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
Levels and Degrees of Light cover

Levels and Degrees of Light

Muhal Richard Abrams
Junun cover

Junun

Jonny Greenwood, Shye Ben Tzur, The Rajasthan Express
Shadows cover

Shadows

Ensemble Pamplemousse
In All Languages cover

In All Languages

Ornette Coleman
Andando el Tiempo cover

Andando el Tiempo

Carla Bley, Andy Sheppard, Steve Swallow
From G to G cover

From G to G

Gianluigi Trovesi
Circle 1: Live in Germany Concert cover

Circle 1: Live in Germany Concert

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

Ornette

Ornette Coleman
Julius Eastman Vol. 1: Femenine cover

Julius Eastman Vol. 1: Femenine

Christopher Rountree, Wild Up