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Play | Morphic Resonance For 2 pianos & percussion Opus: 50 Length: 39 minutes Instruments: Two pianos and piano-linked percussion Composed: March 2005 |
| Parts 1-3 (continuous) |  |
For my opus 50, I present 39 minutes of pure pianistic pandemonium. Not many people realise that the piano is actually a percussion instrument, and I've always liked the combination of piano and a good drum kit. If anyone out there is writing music crazier than this, I want to know about it. I'll probably get death threats from pianists for writing this! This piece is meant to be played in a similar way to John Cage's "Prepared piano" pieces. In Cage's works various objects were attached to the piano strings which made various percussive sounds. In my piece this can be achieved electronically instead, so that every piano note may either play as normal or be accompanied (or even replaced) by a percussive sound. The piece is written in such a way that each piano note is thus tied to a specific percussion instrument. For example, every time he pianist hits, say, middle C, you hear either the piano note or a snare drum, or a combination of both. Of course this is easy to do with a MIDI file like this, but as far as I know nobody's tried it on this sort of scale before - not even John Cage. It certainly makes for interesting music! Six themes are heard throughout the piece, plus various sub-themes and mottos which undergo continual transformation and development until the finale where they are all combined into a huge apocalyptic coda. The final bar snatches an unexpected B major chord seemingly out of nowhere, but trust me, it works! (Split into 3 parts here but meant to be played as a continuous piece.) |
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