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Pianos and Voices began by finding myself humming tones while improvising on the piano. The vocal or humming sounds were quite short, and as the piano sounds lingered, I began to hear other pianos, other humming. Two, three, four pianos were too transparent - the fifth piano became like the pedal blur needed to complete the overall sound I was after.
An occasional celeste was added to give the music a more heightened (or brighter) surface which emerges and disappears throughout the work. A recurring ostinato heard in all the pianos (the figure never repeats itself in the same tempo) [is] another aspect of a "surface" appearing and dissolving into this almost flat, Byzantine canvas.
Commissioned by the Berliner Musiktage, I finished composing the work towards the end of January (1972) for its premiere the following July. The performers were John Cage, David Tudor, Cornelius Cardew, Frederick Rzewski and myself.
György Ligeti, after the performance, commented on the ostinato-like motif which was new to my music. He said that it was very effective, though preferring my more chordal approach without any added elements. In his own decisive and charming way, he finished the discussion with: "Don't do it again." I'll try not to.
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