#3722: The Altered State of the Piano
You won't be hearing Chopin or Rachmaninov in this all-piano edition of New Sounds. The very recognizable instrument is featured in unrecognizable ways tonight, but John Schaefer will guide you through works for solo piano and for duos and trios of battling pianos that are prepared, strummed, processed, or re-tuned. George Crumb's "Eine Kleine Mitternachtmusik" is his take on Thelonius Monk's famous "Round Midnight" that has the pianist strum inside the instrument. The pianist also has multiple roles in Justin Merritt's "Quiet Land" as he/she must whistle along, strum, and hit the piano strings with the eraser end of a pencil.
Something will sound off to your Western ear when you hear John Corigliano's "Chiaroscuro." The two pianos are tuned a quarter tone apart. That is halfway between the smallest interval we are used to hearing in music. Bruce Mather's "Poème du Délire" goes even further and has three pianos tuned a sixth tone apart. Also on this edition, music by Moon Ate the Dark and Oliver Messiaen.
PROGRAM #3722 The Altered State of the Piano (First aired on 5/5/2015)
|
ARTIST(S) |
ALBUM |
CUT(S) |
SOURCE |
|
Oliver Messiaen, performed by Steven Osborne & Martin Roscoe |
Oliver Messiaen Visions de l’Amen |
Amen de la creation [6:31] |
Hyperion Records 67366 |
|
American Modern Ensemble-Stephen Gosling & Blair McMillen |
Powerhouse Pianists II |
John Corigliano: Chiaroscuro II. Shadows, excerpt [4:11] |
American Modern Recordings |
|
Moon Ate the Dark |
|
Bashy [4:11] |
Sonic Pieces |
|
Justin Merritt, performed by Matthew McCright |
Blender |
Glyph [3:43] |
Innova Records 897 |
|
Moon Ate the Dark |
|
If Vanishing [6:42] |
Sonic Pieces |
|
Justin Merritt, performed by Matthew McCright |
Blender |
Album Leaves-Quiet Land [3:02] |
Innova Records 897 |
|
George Crumb, performed by Emanuele Arciuli |
Complete Crumb Edition 9; Ancient Voices of Children, Madrigals Books I-IV, Eine Kleine Mitternachtmusik |
Eine Kleine Mitternachtmusik: VII. Blues in the Night [3:27] |
Bridge Records 9170 |
|
Oliver Messiaen, performed by Steven Osborne & Martin Roscoe |
Oliver Messiaen Visions de l’Amen |
Amen de la creation [6:31] |
Hyperion Records 67366 |
|
American Modern Ensemble-Stephen Gosling & Blair McMillen |
Powerhouse Pianists II |
John Corigliano: Chiaroscuro II. Shadows [4:11] |
American Modern Recordings |
|
Bruce Mather, performed by Louis-Philippe Pelletier, Paul Helmer, and François Couture |
|
Poème du Délire [17:43] |
LP out of print |
