Pianist, composer, cultural agitator, teacher, bandleader, arranger, and member of dozens of projects, Keith Tippett (1947–2020) was one of the most important voices in contemporary piano. With an incredible palette of colors — stones, twigs, and music boxes resonating inside the piano, transforming it into a new instrument capable of drawing from buried and shared memories — this album is a faithful recording of the concert with which Tippett opened the Musiche Nuove a Piacenza season on January 14, 2011, a music series of omnivorous nature, devoted to excellence.
Recorded on the marvelous old Steinway piano at the G. Nicolini Conservatory in Piacenza by the Elfo Studio team, it stands out — not only for the immense artistic value of the performance itself — but also as a hi-fi demonstration record.
The concert was unforgettable. A sold-out Conservatory hall was immersed in ecstatic silence. Keith played with generosity, passion, pride, and abandon. Eyes closed, liquid cascades of genre-defying notes poured forth. Moving gracefully through the noble terrain of improvisation, Tippett cast spells in the form of notes, mesmerizing the audience. This is new music.
