Boris Blacher-WORKS FOR PIANO (1980) Thorofon Capella

Today is Boris Blacher's 109th Birthday.
He died in 1975.


From the liner notes by Horst Gobel (enclosed) with interpolations (in italics) by Dr I:

Boris Blacher writes about his technique of "variable meter" in the forward to his "Ornamente, Opus 37":
"The realization that formal development will often be intensified by metrical change gave rise to the idea of organizing the metrical process in such a way that each measure is subject to a different metrical structure. If the metrical proportions are then constructed along mathematical lines, namely according to sequences or combination theory, then the metrical process is no longer the product of random or arbitrary events. New, higher-level symmetries are the result, moreover interesting overlaps of the metrical series with the musical phrase, varient recapitulations, and the like.

Some of our well-worn compositional techniques (e.g. canonic and imitative figures) will likely have to be sacrificed in favor of new rhythmic patterns. The variable meter method, on the other hand, if correctly applied, places at our disposal a substantial enrichment in respect to rhe elemets of rhythm and form.

No.1 and 2 are based on the simple arithmetic series:
234....9 and retrograde, then 34....43.

No.3 is based on a series with the formation law:
234 345 456....678 and retrograde.

No.4 is based on the principle of cyclic variation ie:
4532 5324 3245......
4532 2453 3245......

No.5 on a summation series:
2,3,5,8,13,

No.6 Permutation of four elements=24

No.7 is based on the formation law of the series:
87 876 8765.....8765432
65 654 6543.......65432
43..................432
The recapitulation appears in retrogerade. The basic unit for all movements is the eighth note".


Lest all this math should scare you away-as Gobel writes in the liner notes (in reference to the Sonata - but it is a truth which could be applied to almost all of Blacher's works):
"This purely formal component is of course to be recognized only as the groundwork upon which the musical materials are then to be erected."

That such strictures could yield such playful, lyrical, and swinging music is truly a marvel.

Boris Blacher- WORKS FOR PIANO (Thorofon Capella MTH 223) Recorded In 1980.

Side One:

1: Sonata For Piano (1951) (7:59)
-Allegro ma non troppo - Andante
-Andante - Vivace

2: First Sonatine, Opus 14 No.1 (1940) (2:33)
-Allegro
-Andantino - Vivace

3: Second Sonatine, Opus 14 No.2 (1940) (3:08)
-Moderato
-Allegro

4-10: Ornamente Opus 37 (Seven Studies In Variable Meter) (1950)

4: No.1- Vivace (Virgil Thomson) (:58)
5: No.2- Andante (Rudolph Wagner-Regeny) (1:16)
6: No.3- Allegro (Karl Amadeus Hartmann) (:56)
7: No.4- Allegretto (Priaul Rainier) (1:11)
8: No.5- Allegro (Rolf Liebermann) (1:20)
9: No.6- Moderato (Nicolas Nabokoff) (2:47)
10: No.7- Presto (Gottfried von Einem) (1:19)


Side Two:

11-34: 24 Preludes For Piano (1974)

11: No.1- Allegro (:46)
12: No.2- Allegretto (:28)
13: No.3- Moderato (:45)
14: No.4- Presto (:38)
15: No.5- Allegretto (:25)
16: No.6- Andante (:46)
17: No.7- Maestoso (:39)
18: No.8- Agitato (:49)
19: No.9- Adagio (1:27)
20: No.10- Vivace (:35)
21: No.11- Lento (:39)
22: No.12- Allegro molto (:25)
23: No.13- Allegretto (:41)
24: No.14- Lento (1:16)
25: No.15- Vivace (:40)
26: No.16- Adagio (1:22)
27: No.17- Agitato (:28)
28: No.18- Maestosto (1:30)
29: No.19- Andante (:51)
30: No.20- Allegretto (:26)
31: No.21- Presto (:50)
32: No.22- Moderato (:54)
33: No.23- Allegretto (:25)
34: No.24- Allegro (1:06)

35-37: Three Pieces For Piano (1943)

35: No.1- What About This, Mr. Clementi? (:45)
36: No.2- Moderato (1:35)
37: No.3- Allegro moderato (:44)



















Horst Gobel: Piano

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