tostados en córdoba en medio de la noche
Martin Rane Bauck's piano quartet 'tostados en córdoba en medio de la noche' was premiered in 2019, and revised in 2022.
Score
Technical Info
Special requirements for concert programming and instrument:
- A grand piano.
- A little less than a minute to double-check the tuning (only) after the piece is performed.
Use of microtonal techniques
- Glissandi by tuning while performing
figure 1
figure 2:
One may find this extract at 00’51"-01’07" in the video-recording from the Ultima concert.This work includes a subtle use of something as rare as tuning piano strings while performing.
Only one of the strings for each of the pitches as in 'figure 1' are to be detuned and retuned during the piece, and the two remaining strings (in each of these string courses) need to be dampened, f.ex. with one or more woolen piano tuning wedge mutes in between.
The pitches are detuned only a quartertone at the time, and this happens only a very few places in the piece, such as with the A4 from bar 10 (see 'figure 2').For convenience, 3 piano tuning hammers (not 4, as it says in Bauck’s performance notes) should, already before the piece starts, be placed on the tuning pins of the respective strings.
- Piano harmonics
Most of the work, however, requires another microtonal technique: Piano harmonics performed as finger flageolets. The notation is clearly explained in the performance notes in the beginning of the score.
Due to the various piano models' placement of stress bars, and the large amount of harmonics required, some adjustments with regard to the nodes may be required, meaning that sufficient time is needed before a concert in order to avoid a hesitating “choreography” and poorly sounding harmonics.
It is recommended to mark the nodes with thread/yarn, and I chose to use threads with different colours (see Remarks).
