CARL MABEE

Visual arts to me is purely a shot in the dark; never knowing what to expect in terms of output and on the recieving end. Music, on the other hand, in terms of composition and performance, is easy to assess: "If it sounds good, it is good." (The words of wisdom from Duke Ellington). So in writing music, I go for sound that not only pleases me, but the general public will also like and remember. (Very often the general public is our own church-goers.) That brings to mind Dmitri Shostakovich who, when he was writing his 5th Symphony, was under careful scrutiny by Stalin as a possible “person of interest” against the communist state for writing less than true Russian compositions (according to Stalin). So he had to stealthily write his own “revolutionary” work that the people would understand as such, while satisfying the ruler, Stalin. He was successful on both counts and the 5th is known as the great musical coup d'etat. 

I was attracted to this project to see if I could do it and come up with an idea that would satisfy musical aspirations as well. I began to imagine the project by thinking about "how could I combine painting and music?".