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Tilt (1985) |
solo piano - 8'
The history of keyboard music has seen a perpetual pushing back of the barriers of performance possibility. I confess that this aspect of piano writing fascinates me; Tilt is as much a showpiece, the pianist Quixote-like embattled with the notes, as a meditation on the archetypes which emerge from 'behind' the music. I suspect, however, that the best metaphor for Tilt is the pinball machine and its deranged carillon.
I wrote Tilt in 1985 for the great British pianist Andrew Ball who premiered it at the Brighton Festival three weeks after it was completed and subsequently made a phenomenal recording for the BBC. I feared at the time that no other pianist would have the courage to approach this daunting work, but happily I have been proved wrong.
© Chris Dench