HCMF 2018: Sciarrino: Carnaval, hcmf// mixtape

by 5:4

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Chris L

The running order we were all handed on Saturday night showed clear signs of having been cobbled together in haste. For one thing, the order in which the individual performers chose to play some of the shorter pieces was often strikingly different. For another, the Braxton piece was actually announced as “Composition 69J” (although, admittedly, this may have been a case of Worby himself getting the title wrong). And finally, Evil Nigger would indeed have been a truly jaw-dropping achievement coming from the pen of a nine-year-old in the immediate postwar years…

As regards the instrumentation of the last of these, the Baroque-era analogy is a good one, in that the indeterminacy is both liberating and problematical. Given the drastic downturn Eastman’s fortunes took towards the end of his life, his own four-piano recording may well have fallen short of his original intentions (he’d surely have wanted to edit out those panicked-sound yells of “One, two, three, FOUR!”, ushering in each of the early recurrences of the refrain, if nothing else!). Perhaps Opalka’s conception of the piece is closer to the sounds Eastman heard in his head, perhaps it isn’t; however, one clear difference is the greater dynamic contrast in the three-quartets version, but also arguably a certain loss of aggression and drive because we’re not getting that characteristic piano attack. Also, Eastman’s ending is totally different, and even more of a surprise (indeed, I’ve sometimes wondered whether it really fits with the rest of the piece at all).

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