{"id":2,"date":"2014-09-08T03:10:51","date_gmt":"2014-09-08T03:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jameselkins.com\/pianofiles\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2016-03-24T17:43:09","modified_gmt":"2016-03-24T22:43:09","slug":"sample-page","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.jameselkins.com\/pianofiles\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

The purpose of this site<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a collection of brief analytic essays on modern, postmodern, avant-garde, and experimental solo piano music.<\/p>\n

There is a lack of serious criticism of recent and contemporary “classical” music. There are many reviews of CDs and performances, but very little analysis of\u00a0individual pieces. \u00a0(One reason for this is that the few reviewers usually don’t have scores when they hear the music.) Among the\u00a0few exceptions are occasional essays in scholarly journals such as\u00a0Perspectives of\u00a0New Music.\u00a0<\/em>As a result, criticism of contemporary experimental music lags far behind criticism in the visual arts or in fiction and poetry.<\/p>\n

The notion here is to behave, in relation to contemporary “experimental” “classical” music, the same way a critic would behave in relation to visual art or writing: that is, to pay attention to the work’s historical context and its detailed form, without relying on generalities.<\/p>\n

I include notes on playing the pieces whenever possible\u2014whenever I have played them\u2014and I don’t write about music unless I have the score. I have about 1,000 scores and 1,800 more as pdfs. (Sorry, I no longer trade scores: I try to support publishers by buying originals.)<\/p>\n

All comments are welcome.<\/p>\n

James Elkins<\/p>\n

www.jameselkins.com<\/p>\n

John White, Piano Sonatas (1956 – )<\/a><\/p>\n

Tristan Murail, “Terrritoires de l’oubli” (1978) and Nonken’s “The Spectral Piano”<\/a><\/p>\n

Anthologies of modern and contemporary piano music (1940-2015)<\/a><\/p>\n

Salvatore Sciarrino, Piano Sonatas (1976-1994)<\/a><\/p>\n

Beat Furrer, \u201cDrei Klavierst\u00fccke\u201d (2004)<\/a><\/p>\n

Ann Southam, \u201cSoundings for a New Piano\u201d (1986)<\/a><\/p>\n

Anton Webern, \u201cVariazionen f\u00fcr Klavier,\u201d Op. 27 (1936)<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cGrotesque Album for Piano\u201d (\u201cGrotesken Album\u201d), edited by Carl Seelig (1922)<\/a><\/p>\n

Valery Zhelobinsky, \u201cSix Short Etudes\u201d (1933)<\/a><\/p>\n

Richard Taruskin, \u201cMusic in the Late Twentieth Century\u201d (2005)<\/a><\/p>\n

Sebastian Currier, \u201cScarlatti Cadences and Brainstorm\u201d (2005)<\/a><\/p>\n

Alfred Schnittke, \u201cF\u00fcnf Aphorismen f\u00fcr Klavier\u201d (1990)<\/a><\/p>\n

Lowell Liebermann, Piano Sonata no. 2 (Sonata Notturna) (1983, published 1993)<\/a><\/p>\n

Lowell Liebermann, \u201cGargoyles\u201d (1989)<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201c13 Ways of Looking at the Goldberg,\u201d edited by Lara Downes (2011)<\/a><\/p>\n

Tristan Murail, \u201cCloches d\u2019Adieu, et un Sourire\u201d (1992)<\/a><\/p>\n

Santiago Lanchares, \u201cDos Invenciones\u201d (1997-99, CD by Ananda Sukarlan, 2005; score published 2006)<\/a><\/p>\n

Brian Ferneyhough, \u201cOpus contra naturam\u201d (2000)<\/a><\/p>\n

Shostakovich, 48 Preludes and Fugues (1951)<\/a><\/p>\n

Hindemith, \u201cLudus Tonalis\u201d (1942)<\/a><\/p>\n

Donald Martino, \u201cPianississimo\u201d (1970,\u00a0 published 1977)<\/a><\/p>\n

Lei Liang, \u201cMy Windows\u201d (1996-2007)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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