Henry Cowell plays his own Piano Music
Henry Cowell, a few years before his death in 1965, chose and recorded 20 of his own piano pieces, going from his first composition (1912), spreading out over 20 more years, and, more importantly, over the width, breadth, and depth of the piano itself. The pioneer in prepared piano techniques, Cowell's approach, at times, is really an attack--he strikes with elbows, climbs inside and plucks strings, uses his entire fist on the keys as a way of changing harmonic direction. Amidst this modern mayhem lands strong marching melodies and charging, bright clusters of chords. The piano, as a response, grumbles, rolls, and purrs, and even Cowell's gentle stroking of the keys can sound like thunder. His techniques were so groundbreaking and unidentifiable that even Bartok wrote to askCowell'spermission in order to experiment with clusters himself.--Robin Edgerton