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Artist
Easley Blackwood
12+ albums
microtonalcontemporary classicalAvant-GardeelectronicClassical
about
Easley Blackwood, (born April 21, 1933), the son of Easley Blackwood Sr., is a professor of music, composer, concert pianist, and the author of books on music theory, including his research into the properties of microtonal tunings and traditional harmony. Blackwood was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He studied piano there and was doing solo appearances at the age of 14 with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. After studies at many places (including Yale University, where he earned his Master of Arts degree) in the United States, he went to Paris to study from 1954 to 1956. His teachers include Olivier Messiaen, Paul Hindemith, and Nadia Boulanger. For forty years, from 1958 to 1997, Blackwood taught at the University of Chicago, most of the time with the title of Professor. He then became Professor Emeritus at the University. He is still teaching classes. Blackwood's initial compositions were not particularly unconventional although in them he employed polyrhythm and wide melodic contours. This early music by Blackwood has been characterized as in an atonal yet a formally conservative style. In 1980-81 Blackwood shifted rather abruptly to a new style, releasing Twelve Microtonal Etudes for Electronic Music Media. For these pieces, he used microtonality to create unusual equal tempered musical scales. Blackwood has explored all equal temperaments from 13 through 24, including 15-ET and 19-ET. Although Blackwood recorded most of these pieces with a synthesizer, his "Suite i
top songs
1
Je Te Veux (I Want You)
2,250212 Microtonal Etudes, Op. 28: VII. 17 Notes: Con Moto
2,003312 Microtonal Etudes, Op. 28: I. 16 Notes: Andantino
9154Fanfare in 19-note Equal Tuning, Op. 28a
884512 Microtonal Etudes, Op. 28: III. 21 Notes: Suite In Four Movements
599612 Microtonal Etudes, Op. 28: II. 18 Notes: Allegro Volando
590712 Microtonal Etudes, Op. 28: VI. 15 Notes: Lento
492812 Microtonal Etudes, Op. 28: IV. 23 Notes: Allegro Moderato
491912 Microtonal Etudes, Op. 28: V. 13 Notes: Sostenuto
4671012 Microtonal Etudes, Op. 28: VIII. 22 Notes: Andante Ma Non Troppo
412albums
Blackwood: Microtonal Compositions
Mendelssohn / Handel / Bach, J.S. / Strauss, R.: Songs for Counter-Tenor and Orchestra
Microtonal Compositions
Blackwood: Piano Music
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Acoustic Microtonal
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Blackwood, Easley: Radical Piano
Microtonal Compositions by Easley Blackwood
Blackwood: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 5
Blackwood: Chamber Music for Piano and Strings
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Piano Music of Alfredo Casella & Karol Szymanowski
Blackwood: String Quartet Nos. 1-3
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Blackwood / Reger: Clarinet Sonatas