The Well-Tuned Piano 81 X 25, 6:17:50 - 11:18:59 PM NYC
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Track listing
- A Part 1 30:10
- B Part 2 29:07
- C Part 3 34:34
- D Part 4 27:21
- E Part 5 33:16
- F Part 6 28:00
- G Part 7 29:19
- H Part 8 32:59
- I Part 9 29:22
- J Part 10 32:27
- Total length: 306:35
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3 Issues
27 Reviews
Gets a little bit boring after 3 and half hours.
Published
For many, La Monte Young is nothing less than the inventor of minimalism. Such pronouncements could be debated ad infinitum, but it has to be recognised that he has been the foremost theorist and proponent of the processes of minimal music. And, from a popular music perspective (for that remains my background, no matter how much I love the avant-garde), the influence of Young is undeniable, all the way up to modern-day acts like Eleh and Double Leopards. After all, it was Young who, through his creation of The Dream Syndicate drone band, along with Conrad, Marian Zazeela, Angus MacLise and John Cale, laid the foundations for drone in "rock" music, with Cale and MacLise of course going on to found The Velvet Underground.
I shan't dwell at length on the history of La Monte Young, or minimalism, but Branden W. Joseph's excellent book Beyond the Dream Syndicate: Tony Conrad and the Arts after Cage is a great study of the art scene of the sixties that gave birth to both artists' creations. The precocious and super-confident Young was a pivotal figure in taking the notions explored by John Cage and applying them in new ways, especially the audience/performer relationships and Cage's revolutionary approach to contemplating sound. Comparing Young's music -notably his experimental written scores- to the art of sculptor Robert Morris, Joseph highlights the notions of "transgression" and "transcendence" that Young would attain (or try to) through sound and performance.
This is not "transgression" in a rock sense ("Hendrix's guitar playing was so controversial, maaaan"), but in the way that Young, like Cage and Morris before him, deconstructed the relationship between artist and audience, in net distinction from much of the contemporaneous art scene. Young's approach to sound could be seen as almost confrontational, with its emphasis on sustained tones and volume, and this would be the main shift from Cage's approach. This may explain the attraction his music has often had for rock artists.
Perhaps the summit of La Monte Young's musical exploration is his magnum opus, The Well-Tuned Piano (released on CD by Gramavision in 1987). As a piece, it takes immense patience to get through, not because it's difficult or boring, but simply by its length - it clocks in at a whopping 5 hours! Also, Young's approach to this most traditionally musical of instruments is some distance away from the instantly melodic works of, say Beethoven, Nyman (latter period) or Mahler. Young's fascination since the 60s with traditional Indian music, which focused on tones rather than notes, would culminate with the notion -developed with Conrad and Cale- of "just intonation", and The Well-Tuned Piano is Young's attempt to apply this to the piano. It's simply a triumph, as Young's smart tunings help him circumvent the sharp attack of the piano, essentially turning it into a drone instrument. At times, he hammers away at the keys with virtuoso speed, with such shifts in tempo seeming almost random. The effect is that the quickly accumulated notes meld into one another, much as Alvin Lucier's voice does to itself on his seminal I Am Sitting In A Room, creating an otherwordly wall of hazy sound.
And, as with pretty much all of La Monte Young's works, the listener's relationship to the music is key to its success. How does one approach 5 straight hours of just listening? You can get up, do something else, and this in itself changes the listening process. Depending on where you are in relation to the source of The Well-Tuned Piano, the experience of it is different. Or you can allow yourself to drift into it, to remain inert and attentive, to just listen. The experience of it will therefore be different. It's the physicality of Young's music that makes it so infinitely rewarding. And by making this, and other works like Dream House, so uncompromising, so transgressive, he forces the listener (and this was his most radical shift from Cage, who had a more "peaceful" approach) to engage with the music on some physical level. If you do, there is a chance it will have a transportative effect. Which I guess would count as transcendence.
I shan't dwell at length on the history of La Monte Young, or minimalism, but Branden W. Joseph's excellent book Beyond the Dream Syndicate: Tony Conrad and the Arts after Cage is a great study of the art scene of the sixties that gave birth to both artists' creations. The precocious and super-confident Young was a pivotal figure in taking the notions explored by John Cage and applying them in new ways, especially the audience/performer relationships and Cage's revolutionary approach to contemplating sound. Comparing Young's music -notably his experimental written scores- to the art of sculptor Robert Morris, Joseph highlights the notions of "transgression" and "transcendence" that Young would attain (or try to) through sound and performance.
This is not "transgression" in a rock sense ("Hendrix's guitar playing was so controversial, maaaan"), but in the way that Young, like Cage and Morris before him, deconstructed the relationship between artist and audience, in net distinction from much of the contemporaneous art scene. Young's approach to sound could be seen as almost confrontational, with its emphasis on sustained tones and volume, and this would be the main shift from Cage's approach. This may explain the attraction his music has often had for rock artists.
Perhaps the summit of La Monte Young's musical exploration is his magnum opus, The Well-Tuned Piano (released on CD by Gramavision in 1987). As a piece, it takes immense patience to get through, not because it's difficult or boring, but simply by its length - it clocks in at a whopping 5 hours! Also, Young's approach to this most traditionally musical of instruments is some distance away from the instantly melodic works of, say Beethoven, Nyman (latter period) or Mahler. Young's fascination since the 60s with traditional Indian music, which focused on tones rather than notes, would culminate with the notion -developed with Conrad and Cale- of "just intonation", and The Well-Tuned Piano is Young's attempt to apply this to the piano. It's simply a triumph, as Young's smart tunings help him circumvent the sharp attack of the piano, essentially turning it into a drone instrument. At times, he hammers away at the keys with virtuoso speed, with such shifts in tempo seeming almost random. The effect is that the quickly accumulated notes meld into one another, much as Alvin Lucier's voice does to itself on his seminal I Am Sitting In A Room, creating an otherwordly wall of hazy sound.
And, as with pretty much all of La Monte Young's works, the listener's relationship to the music is key to its success. How does one approach 5 straight hours of just listening? You can get up, do something else, and this in itself changes the listening process. Depending on where you are in relation to the source of The Well-Tuned Piano, the experience of it is different. Or you can allow yourself to drift into it, to remain inert and attentive, to just listen. The experience of it will therefore be different. It's the physicality of Young's music that makes it so infinitely rewarding. And by making this, and other works like Dream House, so uncompromising, so transgressive, he forces the listener (and this was his most radical shift from Cage, who had a more "peaceful" approach) to engage with the music on some physical level. If you do, there is a chance it will have a transportative effect. Which I guess would count as transcendence.
Published
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This album slowly takes you on a journey into a part of yourself you are not familiar with. It would be rated 5.0 by every user if they would have listened to it correctly. Let your full attention be absorbed into the music and you will experience something very special.
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I have found the feeling of pure transcendent serenity made inside musical form.
Published
Somehow this molds itself almost perfectly to the state of emotional disturbance I've been undergoing recently. Ruminating, repetitive melancholia that feels "wrong" or "lost" in its own anonymous, tonally uncharted sort of way, and yet after a long while spinning in mental disarray in its alien space, you do eventually manage to find solid contextual ground to settle on, and from the ruins you slowly start rebuilding yourself a new mental castle. There is no hope in coming back, but you found yourself a new home among the scars. Piano raga for an existential crisis.
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A
Part 1
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B
Part 2
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C
Part 3
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D
Part 4
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E
Part 5
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F
Part 6
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G
Part 7
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H
Part 8
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I Part 9
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J Part 10
"A swarm of amethyst butterflies set free"
Though it's a topic for discussion in itself, La Monte Young is often referred to as the first revolutionary composer of classical minimalism. His influence spreads far and wide, trickling down to ambient artists like Brian Eno but also to musicians such as the members of The Velvet Underground. Young's most celebrated work is that of a five-LP live recording entitled The Well-Tuned Piano, a grand microtonal performance that lasts well beyond the hallmarks of any standard release by boasting a five-hour runtime.The album is split into ten subsections, each with a general feeling and theme that they orbit for approximately half an hour. Though it starts off fairly inactive, the music grows more and more anticipatory over time until Young's mastery of the keys leads to flurries of complex and interconnected notes. He isn't afraid to delve into darker, deeper, and more intense territory at times, and despite the concert's largely improvisatory nature, there is a strong sense of harmony in how each and every keystroke is carried out.
Technical proficiency aside, it is known that Young drew influence from a childhood fascination of environmental sounds both manmade and natural, such as electric hums, the chirping of crickets, and the constant streams of wind. Reading between the lines of The Well-Tuned Piano will reveal a similar droning background, doubling down on the relaxing aura that the record gives off. Additionally, anyone with synesthesia will agree with Young's decision to pair this ambitious venture with a meditative purple setting in the piece's video component. Created by his wife, art installation The Magenta Lights glows softly along the composer's extensive demonstration.
This is a piece that is indeed a rabbit hole of research and exploration, but is perhaps more interesting to read about than to experience firsthand. Five hours of minimalism sounds intriguing on paper, but it comes as no surprise that it can grow tiring. There are countless moments of brilliance, one just needs the patience to discover them.
★★★½
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I don't want to inject too many words into a review about something that is ultimately, minimalist. It's entrancing if you're not paying attention to it. If you're trying to pay too much attention to it, you're gonna get bored (it's 5 hours long).
The way the piano is tuned should put you on edge, but the way that Young transitions from the slow chords to the "note cloud" sections are seamless and something of beauty.
The note cloud sections should, and probably will, make you hallucinate notes and tones and timbres that aren't there. I recall hallucinating the sound of a droning, clean tones as if they were produced from a synth. Some people report hearing a didgeridoo. This is most certainly a desired effect.
I'd compare it to listening to Ágætis byrjun, in that you should strap in to hear something completely unique that you've never heard before. Afterwards, you can go and look up the chordal analysis if you really want to dive into the theory that's driving this masterpiece. But for your first listen, make sure you just let it wash over you.
(and this part may be sacrilegious but don't feel the need to listen to the whole thing in one sitting, or even listen to the whole thing entirely. If you feel like you get the idea after 3.5 hours, then stop. If you're euphoric after 3.5 hours, then by all means keep going).
The way the piano is tuned should put you on edge, but the way that Young transitions from the slow chords to the "note cloud" sections are seamless and something of beauty.
The note cloud sections should, and probably will, make you hallucinate notes and tones and timbres that aren't there. I recall hallucinating the sound of a droning, clean tones as if they were produced from a synth. Some people report hearing a didgeridoo. This is most certainly a desired effect.
I'd compare it to listening to Ágætis byrjun, in that you should strap in to hear something completely unique that you've never heard before. Afterwards, you can go and look up the chordal analysis if you really want to dive into the theory that's driving this masterpiece. But for your first listen, make sure you just let it wash over you.
(and this part may be sacrilegious but don't feel the need to listen to the whole thing in one sitting, or even listen to the whole thing entirely. If you feel like you get the idea after 3.5 hours, then stop. If you're euphoric after 3.5 hours, then by all means keep going).
Published
A harmonic vigilante at work. Somewhere between right and wrong and beautifully so.
Published
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