Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated!
7/28/2023, 41 Tracks, 1:13:32
Featuring
Marc-André Hamelin
Frederic Rzewski
Did you know?
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Composer's Artistic Vision
Rzewski was concerned with expressing complex formal structures in a way that could be understood by a wide variety of listeners.
Compositional Technique
Rzewski's "The People United Will Never Be Defeated!" features 36 variations on a theme, structured into six cycles, each exploring different musical relationships like rhythms, melodies, and harmonies.
Composition History
The song "¡El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido!" was written by Chilean composer Sergio Ortega after hearing a street chant for social change in Santiago.
Composer Biography
Frederic Rzewski (pronounced ZHEV-skee) has been a dominant figure on the international new-music scene since the early 1960s.
Compositional Technique
The variations in "The People United Will Never Be Defeated!" follow a modulation pattern that covers all twelve minor keys by transposing the D minor theme up a fifth with each subsequent variation.
Performer Biography
Marc-André Hamelin, a French-Canadian pianist, has received prestigious honors, including being made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2003 and a Chevalier de l'Ordre du Québec in 2004.
Interpretation
Pianist Marc-André Hamelin improvises an optional cadenza in "The People United Will Never Be Defeated!", incorporating two other songs of political import: "Bandiera Rossa" and Hanns Eisler's "Solidaritätslied."
