Chitpong

Jataka Tales are stories of previous births of Lord Buddha before his last and final birth as Gotama Buddha in around 500 B.C. In Buddhism, one needs to commit oneself to many good deeds in many lives before being able to achieve full awakening and becomes a Buddha to teach fellow beings so they too could be permanently freed from suffering. There are 547 of these stories, from which the first 28 were the subjects of Part 1 of this piano work compositions. The selection of the first 28 into Part 1 of this project was of an unusual circumstance. Right after the completion of 48 Preludes & Fugues Op. 2, I felt that I was propelling myself into something. It was a time of great change in me, primarily in spiritual journey that I began to re-discover what I left off few years ago. At the time, I strongly felt that composing music would help me find and walk the path. Music was a mean to an end. I decided to take it to the extreme, by committing myself to compose piano musi

After finishing the composition of 48 Preludes & Fugues Op. 2 (Episode 1, 2, 3, 4), I was missing the feeling of working toward the completion of a canonical work. It was something that I could rely on, something that I looked forward to in each day. So on 20th April 2018, I decided to start a new canonical-style music composition project. The subject matter is Buddhism’s tales of past lives of the Buddha, before he was born as Gautama Buddha in around 500 BC. The text is called ‘The Jataka Tales’. The Jataka Tales is one of the great literature in Buddhism, not because it merely accounts numerous past births of the Buddha, but because those accounts are all the portrayal of different virtues that one must have accumulated in order to be ready for the final life which attain enlightenment. Those virtues were mostly so great that one could only aspire to have, but it is those aspirations that are necessary for one to walk the path. There are 547 stories in the complete Jataka Ta

Dear all, I would like to release the original composition of 48 Preludes & Fugues album by Chitpong Kittinaradorn, containing 24 pairs of preludes and fugues in all major and minor keys for piano. Please enjoy them on SoundCloud: Episode 1: No.1-12 is omitted because of the lack of storage space. Episode 2: No.13-24 Episode 3: No.25-36 Episode 4: No.37-46 If you would like the audio files and the booklet, please let me know via contact found in the last page of the booklet!

The final fugue and the final piece of 48 Preludes & Fugues. This is the music that is truest to my consciousness, worthy of being an ending piece of this year-long effort. Fugue in B minor is a four-part double fugue with four episodes. Each subject comprises two episodes. At 5:21 minutes, it is the longest piece in the set, containing the highest note and the lowest note. It also features all fugue-specific techniques (that I know of): stretto, false entry, diminution, and double exposition.

The last prelude. The prelude that ends them all. In Episode 4, my aim is to pursue 'True Music' – a music that is true to the heart, without meaningless sentences or unnecessary adornment. This prelude is the culmination of this approach, the truest possible piece of art. It is simply a fantasy in five parts, with stark but clear soundscape. It also works to pre-orient listeners to the gravity and seriousness of the last fugue.

The last fugue in major key, closely related with the prelude. A happy farewell to living things that have grown and blossomed into intricate and beauty beings.

Fugue in B-flat minor continues on a theme of requiem. However, it sits at the very opposite end of the requiem prelude no.43 in term of the strictness of form. While the prelude was constructed on a very rigid passacaglia form, this fugue could rather be a fantasia. It is very fluid, the forms are there, but they are not obvious. There are form inside form, for example, a passacaglia episode inside a fugue, which use fugue subject as melodic variations on the fixed bass pattern. The fugue is also highly dissonant, and perhaps generally not pleasing especially when listen for the first time. In fact, I intentionally avoid many 'cliche' and opt to use unconventional meter, melodic motive, harmonic progression, and texture. I wanted to push the boundary of fugue further. It's the sound that's above earth, and possible, beyond human.