This is a digital-only reissue of the Post_Piano CD originally released in 2002 by Sub Rosa Records (BE).

Post_Piano is a CD of experimental electronic music derived entirely from the sound of one key being struck on a piano. Using only a single, low-resolution piano sample, Kenneth Kirschner first composed a series of spare, improvised piano sketches. These pieces were then passed on to Taylor Deupree, who used them as raw material for digital manipulation and as building blocks for the construction of new, collaborative compositions.

Each of Deupree’s pieces, which Kirschner later collaborated in editing, was created entirely from sounds derived from one of the piano sketches. The final recordings transform the elements extracted from the piano sketches into experimental new works which accentuate the artifacts of the digital manipulation process while at the same time evoking the timbre and harmonies of the source material. Because each of these recordings was derived from one of the piano sketches, and each of the sketches began with a single piano sample, every sound on the CD can ultimately be traced back to the sound of one key being struck on a piano.

Conceived as an “open source” project, Post_Piano is being released on a split data/audio CD containing not only the final Deupree/Kirschner recordings, but also the components used to create them, including mp3 files of Kirschner’s piano sketches and a copy of the original piano sample with which the project began. By accessing the CD in a computer, listeners can trace the development of the project from the single starting note, through the piano sketches, and on to the final recordings. Further, the composers encourage other musicians to utilize these source materials in their own work, freely sampling, modifying or appropriating the sounds and ideas presented on post_piano. In support of this, the music is being released under the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Open Audio License. An alternativeapproach to intellectual property, the Open Audio License provides a framework for extending the collaborative nature of the project to other, unknown musicians, and ensuring that Post_Piano remains an ongoing, open collaboration.

The original CD contained a disc partition with MP3s of Kirschner’s original piano sketches from which Deupree created the tracks. These sketches will be made available for free as part of 12k’s Term. series.

Artists

Taylor Deupree

Technology and imperfection. The raw and the processed. Curator and curated. Solo explorer and gregarious collaborator. The life and work of Taylor Deupree are less a study in contradictions than a portrait of the multidisciplinary artist in a still-young century. Deupree is an accomplished sound artist whose recordings, rich with abstract atmospherics, have appeared on numerous record labels, and well as in site-specific installations at such institutions as the ICC (Tokyo, Japan) and the Yamaguchi…

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Kenneth Kirschner

Kenneth Kirschner is a composer of experimental music working at the intersection of avant-garde classical composition and contemporary electronic music. His work is characterized by a close integration of acoustic and electronic sound sources; a strong focus on harmony, pattern, and long-form development; and experimentation with techniques such as chance procedures, indeterminacy, and microtonality within a digital context. An advocate of open source music, Kirschner releases all of his work freely online through his website, kennethkirschner.com,…

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