For Magister Zacharias (1997) by Marc Sabat

For Magister Zacharias (1997)
for (amplified) Steinway piano mechanism
This piece is to be played by depressing the keys only partway,
so that the dampers lift but the hammers do not hit the strings.
On certain pianos (Steinway, Boston), the action of lifting dampers
produces a small plucking sound in the middle register of the piano.
In an intimate concert setting, the performance may be unamplified
and at the border of inaudibility. Alternately, the sound may be
highly amplified (on the border of feedback) so as to be audible as
melody. Additional sounds from the mechanism itself, and ambient
sounds reflected by the piano soundboard, will also be amplified.
The pitches are notated more or less equidistantly, to allow the
performer to choose the timing of the notes freely. The playing
should be quite legato throughout, with lifts at the indicated
commas.
The melodic material is a cyclic elaboration of a tune from
Magister Zacharias, a composer associated with the highly complex
contrapuntal Ars Subtilior music of the late 14th and early 15th
centuries.