Pieces for Broken Piano turns a weather‑wrecked 1916 Gebrüder Stingl grand into an accidental “prepared” instrument, as Miroslav Beinhauer navigates new works by Terry Riley, Philip Glass, Milan Knížák, Gordon Monahan, Elliott Sharp, Milan Gustar and Yoon‑Ji Lee written specifically for its fractured voice.
At the centre of Pieces for Broken Piano lies a single, stubborn object: a 1916 Gebrüder Stingl grand that has been left to the weather until it could no longer be tuned, its action compromised, many of its keys only partially functioning, some not responding at all. By 2021 the instrument had effectively drifted out of standard pianistic usefulness, living outdoors in a garden, exposed to sun and rain. Rather than writing…