Special Events
1998 – 1999

Duration

15'

Publisher

Edition Peters

Instrumentation Notes

violoncello and piano

Program Notes

[This score was previously self-published by Earle Brown. It is available in print from Edition Peters as of 2007.]

SPECIAL EVENTS for cello and piano is certainly a continuation of my earlier compositional approach. I usually do a lot of pre-compositional sketching and planning, but in the case of SPECIAL EVENTS I received a commission from the the German American Institute in Heidelberg at the instigation of Dorthea von Albrecht and Christine Olbrich, who had been performing and recording my MUSIC FOR CELLO AND PIANO (1955) and appreciated it very much. So, that is how the commission came about and they are two marvelous musicians.

I was traveling a great deal at this time and writing in hotels and on airplanes in Europe and in the United States. So, I really just composed this new work and very much spontaneously and “off the top of my head: and from a long time of compositional experience.

More Information

As of September 2012, a slightly corrected version of the score is available from Edition Peters. View the errata sheet for previous versions.

Audio Samples

Special Events

Selected Performances

January 19, 2016 • Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, WA

Inverted Space Ensemble
 

September 3, 2012 • St.Georgen, Germany, Kunstraum Graesslin

Ensemble: Rei Nakamura, pn and Karsten Doenneweg, vc

January 31, 2009 • New York City

Ensemble: The Locrian Chamber PlayersSoloist: Greg Hesselink, Jonathan Faiman

April 11, 2007 • Christ and St. Stephen's Church, New York City

Ensemble: Madeleine Shapiro, Riccardo PIacentini

February 1, 2007 • Oulu, Finland

Soloist: Juho Laitinen, cello, Seppo Kantonen, piano

November 27, 2006 • Kuopio Finland

Soloist: Juho Laitinen, cello, Seppo Kantonen, piano

January 13, 2001 • Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut Heidelberg

Ensemble: trio ascoltoSoloist: Dorothea von Albrecht, cello; Christine Olbrich, piano

April 24, 1999 • Gesellschaft fur die Kultur der Jahrhundertwende, Heidelberg, Germany

Soloist: Dorothea von Albrecht, cello; Christine Olbrich, piano

February 6, 1999 • Stuttgart, Theaterhaus, ECLAT Festival

Soloist: Dorothea von Albrecht, Christine OlbrichWorld premiere