Accordion fantasies based on the paintings in the art show “Mirror Image” by Donna and Dana Frostick at artspace in Richmond VA in July 2017.
This music was improvised on accordion by Bruce Frostick, based on the paintings of Donna & Dana Frostick in their collaborative show “Mirror Image”, on display in the Helena Davis Gallery, at artspace, Richmond, Virginia, June 23 – July 23, 2017. Recorded at artspace, the afternoon of July 21, 2017.
“I brought to the gallery an accordion, a bar stool, a stereo mic-on-a-pole, and no certainty how it would turn out. I went around the room in order, playing the mood and drama that I saw in each pair of paintings. Each piece has two sections, demarcated by a change from a major key to the same minor key, or vice versa. Post-recording editing consisted of finding the starting point where my wandering became a definite musical entity, repairing an occasional wrong note or missed beat, and snipping out some unfocused or boring passages. Track 1 needed a lot of work to make it presentable. The essence of track 10 was difficult to find, and I had to piece it together from parts of three attempts. Other than this, what you hear here is just what came into existence during that hour.” – Bruce Frostick
Each painting in the show consists of matched panels by twin sisters Donna Frostick and Dana Frostick. Except for “Summer Storm”, Donna’s panels are to the left of or above Dana’s, first in reading order, and the musical order corresponds. However, the paintings that were hung in the show in positions 5 and 6 are moved to tracks 2 and 9 in the album (and in the above gallery), because the musical development and continuity work better in this order.