Numbered Works

 

Arnold Schoenberg: Opus 39 autograph score

For the past several years, some of my albums have included a number in the title.  That practice now seems obvious and normal, but it took me quite a long while to arrive at it, or to feel that it was the right direction.  This is of course a very common practice in the world of classical music wherein a composer's works are numbered according to instrumentation; for example, String Quartet No. 4 or Symphony No. 8.  

In my case, a number in the album title indicates a series.  However, the definition of "series" is rather fluid.  It may be a series with a specific instrumentation for each record.  It may be a series of two or three albums that were all recorded in a single recording session.  It could even be to demarcate a series of specific solo instrument recordings, such as Piano I.

Albums that are connected as a series due to instrumentation are denoted as such to differentiate them from other album projects by the same artists.  For example, the Ethereal album series.  This is an album series by Sandor Szabo and I, with Balazs Major on a couple.  In this series, Sandor is not playing acoustic instruments.  Prior to the Ethereal series, we had released several albums consisting of acoustic instrumentation.  The first album that we recorded wherein Sandor was performing on electric guitar or adding orchestrations to my parts was so different from our acoustic (unnumbered) series of albums that I wanted to differentiate it from those.  Partially because of the differing instrumentation; partially due to the very different direction.  I wasn't sure how to do that at first, but eventually I had the idea to create a title for this new series, and then number each installment in the series.  As of this writing, we're up to Ethereal V released, with Ethereal VI recorded and more in that series in the works.  This kind of titling convention makes the instrumentation pretty clear.  With different instrumentation comes different directions, so the Ethereal series are not only comprised of different instrumentation than our acoustic records, but they also go in different artistic, textural, and compositional directions.

Albums that are connected by recording session have the same approach to titling conventions: a title followed by a number, and that title again with the next incremental number for subsequent releases of material from a single recording session.  These records could be released as double or triple albums, but I prefer to spread them out over multiple single album releases.  For example, in 2018, Mark Wingfield and I had a two-day recording session that resulted in more than enough material for two albums.  The first of those sessions was released in 2021 as Rubicon I.  The second half of the 2018 recordings, Rubicon II, will likely be released in 2023.  This titling convention with volume numbers indicates, in this case, that these albums were not only recorded in a single recording session, but as such they are very related and connected.  So strongly in fact that they really are parts of a larger, single work.

This approach to titling conventions is quite helpful to me for organizing projects, directions, recording sessions, and connecting long-term projects.  I've also found that listeners like this direction as well, as it clues them in on what to expect (Ethereal series), and which albums are part of a larger project. 

Coming full circle back to classical titling conventions: a numbered album is like a movement in a larger, more full-scale composition; be it a symphony, opera, or chamber series.

-kk