Hardymuse, Glenn Hardy,composer,solo piano,improvised piano,blues piano,chanber music, vocal and choral

Welcome to Hardymuse Productions and the website of Glenn Hardy, pianist, composer, and improviser. In these pages you'll find information about my performances, both in concert and at clubs and other venues around New England, USA. You'll also find items for sale. My CDs feature both composed and improvised original music for solo piano. I presently have seven CDs available at CD Baby, your online source for independent music CDs. Other CDs are available directly from me. I also sell sheet music of some of my compositions. There are some mp3 files of assorted chamber music and other things available for listening at the bottom of this page. Look around, buy things, listen, or just say hello. I had to close the guestbook because of the inane spam messages that were showing up there, but please feel free to email me using the CONTACT link at the top of each page. Thanks for visiting.

Glenn

Use this player if you'd like music to accompany your visit.

NEWS... My latest CD, music from river road, is now available.

More NEWS...New MP3s at the bottom of this page...a new song for voice and piano, a recording of my

sacred song, "Hear, O Israel," and a MIDI recording of a 3 movement piece for concert band, "El Carnaval."

Still More NEWS... Another new CD, Ofay Blues, is also available. This is an album of original solo piano blues and boogie-woogie selections. See the CD listings below for more info.

I am sometimes asked what genre best describes the music I write and play. Like many composers of new music, I often mix stylistic elements in an album or in a performance, or even within the same piece. I describe this as hybrid music. This is not about deliberately mixing a bunch of styles simply because I happen to like them. To me, this means that something new and vigorous...a hybrid...grows out of the selective mixing or synthesis of musical elements previously kept arbitrarily separate from one another.

Glenn Hardy on Emusic Glenn Hardy on RHAPSODY Glenn Hardy on iTunes

Glenn Hardy performing live in 2006 and 2007.

Be sure to pause the music player above before playing videos.

These videos are also available on the PERFORMING page.

Also see them all on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/GlennHardy

I have a page at MySpace Music: http://www.myspace.com/glennhardypiano

Click on the selections in the list below my photo to listen. Click on the photo to Visit SoundClick and to hear or to purchase any of the pieces. For those selections with words, you may access the lyrics for simultaneous viewing and listening.

Also, please see the listing of CDs and streaming MP3 files further down this page.

Be sure to pause the music player above before clicking on any of the music selections on this page.

CDs and streaming audio files:

music from river road ...hybrid jazz/blues/classical...more adventures in "losing the genres." I'm really happy with this music. This album is perhaps the closest to my goal of being free from the limitations and expectations imposed on all of us by our various cultural upbringings. Down with the canon of masterworks! Just say NO to professional snobbery! This material is from August and September 2008.

mystic sonata ... the latest installment from my piano journals. This group was compiled from the months of August, November, and December of 2007.

3 days in may more entries in my diary of piano improvisations...these are from May of 2007.

Ofay Blues...seven original piano blues and boogie-woogie selections from May and June, 2008.

THE NEW DAY More hybrid music. With a couple of exceptions, these pieces are quiet and "reflective." Click on the cover or the link to buy this album or to listen to the selections.

JAZZ GLENN No blues or boogie-woogie, some ballads and standards, some originals, one weird improvisation. Click on the cover or the link to buy or to hear the tracks.

ennead 1 ... piano improvisations from December, 2006. One piece, nine movements. Click on the cover to buy or to listen to the selections.

ennead 2 More new piano music. Nine separate improvisations. Click on the cover to buy or to listen to the selections.


FOUND PIANOS ... improvisations recorded on different pianos around southeastern Connecticut. Click on the cover to buy, listen, or read about it.

BLUE SHADES is an album of blues, boogie-woogie, and related improvisations. Click on the album cover to purchase this CD or to hear sample selections.

My second album, imaginatively titled SOLO PIANO II, features more of a jazz and blues influence, in addition to having a higher energy level than the first CD. With this album, I continue to explore the many aspects of improvisation. My goal in this exploration has been to achieve a structured type of improvisation in which all the elements are created spontaneously, but within recognizable forms. This is distinct from both traditional jazz improvisation, where players usually begin with a set tune which is then varied through the soloist's improvisations, and free improvisation, which tends to focus on the pure and/or abstract qualities of the sound itself, rather than a structured form.

	SOLO PIANO was the result of my desire to perform in the studio as I perform in public: namely, alternating compositions with improvisations. While not exactly a "live" session recorded without stopping, the improvisations were unrehearsed and unedited, and most of the composed pieces were done in one or two takes. In the eleven years since I recorded this album, I have become a better improviser and a better pianist, but there is very little I would change about this album. Sometimes people ask if this a classical album. There is much counterpoint and there are classical and romantic textures and forms, but since I am not attempting to explore any new ground as far as compositional technique or concepts, it cannot be considered "classical" by modern standards. It is more often called New Age. I can live with this, given that the genre has become a kind of grab bag for music that no one knows quite what to do with. More and more musicians are mixing styles and breaking down the barriers of rigidly defined categories. My music draws on the diverse influences of classical, jazz, blues, and what is now called American roots music and world music.


	This album contains examples of music I might play at special events such as wedding receptions, corporate functions, parties, and dinners. Click HERE to listen to the examples or to purchase this CD.

streaming audio files	These are mp3s of various pieces which have not found their way onto CDs yet.

	1. Two Pantoums: Canons for Soprano & Piano Quartet. Pantoums by Margaret Hardy. The pantoum is a Malaysian poetic form. These pieces were performed at the Tarrytown Music Hall on January 19, 2008 by soprano Erika Sunnegardh and the New York Piano Quartet. Sunset 11:43 Sunrise 9:12

	2. Three Dances for Flute. Mandolin, and Guitar. These are pieces I wrote for my friend, mandolinist Joyce Balint of New York. The other players are Stefan Hoskuldsson, flute, and GiacomoLaVita, guitar. Recorded live in concert, Tarrytown, NY 4-2-06.

	3. Quartet 4 Joyce. Same personnel as above but with the addition of harpist Susan Jolles.

	4. Selections from THE FOUR ARTISTS, music by Glenn Hardy, poems by Margaret
	Hardy
	The Dancer Phred Mileski, soprano Glenn Hardy, piano
	The Photographer Norman Bell, bass Glenn Hardy, piano
	The Poet Ben Davidson, tenor Glenn Hardy, piano
	The Composer Margaret Tyler, alto Glenn Hardy, piano

	5. Music for Blue Squares Music for electronic ensemble written for an exhibition of the
	paintings of Frederic Walperswyler. Old Lyme Art Association, Old Lyme, CT April 1994.
	...about 16+ minutes

	6. First Lessons for soprano, piano, and double-bass. Poem by Margaret Hardy,
	music by Glenn Hardy. Ruth Crocker, soprano James Hunter, double-bass
	Glenn Hardy, piano

	7. Choreographer of Birds for soprano and piano. Poem by Margaret Hardy, music by
	Glenn Hardy. Ruth Crocker, soprano Glenn Hardy, piano

	8. The Most Intelligent, The Most Beautiful... for mezzo-soprano and piano. Poem by
	Margaret Hardy, music by Glenn Hardy. Margaret Tyler, mezzo-soprano, Simon
	Holt, piano.

	9. Hear, O Israel for mezzo-soprano and organ. Text from King James Bible
	Margaret Tyler, mezzo-soprano, Simon Holt, Organ

	10. El Carnaval for (large) concert band. This is a 3 movement piece I wrote for a
	gigantic Spanish band. It has never been performed, so I offer it here as a MIDI
	recording. Please bear with me regarding the less-than-adequate sounds, especially
	the muted (and unmuted) trumpets. I will redo this later with either better "virtual" band
	sounds, or, dare I imagine, a LIVE recording by some band somewhere foolish enough
	to play it. (complete score and parts available, and beautiful things they are!)
	1. El Desfile (Parade) 6:24
	2. Interludio 4:26
	3. El Baile de Disfraces (Masquerade Ball) 7:29

	Also, see Sheet Music Page for sample scores of some of these selections.

	BUT WAIT! There's MORE! Be the first in your neighborhood to hear two cuts from the now (mercifully) out-of-print Glenn Hardy CD "All Over the Dial." This was his first (and so far, only) attempt at audio collage. Poorly received, even among the cognoscenti to whom it was given, this stuff has languished in a box until now. Take this opportunity to hear these original creations before they find their way back into the box. The first bonus selection is "delhi.com/Bombay Grill/excerpt from The Big Jam" 10:34 This is a collage consisting of a snippet from Mira Nair's film, "Monsoon Wedding," some restaurant conversation with Glenn and his wife, Maggie, and a portion of a live concert recording of Glenn Hardy on harpsichord, Russ Appleyard on sitar, Todd Barton on piano and analog synthesizers, and the audio "engineer" on feedback. This is from an improvised concert organized by composer Todd Barton in Ashland, Oregon, April 12, 1999 titled "My Favorite Things." The second bonus selection is "MacDougal Street Part 2, The Big Motor" 15:11 This is a collage consisting of Glenn Hardy on pipe organ, harpsichord, and several pianos mixed with various vocal and choral excerpts. Keyboard parts improvised at different times and places. Coffeehouse sounds and conversation somewhere on MacDougal Street, NYC, September 4, 2001.
	site updated November 15, 2008

		HARDYMUSE Productions
		Glenn Hardy, pianist, composer, improviser solo piano, improvised piano, chamber music, vocal and choral music