MATHIAS SPAHLINGER (b.1944): Farben der Frühe for 7 Pianos.

Description: The composer explores many of the possibilities opened up by the use of an ensemble of seven pianos, while studiously - and deliberately - avoiding stepping outside the restrictions imposed by the nature of the instrument; there are no extended techniques, adaptation of the pianos nor electronic or other sounds. By these means, as well as (fleeting) quotations from or allusions to earlier compositions or styles (Chopin, jazz), the work is related to the past, the rich history of the grand piano. And through the use of seven pianos with equal status, so to speak, no one being a soloist or having a leading part, we encounter the unusual phenomenon of the piano as a true ensemble instrument among equals. The musical material ranges between pointillistic fragments spatially flung around between instruments and more complicated assemblages that suggest complexicism, a kind of super-virtuosity and going further still, tumultuous masses of sound that are probably the closest anyone has yet come to emulating works for player-pianos, by Nancarrow et al, using live performers. These passages are exhilarating, often reminiscent of Messiaen in their incisive, dancˇing rhythms and ripe, colorful harmony. Ensemble Surplus; James Avery.