Phlegethon[source]

xml
<glacius:metadata>
    <title>Phlegethon</title>
    <description>
        Recording of a piano solo I wrote called "Phlegethon"
    </description>
    <category>Music</category>
    <category>Music recording</category>
    <category>Piano</category>
    <series order="32">2022 music project</series>
</glacius:metadata>
<p>
    Since I've been 
    <glacius:link page="music/projects/chopin-scherzo-no-2-arpeggios-recording">playing</glacius:link> 
    the <glacius:link category="Piano">piano</glacius:link> a lot lately, I figured my hands
    were in decent shape so I should just keep it going. This is
    a piece I wrote some time ago that's basically a bunch of loud right-hand arpeggios.
    And since <glacius:link page="music/projects/chopin-revolutionary-etude-recording">last 
    week</glacius:link> my left hand got a workout it's only fitting that my right hand gets one
    too. Don't read too much into it&#x2026;
</p>
<p>
    <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlegethon">Phlegethon</a> is one of the
    five infernal rivers (the most famous of which is <em>Styx</em>). Apparently it
    translates to "flaming" from Greek.
</p>
<blockquote><p>
    The third river issues forth midway between these two, and close to its point of
    exit it emerges into a vast region burning with a lot of fire, and it makes a lake of
    boiling water and mud larger than the sea in our region. It proceeds in a circle
    from there, foul and muddy, winding about through the earth in various places
    and arrives at the shores of the Acherusian lake without commingling with its
    waters. After many windings under the earth, it discharges beneath Tartarus and
    this is the river they refer to as Periphlegethon, and from this the lava streams
    shoot forth their branches from the earth in a random manner.<glacius:cite>Taken
    from <a href="https://cdn.platonicfoundation.org/2021/04/platos-phaedo-english-translation-by-david-horan.pdf">this
    translation, location <strong>113b</strong></a></glacius:cite>
</p></blockquote>
<p>
    Plato was pretty metal.
</p>
<hr />
<p>
    This could've been better, but my technique isn't that great so my arm gets
    tired after playing it. I did seven takes over the course of ~10 minutes,
    three of which I actually played the whole thing to completion, and chose the 
    best of those. The main problem is that the second-to-last bar is by
    far the most difficult, so I would get more nervous as the piece went on.
</p>
<glacius:figure 
    glacius:src="phlegethon-480p.mp4" 
    glacius:thumbnail="phlegethon-poster.jpeg" 
    type="video">
    <caption>
        Performance of my original piece <em>Phlegethon</em>
        <small>(recorded on <glacius:date value="2022-08-16" />)</small>
    </caption>
</glacius:figure>
<glacius:figure glacius:src="phlegethon-transcription-sample.png" type="image">
    <caption>And then more of this for 90 seconds.</caption>
</glacius:figure>
<h2>Downloads</h2>
<ul>
    <li><glacius:link file="phlegethon.pdf">Transcription (pdf)</glacius:link></li>
    <li><glacius:link file="phlegethon.ly">Lilypond source</glacius:link></li>
</ul>