Search - Rzewski, Plantimura :: Jefferson / Antigone-Legend

Composed shortly following the 1970 Kent State massacres, Frederic Rzewski's Jefferson sets the opening of the Declaration of Independence in the fashion of an incantatory cantus firmus. The relentless, metrically shifting piano writing makes a fascinating foil to the text's sober, lofty sentiments. Rzewski's 53-minute setting of Brecht's 189 line poem "The Antigone Legend" (sung in Judith Malina's English translation) covers wider, more turbulent ground. Piano and voice weave in and out of each other, barely pausing for air. While Carol Plantamura lacks lightness and agility, the soprano compensates with forthright delivery, clear diction, and impeccable pitch. Labeling pianist Rzewski as an accompanist is like calling a nuclear reactor an extension cord. --Jed Distler