Thursday, May 24, 2018
Thomas Bartlett + Nico Muhly perform Peter Pears: Balinese Ceremonial Music with Ensemble LPR
Le Poisson Rouge
Using Colin McPhee’s transcriptions of Balinese music as a springboard for their own texturally hypnotic dual piano compositions, Thomas Bartlett and Nico Muhly perform a collection of nine new songs. Colin McPhee, whose music inspired tonight’s performance, was the first composer to seriously study the music of Java and Bali, producing a number of transcriptions for two pianos that reimagined the gamelan for Western ears. In turn, Bartlett and Muhly reimagine McPhee’s transcriptions for the 21st Century, borrowing their mesmerising interlocking patterns for a new collaborative album to be released on Nonesuch Records, Peter Pears: Balinese Ceremonial Music – which they will perform in its entirety tonight. They will be joined by members of Ensemble LPR on strings & percussion.
The record, ten years in the making, was born from Bartlett and Muhly’s shared love of Colin McPhee’s music. McPhee himself was a close friend of Benjamin Britten and his partner Peter Pears – an accomplished musician in his own right, for whom this collaborative project is named.