Course Information: The Era of the Modern Piano, CRN 8285, MUHL 396 - 001 (Winter 2010)
Instructor: Dr. Xenia Pestova
Schulich School of Music, McGill University

Class Description:
This course will examine important solo piano repertoire by influential European and North American composers from 1850 to the present day. Special emphasis will be given to the stylistic and creative tendencies found in twentieth century and contemporary piano music. Examples of contemporary repertoire will be taken as points of departure. We will trace trajectories back to traditional repertoire, looking for roots, influences, similarities and differences in each topic that we explore. Schedule: TuTh 10-11:30, Strathcona Music Building C412.

Download Syllabus in PDF

Resources:
Question Review for mid-term exam
Listening Review for mid-term exam
McGill Library Catalogue and access to E-Resources
Chicago citation style guide (PDF)
Listening and Question Review for final exam

Readings and Listening Material (Placed on reserve on the fourth floor, music library):
For Tuesday, January 12th
- Hirsbrunner, Theo. “Magic and Enchantment in Messiaen’s Catalogue d’oiseaux” in Bruhn, Siglind. Messiaen’s Language of Mystical Love pp. 195-212

For Thursday, January 14th
- Bruhn, Siglind. Images and Ideas in Modern French Piano Music: pp. 100-109 (Noctuelles and Oiseaux tristes).
Optional: consult scores to follow analyses. Complete set of Miroirs: M24 R27 M4, M24 R27 B3, M24 R27 M453, M25 R38 M5, Noctuelles: M24 R27 M4 N6, Oiseaux tristes: M24 R27 M4 O3.
- Roberts, Paul. Images: pp. 45-57, pp. 67-70

For Tuesday, January 19th
- Listen to Messiaen Preludes numbers 4, 5, 6. http://mcgill.naxosmusiclibrary.com/cata logue/item.asp?cid=8.554090
- Follow with the score (optional): 2 copies should be at the reserve desk

For Thursdsay, January 21st
- Toru Takemitsu Les yeux clos 2: Listen to CD2769 or CD8427 on reserve
Follow with the score: M25 T3 Y4 1990 on reserve
(You can share the score by listening in groups at the table with several headphones on the third floor)

For Tuesday, February 2nd
- Look at the score for Karlheinz Stockhausen's Klavierstueck XI on reserve (M25 S83 K5)

For Thursday, February 11th
- Watch Ustvolskaya: Piano Sonata 6 (7'51'', be sure to go through to the end) - be prepared to discuss your impressions and the notation

For Thursday, February 18th
- Listen to Michael Finnissy’s Australian Sea Shanties (tracks 7-8) and Polskie Tance (tracks 9-12) at http://mcgill.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=MSVCD92010

For Tuesday, March 9th:
- Watch the following examples of extended technique: 1 and 2

For Thursday, March 18th:
- Read Ding, S. 2006

For Tuesday, March 23rd:
- Read Pestova, X. 2008: Chapters 1, 2, 3 (pp. 1 - 24, also on reserve)
- Watch Hans Tutschku: Zellen-Linien for piano and live electronics (excerpt)

Lectures:
January 5th: Visual Music 1 – Tom Johnson: Symmetries, Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
January 7th: Visual Music 2 - Rachmaninov: Etudes-tableaux, Albeniz: Iberia, Granados: Goyescas
January 12th: Music and Nature 1 – Arlene Sierra: Birds and Insects, Olivier Messiaen: Catalogue d’oiseaux
January 14th: Music and Nature 2 - Ravel: Jeux d'eau, Miroirs, Debussy: Estampes, Images, Liszt: Années de Pèlerinage
January 19th: Spectra, Spirituality and Sensuality 1 – Tristan Murail: La Mandragore, Cloches d’adieau…, Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit, Messiaen: Preludes, Debussy: Preludes
January 21st: Spectra, Spirituality and Sensuality 2 - Takemitsu: Les yeux clos II, Scelsi: Suites, Messiaen: Regards, Scriabin: Sonatas
January 26th: Structures 1 - Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf: Kammerstueck, Kammerminiatur, Brian Ferneyhough: Lemma-Icon-Epigram, Xenakis: Evryali, Mists
January 23rd: guest lecturer Sebastian Berweck: reading unusual notations
February 2nd: Structures 2 - John Cage: Music of Changes, 4'33'', Olivier Messiaen: Mode de valeurs et d'intensiés, Pierre Boulez: Structures, Piano Sonatas, Karlheinz Stockhausen: Klavierstuecke
February 4th: Structures 3 - Berg: Piano Sonata Op. 1, Schoenberg: Three Piano Pieces Op. 11, Suite Op. 25, Nikolai Roslavets: Second Piano Sonata, Webern: Variations Op. 27
February 9th: guest lecturer Dr. Katelyn Clark, Contemporary Keyboard Society: The Extended Piano 1 - piano + other keyboards
February 11th: The Extended Piano 2 - Timothy McCormack: ]regate[ s.p. ]aggre[, Galina Ustvolskaya: Piano Sonata No. 6, Lucia Dlugoszewski: Exacerbated Subtlety Concert (Why Does A Woman Love a Man?), Henry Cowell: The Tides of Manaunaun, The Banshee, Aeolian Harp, Helmut Lachenmann: Guero, Annea Lockwood: Piano Burning (see also burning piano performance)
February 16th: Folkore - Finnissy: Folklore, English Country Tunes, Bartok: Three Hungarian Folksongs from the Csik District, Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs, Rumanian Folk Dances, Janacek: On an Overgrown Path, Szymanowski: Four Polish Dances
February 18th: Rhythm - Messiaen: Cantéyodjayâ, 4 Études de rythme, Bartok: Out of Doors Suite, Prokofiev: Sonata nr. 7
March 2nd: Miniatures - Heather Hindman: Two and a Half Miniatures, Kurtág: Játékok, Ligeti: Musica ricercata, Berio: Encores, Satie: Embryons desséchés, Grieg: Lyric Pieces
March 4th: Lyricism - Mompou: Impressiones Intimas, Charmes, Prokofiev: Visions fugitives, Fauré: Nocturnes, Brahms: Op. 118, 119, Tchaikovsky: The Seasons
March 9th: The Extended Piano 3 - John Cage: Bacchanale, Sonatas and Interludes, George Crumb: Makrokosmos, Berio: Sequenza IV
March 11th: guest lecturer Professor Sara Laimon (McGill): Charles Ives - before and after
March 18th: The Extended Piano 4 - Luigi Nono: ...sofferte onde serene..., Jonathan Harvey: Tombeau de Messiaen, Michel Gonneville: Chute/parachute, Denis Smalley: Piano Nets, Mario Davidovsky: Synchronisms No. 6
March 23rd: The Extended Piano 5 - Cort Lippe: Music for Piano and Computer, Silvio Ferraz: Cortazar…, Philippe Manoury: Pluton (MIDI piano), Jean-Claude Risset: Duet for one pianist (disklavier), Hans Tutschku: Zellen-Linien
March 25th: Virtuosity 1 - David Rakowski: Études, Ligeti: Études
March 30th: Virtuosity 2 - Liszt: Études, Debussy: Études, Scriabin: Études, Stravinsky: Études
April 1st: Reactions 1 - John Adams: Phrygian Gates, China Gates, Morton Feldman: For Bunita Marcus, Palais de Mari, Shostakovich: Preludes and Fugues
April 6th: Reactions 2 - John Rea: Portrait of a Man in Elysian Fields, Las Meninas, Chris Paul Harman: After Schumann
April 8th and 13th: class presentations