Michael Gordon: Sonatra

MUSIC
SUNDAY, MARCH 7, 2021
3:00 PM

Vicky Chow
Bang on a Can Stream

Free (donation requested)
https://live.bangonacan.org/sonatra/

Michael Gordon's Sonatra has to be one of the best solo piano pieces — if not the best — to have been generated in this century. I suspect the only reason you don't hear it played all over is that it's So Fucking Difficult. Fortunately, Vicky Chow doesn't appear to know that. This is the premiere of a music video Chow has had made involving her playing the piece. Chow will also be playing excerpts from the piece from her apartment to demonstrate and discuss their devilish difficulty (I guess she does know). But unless you're a pianist, the point isn't how hard this work is: it's how good.

MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Bentley: pour 1-1/2 oz. each of Calvados and Dubonnet Rouge, with 3 dashes of orange bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Nick and Nora glass.