The People United Will Never Be Defeated!

Frederic Rzewski - The People United Will Never Be Defeated!

Performer: Ursula Oppens - piano

To be honest, I'm more interested in hearing Rzewski performing this himself, but unfortunately, I don't have that recording on hand at the moment. However, this recording is the original as Ursula Oppens commissioned Rzewski to write something for her and this music was the result. Rzewski even dedicated this work to Oppens. This work is considered a classic in the canon of modern piano music. It is a bunch of variations on a song of the same name written by Sergio Ortega. Ortega's song became an anthem of the Chilean resistance movement against the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. There have been several recordings of this work yet Oppens' version is still worth a listen if at least for historical importance.

Tracklisting:

1. Thema {1:23}

2. Variation 1 {0:53}

3. Variation 2 {0:53}

4. Variation 3 {1:07}

5. Variation 4 {0:58}

6. Variation 5 {0:58}

7. Variation 6 {1:05}

8. Variation 7 {0:52}

9. Variation 8 {1:04}

10. Variation 9 {1:05}

11. Variation 10 {0:57}

12. Variation 11 {0:58}

13. Variation 12 {1:09}

14. Variation 13 {1:44}

15. Variation 14 {1:15}

16. Variation 15 {1:19}

17. Variation 16 {1:32}

18. Variation 17 {1:06}

19. Variation 18 {1:27}

20. Variation 19 {0:38}

21. Variation 20 {0:34}

22. Variation 21 {0:48}

23. Variation 22 {0:44}

24. Variation 23 {0:28}

25. Variation 24 {2:10}

26. Variation 25 {2:13}

27. Variation 26 {1:10}

28. Variation 27 {4:54}

29. Variation 28 {1:22}

30. Variation 29 {0:34}

31. Variation 30 {2:24}

32. Variation 31 {0:55}

33. Variation 32 {0:57}

34. Variation 33 {1:00}

35. Variation 34 {1:01}

36. Variation 35 {1:01}

37. Variation 36 {4:21}

(1) [maybe reposted soon]