John Mccabe: Upon Entering A Painting

Joseph Tong and Waka Hasegawa, piano

John McCabe
Upon Entering a Painting, Two Scenes from Edward II, Basse Danse, Gaudi (Study No 3), Sonata (Study No 12)

"It is perhaps surprising, in view of quite a long career as a pianist, that it took me some time to find myself comfortable writing for my own
instrument - writing for orchestra was never a problem, but the piano was much more difficult, for some reason. Perhaps I was too close to
it. It wasn't until 1963, with a set of Variations, that I began to feel at ease with writing for the instrument. Since then, it has gradually assumed an important part of my compositional activity, and the works I have written reflect not only the inspiration I have received from visual impressions (such as landscapes, works of art, or buildings) but also the stimulus afforded by other musics, both non-Western and very specifically Western - the series of homages to composers whose music fascinates me (particularly the Studies from No.7 onwards) typify this last aspect of my output. I have been extremely fortunate in that other pianists, instead of ignoring my work, on the grounds of "Well, he can play that himself if he wants to", have been generous enough to play some of the music, and to play it brilliantly - Joseph Tong and Waka Hasegawa perfectly exemplify this musical friendship." John McCabe, 2011
Upon entering a painting, written in 2008/09, was commissioned, with funding from the Britten-Pears Foundation and the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust, by Piano 4 Hands (Joseph Tong and Waka Hasegawa), to whom it is dedicated. The inspiration of the piece was the kind of painting which, as you gaze at it, seems to draw the onlooker into the frame, indeed into the very paint itself. The specific trigger for the idea of the piece was the Rothko Exhibition at Tate Modern in 2008 - Rothko has long been a favourite painter of mine, even though his creative world is very different from my own. However, there were one or two paintings in the exhibition in which I felt strongly this sense of being drawn into the inner life of the painting, especially when I was able to incur the wrath of the curators and step close to the paintings and examine the surface in detail. The opening and closing sections of the piece, with their gradual thickening of the harmonies and (at the end) equally gradual thinning, reflect this sense of stepping forward into and backward out of the works.

Price: $25.98