Eugene O’Brien (24 aprile 1945): Close Harmony per 2 pianoforti (1986). Piet Kuijken e Vincent Planès.
« Close Harmony is a lively, percussive and occasionally whimsical nine-minute etude for two pianos. In the first of two double meanings, the title refers to the close-position major and minor triads and commonplace harmonic progressions that form the core of the work’s ordinary and even banal vo-cabulary. Familiar to every first-year music theory student and aficionado of three-chord rock, these triads and progressions erupt into melodies and dense chords that eventually encompass all twelve pitches of the chromatic scale, chords and melodies that clash with the simple triads from which they sprouted.
« At the same time, the etude is a tour de force of keyboard acrobatics and rhythmic intricacy, both of which suggest the second meaning of the title: the close, intense ensemble coordination and harmony demanded of the two pianists » (Eugene O’Brien).
la regina gioiosa 