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}

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Christian Wolff - American Contemporary

Christian Wolff - American Contemporary

The first piece, "Lines", is composed for string quartet. It's more or less an academic exercise where a player for any string instrument makes a sound then when the player stops another player creates a sound immediately and so on. This composition is supposed to demonstrate lines of sound between the players. The strings on each instrument (violin, cello, viola) are retuned so that sixteen different pitches are available.

The second piece, "Accompaniments" was written for Frederic Rzewski. Rzewski is not only asked to play the piano, but to sing and play percussion with his feet (drum with pedal and high hat), tasks that are outside the expertise of the performer. On the first part of the piece, Rzewski sings text from the book "China: The Revolution Continued" written by Jan Myrdal and Gun Kessle. Afterwards, Rzewski plays the percussion with his feet while playing the piano. Then it ends with just a performance on the piano.

Tracklisting:

Side A

1. Lines {22:45}

Side B

1. Accompaniments {21:10}

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