The Well​-​Tuned Piano in the Magenta Lights cover

The Well​-​Tuned Piano in the Magenta Lights

Released

La Monte Young’s evening-length piano improvisation creates a bewitching sense of alternative space. This effect is accomplished through Young’s otherworldly piano tuning, which privileges a set of harmonies far removed from those typically available on a modern piano. Despite the arcane tuning and forbidding length, the surface of the piece is surprisingly easy to inhabit. Young’s musical ideas are consistently lucid, and the piece maintains a fantastical sense of adventure. So many foreshadowings of the of the ’60s musical culture to come can be heard here: Steve Reich’s pulses, John Cale’s viola drones, quests for transcendence.

Sean Wood

Recommended by

Suggestions
Amaryllis cover

Amaryllis

Mary Halvorson
Michael Gordon: Sonatra cover

Michael Gordon: Sonatra

Michael Gordon, Vicky Chow
Blind Idiot God cover

Blind Idiot God

Blind Idiot God
Circle 1: Live in Germany Concert cover

Circle 1: Live in Germany Concert

Barry Altschul, Anthony Braxton, Dave Holland, Circle, Chick Corea
Meltframe cover

Meltframe

Mary Halvorson
The Bath cover

The Bath

Emma Houton
A Cosmic Rhythm With Each Stroke cover

A Cosmic Rhythm With Each Stroke

Wadada Leo Smith, Vijay Iyer
Sélébéyone cover

Sélébéyone

Steve Lehman, Sélébéyone