Dr. John Orfe, Assistant Professor of Music, has scaled summits of the solo piano repertoire – Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” Sonata and “Diabelli” Variations; Charles Alkan’s “Symphony for Solo Piano”; Robert Schumann’s “Symphonic Variations”; and Bela Bartok’s “Piano Concerto No. 2” to name a few. On June 26 and 27, 2015, he gave two sold-out performances of György Ligeti’s “Piano Concerto” with his new music group Alarm Will Sound at The Whitney Museum in New York City.
These performances were part of “Anywhere in Time,” an 11-day festival devoted to the music of Conlon Nancarrow (1912-1997), whose original rhythmic explorations continue to inspire composers working today.
Acclaim was unanimous. Christian Kriegeskotte wrote in the digital magazine I Care If You Listen: “John Orfe made short work of Ligeti’s score at the keyboard, vaulting through even the most complex passages with delicate precision.”
Orfe had performed the Ligeti Piano Concerto with Alarm Will Sound in 2005 for a February concert at Miller Theatre, Columbia University. The New York Times ended its review of that concert with praise for Orfe's "virtuosic ardor." A computer-engraved notation of the solo part did not exist at the time, so Orfe engraved the entire solo part using Sibelius 2 because he found the facsimile of the composer's manuscript illegible for practice purposes. "Doing all that work then definitely sped up the relearning process this time around," he says.
Orfe had performed the Ligeti Piano Concerto with Alarm Will Sound in 2005 for a February concert at Miller Theatre, Columbia University. The New York Times ended its review of that concert with praise for Orfe's "virtuosic ardor." A computer-engraved notation of the solo part did not exist at the time, so Orfe engraved the entire solo part using Sibelius 2 because he found the facsimile of the composer's manuscript illegible for practice purposes. "Doing all that work then definitely sped up the relearning process this time around," he says.
The distinguishing features of Nancarrow’s (and Ligeti’s) art require some explanation. In a polyphonic musical texture, many melodic lines interact independently yet in such a way as to create a whole that is more than the sum of its parts. (The music of Johann Sebastian Bach provides the most famous example.) Even so, these lines will operate upon the same rhythmic playing field; in other words, they agree on tempo and metronome marking. But what if each voice moved independently not only with regard to notes but also rhythm, tempo and meter? The new texture would be not just polyphonic; it would be polymetric.
Enter Conlon Nancarrow.
Born in Texarkana, Arkansas, Nancarrow was influenced by new musical resources in the works of American composers Charles Ives and Henry Cowell on the one hand, and early jazz and stride piano styles of Earl “Fatha” Hines and Art Tatum on the other. With these influences, Nancarrow used tempo canons and isorhythm as the techniques of his musical language. A canon is a line of music overlapped some time later by a similar version of itself; isorhythm is a medieval technique in which a repeated note pattern takes place within a repeated rhythmic pattern…with the patterns designed so as not to line up with each other.
When it comes to ensemble playing, classical musicians are trained to play together. The first performers of Nancarrow’s music thus found his ideas somewhere between impractical and impossible to realize. Frustrated, he turned his attention to the player piano, in which he could punch holes anywhere on its paper rolls – quite literally placing them “anywhere in time.” Nearly forty years passed before he again wrote for live performers. Digital technology would take about as long to catch up to his work on player piano rolls.
“Imagine the sonic equivalent of going from two-dimensional space to three or more dimensions,” says Orfe. “The sense of ebb and flow is hugely expanded, as is the potential for tonal metaphor. We’re still at the beginning of exploring this brave new rhythmic world.”
Back to György Ligeti. Upon discovering Nancarrow’s music in 1980, he declared it “the best music of any today living composer.” The concert world took note. Nancarrow was awarded a MacArthur “genius” Award, and Ligeti’s entire late style was transformed by Nancarrow’s innovations, most spectacularly in the Piano Etudes and Piano Concerto (1985-88).
“Most of us in Alarm Will Sound grew up during this very period,” says Alan Pierson, AWS’ conductor and Artistic Director. “Nancarrow’s wild ideas became part of the musical DNA of our generation, offering a way to take the propulsive rhythms of minimalism and rock music to exciting and complex new places.”
Orfe continues, “Arrangements of the Studies for Player Piano were our [AWS’] core repertoire for many years. It was something special to perform these at The Whitney onstage with a 1921 instrument identical to what Nancarrow used. And Ligeti’s masterpiece of a concerto is always a thrill to play.”
I Care if You Listen review of Alarm Will Sound’s concert at The Whitney June 26, 2015:
http://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2015/07/alarm-will-sound-breathes-life-into-player-piano/
New York Times review of The Whitney’s 11-day “Anywhere in Time” festival devoted to Conlon Nancarrow: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/30/arts/music/review-the-whitneys-conlon-nancarrow-festival-is-an-enchanting-tribute.html?_r=0
