TORO DIVINE « drewschnurr.com

Drew Schnurr is a composer, sound artist, and performer from Los Angeles whose work blurs traditional lines in music, media, and sound.

As a composer for media, Drew has produced music and sonic branding for numerous world brands and media conglomerates. He is also an active concert composer and sound artist with a diverse range of international commissions and exhibits.

Revered by his peers, industry professionals, and critics, his work has been called both “rare” and “remarkable.”

“This composer bends and stretches rules within his own aesthetic, weaving his musical ideas in harmonious waves that threaten to drown, yet gently tumble the listener forward with intrigue and anticipation.” -Adam Rosenthal review for Persee: Orchestrated Perception

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Hyperventilations

for Piano with Four Hands [cat. sc26]

Hyperventilations of a Fire Dragon harnesses music from my early career as a performer in latin bands, jazz ensembles, funk bands, and rock and metal bands. The underlying fervency of these influences is felt throughout the work, leveraged by the power and agility of the piano, driving the performance often to the edge of playability. This piece initiates a compositional renaissance, a drilling down into the musical cores of “fire” that constitute the music of my youth. It comes from the gut—quite literally, was breathed into life. The melodic and rhythmic motives are all derived from vocal inflections (and hyperventilations) improvised, recorded, transcribed and re-composed by the composer.

DREW SCHNURR (2015)

Premiered by Vicki Ray and Aaron Kallay — Hear Now Festival, Los Angeles, May 2015.
Video performance by pianists Kookhee Hong and Minji Noh.

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watch HYPERVENTILATIONS

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TORO DIVINE

07/05/08

Tonight I had a religious experience. No, I was not at church, or in a yoga class. I was at a sushi restaurant. Oomasa, a Little Tokyo restaurant in downtown LA, has a sushi chef who is a true artist. I have had toro sushi in many places (including Japan), and I have never experienced toro the way I experienced it at Oomasa. Tonight I kissed the divine.

As I bit down I closed my eyes, and had no option but to be swept away by the sensation: the texture, the melting in my mouth, and the indescribable flavor….leaving my lips and tongue paralyzed in bliss. I’m not exaggerating, it was truly blissful. I wanted to cry, and I almost did.

I’m not easily moved in this way. I fact I can probably count on two hands the total number of times I have been veritably disarmed in my life time. Feeling this tonight, I am reflecting on those times when I have felt closest to God’s perfection: hearing the english horn solo in the second movement of the Symphony from the New World, performing the last movement of the Pines of Rome, finishing a Tolkien novel, feeling my first kiss, being laid waste by the beauty and torment of love.

There are no words to describe these kind of experiences. They transcend language. How can you describe an experience that literally re-calibrates one’s conception of the potential for beauty; an experience that literally makes you want to sing, dance, cry, or just do all of the above? This is music. I don’t mean notes and rhythms either. I mean the essence of what we all know is out there, and inside somewhere. We can feel it. We can taste it. It makes us vibrate. It makes us alive.

I confess, sometimes I forget why I’m an artist. Tonight, a piece of sushi helped me remember.

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