Frederic Rzewski - The People United Will Never Be Defeated (Hamelin)

Rest in Peace, Frederic Rzewski (April 13, 1938 – June 26, 2021) I was so sad to hear about Rzewski's recent death that I almost felt the urge to make a score video as a tribute to him. He was such an incredible figure, not singularly as a composer or as a pianist-virtuoso but as both; among the most important contemporary figures of the pianist-composers of America, he managed to merge innovative techniques with creative counterpoint, improvisatory elements, and political topics in his music, showing a deep coscience of socio-historical themes. "The People United will never be Defeated!" (1975) based on Sergio Ortega's chilean protest song "¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!", is today considered a modern classic of piano literature, and is sometimes even regarded as the most important set of variations since Bach's Goldberg and Beethoven's Diabelli. The structure of the piece is incredibly ingenious: 36 Variations, some lyrical and melodical, reflective, other violent and nearly atonal; each 6th variation is a recapitulation of the previous ones, with a cadenza in the middle, eventually leading to vars. 31-35 which are a partial recapitulation of the entire preceding ones, and then the variation 36, which is fundamentally a miniature of the entire piece, followed by an optional improvised cadenza and the final epic restatement of the inital theme. 00:00 Intro 00:16 Theme: With determination 01:37 Var. I Weaving, delicate but firm 02:28 Var. II With firmness 03:20 Var. III Slightly slower, with expressive nuances 04:25 Var. IV Marcato 05:22 Var. V Dreamlike, frozen 06:30 Var. VI Same tempo as beginning 07:39 Var. VII Tempo. Lightly, impatiently 08:30 Var. VIII With agility; not too much pedal; crisp 09:33 Var. IX Evenly 10:35 Var. X Comodo, recklessly 11:29 Var. XI Tempo I. Like fragments of an absent melody – in strict time 12:22 Var. XII 13:34 Var. XIII q = 72 15:31 Var. XIV A bit faster, optimistically 16:46 Var. XV Flexible, like an improvisation 18:11 Var. XVI Same tempo as preceding, with fluctuations; much pedal 19:47 Var. XVII LH strictly h = 36 21:10 Var. XVIII q = 72 22:48 Var. XIX With energy 23:23 Var. XX Crisp, precise 23:54 Var. XXI Relentless, uncompromising 24:41 Var. XXII q = 132 25:24 Var. XXIII As fast as possible, with some rubato 25:47 Var. XXIV q = 72 28:20 Var. XXV q = ca. 84, with fluctuations 30:21 Var. XXVI In a militant manner 32:39 Var. XXVII Tenderly, and with a hopeful expression [Cadenza] 37:02 Var. XXVIII q = 160 38:21 Var. XXIX q = 144-152 38:54 Var. XXX q = 84 41:32 Var. XXXI (q = 160) 42:26 Var. XXXII 43:17 Var. XXXIII 44:17 Var. XXXIV 45:13 Var. XXXV 46:09 Var. XXXVI 48:06 Improvised Cadenza 54:32 Theme