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Fragments of an Unknown Artist​—​33 Solo Improvisations

by Alex Rice

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42-minutes of totally 'free' piano improvisation. Not a single note known ahead of time. 33 studio recordings edited/arranged into one continuous conceptual album, *Fragments of an Unknown Artist*.

Somewhat akin to Moussorgsky's *Pictures at an Exhibition*, yet improvised. Fresh, alive, essential.

From the original liner notes:

“One day I walked into a sound studio with intent to record a few spontaneous piano vibrations. I had no idea what I was going to play, except that certain elements which had a tendency to appear in my playing would most likely appear again. Beyond this vague probability, the music as a whole was yet unknown. My fingers would soon play thousands of keynotes, but how? where? when? why?? (!) And so I sat for three hours and listened... while something mysteriously came to be.”

The music on this album "is an assemblage of effects from that session—a document of shifting inner state.”

NOTE: those of you familiar with Gurdjieff and Ouspensky may assume that the album title is derived from O's seminal work *In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching*. Nevertheless I prefer some of De Hartmann's piano recordings over many of G's harmonium recordings. Sapere aude.

credits

released September 9, 1999
Alex Rice, piano

recorded at LA Local 47
AOK, engineer

Cover art: “Pixelated Headshot—Many I’s”, original photo filmed by Sharokin Josef Isayo (www.josefisayo.com), tweaked by Alex Rice

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The Harmonious Circle Los Angeles, California

The Harmonious Circle is a creative group of intellectuals, scholars, authors, philosophers and artists.

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