This is the score for “Piece in the Shape of a Square” spread out across the stage at the Players Theatre. Tonight in Manhattan at 8:00 PM we’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of the birth of Minimalism with a concert of Steve Reich’s “Piano Phase,” two “Piano Pieces” by the obscure but great Terry Jennings, Terry Riley’s “In C,” and this piece by Philip Glass.
The Players Theatre, 115 MacDougal Street, Greenwich VIllage, Manhattan. Tickets are $20 ($15 with Student ID). Be there or be a person in the shape of a square.
Thanks Galen. I’ve heard a couple of Jennings pieces over the years, usually at the Dream House and he was a talent that deserves wider recognition.
More about the Jennings:
Terry Jennings was a friend of La Monte Young’s, and he was the first composer to really get was Young was doing with long tones in pieces like the Trio for Strings. In December 1958, two months after Young finished the Trio, Jennings wrote a “Piano Piece.” It’s quasi-twelvetone and very quiet and spare. Beatiful chords held for a really long time, and often released at different times so that some notes of the chord drop out sooner than others. In June 1960 he wrote another “Piano Piece” this one also with quiet chords held for a very long time–until they’ve decayed all the way or longer. Both pieces are riveting. It’s hard to tell where the notes end and the silence begins. Pianist Joe Kubera played them beautifully. Jennings unfortunately died in 1981, and he’s fallen into undeserved obscurity–these pieces get played very very rarely.
The other pieces went really well too 🙂
Tell us more about the Jennings!
This was terrific. The Reich and the Jennings pieces were the highlights for me. Way to go, Galen.
great concert!
I think it’s always played that way; the music stands are arranged in a large square, with the music all around on the outside. The musicians move around the square one complete circuit to play the whole piece. (And yes, I’m aware that I’m mixing squares and circles with the vocab above…)
whoa.. is it really going to be spread out like that at the concert tonight? i guess i will see for myself