I Could Laugh...

In this recording Edward Cohen plays both piano parts. Visit his webpage for more of his work.

This piece...

... is an attempt to put to music *that moment* when we feel that we don't know whether to laugh or to cry. Or both. To capture and express that moment in music.

Ed' Cohen discerns and exhibits these inner contradictions - he masterfully puts forward these inward emotional disagreements in this new recording. Courtesy of the pandemic he is playing both piano parts here (recorded 2021).

We've all experienced when something we could not control happened, something which then caused the entire situation to become a disaster. Or else you simply did something which came out wrong. Even so and either way, something unforeseable turned the situation around and created an unexpected joyous result. Or else... you did everything the way it was supposed to be and it became what you wanted. But then it turned out everything went to pieces anyway.

While you grieve the one you also enjoy the other... this music is about *the moment* when those two feelings have a simultaneous hold of you... we have all experienced that sometimes, many times. Being thrown from the one to the other feeling, when you could laugh and cry simultaneously. That is what the [jokingly / painfully] parts are about, the [giocoso / doloroso], in this piece.
In the midst of that you also feel completely lost. Those are the musical phrases ending up in nothingness. Like if you jump and find out gravitation just dissappeard from under your feet.
At such moments you may also be very angry, perhaps even uncontrollably angry... so those are the "furioso" parts.

All of those feelings being a part of each of our lives. We all know... I tried to describe it in music in this way, off and on working on this piece for several years. The title "I Could Laugh, I Could Cry" presented itself to me when I had temporarily retreatad to focus on my writing, in October 2019, in Banyuls-sur-Mer (French Mediterranean). As for me, until now I did Laugh... and I did Cry... quite a lot of both... and I would prefer the both to the neither.

Durata

Just below 8 minutes

Music made 'n played by Anders Jallén

I COULD LAUGH, I COULD CRY

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This piece...

Durata

Here's the sheet music if you want to have a look

Audio