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Shy and Mighty (2005-07)
ensemble two pianos
written for senior essay for Yale College
premièred May 9, 2007, New Haven, CT
recorded Nonesuch 522413
Shy and Mighty is a full-length album of music for two pianos. It began as a kind of personal compositional notebook back in 2005, and after a gestation period, emerged transformed into a big butterfly, I mean senior thesis project. Since then, it’s gone on to become my début album, which I recorded with David Kaplan and was released by Nonesuch in 2010.
1. Antennae
A simple tripartite piece which sounds like a robotic toccata.
2. The night jaunt
A long nocturnal walk, solitary or perhaps with a friend.
3. Tunnel
An interstitial movement which leads nowhere.
4. Trip by train
A virtuosic conversation between pianos, which eventually becomes contemplative and lyrical, finally falling asleep.
5. Die Spieluhr
A music box which plays disjunct Mahler and Brahms.
6. Out of shape
Chews on I and V chords for a good long time.
7. La Malinconia
A verse/chorus structure, with long melodic lines built from repeated-note figures.
8. How can I live in your world of ideas?
Takes its name from the caption of a cartoon I drew, which depicts a young penguin and his parents in a museum, looking at a painting of a naked woman. This piece starts out as a theme and variations, but is then gradually overtaken by extraneous material from somewhere else entirely.
9. Flirtation Ave.
An extended process of “coming together”, followed by a rowdy coda.
10. Pavane (pour un compositeur défunt)
An homage to gospel music and the late composer D. M., or perhaps neither.
Watch
2. Night jaunt
10. Pavane (pour un compositeur défunt)
Recorded 2/10/09 live at Yamaha Studios, New York, NY
Timothy Andres and David Kaplan, pianos.
Listen
Recorded live at Le Poisson Rouge, May 17, 2010, courtesy of Q2.
Timothy Andres and David Kaplan, pianos.
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