Keyboard Study #1, Terry Riley — Michael Century

Terry Riley’s minimalist Keyboard Study No. 1, also named Coule, was composed around the same time as his seminal In C, and appeared on the program of the latter work’s premiere concert produced by the San Francisco Tape Music Center in November 1964. Both works grow out of Riley’s experimentation with electronic tape delays. Their scores comprise collections of short phrases to be performed with indefinite repetition and in recombination with one another. According to an interview with Riley in the invaluable book on the Tape Music Center, co-published in 2008 by EMPAC and UC Press, the keyboard study was apparently played on the piano by Riley himself – not a simple task since the motifs interlock in a manner that is awkward to execute on a single keyboard. This evening’s performance on accordion separates the hands conveniently, and is enhanced by the resonance and sustaining power of that instrument.

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