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Shy and Mighty (2005-07)
ensemble two pianos
written for Yale College
premièred May 9, 2007, New Haven, CT
Shy and Mighty is a full-length album of music for two pianos. It began as a kind of personal compositional notebook back in 2005, and after a gestation period, emerged transformed into a big butterfly, I mean senior thesis project.
1. Antennae
A simple tripartite piece which sounds like a robotic toccata.
2. The night jaunt
A long nocturnal walk, solitary or perhaps with a friend.
3. Tunnel
An interstitial movement which leads nowhere.
4. Trip by train
A virtuosic conversation between pianos, which eventually becomes contemplative and lyrical, finally falling asleep.
5. Die Spieluhr
A music box which plays disjunct Mahler and Brahms.
6. Out of shape
Chews on I and V chords for a good long time.
7. La Malinconia
A verse/chorus structure, with long melodic lines built from repeated-note figures.
8. How can I live in your world of ideas?
Takes its name from the caption of a cartoon I drew, which depicts a young penguin and his parents in a museum, looking at a painting of a naked woman. This piece starts out as a theme and variations, but is then gradually overtaken by extraneous material from somewhere else entirely.
9. Flirtation Ave.
An extended process of “coming together”, followed by a rowdy coda.
10. Pavane (pour un compositeur defunte)
An homage to gospel music and the late composer D. M., or perhaps neither.
Listen
I. Antennae
Recorded 5/9/07 live at Beinecke Library, New Haven, CT.
Timothy Andres and Alex Rabin, pianos.
IV. Trip by train
X. Pavane (pour un compositeur defunte)
Timothy Andres and David Kaplan, pianos.