<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…

</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>