Re: GG: Harpsipiano

[Bradley P Lehman <bpl@umich.edu>]

On Fri, 10 Jan 1997, Mary Jo Watts wrote:

> Well now I *must* ask Bradley and everyone else what do you think of GG's
> "harpsipiano" experiments???  

The only one I remember hearing so far is the Bach cantata with Russell
Oberlin.  I thought it sounded silly and distracting in the ensemble,
especially when GG doubles the violin parts needlessly.  Unfortunate,
because that instrument could probably be effective in different
repertoire, especially solo rep.  Scarlatti, anyone?  CPE Bach?  

There actually are some 20th-century works for tack piano.  Cage, Crumb,
Partch, or somebody else, I can't remember which at the moment.  Anybody
know?  There's a very effective spooky passage for toy piano in Crumb's
"Ancient Voices of Children," playing "Bist du bei mir." 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bradley Lehman, bpl@umich.edu       http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/