The Pensive Morning (2024)
Performed by the composerFor many years I wanted to write a piece for computer-controlled piano (Disklavier) and live pianist. I could never work it out, because for the pianist to synchronize with the Disklavier, the beat has toi be fairly steady, and a steady beat on the Disklavier can sound mechanical. Finally I decided not to synchronize, and wrote, for the first time in decades, a piece in which the pianist can play phrases in any order, improvising the form in a way I hadn't done since Long Night of 1981. It will be clear, I think, that the Disklavier's bass notes depict a stillness like a limpid pool, its treble notes evoke birds and insects, and the live pianist part in the middle suggests a human presence in nature. "Pensive Morning" because, perhaps, it follows the "Long Night;" The pensive morning because the morning itself is pensive.
The piece could also be played by an improvising pianist; the Disklavier plays only the top two and bottom two-and-a-half octaves, so the pianist can play from E below middle C to B-flat above the treble clef. The drone notes in the bass are Bb, C, Eb, F, and Ab, so the pianist can hover around the scales of B-flat natural minor, Dorian, or Mixolydian. Duration: 12 minutes
- Kyle Gann
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