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Epigram and Evolution: Complete Piano Works
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| These piano pieces were written at every turning point in Roger
Reynolds' creative life, marking his evolution. The music is driven by
relentless attacks toward catharsis, but also bittersweet chords, and
trembling, rolling, wandering or sweeping masses of sound. We feel as
though we are being pushed around by forces beyond human imagination.
This sense of being carried away by an uninterrupted undercurrent may
be the image of the world we live in. The featured pianists are the
legendary Yuji Takahashi (who also contributed a rare new recording for
the set), and contemporary music specialists Eric Huebner and Marilyn
Nonken. This specially priced 2-CD set combines new recordings with
reissues of classic analog performances. 'Epigram and Evolution,'
Reynolds' earliest piano work was premiered at the ONCE Festival in Ann
Arbor by Robert Ashley. Reynolds moved to Europe in 1963, and 'Fantasy
for Pianist' marks the change of intellectual climate. Premiered at the
Warsaw Autumn Festival by John Tilbury, it begins with a chordal
whirlwind over explosive blasts, leading to asynchronous tapping,
resonance, and whirls. Experimental ways of playing are applied on the
piano strings: plucking with a pick, wound string rasps, and harmonics
produced by touching nodes on the struck strings. 'Traces' uses six
loudspeakers surrounding the audience with amplified instruments and
ring-modulated resonances. The piano part is 'traced' by a flute and
cello involving timbre manipulation, with electronic shadows over them.
'Less Than Two' was written for pianists Gilbert Kalish and James
Freeman, and percussionists Ray DesRoches and Richard Fitz, as a
companion piece for George Crumb's 'Makrokosmos III (Music for a Summer
Evening).' It was premiered, along with the Crumb piece, at The Library
of Congress in 1979. Reynolds' architectural complexity culminates in
'Variation': a single movement following a preliminary graphic scheme,
it allows room for playful and expressive flexibility left to the
performer. It was premiered by Aleck Karis. 'imagE/piano' and
'imAge/piano' are a part of recent project of writing pairs of short,
complementary pieces for different instruments. The E in 'imagE' stands
for 'evocative' and A in 'imAge' for 'articulate,' involving a
composing technique based on montage and editing. Liner notes by Yuji
Takahashi. |
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ARTISTS
Yuji Takahashi, Eric Huebner, Marilyn Nonken, Jean-Charles Francois, Delores Stevens (piano) |
| See all titles featuring Roger Reynolds |
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