Tilson Thomas: Constancy
This item is made to order and typically ships within 2-3 weeks.
Shipping Policy- Composer: Michael Tilson Thomas (1944-)
- Instrumentation: Piano
- Work: Constancy (2020)
- Size: 8.9 x 12.0 inches
Description
Duration: 6 minutes
Composer note
The musical germ for Constancy dates from when I was about seven or eight. My parents had an old upright piano, a lovely but fragile instrument. Most piano technicians didn't want to deal with its erratic problems. and then Per Matson came into our lives. He became devoted to my parents and our venerable instrument. He'd come around every few weeks to touch up the tuning and contrive some repair to its obsolete parts. He took his time. He tuned the piano using an old method. He played a fifth, then a fourth, then back to a fifth again while listening and adjusting the notes to the open interval. It took hours. It was meditative.
The sound of those fourths and fifths still vividly evokes the atmosphere of my parents' house. These intervals became the starting place for this section of my life-song. It has a familiar shape, but it's never quite the same. It reflects upon the past, gives a grateful nod to all that has occurred since, and imagines what's to come.
— Michael Tilson Thomas
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Tilson Thomas: Constancy
