Tag Archives: 1974

Steve Reich and Musicians – Drumming (1971)

Recorded January 1974 in Hamburg Germany. Original Deutsche Grammophon Studio Recording. From the  3 × Vinyl, LP  Box Set : Steve Reich ‎– Drumming / Music For Mallet Instruments, Voices And Organ / Six Pianos

Drumming is a piece by minimalist composer Steve Reich, dating from 1970–1971.[1] Reich began composition of the work after a short visit to Africa and observing music and musical ensembles there, especially under the Anlo Ewe master drummer Gideon Alorwoyie in Ghana. His visit was cut short after contracting malaria. K. Robert Schwarz describes the work as “minimalism’s first masterpiece. [source]

Part One – Starts 0:00

Steve Reich – tuned bongo drums and voice
Russ Hartenburger – tuned bongo drums
Bob Becker – tuned bongo drums
James Preiss – tuned bongo drums

Part Two – starts 24:30

James Preiss – marimbas
Tim Ferchen – marimbas
Russ Hartenburger – marimbas
Steve Reich – marimbas
Steve Chambers – marimbas
Cornelius Cardew – marimbas
Bob Becker – marimbas
Ben Harms – marimbas
Glen Valdez – marimbas
Joan La Barbara – vocals
Jay Clayton – vocals

Part Three – starts 51:00

Glen Valdez – glockenspiel
Bob Becker – glockenspiel
Russ Hartenburger – glockenspiel
James Priess – glockenspiel
Steve Reich – voice (whistling)
Leslie Scott – piccolo

Part Four – starts 1:05:30

Tim Ferchen – tuned bongo drums
Steve Reich – tuned bongo drums
Steve Chambers – tuned bongo drums
Russ Hartenberger – marimbas
Bob Becker – marimbas
Glen Valdez – marimbas
James Preiss – glockenspiel
Ben Harms – glockenspiel
Cornelius Cardew – glockenspiel
Leslie Scott – piccolo
Joan La Barbara – vocals
Jay Clayton – vocals

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Paul Hindemith – Symphonie “Mathis der Maler” (1934)

Symphony: Mathis der Maler (Matthias the Painter) is among the most famous orchestral works of German composer Paul Hindemith. The symphony is based on themes from Hindemith’s opera Mathis der Maler, which concerns the painter (in German, “Maler”) Matthias Grünewald (or Neithardt). Hindemith composed the symphony in 1934, before he had completed work on the opera. The conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler asked him at that time for a new work to perform on an upcoming Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra concert tour, and Hindemith decided to use themes from the opera in a symphony as a ‘trial run’ for the music. Furtwängler and the Berlin Philharmonic gave the first performance on March 12, 1934. The first performance outside Germany was given by the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra in October 1934, conducted by Otto Klemperer. Other performances include the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra in 1936, conducted by Daniel Sternberg. The symphony was well received at its first performances, but Furtwängler faced severe criticism from the Nazi government for performing music that seemed to oppose party ideology. Hindemith completed the full opera by 1935 but, because of the political climate, its premiere was delayed until 1938 in Zürich, Switzerland.

Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini in Boston March 29, 1974:




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[via Zdenka Pregelj on Google+]

Anton Webern – Variations for piano Opus 27 (1936)

Variations for piano, op. 27, is a twelve-tone piece for piano composed by Anton Webern in 1936. It consists of three movements:

  1. Sehr mäßig (“Very moderate”)
  2. Sehr schnell (“Very fast”)
  3. Ruhig fließend (“Calm, flowing”)

Webern’s only published work for solo piano, the Variations are one of his major instrumental works and a seminal example of his late style. [source]

Glenn Gould – pianoforte, filmed in 1974.

 

Giacinto Scelsi – Aitsi for amplified piano (1974)

In 1974 Scelsi employed the piano for the last time when he created Aitsi for amplified piano and To the Master (two improvisations in collaboration with Victoria Parr) for cello and piano. Assuming a special position within Scelsi’s compositional output, his works for piano shed not only light on his outstanding pianistic talent and his abilities as an improviser, but they indicate major changes in his compositional development. Twelve-tone procedures in his early piano works reveal the influence of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern. In his search of the “depth” of sound and its microtonal qualities, the piano with its half-tone step limitation could no longer correspond to his artistic ideas; and as a consequence he stopped composing for this instrument in 1956. However, Scelsi did not discard the piano, which had served as one of his imperative composing aids since the mid-forties. Instead, he employed the “ondiolina,” an electric keyboard instrument which made possible quarter-tone differentiation. Aitsi, Scelsi’s last work for amplified piano solo of 1974, in which the sustained pitches are distorted, incidentally originated due to a malfunction of his tape recorder. It was ultimately arranged for string quartet in 1985. [Source]



[via Thomas Bjørnseth on ATONALITY.NET]