Life Lag A

This piano duet is thought to be played by one pianist. The piano 1 part should be played live, while the piano 2 part should be a video recording of the same pianist which is projected during the performance. How the video is recorded is entirely up to the pianist. The idea is that the pianist plays with himself across the years. While he/she ages, his/her archive does not. The piece also works as a traditional piano duet.

 

A series of conversations I had with David Cossin from the Bang on a Can All-Stars inspired the idea behind "Life Lag." We met in Abu Dhabi for an artistic intensive and during dinner, I asked him "do you have jet lag?" to which he answered, "I have life lag." We both laughed. Later during the intensive, he shared his own performance of "piano phase" by Steve Reich. In his performance, he recorded himself doing both piano parts. He projected the piano 2 part on top of him, producing a visual representation of the displacement characteristic to the piece. It is when I approached him and said "wouldn't it be cool to write a piece where you play with a younger projection of yourself?" to which he answered, "you should write it." And well, here we are. The piece what premiered at the "Festival Cervantino" in October 2018 by Sebastián Espinosa Carrasco.