ELECTROCOSMIA 


PENG-CHIAN CHEN, PIANO 


Pierre Charvet 

Neuf études aux deux mondes for piano and computer 
(Nine Studies in the Two Worlds), 1999. 

These nine piano études were a commission from GRM in 1999, the Groupe de 
Recherches Musicales founded by Pierre Schaeffer, a seminal gure in electroacoustic 
music. Charvert was inspired to dedicate the set to Michael Abramovich after 
hearing him perform J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations. 

In Nine Studies, Charvet aims to integrate piano music with the natural tools of our 
time and nd the right balance between a formal approach and an intuitive attitude. 
The audio from the xed media includes not only synthesized acoustics but also 
sounds from real life. In some parts of the études, the xed media is even louder than 
the piano, while there are some virtuosi techniques on the piano. Therefore, we can 
see piano and xed media as two equal instruments. The balance between them has 
a chamber music quality, instead of the piano dominating the texture. 

As Charvet explains on his website (http://www.pierre-charvet.com/musique/), these 
nine pieces have a relatively symmetrical architecture around Étude 5, which is in 
octaves. Étude 1 and Étude 9 both begin with strongly rhythmic repeated notes. The 
pulsating sound from the electronics also gives both pieces a primitive propulsion. 
These two études bring to mind the fact that nowadays we cannot live without smart 
phones. The ringing of the phone that interrupts the rst piano phrase in Étude 1 

reects how easily we are distracted by phones. The ringing reappears at the end of 
Étude 9. Compared to the aggressive nature of Études 1 and 9, Études 2 and 8 are 
gentle and harmonious. Étude 2 is more owing, while the acoustics of Étude 8 
contain the sound of a lady murmuring and kids responding happily. Études 3 and 7 
are constructed on different sound spectra, although they share the same material. 
Étude 3 is the only piece in this set played without electronics while Étude 7 requires 
a “tape solo,” a long sustained acoustic. Étude 4 “Sombre mais calme (dark but 
calm)” is paired with Étude 6. Both have female voices in the background. In Étude 
4, the woman is just whispering while in Étude 6 she is nagging but the listener 
cannot recognize what it is about. 

Neuf études aux deux mondes combines the worlds of live music (piano part) with 
the world of unchangeable music (xed media). One of the worlds is built from an 
organic substance and the other from an inorganic compound. However, all 
creatures and all materials are indispensable in constructing this unique universe in 
good order just like the four pieces are interweaved by the live piano with technology. 



Cindy Cox 

Etude “La Cigüeña” for piano and keyboard sampler, 2014. 

Dropping true as Earth 

La Cigüeña ies an iridescent spiral 

Shining white deep blue-green 

An opal of great price given 

To one whose luminous work 

You may look into but never through 

La Cigüeña is the Spanish term for a large white bird with long legs, the stork, which 
is the metaphorical bringer of babies. In composing this experimental piece, Cox 
was inspired by her husband John Campion’s poem “La Cigüeña.” The etude was 
composed at UC Berkeley’s Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT) 
in 2014. 

Etude “La Cigüeña” is not the only piece that uses sound to describe the subject of 
a poem; nevertheless, it combines the piano with new technology to create a vivid, 
colorful acoustic that a traditional piano cannot make. This Etude requires the pianist 
to play on two keyboards at the same time: one is a piano keyboard and the other is 
a 61-key velocity sensitive keyboard sampler with interactive electronics. The 
sampler should be placed on the piano where the music rack (must be removed) 
normally is found (like a harpsicord with a two-layer keyboard). The piano produces 
lines with steady pitches and rich clusters in the bass. The sampler creates a mysterious 
sound effect. 

There are ve sections in the piece: A-B-A-C-B’. When listening to the piece, the 
image of a bird ying can clearly be heard. The acoustic portion is in the shape of a 
parabolic curve, reecting the line “dropping true as Earth.” Also, there are soft yet 
discernable shimmering high sounds in the background. They deliberately portray 
the adjectives “iridescent,” “shining,” and “luminous” from the poem. In the B 
sections, the endings of each are opposite. The rst time has a descending line while 
the second (the ending of the piece) has an ascending line that spins faster and faster 
but fades out at the end. To me, it is a musical metaphor for the line “You may look 
into but never through.” 


Elainie Lillios 

Nostalgic Visions for piano and live interactive electroacoustics, 2009. 

My heart of silk 
Is lled with lights, 
With lost bells, 
With lilies and bees. 

I will go very far, 
Farther than those mountains, 
Farther than the oceans, 
Way up near the stars, 
To ask Christ the Lord 
to give back to me 
the soul I had as a child, 

matured by fairy tales, 
with its hat of feathers, 
and its wooden sword. 

Nostalgic Visions is a composition for piano and live, interactive electroacoustics 
inspired by a stanza of “Balada de la Placeta” (“Ballad of the Little Square”) from 
Libro de Poemas by Federico Garcia-Lorca (English translation by Robert Bly.) 

As Lillios writes in her program notes, “Lorca’s text expresses the longing felt by one 
seeking a return to the innocence of youth. The poem’s dual time streams, the reality 
of present day and visions of the past, are expressed musically by the pianist, who 
alternates between playing on the keys and inside the piano. At times present and 

past are clearly divided; other times the lines between them blur and reminiscence 
becomes a hopeful yet impossible reality. Nostalgic Visions was commissioned by 
and is dedicated to pianist Thomas Rosenkranz.” 

Nostalgic Visions requires the pianist to use his/her imagination and enthusiasm to 
create his/her own intimate, personal version of the piece. According to the notes to 
the performer, improvisation plays a large role, allowing the pianist to explore his/her 
own musical ideas and memories through performance. Certain notations in the 
score are approximate; the instrumentalist should use his/her judgment when 
sculpting the temporal form of the piece. There are no bar lines for the music, and 
the patterns are only indicated to nish in the duration of timing. Lillios also quotes 
the Spanish folk song “Nana de Seilla,” which she specically wrote down. It is 
reective and melancholy to reinforce the piece’s nostalgic essence. The other 
modern approach in piano technique is that the pianist shifts between the keyboard 
and the inner strings to reect reality and memory. Moreover, the score provides all 
the details for mood in every second, asking the performer to read the score carefully 
and deliver the emotions through the sounds. 

Nostalgic Visions is a very personalized piece. Because it employs chance music, 
each performer will play his/her unique version without it being written out. The 
same performer, because of his/her mindset at the time and because of varied 
conditions, would play it differently each time. It proves one concept of music: music 
is an art that exists in time, in which the sound will disappear at the moment when 
the performer stops playing. Also, Nostalgic Visions reects the concept that 
notation is limited, but human emotion is unlimited. 


Peter Van Zandt Lane 

Studies in Momentum for piano and live electronics, 2014. 

- Ground State 
- Projectile Motion 
- Escape Velocity 
- Planck’s Waltz 
- Approaching Entropy 
Studies in Momentum is a cycle of ve miniatures for piano and live electronics, 
which a performer should play as a set with relatively little space between each 
movement. The piece is modeled as four études and a fantasy, with the focus of each 
étude being a single kind of signal process: harmonization, downsampling, ring 
modulation, and delay (respectively). The closing fantasy, “approaching entropy,” 
combines the four while also including a kind of hyper-rhythmic musique concréte 
element that the composer often employs in his electroacoustic works. This set is 
dedicated to Keith Kirchoff. 

According to composer, the titles of each étude were chosen before any of the music 
was composed. Those titles give each étude’s narrative a particular challenge, or 
sense of tension between where the music is going and how it gets there. Lane is not 
an authority on these concepts from quantum mechanics and kinematics (which is 
probably what makes them inspiring to him). He nds layperson-geared explanations 
of physics highly evocative, sparking exciting ideas about relationships between 
musical narrative and motion in the physical world. 

Each of the études has their own strong character and shows different approaches in 
compositional style and piano style from peaceful minimalism to hot-rhythm 

nightclub dance. The rst piece “ground state” (étude on harmonization) creates a 
placid but uid atmosphere which is inuenced by minimalism. While it is a practice 
in harmony for the composer, the pianist is asked not to put too much emotional 
feeling in the phrasing but let the music ow itself. Contrasting with the rst piece, 
“projectile motion” (étude on downsampling) is an excited, animated short piece. 
The phenomenon of electroacoustics in this piece can be heard as dropping pitch. 
This etude is also challenging for the pianist with its fast-repeated notes and wide 
contrast in dynamics. The third, “escape velocity” (étude on ring modulation) uses 
the mirror effect on the piano part: the line in the right hand converts into the line in 
the left hand. It also requires virtuosic technique when the two hands play notes 
syncopated by thirty-second value with a broad range. 

After two intense études, the fourth “Planck’s waltz” (étude on delay) is a slow étude 
in which the performer and audience can enjoy listening to the sonority of sound 
elimination. Interactive electronics provide the performer the freedom of 
experimenting with the sound and timing. The entire piece is enveloped in a relaxing 
atmosphere. The last piece “approaching entropy” (fantasy/+concréte) is the 
conclusion of the former four études. 


Peng-Chian Chen 

A native of Taiwan, Peng-Chian Chen has gained recognition as an accomplished 
performer in the United States, Europe, and Taiwan. She has appeared in the Weill 
Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall in 
Seattle, Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall and Ramsey Recital Hall at University of 
Georgia Performing Arts Center, Taiwan National Concert Hall, Chih-Shan Hall at 
Kaohsiung Cultural Center, and Chung Shan Hall in Taichung City. Since 2013, she 
has been invited by the Hualien government to hold several lecture recitals in 
Taiwan. Chen has been a soloist with the Stella Matutina Orchestra led by Chia-Hong 
Drapal Liao, the Sewanee Festival Orchestra led by Yaniv Dinur, and the University of 
Georgia Symphony Orchestra led by Mark Cedel. She was prizewinner at the 
Pro-Mozart Society of Atlanta, the Seattle Symphony International Piano Competition, 
and the Taiwan National Competition of Music. 

Deeply committed to new music, Chen has premiered more than fty pieces. She 
was invited to perform at the Southeastern Electroacoustic Composers Collective, 
Atlantic Music Festival, UGA Chamber Festival, and with several contemporary 
ensembles. Recently, she is focusing on the repertoire written for electronics with 
piano. 

Chen received her Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance with a minor in Piano 
Pedagogy and Chamber Music from the University of Georgia. She also earned the 
Excellence in Teaching Award and the Outstanding Teaching Award. She earned her 
bachelor’s degree from the Taiwan National University of the Arts and double 
master’s degrees from the University of Michigan in Piano Performance and Chamber 
Music. She has studied with Evgeny Rivkin, Louis Nagel, and Tzong-Kai John Kuo. 
Following her teaching positions at the University of Georgia, Hugh Hodgson School 
of Music, she is currently an associate professor of piano at the Music College of 
Zhaoqing University. 

For more informaton about her, please follow her on Facebook: Peng-Chian Chen or 
contact her via e-mail: pianopeng@hotmail.com 


Special thanks to composers Mr. Pierre Charvet, 
Dr. Cindy Cox, Dr. Elaine Lillios, and Dr. Peter 
Lane. Without their generous support, I could 
not have completed the program. Many thanks 
to Mr. Philip Blackburn and Dr. Ying-Ling Lai who 
brainstormed the album title with me. Great 
thanks to the University of Georgia for providing 
me with the resources during the recording 
process. This album is also funded by Zhaoqing 
University (肇慶學院) in Guangdong, China. 

Recording Dates: April, 2019 
Recording Location: Dancz Hall at University of Georgia School of Music 
Piano Model: Yamaha C-6 

Peter Van Zandt Lane, Recording Engineer 
Peter Van Zandt Lane, Mixing and Mastering 
Scott Higgins, Piano Technician 
Shicho Wang, Graphic Designer 

Innova is supported by an endowment from the McKnight Foundation. 
Chris Campbell, Director of Recordings 
Tim Igel, Manager of Recordings