Jangle (1996)

for two pianos

View score excerpt [PDF].
(score available from American Composers Alliance)

Listen to movements 4 & 5 of Jangle.

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Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo

The music of Jangle explores mainly the percussive side of the piano. The expressive, singing quality of the instrument rarely appears. Instead, the music is about repetition, with characters ranging from the impassive to the insistent. The sound of the two pianists playing together is often akin to the sound of clocks ticking, of bells ringing, of hammers clanging — even though I don't mean for the music to portray these things. The notes the pianists play are important, but not in the same ways as in more traditional music. For example, in some passages a pitch serves as a tuned drum, and the musical focus is on the rhythmic patterns played by these "drums." A pitch change here is like a change of drum or a change in the manner of striking it. Although the music flows in phrases and paragraphs, as does much familiar music, it doesn't often strive for a distant goal. Sometimes it just spins its wheels, going nowhere in particular.


Performances:

  • Maki-Mack Piano Duo, Knox College, Illinois, 3/5/2008
  • Maki-Mack Piano Duo, Northern Illinois University, 2/27/2008
  • Maki-Mack Piano Duo, Monmouth College, Illinois, 2/21/2008
  • Maki-Mack Piano Duo, Western Illinois University, 2/20/2008
  • Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo, Indiana University, 3/30/2003
  • Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo, June in Buffalo Festival, 6/5/2001
  • Patricia Tao and Mimi Tung, University of Virginia, 11/17/1997