Alabama Places

innova Recordings

Scheduled release date: August 14, 2007

A set of twelve works for piano and microtonal keyboard composed over a period of four years, the Alabama Places project was a personal journey, discovering and rediscovering the state where I lived my first 23 years.

As the title implies, each duet relates to a place, whether the locale for composition or a more-or-less tangible source of inspiration.  Four of the duets (Iron Road, Natchez Trace, Tensaw, and Demopolis) are "tourist pieces," meaning I journeyed there for the first time after commencing the project and found inspiration.  Those remaining relate to places that have significant personal connections, some lifelong. 

If the choice of represented place is serendipitous, the microtonal structure is completely preconceived.  The pieces serve as studies in the tradition of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, but in overtone-based harmony rather than key relationships.  The keyboard is detuned by an interval between 4 and 48 cents, in 4-cent increments, for each of the twelve pieces.  Thus, the entire set explores twelve different 24-note scales made up of two asymmetrical 12-note equal-tempered scales.  Available pitches at a given moment correspond to overtone relationships from fundamental frequencies that also shift in 4-cent increments.

Performing are distinguished pianist Ellen Tweiten and Renaissance man Kurt Carpenter.  Also on this extended CD will be a bonus MP3: a spoken word version of In Pell City with performance poetry by Linda Frost.

1. Iron Road

2. North Shelby

3. Natchez Trace

4. 2365 Cahaba Road

5. In Pell City

6. Tensaw

7. Demopolis

8. Montevallo

9. Coosa Basin

10. Piedmont

11. Scarham Creek

12. Section 16, Township 17, Range 3 East

Bonus MP3: In Pell City featuring poetry by Linda Frost