Still life with piano

In this work the live piano plays within the space created by a computer-altered version of itself. The tape part is made from recorded piano sounds that have been expanded enormously in time.

Site for Still life with piano at the AMC Online Library (includes audio)

Still Life with Piano began with the composition of a short piece for piano. The tape part was made by computer-processing the sounds of this piece, while the solo piano part draws upon and extends these materials.

I attempted to create a relationship between the two parts in which aspects of the same musical entity evolve in different dimensions. The computer acts as a kind of microscope, capable of vast distortions and expansions of time and spectrum, while the real piano persistently articulates these explorations and puts them in the perspective of its own personality.

Still Life with Piano was written for James Pritchett. The tape part was realized at the Winham Laboratory of Princeton University.

An excerpt of the piece is available for download at the AMC Online Library here.

On Le chant du monde: Cultures electroniques 5 (1991). James Pritchett, piano.

On Centaur Records: Inner voices (CDCM Computer Music Series Vol. 5, 1990). Jennifer Tao, piano.