When I was asked to compose a piano piece representing Brooklyn for a concert commemorating the 100th anniversary of the unification of the five boroughs of New York City, I was inspired by the 1941 Dodgers vs. Yankees baseball World Series, thus coining the phrase “World Serial Music.” The piece is named for the notorious fourth game of the series. My mother, born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, was a wildly enthusiastic 12-year old Dodgers fan at the time, and was recently reminiscing about watching this memorable but heartbreaking game at Ebbets Field. At the top of the ninth inning, a hair’s breadth away from the end of the game, Dodgers pitcher Hugh Casey struck out Yankee Tommy Henrich with a pitch that should have ended the game in a 4-3 Dodger victory, which would have tied the series at two games apiece. Instead, the ball rolled under the catcher Mickey Owen’s glove, getting by him and allowing Henrich to reach first base safely. The Yanks went on to score four more runs to win, 7-4, and turn the series around. Shaken by their unexpected loss, the Dodgers lost again the next day, and the Yankees won yet another world championship.

Brooklyn, October 5, 1941 is performed with two baseballs and a catcher’s mitt, which are used to strike both the piano keys and the strings and soundboard inside the piano. The score gives instructions to have additional baseballs available to the pianist, should he, like Mickey Owen, suffer the mishap of letting the ball get away. Playing the piano with baseballs and a catcher’s mitt produces different sounds and tonalities than the traditional method of playing with the fingers: new groups of notes and rapid sequential chords become possible by rocking the balls both side-to-side and back-and-forth on the keyboard, and wider spans are reached with the aid of the mitt. Sounds also differ inside the piano, using the baseballs to mute strings and strike the metal soundboard under the lid. Speed is enhanced, and the technique of rocking the baseballs creates a distinctive machine-like flurry of notes and tremolos. Although I know of no previous works composed for piano and baseballs, this is a tip of the hat to the late Nicholas Slonimsky, who performed Chopin’s “Black Key Etude” by rolling an orange on the piano keys.

About the composer:

Annie Gosfield is a composer based in downtown New York. The sounds of machines, destroyed pianos, warped 78 records, driving rhythms, sliding microtones, shifting industrial environments, twangy guitars, and junk percussion all play a part in her music. Her varied musical experiences as a composer, improviser, and performer have left a unique imprint on her work, which often explores the inherent beauty of non-musical sounds, and uses both acoustic and electronic instruments to create a sound world that strives to eliminate the boundaries between music and noise. She divides her time between performing on piano and sampling keyboards with her own group and composing for chamber ensembles, creating work that ranges from solo sampler pieces to a concerto for electric cello. Gosfield’s music has been performed worldwide by The Bang on a Can All-Stars, FLUX Quartet, Silesian String Quartet, Raw Fish Quartet, Rova, Present Music, Zeitgeist, Talujon Percussion, former Kronos cellist Joan Jeanrenaud, Fred Frith, Newband (on the Harry Partch instruments), Agon Orchestra, The West Australian Symphony Orchestra New Music Group, her own ensemble, and many others, at festivals including Warsaw Autumn, ISCM World Music Days, The Bang on a Can Marathon, The Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Festival Musique Actuelle in Victoriaville, Wien Modern, OtherMinds, Company Week, and three “Radical New Jewish Culture” festivals curated by John Zorn. Gosfield’s music has been used by many choreographers and dance companies, including Susan Marshall, Karole Armitage, Milwaukee Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theater, and Ballett Oper Hannover. Her discography includes two solo releases on the Tzadik label, and CD’s on Sony Classical, CRI, Harmonia Mundi, Wergo, Caprice, Cantaloupe, Rift, EMF, Innova, Atavistic, ORF, and Starkland. Annie has performed with her partner Roger Kleier, Joan Jeanrenaud, Ikue Mori, Chris Cutler, Fred Frith, John Zorn, Derek Bailey, and many others.

Ms. Gosfield was the Darius Milhaud Visiting Composer in Residence at Mills College in the fall of 2003. Current projects include a commission for a cello concerto for Felix Fan and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, to be conducted by Kent Nagano; a new string quartet for the Raw Fish quartet; and a percussion quartet for SO Percussion to be premiered at a portrait concert of Gosfield’s work on December 9, 2004, at Merkin Hall.