SCOTT: New Music for Bowed Piano
January 12, 2008 by VinceL
Scott: New Music for Bowed Piano
About the Composer:
Stephen Scott (1944-present) is an American composer and professor at Colorado College.
About the Music:
The bowed piano is not an instrument so much as a technique for playing the strings on a Grand Piano. Ten musicians use mono-filament bows to play these strings, often without ever using the piano keys. The resonances provided by the strings and soundboard of the Grand Piano create an enveloping, orchestral sound. Development of this modern technique is credited to C. Curtis-Smith in 1972.
Stephen Scott’s Bowed Piano Ensemble has been using and developing the technique since 1977. The group has traveled extensively and recorded several albums on the New Albion Records label.
The music is not unlike Ambient music in that it focuses on prolonged notes and developing a mood effect rather than “singable” melody. Bowed piano is considered a form of minimalist music.
There are a couple of things I enjoy. First, I personally like discovering new music (new to me, anyway). The techniques on this album are recent in the grand history of music and feed my desire to learn where music is changing and growing in the present age. What new techniques and sounds are being developed? How are people finding new ways to use instruments and how does their work sound? Will I “enjoy” it?
Second, I enjoy the bowed piano’s atmospheric sound. In particular, I enjoy the protracted tones and atmospheric effect created by the bowed piano technique. The last track includes some traditional piano note playing with the bowing.
[Naxos Music Library - New Albion Records]
