Maria Teriaeva
Discovered her through Patch & Tweak.
“I just left myself play with what I want and trust my taste.”
Three pieces, three completely different approaches — but the same restraint running through all of them.
- What Is To Be Done? — dark and melodic, almost purely harmonic (H/P 4.67×), with enough rubato to feel hand-played rather than sequenced
- Abstract — percussion and melody weighted equally (H/P 1.01×), much sparser, rhythm tells the story through a deliberate arc: silence, percussion building to a peak, then receding
- Paris Texas — percussion stripped out almost completely (H/P 9.23×), bright and tonally stable in Eb major, the clearest key of the three, the slowest tempo, the most cinematic
What Is To Be Done?
Timbre & Texture
- Spectral centroid: 1,538 Hz — warm, mid-focused sound; not bright or harsh
- Spectral rolloff (85%): 3,088 Hz — the vast majority of energy sits below 3kHz, confirming a dark, intimate character
- Zero-crossing rate: 0.026 — low, consistent with tonal/melodic content rather than noise or distortion
- H/P ratio: 4.67× — strongly harmonic-dominant; melodic/harmonic layers far outweigh percussive transients (think piano, strings, or sustained synths over drums)
Dynamics
- Mean RMS: 0.193 — moderately loud on average
- Dynamic range: 0.000 → 0.572 — significant variation, with moments of near silence and peaks; likely builds in intensity
- Onset std/mean ratio: 1.80 — high variability in attack strength, suggesting expressiveness or rubato phrasing rather than a rigid grid
Structure (8 detected sections)
| Section | Time | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Intro | 0:00 | 19s |
| A | 0:19 | ~1:00 |
| Transition | 1:18 | 22s |
| B | 1:41 | 40s |
| Bridge | 2:21 | 19s |
| C | 2:40 | 48s |
| D / climax? | 3:28 | 34s |
| Outro | 4:02 | 26s |
Summary
An introspective, harmonically rich piece in F minor — slow-burning at ~129 BPM but with enough rubato to feel unquantized. The harmonic-to-percussive ratio and low spectral rolloff strongly suggest acoustic or semi-acoustic instrumentation with piano prominent. The 8-segment structure with a long first section and shorter later sections follows a classic through-composed arc. The title references Chernyshevsky/Lenin’s political text, hinting at intentional conceptual weight in the music too.
Abstract
Timbre & Texture
- Spectral centroid: 1,692 Hz — slightly brighter than What Is To Be Done? (1,538 Hz)
- Spectral rolloff: 2,767 Hz — energy even more concentrated in the lows despite the brighter centroid
- Zero-crossing rate: 0.045 — nearly double WITBD’s 0.026; more transient/noisy content present
- H/P ratio: 1.01× — the most striking difference: almost perfectly balanced between harmonic and percussive layers, vs WITBD’s 4.67×. Far more rhythmic and textural
Dynamics
- Mean RMS: 0.051 — much sparser and quieter than WITBD (0.193); lots of breathing room
- Dynamic range: 0.000 → 0.637 — a very wide range, suggesting sharp contrasts between silence and peaks
- Onset std/mean ratio: 1.71 — similarly expressive attack variation
Structure (8 detected sections)
| Section | Time | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Intro | 0:00 | 33s |
| A | 0:33 | 13s |
| B | 0:46 | 28s |
| C | 1:14 | 56s |
| D | 2:10 | 20s |
| E | 2:30 | 34s |
| Outro | 3:04 | 16s |
Summary
The H/P ratio flip (1.01× vs 4.67×) is the biggest tell between the two pieces — Abstract leans into texture and rhythm as much as melody, where What Is To Be Done? is almost purely melodic. The much lower mean RMS makes Abstract feel more spacious and sparse. D minor at 126 BPM. Same artist, clearly different intent.
Paris Texas
Timbre & Texture
- Spectral centroid: 2,141 Hz — the brightest of the three; noticeably more air and presence
- Spectral rolloff: 4,220 Hz — significantly more high-frequency energy than WITBD (3,088 Hz) or Abstract (2,767 Hz)
- Zero-crossing rate: 0.054 — highest of the three; could suggest bowed strings, textured pads, or layered timbres
- H/P ratio: 9.23× — the most harmonically pure of all three; almost no percussive content at all
Dynamics
- Mean RMS: 0.093 — sits between WITBD (0.193) and Abstract (0.051); moderate density
- Dynamic range: 0.000 → 0.328 — tighter peaks than the other two; more controlled, less explosive
- Onset std/mean ratio: 0.90 — the most rhythmically even of the three; attacks are regular rather than rubato
Structure (8 detected sections)
| Section | Time | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Intro | 0:00 | 13s |
| A | 0:13 | 42s |
| B | 0:56 | 35s |
| C | 1:31 | 30s |
| D | 2:00 | 58s |
| E | 2:59 | 28s |
| Outro | 3:27 | 9s |
Summary
Paris Texas is the most tonally centered of the three — Eb major with a correlation of 0.747 (vs 0.455 and 0.334 for the others), meaning the key is unusually clear and stable throughout. At 112 BPM it’s the slowest, and the H/P ratio of 9.23× means percussion is almost entirely absent. The brighter spectral profile and higher ZCR suggest strings or textured harmonic layers rather than piano alone. Named after the Wim Wenders film — wide, open, cinematic.