Tom Johnson An Hour For Piano cd

cd
2010/1973
new
Tom Johnson is well known for writing a 1977 Village Voice essay that, in the days before NPR, introduced a bunch of brownstone dwellers to minimalism. His most famous piece lasts exactly an hour, has about one quarter note per second all the way through, and the whole thing's in the key of G & in the middle of the keyboard. Just open, short major key cascades with the pedal down all the way. So the floaty atmosphere here is all about the control of those cascades, making them all wash out over exactly the same space. Andrew Lee, the pianist here, can supposedly make the piece come out to last exactly an hour long every time he plays it. It's kinda neat to think that even when you're way closer to LaMonte Young than barrelhouse, the piano can still be primarily a percussion instrument.