Pythagoras Tree: Works For Piano

by Udo Kasemets

Overview

These piano works by the Estonian born Canadian citizen Udo Kasemets are, without doubt, the result of deep, considered, and fruitful study. They have been influenced by everything from Webern's serialism to Stockhausen's structural concerns and sonic modulations to John Cage's indeterminacy. Written between 1964 and 1995, they reveal the developmental stages of a composer who is self-confident, but an agonizing searcher for truth as it applies not only to music but also to life. The problem, it appears here, is that searching is academic. Whether in the title work, from 1994, Kasemets seeks to erect a modular architecture of tone and scale, or in the early work ("Tango" and "Tangovariables on the Word Tango" both from 1964), where each note or cluster stands serially independent of the others no matter which order they are played in, the result is the same: These are looks through a microscope disguised as music; academic preoccupations that may be agonizing to the mind but are incapable of being expressed by the heart. In other words, it's all abstract mathematics and is a chore to listen to without snoring. Art for art's sake at least looks to express itself outside the confines of a music studio -- or basement. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	04/05/2011
Label:	Hat Hut Records / Hat[Now]Art
UPC:	0752156011323
Rank:	208767

Tracks

1. Timepiece, Version 1
2. Tangovariables on the word TANGO
3. Timepiece, Version 2
4. 3/7 D'un Morceau en Forme de Poire
5. Feigenbaum Cascades
6. Pythagoras Tree, for piano
7. Music of the First Eleven Primes, for piano

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Udo Kasemets   Primary Artist
Stephen Clarke   Primary Artist,Piano

Technical Credits

Peter Pfister   Mastering
Udo Kasemets   Composer
Werner X. Uehlinger   Executive Producer
Michael Hynes   Producer,Editing
Pia Uehlinger   Executive Producer
Art Lange   Liner Notes