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<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nSAMUEL REINHARD \u2013 FOR PIANO AND SH\u014c <\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\nOn Discogs, Swiss-born but New York-based composer Samuel Reinhard<\/a><\/em><\/strong> is described as \u2018a composer of electroacoustic music\u2019<\/em>. I am not (yet) familiar with his earlier work, but I definitely would not call the two pieces on For Piano and Sh\u014d<\/strong><\/em> \u2018electroacoustic\u2019: they are performed with only two acoustic instruments. (Maybe that is why on the About page on his website, this part is skipped).
\u2018Guided by minimalist and aleatoric tenets, Reinhard\u2019s work emphasizes repetition and extended duration\u2019. This part is absolutely true, though, and I would add \u2018unhurried\u2019 (\u201cTo be slow and still\u201d) <\/em>to that: I don\u2019t think I have heard music this slowed-down since Reinbert de Leeuw\u2019s<\/em> piano interpretations of the music of Satie<\/em>.<\/p>\nThe two (20-minute) compositions are based on slow, repeated piano motifs, at times accentuated by the sound of the sh\u014d<\/a> \u2013 a fascinating Japanese reed instrument with 17 bamboo pipes, somewhat resembling an organ and with a very distinctive sound \u2018said to imitate the call of a phoenix\u2019. <\/em>The combination of these two completely different instruments \u2013 the piano (performed by Paul Jacob Fossum<\/strong>)<\/em> and the sh\u014d (played by Haruna Higashida<\/em><\/strong>)<\/em> \u2013 works extremely well.
There is a small difference between the two compositions: the first one is a multitrack recording with three pianos \u2018slowly encircling each other, each at their own pace\u2019, <\/em> and three sh\u014ds \u2018providing harmonic \u201creflections\u201d of the melodic motifs\u2019<\/em>. (I must confess however that I had not noticed there were more than the two instruments involved here).
In the second piece, \u2018a piano moves through a trio of figures\u2014an arpeggio, an improvisation, a chord\u2014for the duration of the performance. Each iteration of this sequence is accompanied by a single sh\u014d, which freely selects and plays a note or chord, emerging from the piano\u2019s first figure and disappearing into the third\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\nThe music exudes absolute tranquility because the players hold their notes \u2018through touch or breath\u2019<\/em> until the sound fully decays. Music, based on repetition, yet ever-changing\u2026 I played the album on repeat because I wanted it to last longer than these beautiful 40 minutes\u2026<\/p>\n(If you want to read more about this album and the composer: Elsewheremusic<\/em> (the label) has published a Q&A with Samuel Reinhard<\/strong><\/em> here<\/a>).<\/p>\n
\u2018Guided by minimalist and aleatoric tenets, Reinhard\u2019s work emphasizes repetition and extended duration\u2019. This part is absolutely true, though, and I would add \u2018unhurried\u2019 (\u201cTo be slow and still\u201d) <\/em>to that: I don\u2019t think I have heard music this slowed-down since Reinbert de Leeuw\u2019s<\/em> piano interpretations of the music of Satie<\/em>.<\/p>\n
The two (20-minute) compositions are based on slow, repeated piano motifs, at times accentuated by the sound of the sh\u014d<\/a> \u2013 a fascinating Japanese reed instrument with 17 bamboo pipes, somewhat resembling an organ and with a very distinctive sound \u2018said to imitate the call of a phoenix\u2019. <\/em>The combination of these two completely different instruments \u2013 the piano (performed by Paul Jacob Fossum<\/strong>)<\/em> and the sh\u014d (played by Haruna Higashida<\/em><\/strong>)<\/em> \u2013 works extremely well. The music exudes absolute tranquility because the players hold their notes \u2018through touch or breath\u2019<\/em> until the sound fully decays. Music, based on repetition, yet ever-changing\u2026 I played the album on repeat because I wanted it to last longer than these beautiful 40 minutes\u2026<\/p>\n (If you want to read more about this album and the composer: Elsewheremusic<\/em> (the label) has published a Q&A with Samuel Reinhard<\/strong><\/em> here<\/a>).<\/p>\n
There is a small difference between the two compositions: the first one is a multitrack recording with three pianos \u2018slowly encircling each other, each at their own pace\u2019, <\/em> and three sh\u014ds \u2018providing harmonic \u201creflections\u201d of the melodic motifs\u2019<\/em>. (I must confess however that I had not noticed there were more than the two instruments involved here).
In the second piece, \u2018a piano moves through a trio of figures\u2014an arpeggio, an improvisation, a chord\u2014for the duration of the performance. Each iteration of this sequence is accompanied by a single sh\u014d, which freely selects and plays a note or chord, emerging from the piano\u2019s first figure and disappearing into the third\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n