String Theory for Hatfield's Audience

String Theory - Ken Hatfield

Certain projects take longer to develop than others. The musical concepts presented in this recording have been simmering in my subconscious for quite some time. However, achieving the desired equilibrium between simultaneity and sequentiality remained a challenge. This CD holds a deep personal significance for me. The structure of the compositions and the instrumentations utilized in these performances reflect the sounds that resonated in my "mind's ear" during the creation of each piece. The imaginary sounds, along with the inspirations behind them, influenced every facet of both the composition and the recording of my performances.

Two key objectives inspired the creation of this CD. Firstly, I aimed to further explore the relationship between improvisation and composition, a theme I began to investigate in my previous CD, "Explorations for Solo Guitar." Secondly, I felt a strong urge to embark on an emotional journey to reconnect with my cultural heritage—specifically, my Appalachian roots, which I had, as a jazz musician, often tried to distance myself from.

Among the compositions, "Borges & I" and "Snowhill Variations" stand out as solo guitar pieces recorded without any overdubs. In contrast, "The Gospel According to Sam" and "String Theory" were conceived as duets, and each was recorded with that collaborative principle in mind. While I can't physically play the guitar alongside the dobro or mandolin simultaneously, I approached each part as one component of its duet, recording the guitar parts without overdubs while layering each of the other instruments as they were played, maintaining the integral duality of each duet.

The polyphonic nature of the writing presents challenges, but it reflects the conception and performance style intended for a live concert. Although modern recording technology allows for the separation of different voices within each instrument's part, I opted against this approach as it could distort the essence of a dialogue between equals—an essential aspect of my compositional vision.

Each of the four multi-movement works comprising this CD is structured so that any individual movement can stand independently, yet when experienced within the context of the entire work, each illuminates its neighbors. This concept is vital for grasping the inspirations behind the four works. Despite the presence of multiple movements in each, each one addresses different facets of the sources that fueled its creation.

For instance, "Borges & I" is arranged as a suite with seven movements, each named after a short story written by the acclaimed Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges. The suite's overall title also pays homage to Borges’s work, with each movement being inspired by the story for which it is named. Borges's stories encompass a vast array of ideas and emotions, yet they maintain constants that categorize him as a pioneering figure of "magic realism." A striking quality of Borges's writing is his ability to delve into profound human experiences succinctly. Notably, the form of a short story and the collection format he used during his lifetime resembles that of a suite composed of distinct movements.

While my suite is not intended as program music to underscore Borges’s narratives, it serves as an authentic homage to the masterworks of one of the 20th century’s most visionary authors. The inspiration for "The Gospel According to Sam" stemmed from the memorable sayings of my father, Sam. Upon moving to New York City and navigating unfamiliar waters while playing with various musicians, I often found myself recounting my father’s witticisms. When a club owner attempted to deduct costs from the band’s pay, I playfully remarked that the owner was "tighter than a fish's ass, and that's watertight." The other musicians loved these expressions, prompting suggestions to compile them into a book aptly titled "The Gospel According to Sam." Given my father's love for the dobro, I composed this piece in his honor.

"Snowhill Variations" draws inspiration from a narrative shared during a lecture attended by Adrian Leverkühn, a character from Thomas Mann’s "Dr. Faustus." Leverkühn hears a lecturer posit that music is so inherent to human nature that an untrained novice could, through mere observation, reinvent it. The speaker recounts the story of Johann Beissel, a religious leader in Pennsylvania, who, believing he received divine poems, sought to convey them through music, crafting a unique system for vocal compositions despite his lack of formal training. I found Beissel’s real-life existence and musical endeavors to be unexpectedly fascinating, leading me to envision what his music might have sounded like. This prompted the creation of twelve variations based on that theme.

The title track "String Theory" arose from a blend of different encounters and reflections on the interplay of art and science, along with my observations of their potential connections. The cover art by Henry Moore, showcasing an audience awaiting the unveiling of a structure draped in string, resonated with me as a metaphor for physicists' anticipation surrounding the validation of string theory. Similarly intriguing was the tendency of physicists to ascribe names like "Grace" and "Love" to subatomic particles—an observation that reveals a human tendency to seek familiarity even in the most abstract scientific inquiries. Ultimately, the fact that every instrument played on this recording has strings further unified all these ideas under the banner of "String Theory."

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