Portraits Stories
Copyright 1997 by Jeff Bjorck. All rights reserved
Be Thou My Vision ~ This is perhaps my favorite hymn. Jesus Christ is my personal "vision" and I seek to live a life that honors Him. Words such as these are cheap, however. To this end, I appreciate St. Francis of Assisi's charge: "Preach the Gospel. If necessary, use words." Not only are the lyrics of this hymn inspiring, but the ancient Gaelic melody seems timeless. Due to the simple beauty of the melody, this arrangement attempts only minimal improvisation. My hope is that the music can encourage the listener deeply.
Butterfly Sunrise ~ I began experimenting with this piece in the early 1980s as a spontaneous improvisation. As with other pieces for this CD, I envisioned a large open meadow at my late Uncle's home in the Catskill mountains. For this piece, however, I imagined what it would be like for a butterfly to wake up with the dawn. Of course, like all cold-blooded creatures, it would be quite sluggish and also unable to fly well before sunrise, with the cool damp mountain air adding weight to its wings. As the first note of this piece begins, I pictured a beautiful butterfly slowly crawling up the long-stemmed piece of high grass, literally crawling over drops of dew. As the music progresses, I saw it slowly open its wings wide to the first rays of the sun and then take its first tentative flight to a nearby plant. As the sun rises and brings warmth to the whole meadow, the butterfly fully awakens and takes flight, soaring over the grasses and flowers below with perfect freedom. Then, I imagined it coming to rest with the closing notes, ready to begin its day of activity as the sun rises gently higher.
Mountain Echoes ~ This was another spontaneous improvisation piece from the mid-1980s. I had traveled to Switzerland in the winter of 1985 and was enchanted by the Alps. This piece was inspired by the images of those magnificent jutting snow-capped peaks. Of course, while there I yielded to the temptation to make echoes, and even to yodel! Whereas the echo of my own voice was fascinating as it bounced from various directions, I was struck by the feeling that the mountains could call to each other as well. I began working with this piece in a 5/4 time which evolved into a variety of tempos throughout, all of which are intended to reflect the mountains' grandeur.
Walk Down Steward Lane ~ I began this piece in the mid to late 1980s, and much of it emerged from the keys of the piano in my parents' home in Hamburg, NJ. This was the piano on which I learned. My dad really enjoyed this little composition. Whereas my father did not play the piano, he was musically inclined. I remember him sitting at the piano and sounding out the melody with one hand, just for his own amusement. Soon thereafter, I played it for Dad's best friend, Mr. Derek Steward. Derek was an elementary music teacher, and he also enjoyed the piece, particularly my ending the second phrase on a b-natural (g major) rather than a b-flat (g minor). All these memories are from the days long before I imagined that I would record professionally. Sadly, my father never heard my first CD. He died in 1991, years before its release. When my first CD finally became a reality, I gave the piece its title as a private tribute to my dad and his good friend Mr. Steward.
Can't Say How I Feel ~ I composed this selection in 1977, inspired by a girl I was crazy about--who unfortunately already had a boyfriend. I was a sophomore, and he was a senior, so I was clearly outranked! There are lyrics to this song, which expresses my grief at knowing that this teen romance was not to be. Musically, this piece also reflected my growing love for major 7th chord structures and melancholy melodies.
Catskill Mountain Meadow ~ I grew up in the northeast, and a special space still remains in my heart for the New York State Catskills. In particular, this piece reminds me of a favorite place from my youth. It was a literal meadow nestled in the middle of a cedar forest, halfway up the mountain where my uncle Mitch Cubberley lived in Andes, NY. The piece begins and ends slowly, but it picks up pace in the middle, reflecting the fact that my visits to this place were some of the happiest times in my life. Returning there always seemed like an inspired idea, and "Return to Catskill Meadow" is a variation on this piece which appears on my third album, Impressions in Black and White.
Living Waters (Click here for poem) ~ This piece is the first that I ever recorded professionally, in 1993, although it was composed primarily in 1987 during my final year of graduate school. It portrays images of water for me, set in the deep woods of the Appalachians in northern NJ and NY state near the home where I grew up. In the liner notes of my first CD, I include a poem that accompanies this piece. I am hoping to invoke images of water in motion, whether it be in a mountain spring ("liquid crystal") or a rolling river among forest trees. As with many of my pieces focused on nature, this composition is also intended to focus on the Creator, the one who offers "living water" freely to all those who seek it.
Twilight ~ This composition developed during the mid-1980s. I was working on extending my typically ebullient approach to the piano to include more pastoral and reflective melodies and moods. At about the same time, a young man I knew died in his sleep at the age of only 35. My reflections on this sad event influenced the emotional tone of the piece, but my experiences of twilight in various natural settings--as the sun sinks peacefully into the horizon--provided the images I "saw" while composing.
Waiting for Farewell ~ This is a very emotional piece for me, and the title tells why. I composed it as my father was dying. I had just moved to Pasadena, CA on November 29, 1990 to start teaching at Fuller Seminary. Three days later, Dad entered the hospital due to congestive heart failure. He was discharged about a week later and was home for a week, but then he returned to the hospital. Sharon and I flew back in January to say our good-byes, and Dad actually rallied upon seeing us. It became clear, however, that he would not recover. Each day left me convinced that he would probably not last the night. As I grieved, I would sit at the piano during those dark evenings, and this piece emerged. After many days of waiting, Dad remained very sick, but we needed to return to CA. My boss at the time, Dr. Archibald Hart, had very graciously told me to "take all the time you need," away from work, but after two weeks, it seemed that Dad might stay with us longer than expected. Saying farewell to my father was no easy task, but I was very glad to have the chance that many do not, and we both took comfort that we would see each other again in Heaven. Thereafter, we often spoke on the phone until Dad died on March 29, 1991 which happened to fall on Good Friday that year. I find solace in the fact that my father entered Heaven on the very "day" which marks our celebration of Jesus' saving death on the cross. Given this piece's background, it is no surprise that it stirs many emotions in the listener, from grief to anger to hope to sorrow. Saying farewell to my father proved to me that, while it is never too soon to be with God in Heaven, it is always too soon to lose our loved ones.
Starlight Ragtime Waltz ~ Gentle ragtime melodies usher me back to the turn of the 20th century, when my grandparents were born. It is an era whose music and memories hold a special place in my heart. I also love the night sky, and when I gaze up at its vast expanse on a truly dark night, it often seems that the stars are ever so slowly swirling in a waltz across the heavens. This piece was inspired by my experience, and I hope that the music enables you to share it.
Jerusalem ~ This classic old English hymn is a favorite of mine for several reasons. First, I love the melody. Second, it was used as the theme for the movie "Chariots of Fire" which takes its title from lyrics (by William Blake) of this hymn. The link to this movie is powerful for me because both my father and his father were runners. In fact, old photos of my grandfather in his running days are from the same time period as the true story depicted in "Chariots of Fire." He looks like he stepped out of the movie. This film tells the story of the 1924 Olympics, when British track stars Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams both demonstrated that winning is important, but other things are even more crucial.