Colin McPhee - Tabuh-Tabuhan, toccata for orchestra and 2 pianos (Score Video)
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 14 окт 2024
- This video is provided for educational use only; please email me at pranav.sivakumar@berkeley.edu regarding any copyright issues.
00:06 I. Ostinatos
06:23 II. Nocturne
11:21 III. Finale
Esprit Orchestra conducted by Alex Pauk
Colin McPhee (1900-1964) was a Canadian-American composer. After studies with Gustav Strube at the Peabody Institute and later with Edgard Varèse, he moved to Bali in 1931 with his then-wife, the archaeologist Jane Belo (McPhee was gay, and they later divorced.) While in Bali, McPhee extensively studied the island's gamelan tradition, which he brought into many of his works from that time; his oeuvre represents one of the first ethnomusicological attempts to incorporate a non-Western musical tradition into Western art music. In the following decade, he lived with the likes of W.H. Auden and Benjamin Britten in Brooklyn and introduced Britten to Balinese gamelan, which the latter would take inspiration from in his score for "The Prince and the Pagodas".
"Tabuh-Tabuhan", written in 1936, is McPhee's best-known work; the title translates to "collection of percussion instruments". It brings together authentic Balinese melodies with the sound of the Western orchestra, augmented by a few Balinese percussion instruments (gongs and cymbals) and a "nuclear gamelan" of two pianos, celesta, xylophone, marimba, and glockenspiel. "Tabuh-Tabuhan" is very well constructed and orchestrated, but what fascinates me most is how far ahead of its time the piece was; I don't know the extent to which the American minimalists were familiar with his work, but their music - written decades later - surely owes McPhee a large debt.
Happy Pride month! :)
If you enjoy this piece, perhaps you might also be interested in Henry Cowell's Symphony No. 13 "Madras", based on elements from north and south Indian traditional music, which I have just uploaded as well. The link is below!
ruclips.net/video/H2aQUHM_kXw/видео.html
LOVE this piece - many thanks for uploading the score!
Haha I listened to this piece and learned about McPhee as part of my Music 139 class on the music and culture of Bali in Spring 2020 at UC Berkeley. It's a really cool work (just like that class)!
Oh, wow! What a great piece! It`s definitley years ahead of its time, and I think still modern today! It has what manny lack, great harmonic development, subject/thematic development, incredible use of orchestration, timbre and momentum. Really surprised how he continues to develop the harmony during the Finale, I just think ithe music wanted to keep going and going and he just wouldn`t let it at the end, feels a bit abrut, the same happened in the first movment in my opinion. Loved this piece! Thanks for uploading! :)
Great video, thanks.
Wonderful! Thank you. Ha, the opening is pure 'Six Pianos' (Reich, 1973). I'm sure McPhee influenced many Minimalists.