Dark Companion Records

Pianist, composer, cultural agitator, teacher, bandleader, arranger, and member of dozens of projects, Keith Tippett (1947–2020) was one of the most important voices in contemporary piano. With an incredible palette of colors — stones, twigs, and music boxes resonating inside the piano, transforming it into a new instrument capable of drawing from buried and shared memories — this album is a faithful recording of the concert with which Tippett opened the Musiche Nuove a Piacenza season on January 14, 2011, a music series of omnivorous nature, devoted to excellence.

Recorded on the marvelous old Steinway piano at the G. Nicolini Conservatory in Piacenza by the Elfo Studio team, it stands out — not only for the immense artistic value of the performance itself — but also as a hi-fi demonstration record.

The concert was unforgettable. A sold-out Conservatory hall was immersed in ecstatic silence. Keith played with generosity, passion, pride, and abandon. Eyes closed, liquid cascades of genre-defying notes poured forth. Moving gracefully through the noble terrain of improvisation, Tippett cast spells in the form of notes, mesmerizing the audience. This is new music.

Credits
Keith Tippett: Steinway Grand Piano