# programme notes #

# reviews #

The Five Pieces for Piano count among the first works in which Crumb found his individual style, a principal feature of which is an extreme sensitivity to the beauty and expressive power of small units of sound, including those produced by unconventional means. Crumb writes: "The Five Pieces for Piano were composed in 1962 at the request of David Burge. The work requires a considerably enlarged technique of tone production, for in addition to conventional keyboard sounds, the composer has exploited various sounds produced immediately by contact with the strings - e.g., pizzicato, martellato, glissando, etc. The integration of all these resources points toward a broader concept of piano idiom. Structurally speaking, the Five Pieces for Piano derive from a single three note cell, first presented as a chord: Bb, G#, A. Rhythm, dynamics, and timbre are all freely organized. The work as a whole is in the form of an arch, of which the third piece (Notturno) forms the centerpiece."