his compositions are equally astute.”
• Unhinged Sextet, “Clarity” (2015) (67’): “. . . the Sextet sustains a recognizable identity amidst a wide range of moods, tempos, and grooves.”
• The Spin Quartet, “In Circles” (2014) (60’): “The absence of a piano or guitar from the instrumentation of two horns, bass, and drums gives clarity and an open quality to the music . . .” [p. 207]
• Tal Gur, “Under Contractions” (2014) (44’), is “an interesting amalgam of improvisational approaches, a program realized with clarity and conviction by the assured players.” [Jason Blivins, Cadence magazine, Annual edition 2015, p. 221.]
• Jessica Williams, “With Love” (2014) (57’): “. . . her playing is consistently lyrical and precise. Every note has the clarity and spacing of a harp.” [Cadence magazine, July August September 2014 issue, p. 124.]
• Parker Quartet & Kim Kashkashian, “Kurtág: Six moments musicaux, Officium breve; Dvořák: String Quartet op. 97” (2021) (63’): “. . . the sound has a spaciousness and an unsparing clarity whose coolness is offset by the freedom it gives the performers to respond to the music, in playing of often astonishing colous, subtlety and rhythmic range.”
• Laura Newell, “The Philharmonia Recordings” (2022) (78’): Sam Milligan, founding editor of The American Harp Journal said that Newell had “the cleanest technique I ever heard”.
• Isabelle Faust exhibits “startling inner clarity” on “Stravinsky: Violin Concerto & Chamber Works” (2023) (44’).
• Eliana Cuevas & Aquiles Báez, “El Curruchá” (2021) (52’) presents voice and guitar, unadorned. “. . . luminous Toronto vocalist and composer, Eliana Cuevas, has crafted a celebration of Venezuelan music and culture – replete with fresh, creative, acoustic arrangements of much-loved Venezuelan popular songs.”
• Ensemble Leones, “Unicum: New Songs from the Leuven Chansonnier” (2023) (75’) presents a collection of songs from “a 15th-century parchment chansonnier (that was found in 2015) still in its original binding”. The ensemble is notable for its clarity of sound.

Compositions:

• Jesper Koch, Korbogen, presented on the album “Choirbook”, presenting a composition in seven chapters, for a capella choir – Koch writes: “When I write purely melodically, nothing must stand in the way of clarity. So everything superfluous is stripped away.” 

From the dark side:

• Fred Frith, “Tense Serenity” (1996) (approx. 28’)

Music: songs and other short pieces

• Zedd, ft. Foxes, “Clarity” (lyrics)
• Jimmy Eat World, “The Middle” (lyrics)
• Keane, “Crystal Ball” (lyrics)

Visual Arts

Film and Stage

• Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision. The young architectural student who designed the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial and is the subject of this documentary film exudes a talent for distilling her subject to its essence and then expressing it architecturally in a moving and unmistakable way.  In achieving that clarity, she also captures the essence of simplicity in a way that distinguishes it from simple-mindedness. There is nothing simple-minded about the architectural genius Maya Lin. Of her Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, Roger Ebert writes that it “perfectly filled the assignment: It did exactly what it was intended to do, and absolutely nothing else. To visit it is to realize that it is perfect.”