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Black 'n' Blues (2000) |
piano 4 hands, marimba and pillow - c.10'
The initial inspiration for Black 'n Blues came from recollections of my boyhood in the American deep South. On hot summer days we'd often sit in the shade, bored, inadvertently tapping out rhythms on our legs. With nothing better to do others might imitate the pattern, then add something new. A little game developed and a primitive percussion piece was launched. The other image that kept recurring was the idea of two pianists pounding the piano so loudly their fists turned black and blue. These ideas primed the creative pump, but as the piece developed it drifted in a somewhat different direction leading me more towards the idea of 'blues' rather than bruises. I liked the idea of old fashioned 'blue notes' and blues patterns gradually unfolding, getting longer, then whacked with a few alien, black note fist clusters.
The work was commissioned by Evelyn Glennie and Eastern Arts for the Cambridge Music Festival 2000. The world premiere was at the Cambridge Corn Exchange Concert Hall, Cambridge, UK, 20th November, 2000. Evelyn Glennie, piano/marimba and Philip Smith, piano.
© Stephen Montague