Invisible Cities - Chloe (Suite for solo piano by Benjamin McLean)

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Hi,

Welcome to another city - the city of 'Chloe'. I am writing a series of ~12 pieces for piano based on the book 'Invisible Cities' by the Italian author Italo Calvino. In this book an explorer, Marco Polo, recounts descriptions of fantastic cities that he has seen on his travels to a great emperor. You may have noticed that I have tried to write a series for piano before (my 'preludes' lol), and failed. Ahem. Well, I'll have you know that I have written 11 of these 12 pieces so far (mostly, some need editing etc), each based on an individual city :), so although it will take some time to learn them and record them properly, feel free to hold me accountable if I don't complete THIS series. Ideally, I would record them for an album and release it on Spotify - eventually!!

Here are the 12 cities, in order:

1. Zora
2. Fedora
3. Armilla
4. Chloe
5. Valdrada
6. Octavia
7. Ersilia
8. Baucis
9. Leandra
10. Adelma
11. Andria
12. Penthesilea

I've noticed that I've been writing a lot of quartets lately (yes Quartet 4 movement 4 coming soon), and I haven't really written that much for piano, so this is what I am doing about that haha.

In the book, this city - Chloe, is described as being full of people who have fantastic, imaginary interactions. The text portrays these as chaotic and feverish in nature. Therefore Chloe is a fast piece, with an intense, chaotic energy. It is said that the restless fantasy would stop the moment anyone tried to act it out in real life. I hope this piece recapitulates this energy.

What do you think of the piece? Comment your opinon!

Sheet music will be available soon on IMSLP. If you want free sheet music for this piece please let me know in the comments and I'll send you a link to the (free) sheet music. For now, see this link to the pieces Valdrada and Octavia:

Also if you want the sheet music for any other of my pieces, just say so in the comments and I'll provide a link :)

Here is the original description of Chloe from Italo Calvino's 'Invisible Cities':

“In Chloe, a great city, the people who move through the streets are all strangers. At each encounter, they imagine a thousand things about one another; meetings which could take place between them, conversations, surprises, caresses, bites. But no one greets anyone; eyes lock for a second, then dart away, seeking other eyes, never stopping.

A girl comes along, twirling a parasol on her shoulder, and twirling slightly also her rounded hips. A woman in black comes along, showing her full age, her eyes restless beneath her veil, her lips trembling. At tattooed giant comes along; a young man with white hair; a female dwarf; two girls, twins, dressed in coral. Something runs among them, an exchange of glances link lines that connect one figure with another and draws arrows, stars, triangles, until all combinations are used up in a moment, and other characters come on to the scene: a blind man with a cheetah on a leash, a courtesan with an ostrich-plume fan, an ephebe, a Fat Woman. And thus, when some people happen to find themselves together, taking shelter from the rain under an arcade, or crowding beneath an awning of the bazaar, or stopping to listen to the band in the square, meetings, seductions, copulations, orgies are consummated among them without a word exchanged, without a finger touching anything, almost without an eye raised.

A voluptuous vibration constantly stirs Chloe, the most chaste of cities. If men and women began to live their ephemeral dreams, every phantom would become a person with whom to begin a story of pursuits, pretenses, misunderstandings, clashes, oppressions, and the carousel of fantasies would stop.”

-Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities

Performed by Benjamin McLean
Recorded at Fountainhead Studios, Sydney