Conlon Nancarrow, an American composer who was born in 1912, lived mainly in Mexico and died in 1997. Apparently he mostly wrote for player piano, since he felt that no human performers could produce the sorts of complex sounds at high speeds that he was interested in. But then in old age he started writing for pianists again, and this piece I've been listening to--called Three Canons for Ursula--was one of its fruits. It is what it claims to be: three canons. But the canons are all expressions of mathematical relationships: one is called Canon 5/7, the second Canon 6/9/10/15, and the third Canon 2/3. With each the principle is the same: he starts a melody (generally a very expressive and tonally intricate one) in the left hand, and then joins it with the same melody in the right hand played at a faster speed (in the ratio 5:7 or 2:3, for example), and they then catch up with one another. The second movement has the left hand playing two melodies in canon in the ratio 2:3, then joined by the right hand playing the same two in the ratio 2:3, but with the relationship between the left hand and the right in the ratio 3:5. Oh, and the melodies in the different hands are sometimes in different keys.
FWIW, 'Listen to at least one composition by Conlon Nancarrow' strikes me as both a more interesting New Year's Resolution than the normal vows to exercise more and (ahem) drink less coffee--and one with better chances of success. So that's mine.
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