This doubleheader concert features legendary pianist Kathleen Supové and composer Neil Rolnick as they team up for a double CD release concert and party featuring new works from their most recent CDs.
The Debussy Effect - On her latest two disc release from New Focus Recordings, Kathleen Supové explores the hold that Debussy’s music has on pianists, musicians, and listeners alike. As she observes in her notes, Debussy’s music “seems to suggest a state of mind, too, envisioned in a very crystalline and personal way.” The Debussy Effect documents Supové’s project of enlisting several composers to bring that sensibility and something of their personal relationship to new, 21st century works, for solo piano and piano and electronics. — K.S.
EX MACHINA - According to composer Neil Rolnick, "Just as it’s commonplace for rock guitarists to control the quality of their sounds and audio effects with stomp boxes, it seems reasonable to expect that classical players can do something similar. The three instrumental pieces in this performance and album are my most recent explorations of this idea. They take varying approaches to how the player engages with the computer. All three pieces involve looping live materials and interacting im-provisationally with digital effects. Dynamic RAM & Concert Grand asks the pianist to improvise with sounds she records in real time, and play with them in much the way I play with sounds in my solo pieces. And Cello EX MACHINA actually takes the performance controls entirely out of my hands, and turns them over to the cellist." — N.R.
