Customer Reviews (1)

early manefestations of elegant piano writing
I doubt if this has ever been recorded,certainly pianists John Tilburyand perhaps Aki Takahashi would have performed this work.

Cardew had a keen sense of the piano's resonance,and throughout his life the piano solo was central to his aesthetic and work.When his engagement with Leftism became the focus for his work, he turned his experiences in the post-war avant-garde to write elegantly,evocative political music, to be played at fundraisers, and benefits for striking miners.Cardew knew the piano very well,and often was accompanist in works as the "Violin Sonatas" of Charles Ives,as well as Cage, Feldman, Wolff and Stockhausen; He finely honed pieces as the "Three Winter Potatoes" and the "February Pieces", written subsequent to this 'Third Sonata'There was always a flair, a sensibility on how to render the more virtuosic dimensions of the piano,elegant broken chords,filigree outward continuously moving lines, fistfulls of grace-notes, threadbare bass resonances,exquisitely voiced chords; and there was always a lyricism at work.
This 'Sonata' somewhat resembles the Boulez,'Second Sonata', but is very distant from the substance of its content, the Boulez was mired in "irrational" states of hallucinatory anger, anxiety,gratuitous violence,and brutality, to the point where the frequency and velocity of it transformed the piece into something "Other".
Cardew was one of the first to introduce the post-Webern, post-War avant-garde into the cultural venues of bland British cultural conservatism, (largely the early Sixties timeframe)Cardew's own musical creations kept some distances conceptually,and as time drew farther and the avant-garde became more accessible to its consumers,Cardew drifted seriously into greater levels of social and political engagement for his aesthetic, far more than Stockhausen,Boulez,or Cage manage to do in their lifetimes;So what's left was he learned how to simply utilize the technical,notational, the structural "shells" from this generation. This "Third Sonata" is a brillinat piece, compact, and economical, it never overspends its materials, deployed very well, with focus and charm. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

all under one roof
universal Ed. 14171

here is a wonderful compilation of what Cardew did best, graphic notation and thinking through the paradigms of the avant-garde, that it should in fact transcend its own existence.

You can't help seeing the influence of John Cage,and to some extent Karlheinz Stockhausen whom Cardew studied with in the late Fifties,helping him notate his "Carre".But he certainly did transcend the , self-referential agendas developed within the post-war avant-garde.
Cardew made the musical avant-garde more social,less elitist and later arguably political,a realm it needed than the self-centered "elitism" and "indifferance" that came within the substance of its on-going abstract concoctions.

You get four works herein:

"Autumn 60" was written in September 1960;duration usually circa 10 minutes,premiered in Venice,October,1960.
Here you get how to realize the score with notes and examples of orchestral realization. Everyone in the orchestra, of any size musicians all read from the same original score,which resembles the various "Solo for. . . " from Cage's "Concert for Piano", each orchestral part can also be a solo, as the Cage. This assures a certain central focus of reading.The work requires much rehearsal and planning.

"Material"is for "any ensembles of harmony instruments", this is a transciption for piano systems from Cardew's "Third Orchestra Piece,1960",some chords have incredibly volume, impacted,foreceful; there are Sections to work through "A thru Q". Again the piece reveals Cardew's penchant for elegance in timbre, shaped "Events",not wholly manipulated.

"solo with accompaniment" here the situation is reversed where the "accompaniment" is the more relativly interesting materials to play, and works from a :Matrix: that Cardew provides. This is a set of scales, to be worked up. The 'soloist' selects single tones from this ;matrix; from their medium-low regions of the instrument. So the piece could be read for two pianos, or two orchestras, with parts writtin out. I've heard it done with percussion and piano.

"Memories of You",played by John Tilbury in 1965, is a wholly ambitious work engaging in antiphonal deployment of piano(s), the pianist is required to make noises at floor-level, and "walk" to various point(s) indicated in the score,to parts(regions) of the stage to strike an event. All sounds are to be played once only. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

useful Treatise enlightenment
If you know the impeccable graphic score "Treatise" this will shed some light on how a musician proceeds to play, you should utilize your own imagination; but Cardew gives examples of how music is made, with traditional notational ideas from excerpts from the Treatise score;.

A line horizontal for example could be a long sustained tone, or tones, or clusters, electronic.acoustic, muted or otherwise; this depending on how long you come to define one single page;

If a page is say 15 minutes in length, then this could be very beautiful; long sustained tones you can alter, in nuance, micro-tones, barely audible;

Bun #2 was a realization by Cardew, of Treatise for orchestra,;This was commissioned by Maurcio Kagel, for a festival of new Music in Germany;the score reveals, Cardew penchant for the lyrical substance of music, He always knew some "other" needed to go on than the nihilism implied by the post-war music the Continent produced,the high serial period, one that he eclipsed over really;

The Volo Solo was written for pianist John Tilbury, for concerts he was giving in Italy in the Mid-Sixties, again it is a realization of pages from Treatise;all written out, in a bar-less piano score;one continuous sound; in gradations of tones, clustering, in all registers, although it does not go the extremes distances of the piano keyboard;
"Volo Solo"(Do you want a solo) develops the repeated virtuosic tone, single then mounting into massive chords, to large an expanse for one single musician.
It is advised that you play what you "Can" play and omit the rest, unless you play this as a Duet. Duets, or Trios work very well, for this, in that all the tones are then produced, and the ensemble can come to shape the proceedings; The substance of the "repeated" tone can come to sound dated of this period in the avant-garde;So be careful not to suggest this when playing, You can obtain beautiful moments, in that the dynamics are not given, so the entire piece can be quite soft, pianississimo; or pppppp, if you desire;

I've heard the piece played with electronics, and acoustic piano, with contact miks placed on its under-belly; altering whatever the piano does;smearing and tranmogrifying the tones. ... Read more

Product Description
239 pages. The first part of this book is a detailed biographical examination of Alban Berg. The second part is adetailed review and discussion of his work. The book concludes with essays written by Alban Berg. It is illustrated with photos. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

exquitsitely written pieces
universal edition 14200

these are "pieces" from the early Sixties,1964,a time when Cardew thought of moving to the USA for its progressive-ness; and again fascinating piano writing,like a lapidarian diamond cutter; even here in #1,as extended timbre, a tone is prepared with the insertion of a metal screw between the piano strings.(Later takened out)

The "piece(potato)#1",begins and retains for a time a gentle gesture of grace notes scale ascending after used with the attack(one beat) of an atonal-like chord,this gesture gives a 'signature' to this #1.The notation is proportional meaning once you establish a pulse a designation to the quarter,(crochet) value, it should be maintained.

Allterms of of modernity,as atonality(of endearment) for Cardew are quite different,in that he sought a traditional beauty within this language,not merely the 'existential angst' as the continent's purveyor have.
Still the threadbare shapes of Anton Webern seem to hover above these "potatoes"; evenpointillisms,richly treble registers are frequent if domninating; and brutal use of tremoli,are all maganetized towards a lyricism,yet adhering to modernity what gives you, a fragmented way of proceeding in the music.These timbral concepts remained with Cardew well into the engaged "beauty" we find in his "Piano Album(1973)with liberation hovering above the works.
"Piece #1" is also quite short in duration as "potato #3",(one page offrequently struck chords).

It is the "second potato" that is the most vigorous herein, in terms of structurally elaborate lenghts,"cyclic" in Cardew's notes,where each measure is a kind of gateway onto itself, (ends can be attached to beginnings). The performer may proceed at the beginning of any measure and move as desired.This is not the most practical way to play music, but if you'reperformer familiar with this "hovering" around the printed page, where your eye can freely float, it can make for engaging music. Linear progression is like a tyranny, overly-determined at times;destiny-bound. It also possible simply to play the "potato" straight-away as just described,normal,left to right,but then somehow,you seem to be loosing-missing the structrual "mysteries" the work may contain.The piece can be a form of "spiraling rondo".Perhaps like the work is "stuck" in a peaceful desired "stasis".

The title is interesting in-and-of-itself,"potatoes" can suggest the passage of time,nature's process;or more human forms as "still life" in the visual arts genre,time frozen;expended/distended and here the music solicits this,with its unassuming ways of proceeding,peaceful at times,yet squarely ensconced within the modernist language of the piano's resonance.
Also the metaphor can be of time spent,endured(sofferte onde serene) in a place,in reflections of rural experiences, ambiences of peace, tranquility, in that each piece is dedicated to loving friends,Barbara Mayfield,Andrew Porter, and Francesca Astaldo; each can suggest the barest of means,"potatoes" perhaps being a local staple for nourishment living the threadbare means of a musician-performer.

"Potato #2",has then an anchoring focus,where the two others become more self-contained,more isolated,more reflective;Also in this one there are longer phrases one enduring an entire uninterrupted treble line, again very gentile (scorrevole),timeless as to pulse. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

wonderful beauty,early Cardew
this was first performed I beleive at the Warsaw Autumn Festival,*circa 1966-67* John Tilbury and Cardew, taking the night-train from Berlin;

Morton Feldman liked this piece;

it has a largesse of elegance,the ornamentations,grace notes, beautifully voiced chords, high register moments in dialogue between the two pianos,

a far cry,yet not entirely from "Boolavogue" a piece also for two pianos, some 20 years later, a more politically engaging work,

Michael Finnissy in his "Folklore"for solo piano uses this piece as a structural template,like a "ready-made" "found music"without disregard to it' where other melodic materials are/become superimposed within the CArdew, like the Cardew is being utilized as an archeological base,-Grund-Matrix, to work from.

Here again early Cardew is a realm worth capturing and exploring, he wrote well,knew the piano's resonance,its clarity and brought another dimension to the modernist language, and again the genre of "two-piano" music was in vogue in the Fifties,early Sixties, with primary works, certainly earlier with Messiaen's "Vision d L'Amen, Boulez "structures",Cage, Feldman,Brown's "Corroboree",Zimmermann, Pousseur's "mobiles".

Cardew's "Two Books" here sort of incorporate that experience, he knew most of that music, and yet sought another threadbare-like elegance, more lyrical,thought-provoking, with moments of peace and tranquility. Cardew always thought something else should have been happening within the avant-garde, and frequently expressed this in his works. Even here he brings his impeccable graphic hand to the proportional notation deployed. ... Read more