Rocker finds 'Edification' in making classical music

Eddie Konczal, playing keyboard at home in Monroe, recently released "Edification," featuring 10 instrumental compositions for solo keyboard and small ensembles. MONROE — After spending most of his musical career in rock bands, Eddie Konczal felt it was time for a change.

So the 40-year-old township resident decided to look into classical music — quite a contrast for a rock musician, though numerous rock acts have incorporated it into their songs.

Konczal, who plays keyboards and composes, now hopes his new CD, "Edification," will gain him a place in the classical world. The 10 instrumental compositions on the album use solo keyboard and small ensembles. In one piece, a Renaissance-type organ serves as a prelude to an orchestral composition for a mixed ensemble. Another features piano with accompaniment, and there is also a trio sonata. Konczal strayed from the traditional grand piano and pipe organ sounds, instead using digital piano and synthesizer.

The pieces were written and recorded from 2003 to 2008, and mastered by Eric Kvortek at the Gasworks Studio in East Brunswick. The album is for sale on websites including CDBaby.com and iTunes, and some of the music can also be downloaded from Konczal's own website at www.eddiekonczal.com.

"It was really a labor lo love," Konczal said. "I just wanted to present my musical ideas."

He has sent the CD to various media outlets and radio stations, hoping to spark interest. "I am trying to get attention," he said. "Long term, I want to write and establish myself as a composer."

Konczal said he has been trying to connect with classical music labels in order to gain better distribution, "but it's tough to break into that realm."

His influences include composers such as Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Satie, as well as modern rock artists such as the Flaming Lips and Death Cab for Cutie.

Unlike many keyboardists, Konczal does not come from a classical background, instead growing up playing rock tunes. Five or six years ago, he began to work at Rutgers University and took a course in Renaissance music, the predecessor to the Baroque period. The course opened his eyes to a world of different musical possibilities, he said.

"I was fascinated by what I learned," he said. "Just the discovery of finding something new inspired me to compose classical music. I am a newcomer, because it's only something I've done in the last five years."

One of the musical elements that appealed to Konczal is the centuries-old style called counterpoint, or polyphony. In these compositions, there is little conception of chords, which makes it different from popular music where the melody matches the chords or harmony. Instead, there are at least two simultaneous independent-but-intertwined melodic lines. Bach has been described as a master of polyphony, which is now considered an obsolete form. True counterpoint is not used very often in popular music.

Konczal said he likes to study the works of Bach and Beethoven, but feels it is important to be original as well. He mentioned American composer Philip Glass as someone who has taken the traditional classical ideas and made them fresh in recent times.

"Edification" is the first solo album for Konczal, who was previously in rock bands including Nepenthe, Amethyst and Spiral Jetty. When recording the music, he said, he received a lot of constructive criticism from his wife, Laura, and also got input from one of his Rutgers professors.

Konczal, who works in computer support at Rutgers, noted that there is just not much of a built-in audience for classical music these days, but he still hopes to establish himself as a composer.

The problem with modern classical music, he said, is "it is stuffy" and elitist.

"Classical music has come to be seen as more serious, whereas popular is more for the masses. There's sort of a popular-versus-classical dichotomy, but classical music used to be popular music," he said.