Concerto for piano/keyboard sampler and twelve performers
Year composed: 2013
Duration: 23′
Instrumentation: piano/keyboard sampler with flute (bass flute, piccolo), oboe (English horn), clarinet (Bass clarinet), horn, harp, percussion, 2 violins, viola, cello, and double bass
Movements:
I. Dark, racing
II. Mercurial
III. Quirkly, like a turning wheel
IV. Slowly revolving, wistful
V. Quick and quirky, as before
VI. Brash
Notes:
For Gloria Cheng and the Eco Ensemble, with support from the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT) and presented by Cal Performances. Premiered in Hertz Hall, Berkeley, February 2013.
Presented at teh Venice Biennale, with pianist Ann Yi, in September 2014.
Pianos made use of an extensive archive of sampled piano recordings from CNMAT created with multiple microphones and numerous different playing modes, such as playing with mallets inside the piano, plucking the piano strings (pizzicato), and playing with various prepared piano devices, like caulk, magnets, tape, and a superball. I took portions of these recordings, cut them into short audio segments, and mapped them onto a sampler keyboard, so that the unusual sounds and timbres could be played with easy facility by a pianist. My inspiration for Pianos was to combine traditional “on the keys” playing with the sampler keyboard’s “inside the piano” sounds, thus creating an extended sort of super-piano capable of a greatly extended range of timbres and colors. The enhanced palette of piano sounds interacted with the accompanying ensemble’s varied timbres and sonic possibilities. Ilya Rostovtsev contributed extensive technical assistance through the Max/MSP programming.