Description

Moremars is very proud to announce a second release with American composer Philip Corner. Philip Corner, born in 1933, is one of key figures of Fluxus movement, resident composer and musician with the Judson Dance Theatre and the Experimental Intermedia Foundation, co-founder of the Tone Roads Chamber Ensemble and Gamelan Son of Lion. He has created multifarious works in a variety of contexts throughout his life. He has experiment with radical avant-garde expressions, sonorous outdoor performances using resonant metal objects (see moremars release: Philip Corner – Rocks will fall at any time LP), minimalistic positions etc.

In view of his diverse work and extensive catalogue, one of the most notable works by Philip Corner is the Piano Activities score (1962), a piece written for many pianists, exploring new territories of piano resonances. The very first performance of the piece, took place at the Judson Church in New York City, February 1962, but it was later that year in Wiesbaden that, in the Festival Fluxorum, George Maciunas, Dick Higgins, Alison Knowles, Wolf Vostell, Benjamin Patterson and Emmett Williams presented the piece, which caused the biggest scandal of the festival – throughout the concert by destroying a “Schrottklavier” piano.

Piano Activities score is one of the most iconic pieces of Fluxus and sonic art history, but also a positive work of transformation. All these years, Philip Corner never stop to expand the possibilities of that work, documented in various of releases, not only as a possibility of destruction art, but also as a form of experimentation. Piano Activitys Workplays is including four live recording based on four different workshops, that Philip Corner did with students, in various places in Europe. The pianos are not destroyed … “I think its time that people know this about that piece” Philip Corner …

Piano Activitys Workplays is released in 100 cassettes, including 76 min of music and a text written from Philip Corner explaining the story of the score.

Tracklist
Side A
1. Piano Activities, Olbenburg (1988)
2. Piano Activities, Marseilles (MaC Marseiles – “l’Esprit Fluxus” 11 June 1995)

Side B
3. Piano Activities, Adelaide (Class of Stephen Whittington & Graham Dudley, University. 2 April 1996)
4. Piano Activities, København (Seminar of Bjørn Nørgaard, Kongelige Dansk Kunst Akademi. 7 April 1993)

Cover photo by Francesco Conz
Mastering & design by Moras Marios