Ben Smith - Piano Grooves

Astonishing young pianist Ben Smith returns to MUSICON to explore the intricacies of rhythm and repetition in a programme that - amongst other things - investigates dance forms of the French baroque, middle-eastern drum patterns, phasing, and microtimings of rubato and swing. Grooves considers what happens when numerical abstractions collide with the physicality of performed music. That is, what happens when rhythms become grooves. 

Presenting old and new work with radically different formulations of rhythm, the programme is bookended by two ultra-virtuosic works from the 1970s avant-garde: Ichiyanagi’s very rarely performed Time Sequence, and Xenakis’ monumental Evryali.

Toshi Ichiyanagi: Time Sequence (1976) 

Richard Beaudoin: Chopin Desséché (2009) 

Ruth Crawford Seeger: Piano Study in Mixed Accents (1930) 

Martin Iddon: new work (2023) 

Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre: Suite No. 3 in A minor (1687)

Frank Zappa: The Black Page (1976) 

Conlon Nancarrow (arr. Ben Smith): Study No. 11 for Player Piano (1965-1969) 

Nicholas A. Huber: Darabukka (1976)

Olivier Messiaen: Ile de feu II (1949) 

Ryuichi Sakamoto: hibari (2009) 

Iannis Xenakis: Evryali (1973) 

Tickets available in advance via Event Durham, or on the door