Balinese Ceremonial Music, arranged for two pianos

I. Pemoengkah
II. Gambangan
III. Taboeh teloe

This is a work for two pianos based on traditional Balinese gamelan music by Canadian composer Colin McPhee (1900-1964), the first Western composer to conduct serious ethnomusicological studies of the music of Bali in Indonesia. McPhee made over 40 similar transcriptions of ceremonial gamelan music. Although he didn’t live to see it, McPhee’s study of Balinese music played a role in the development of minimalism - for example, John Adams’ « China Gates » for piano was certainly influenced of such gamelan music. In this 1941 recording, Colin McPhee is joined by the famous English composer and pianist Benjamin Britten.