Frederic Rzewski - North American Ballad No.4 "Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues"

In this piece, Rzewski depicts a scene of the 1930s when workers at the textile mill plant in Winnsboro, South Carolina began singing lyrics to reflect the hardship of factory labor and to promote camaraderie among the workers. Prominent Blues artists such as Lead Belly and Pete Seeger have sung this catchy folk song.
The piece uses this tune while employing unconventional piano techniques to imitate the sounds of the mill, from extremely heavy clusters to fast chromatic scales going up and down the piano.

[@scriabinismydog2439]

B l u e s C o t t o n

[@GUILLOM]

B l u e s C o t t o n

[@pesosgouda8223]

“Unconventional techniques” is quite an understatement. An interesting piece though...introspective almost. Your last two months of uploads have really been amazing in terms of unique pieces and a great visual touch :)

[@GUILLOM]

Thank you very much!

[@whitearrowgo255]

Just came back to see this idk why I love this so much 😊😊

[@christianvennemann9008]

3:20 Rach 2 opening

[@furmanarrangements]

RIP Rzewski

[@erykkulawski]

Its so hard

[@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji]

The ending makes me thirsty

[@chloroxiphite]

"I've got the blues, I've got the blues, I've got the Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues~,"

[@norixsynth]

intro is where the pianists and composers rave at a bar they love

[@fredericfrancoischopin6971]

Thank you very much! I was very curious see to this piece how look like

[@foxfire7779]

10:24 wtf

[@aakarshitsingh1535]

Breh

[@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji]

😋

[@ahoimeboy6063]

use ur arm mate

[@ilikeplayingffftonecluster851]

@@aakarshitsingh1535 rajesh

[@2Jeffrey]

I can only play up to 5:38 😅

[@GUILLOM]

Also the clusters from 1:10 are extremely hard, you need a looooong arm and a perfect cluster technique, avoiding making it sound muddy (which is the error that most pianists make on this piece)

[@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji]

@@GUILLOM yes, the same technique can be observed in the finale of Bartok's Sonata (Sz.80)

[@GUILLOM]

@Schuyler Bacn what

[@whitearrowgo255]

Sounds like a sound sergie Prokofiev would play