LDV60

32 PROKOFIEV | COWELL Can you tell us something about the four pieces you selected? I’ve discovered them over time. They were composed between 1912 and 1930. The harmony is tonal, with a classical ‘grammar’, and special playing modes that are indicated in the score. The themes are very simple. Just a few notes, that’s all. Cowell gives few dynamic marks. So performers have to find the appropriate gestures in order to phrase. They must experiment, and adjust to the instrument and the acoustics of the hall. Some of these scores were difficult to find, like The Tides of Manaunaun , which has become one of his most famous works. Manaunaun (Manannán mac Lir) was originally the god of movement, and the piece expresses a fascination with the bass register. It’s a siciliana with a harmonised classical melody. The Banshee and The Fairy Bells aremore complex. These are probably the first works in the history of music where the performer plays directly on the strings of the piano. In Banshee , a person or an object fully depresses the loud pedal throughout. The performer is on the other side of the instrument, leaning over the soundboard. The playing modes differ according to the way the fingers slide over the strings. In the score, a theme of three or four notes, marked to be plucked, provides amelody. This is an indefinable piece that can’t produce any pre-ordained sonic result. It offers unexpected sounds, strange acoustic effects, from a lidless piano.