LOW STOCK
Sally Pinkas, piano
Christian Wolff came to prominence in the 1950s as an associate of John Cage, Morton Feldman, Earle Brown and the otherAmerican experimentalists of that period, later working with Cornelius Cardew and Frederic Rzewski. His work has gonethrough many transformations, including minimalism (the early 1950s), indeterminancy, open form and works connected withpolitical issues.
The recent set of piano works on this record stem from his “political” period, often drawing on material from popularsong and other politically connected musics.
The ELEVEN PRELUDES (1981) are a wonderful collection of self-contained pieces, each representing one principal ideaor process.
BREAD AND ROSES (1976) is based on a song of the same title (Sally Pinkas includes the original song on this disc)written during the great mill strike of 1912 in Lawrence, MA. The song caught the voices and
asprirations of thewomen who took part in this
infamous strike.
PIANO SONG (I AM A DANGEROUS WOMAN) (1983) is based on Joan Cavanaugh’s fierce anti-war poem.
The last work, HAY UNA MUJER DESAPARECIDA (1979) is a set of variations on a song by Holly Near which was a lamentfor the women who “disappeared” in Pinochet’s junta in Chile during the 1970s.
Most of these works are RECORDED HERE FOR THE FIRST TIME. This disc is also important as one of the first all-Wolff recitals to be issued.
Prepared under the composer’s direction, the pieces are expertly played by Sally Pinkas. The Boston Globe had this to say: “…played with technical authority, a wide range of colorings, shadings…and imagination.”
This is the first in a number of releases of Christian Wolff’s music to be presented on Mode.