23 Rubai’yat – John King

  • John King
    Jenny Lin, piano
    John King, live electronics

    Released  date: 18 May 2013

    Download entire album $6
    Available at: bandcamp.com

  • These 23 Rubai’yat were written specifically for Jenny Lin. It is a set of 23 pieces based on the 11th Century Arabic poetic form known as the “rubai” with the rhyme scheme [A-A-B-A].
    omar khay’yam – rubai LVI:
    “for is and is not, with rule and line and up and down, by Logic I define of all that one should try to fathom I never cared for anything but wine”

    The compositions also involve live electronics, which transform the live piano music in chance-determined ways.

    On this set there is a bonus piece, something I wrote for Merce Cunningham for his 90th birthday, titled “petite ouverture en forme de mErCE CunninGHAm” where the musical motif of the opening bars are the musical letters in his name. A roll of a single die determines, in performance, the number of repetitions of each measure of music.