The Pestova/Meyer Piano Duo will perform Stockhausen's Mantra in Cork in November.

Anticipating the first anniversary of the death of Karlheinz Stockhausen in December, the Cork Orchestral Society is to present the composer's rarely heard large-scale work for piano duo and live electronics in a performance by pianists Pascal Meyer and Xenia Pestova, accompanied by the Cork School of Music's state-of-the-art electronic facilities.

In Mantra, a two-strand melodic "formula" is expanded and counterpointed within a cycle of 13 contrasted sections with the soloists also required to play antique cymbals and woodblocks, as well as use their voices. The two grand pianos are electronically processed in real-time to create two "super-instruments" with scintillating and beautiful sonorities that approach the exotic sound worlds of the prepared piano of John Cage, high-energy electric guitar distortion, and mysterious Morse-code radio signals.

The performance begins at 8pm in CSM's Curtis Auditorium on Thursday 13 November.

For details, see our calendar or visit www.corkorchestralsociety.ie.

Posted: 17 October 2008