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The Well-Tuned Piano

Max Reinhardt introduces a recording of The Well-Tuned Piano by La Monte Young, an epic piano solo lasting for five hours composed in 1964, in which the composer plays piano.

The Well-Tuned Piano by La Monte Young is an epic piano solo lasting for five hours. It's a classic of American Minimalism, composed in 1964 (though Young considers it to be still a work in progress). Max Reinhardt introduces this recording, in which the composer performs on a specially-tuned piano.
La Monte Young is one of the first minimalist composers, along with Terry Riley, Philip Glass and Steve Reich. He is especially known for his development of drone music. He started out as a jazz musician, but then studied composition with Stockhausen in Germany, and also electronic and classical Indian music in the USA. He considers the Well-Tuned Piano to be his masterpiece.

"My personal experience with The Well-Tuned Piano was one of ... heightened concentration...the flow of momentum marshaled the vibrations of air in the room, slowly making the ear aware of sounds that weren't actually being played....I thought I heard foghorns, the roar of machinery, wood blocks, a didgeridoo, and most powerfully, the low, low vibration of the 18-cycles-per-minute E-flat that the ear supplied as the "missing fundamental" of the piano's overtones."
- Kyle Gann, The Village Voice (1987),.

6 hours

Last on

Sun 3 Jan 2016 01:00

Music Played

  • La Monte Young

    The Well Tuned Piano

  • The Theatre of Eternal Music

    Inside the Dream Syndicate - Volume I: Day of Niagara (Excerpt)

    Performer: John Cale. Performer: Tony Conrad. Performer: Angus MacLise. Performer: La Monte Young. Performer: Marian Zazeela.
  • Ben Neill

    Pentagram [La Mer Mix]

  • The Velvet Underground

    Venus In Furs

  • Daniel Lanois

    The Secret Place

    Music Arranger: Brian Eno.
  • Ali Akbar Khan

    The Sindhi-Bhairavi Mode

  • Anton Webern

    Six Bagatelles for String Quartet: 1.Massig

    Performer: Emerson String Quartet.
  • Aphex Twin

    Tassels

  • Roarke Menzies

    Drones for La Monte Young

  • Deva Premal And The Gyuto Monks Of Tibet

    Compassion: Om Mani Padme Hum

  • Kraftwerk

    Megaherz (excerpt)

  • Pauline Oliveros

    Grains

Broadcast

  • Sun 3 Jan 2016 01:00

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