Tickling the Postclassic Ivories

Perhaps a reason for the difference in attitude between pianists and other instrumentalists is the dead hand of conformism imposed on musicians in western orchestras. When was the last time anyone saw an orchestra allowed to choose their own clothes?

Good choice, Kyle, of the Fromm Variations. If memory serves me correctly, I was at the premiere with Robert Black at Mandel Hall at the U of Chicago in the 80's. I agree with your assessment of Shapey---while I like some of his music, and perused a lot of his scores at the U of C's library in my student days, I felt some of it tended to be bombastic and went on too long (unlike Feldman, which is generally "just right"). I also think the "genius" label, with which he seemed to be tagged, hurt him in many ways. However, while he and I disagreed about music in general and he was a pretty difficult personality (I never studied with him, but ran into him at receptions, etc), I still get a kick out of some of his music. His Evocations for piano, violin and percussion is a really nice piece, as is a large part of his cantata Praise. Like Feldman, his notation was pretty thorny, in that he had a lot of nested tuplets, which probably can't easily be performed perfectly (in other words, like Feldman, he was notating in a way that encouraged rubato).

If you're looking for more piano music to fill your great radio program, feel free to download from this link and this one as well. (sorry, but had to give it a try...)

My guess would be that a key tenet of post-minimalism, like minimalism, is self-sustainability. Surely most composers are also pianists - at least to some degree - so what better way to enure your music is heard than to play it yourself?

Hey, what a great idea! Postclassic Radio, all piano, all the time! I say go for it!

Julian wrote: ...Surely most composers are also pianists - at least to some degree - so what better way to ensure your music is heard than to play it yourself?

I think that composers also being keyboard players is less true today than at any time in the last 300 years. Electric guitar has been steadily gaining ground, along with non-keyboard electronic (i.e., computers as instruments in their own right). I have a feeling that this will only continue, making for some fundamental shift in how the average composer thinks of, and deals with, musical material.

Kyle, try writing for saxophone, they seem more interested in new music. With regards to performing our own works, some of us are stuck, like me, with playing instruments (in my case trombone/euphonium) that we're not that interested in writing for!