Informed by Theodor Adorno’s concern that Western classical music had been trivialized, producing increasingly passive listeners, Stephen Prina asks how the form can be reinvigorated. A piano duet is constructed from excerpts of piano reductions of the nine Beethoven symphonies. The tempo and dynamic markings of the original manuscripts are eliminated and a description of performances is substituted: “Begin playing as softly and slowly as possible, begin an accelerando and crescendo until the midpoint of the work, when the performers are playing as loudly and quickly as possible, and then begin a rallentando and a decrescendo until the end.”
Ursula Oppens, piano
Adam Tendler, piano
Alex Glass, page turner
Ice Wang, page turner
Previous performances: Symphony Space, New York, NY (premiere); Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, CA; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; National Gallery - Alexandros Soutsos Museum, Athens, Greece; Le Consortium, Dijon, France; Ateneumin Taidemuseo, Helsinki, Finland; Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek, Denmark; Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany
Tickets will be made available on September 1. If the event is sold out, there will be a first-come, first-served standby line beginning at 6:30 p.m. on the night of the event.