Piano Avant-Garde Recordings

David Tudor - Piano Avant-Garde Recordings 1956-60

* originally posted on October 31, 2006

This breakthrough collection by Hat of David Tudor's recordings of his contemporaries (with a guest appearance by John Cage on two Christian Wolff duos) -- Cage, Cardrew, Evangelisti, Nilsson, Pousseu, and Wolff -- is a bird's eye view of a turbulent two years in the development of the music after the Second Viennese School's and in the shadow of that being made by Stravinsky and Messiaen. Of the selections here, Tudor is obviously the most sympathetic to the pieces by Cage and Wolff, given that in all likelihood he was nearby when they were being composed, and that, at least in Cage's case, 'Music for Piano, No. 52-56' was written especially for him. These works, especially the duos with Cage, have that ethereal brilliance and excitement associated with them that only something new can provide, the shifting aesthetics, the reliance on the instrument as a sounding board rather than as a set of keys, and the ability for chance operations to influence the whole of a composition rather than a measure or two. The duos by Wolff are articulating a new language too, in that here Tudor is playing the keys and Cage is playing the inside of the piano, bending notes, hammering others, forcing an exchange of harmonics at the intervals. Cardrew's 'Sonata No. 3' is notable for its insistence on using serialism in order to break it down into essentials of movement and flux. Also there is Wolff's 'For Piano With Preparations' that takes up the last 11 and a half minutes of the disc, which is an eye-opener into the experimentation going on with tonalities and the sonority of the physical instrument itself. Tudor is diligent in his pursuit of the notes. No matter how strange they may sound to him in their resonance, he paces the score out, and filters anything but its purest direction as Cage moves the nuts, bolts, woodblocks, and stones around inside. This is a wonderful volume, and is essential to anyone interested in the music of the New York School or the developing trends in light of the death of serialism. And for those interested in sound quality, it's a Hat recording; the label is its own stamp of excellence. (Thom Jurek, AMG)

track 1 composed by John Cage
track 2 composed by Cornelius Cardew
track 3 composed by Franco Evangelisti
track 4 composed by Bo Nilsson
track 5 composed by Henri Pousseur
track 6 composed by Christian Wolff
track 7 composed by Christian Wolff
track 8 composed by Christian Wolff

Tracklisting:

1. Music for Piano No. 52-56 {13:20}

2. Piano Sonata No. 3 {12:10}

3. Proiezioni sonore {4:50}

4. Quantitaten fur Klavier {4:00}

5. Impromptu et Variations II {6:05}

6. Duo for Pianists I [with John Cage] {4:05}

7. Duo for Pianists I (2nd version) [with John cage] {4:10}

8. For Piano with Preparations {11:26}

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